Eng in WI, 2009 : man it continues to happen in Windies...

[EnterTheVoid]

When I woke up early this morning, the score was 330 odd for 6 wickets, with Nash being the latest one out. At that stage, Windies had to survive a daunting 30 odd overs. I am amazed that they did it. Different circumstances and different situation, but this reminds me of the Harbhajan - Kumble partnership at the second day of the 4th Test at the Adelaide Oval. In that innings Harby made 50 odd and Kumble made 87. I was at the ground and believe me, the crowd were going bananas every time Harby hit a four or Australia dropped a chance, and dropped chances they were plenty ......... lol :hysterical: This was at the height of the racism saga, so the atmosphere was tense. In all seriousness, their batting took India from a 350 ish score on a flat batting wicket to a 510 ish score

[Cricketics]

can't find one. i tried. but i think it was Doug Cowie of NZ who confessed to the pressure from the crowd.

i have some good memories of that game. I remember Courtney waslh was clear bad pad out. Mushtaq Ahmed bowled one to Walsh and he clearly tryed to mock the ball down inside the pitch with his weird defense and ended up edging, but umpire thought otherwise

[King]

Excellent stuff. Here's hoping West Indies are on the up. They are cool characters of the game and should continue to do well for the best interests of the sport. WI has drawn the test series against NZ, now will most probably win the test series against England and that will be great for WI cricket. Last time around England with a similar team beat the crap out of the WI team but this time around England has been humiliated once and now WI has stood up to them in this test match. England can survive with consistent bad results and their fan base is not that big in UK. WI cricket following fluctuates with their results and the islands follow cricket quite closely despite WI going down big time in the last decade or so. I suppose it's time for India, South Africa and WI to end up the top three teams??? You never know.

[flamy]

Only the idiots who demand that every game must have a result' date=' even if it comes down to a bowl out or a super over (prize for the most ridiculous idea applied to cricket?), and think that games that last several days and span so many hours with batsmen just grafting and protecting their wickets are boring.[/quote'] ya, that's boring. :| T20 is muuuuuuch better.

[Gambit]

WI have now gone through 5 tests without being defeated. The last time this happened was in 1999(but that streak includes 2 tests v Zim). Speaks volumes about the depths they have plummeted to.

[veeru_rocks]

In certain chennai game if Moin Khan hadn't claimed bump-catch had indian umpire not given dada out then that inning of sachin wud have been winning one as opposed to losing one.... so stop cribbing about that game against west indies

[Pak_Forever]

This is what Test cricket is all about. Good to see West Indies fighting and rising up the ladder. Would be glad if they could somehow come anywhere near the team of 70s and 80s.

[Don Sharma]

If they continue to put up a fight like they did yesterday, I see no reason why they cant be a mid-table team (in ICC rankings) within next two years.

[Mr. Wicket]

WI have now gone through 5 tests without being defeated. The last time this happened was in 1999(but that streak includes 2 tests v Zim). Speaks volumes about the depths they have plummeted to.

Feels good. Cricket's a better game with a strong West Indies. A related anecdote: I've been trying to introduce the game of cricket to a close friend of mine in the US - an American. Some time ago he got the rules down (down to understanding an LBW law and run outs), but still struggled to see why the game was so exciting. He recently was on a business trip in England, and had access to the first test. Watched most of it, saw Taylor blasting through England and got hooked (started watching some of the C-H ODIs/hls as well), returned to the US as a cricket fan and an immediate convert (raving to me later in amazement about how fast and brilliant that fast bowler was, and how England didn't have a clue what was going on). That's the sort of thrill the Windies can provide when they're playing well. Exciting, flamboyant, inspired cricket with a passion and energy that can hook even a casual viewer and turn him into a fan (as many of the older guard from a couple of decades ago did to many of us). I just hope this goes on.

[flamy]

That's right. I want a resurgent WI too. I got my hopes too high about a year back. This time I'll just temper my hopes a bit.

[King Tendulkar]

Brillinat match. Thrilling finish

[Fontaine]

What is it about England and ineptitude that go so well together? The England team had literally hours to bowl out a few tail enders and the best they could do was have a hobbling Flintoff run around like a gimp. Ashes - Fail T20 - Fail ODI cricket - Fail Consistently beating minnows - Fail Even when they have a chance at a follow on with days left in a match against a WI team that are garbage in test cricket, they somehow screw it up. No wonder these clowns celebrated like there was no tomorrow when they actually won the ashes in '05.

[f.b.m]

When did England actually achieve a victory in a live test before? I think it was against New Zealand. Against a decent team, it would be against Pakistan in that forfeited test or something.

[chandu1256]

amazing game....!!! flintoff's injury proved costly

[Shane]

Flintoff's effort in the final innings was commendable though, having been injected and having faltering fitness levels to then go out and bowl 15 at nearly full tilt, speaks volumes of the commitment of the lad, the likes of Harmisson can learn a thing or two from Freddie

[Lord]

When did England actually achieve a victory in a live test before? I think it was against New Zealand. Against a decent team, it would be against Pakistan in that forfeited test or something.

dont tell me NZ isnt a decent team n pak are better. n btw eng did beat SA in last test of the series when KP become captain.

[Feed]

Windies go for squad continuity West Indies name the same 13-man squad for the fourth Test against England in Barbados. More... Windies go for squad continuity FOURTH TEST, BARBADOS Date: 26 February to 2 March Time: 1400 GMT daily Venue: Kensington Oval West Indies have named the same 13-man squad for the fourth Test against England in Barbados. Chris Gayle's team have a 1-0 lead in the series after crushing England in the first Test in Jamaica and then holding on for a draw in Antigua. The second Test was abandoned after 10 balls because of a poor outfield, with a third Test then hastily arranged. The fourth Test, to be staged at the Kensington Oval, starts on Thursday, with the fifth Test set for Trinidad. After the Test series, the two sides play five one-day internationals as well as a Twenty20 match. West Indies squad: Chris Gayle (capt), Denesh Ramdin (wk), Lionel Baker, Sulieman Benn, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Fidel Edwards, Ryan Hinds, Brendan Nash, Daren Powell, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lendl Simmons, Devon Smith, Jerome Taylor.

[Feed]

Tim Ambrose to get a game as new dad Prior returns home England wicketkeeper Matt Prior will miss the fourth Test against West Indies this week. More... Prior returns home to wife PA Monday, 23 February 2009 England will have to make multiple changes to their team for the fourth Test after Matt Prior returned home today following the birth of his first child. Already required to make one alteration due to Andrew Flintoff's hip injury, England must now consider how to cover two places in the middle order. Deputy wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose is now guaranteed to feature at the Kensington Oval for the penultimate match of the series, which starts on Thursday. Prior returned home this morning after wife Emily gave birth to a boy, their first child, last night. Prior had been scheduled to temporarily quit the tour on the expected due date of March 2 but was en route to the UK today after receiving the news at 4.30am. The 26-year-old would have been a viable option to bat at number six in the Test, given his average is in excess of 40, enabling England to retain a five-man bowling attack. It is less likely that the selectors would consider Ambrose for that position, however, meaning that Andrew Strauss' team might be forced into playing four bowlers. Ravi Bopara, who hit a hundred yesterday hours after arriving in the Caribbean, and Ian Bell would be vying for the spare batting berth. Worcestershire wicketkeeper Stephen Davies is not scheduled to arrive in the Caribbean until later this week. England trail 1-0 in the series with two matches to play in Barbados and Trinidad.

[Feed]

England thrown by missing Flintoff England have three days to work on a familiar conundrum: what their Test side should be in the absence of Andrew Flintoff. In the past 10 years the selectors have gained abundant experience of planning for life without Fred but that makes it no easier for them, him or anybody else. More... England thrown by missing Flintoff By Stephen Brenkley in Barbados Monday, 23 February 2009 England have three days to work on a familiar conundrum: what their Test side should be in the absence of Andrew Flintoff. In the past 10 years the selectors have gained abundant experience of planning for life without Fred but that makes it no easier for them, him or anybody else. It is like the prodigal son returning home. No sooner have you become used to having him around than he is off again – until the next time. The side always looks so much better balanced with Flintoff at No 6, the perfect fulcrum, whatever the results say. But he is out of the fourth Test which starts at the Kensington Oval on Thursday and probably out of the fifth as well. His second scan of the tour - his first was to monitor a side strain – revealed a muscle tear around the right hip. He has not yet withdrawn from the Indian Premier League but it is unlikely, even for the best part of £500,000, that he will dare risk playing, if only because his big, brave body has so few parts left to be injured. There is a multitude of permutations. Five batsmen or five bowlers? Who should bat six? Who can bat seven? How can we take 20 wickets? Will Matthew Prior’s wife give birth before the match? Are all the seamers fit? Are all the spinners fit? Is anybody fit? None of these questions, or, in all probability, any others were properly answered at Windward Cricket Club in the south-east of Barbados yesterday when England began a two-day match against a BCA President’s XI, the president in question being the great former fast bowler Joel Garner. The oldest player in the president’s side was 24 and they included a fast bowler whose full name is Barrington Bjorn Beckenbauer Yearwood. So, no pressure to play sport there, then. It was one of those enduringly pleasing cricket occasions. The ground and its setting were bucolic. The ebullient, friendly crowd lined the boundaries under temporary awnings; they queued good-naturedly but interminably for burgers being served by the slowest short-order chef in the world; the sun was in its heaven. In terms of picking a Test side it was meaningless. England batted first by agreement, though toss formalities were observed. The tourists’ XI contained both the new additions to the squad, called up as cover for Flintoff, Ravi Bopara and Amjad Khan. They had flown here from the England Lions’ Tour of New Zealand, where they had arrived only on Thursday, via Christchurch, Auckland, Los Angeles and Miami, through six time zones and the international timeline, the journey taking 24 hours. It is a stretch to see either making it on Thursday but Bopara batted rumbustiously. Dropped on 28, he made 124 not out from 125 balls with two sixes and 17 fours before England declared on 351 for 7. Runs are runs but the opposition were largely unchallenging. If he can do this with jet lag, the selectors may be tempted to muse, what can he do without? His fellow traveller Khan then took two new ball wickets as the President’s XI closed on 49 for four. The route down which the selectors have traditionally gone when Flintoff has been hors de combat has involved six batsmen and four specialist bowlers. It has worked surprisingly often too, but they may not dare do so this time. England bowled 128 overs in West Indies’ second innings in Antigua last week in falling a wicket short of dramatic victory. Of the other batsmen yesterday, Ian Bell performed his regular routine of telling the same old story by making an effortlessly pleasant 43 and was then out, in form Andrew Strauss made 56. Tim Ambrose also hung around to make 74. He may be pressed into service because Prior’s wife, Emily, is entering the final stages of her pregnancy. Prior, who made nought and has already been given permission to miss the fifth Test in Trinidad, may return home before then. Prior is perhaps able enough to bat at six, whereas Ambrose is probably not. That complicates the selection riddle further, but then Ryan Sidebottom is short of full fitness because of a Achilles problem, and Graeme Swann has a sore right elbow which may not hold up for five days. Those issues apart, it is a straightforward business.

[coffee_rules]

In the last 2 years his stats are: filtered 19 829 89 29.60 0 7 55 4/89 33.74 0 14 0 Eng doesn't depend on him so much anyway.