West Indies tour of England, 2012

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West Indies' tour plans disrupted The West Indies' preparations for their Test series against England continue to be affected by availability concerns. More...

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Bell added to England Lions squad Ian Bell is brought into the England Lions squad to take on West Indies later this month after Ben Stokes was ruled out of the four-day fixture. More... Ian Bell called up to England Lions squad to face West Indies Ian Bell has been added to the England Lions squad to take on West Indies on 10 May after all-rounder Ben Stokes was ruled out of the four-day fixture. Durham's Stokes had a scan on a back injury that prevented him from bowling and will now miss the Lions match. National selector Geoff Miller said: "It is unfortunate that Ben's injury has ruled him out of the match. "Ian Bell was keen to play another game ahead of the Test series [against West Indies and South Africa]." He added: "After performing well for Warwickshire this week, this match provides an ideal opportunity for him to continue his preparations as well as helping to ensure England Lions prove challenging opposition for West Indies." Bell's call-up comes after he brought to an end his near nine-month wait for a century this week. The 30-year-old batsman made 120 to help Warwickshire secure a nine-wicket victory over Durham at Edgbaston.

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Windies frustrated by wet weather West Indies are again frustrated by the weather on day two of their opening tour match against Sussex at Hove. More... West Indies frustrated by wet weather at Hove Tour match, Hove, day two of three (close): West Indies 46-2 v Sussex Match scorecard West Indies were again frustrated by the weather on day two of their opening tour match against Sussex at Hove. After Saturday's total washout, more overnight rain prevented any cricket before lunch, with bad light forcing an early close after only 18 overs. In that time, opener Adrian Barath was bowled by Kirk Wernars before Kirk Edwards was caught behind off Chris Liddle to leave the tourists 46-2. The Windies face England in the first Test at Lord's on 17 May. Sussex, with England pair Matt Prior and Monty Panesar in their line-up, won the toss and struck soon after putting the tourists in. Barath had made just 16 when he deflected a Wernars delivery on to the base of the stumps off his pads. Edwards ought then to have gone for a second-ball duck, but was dropped at second slip by Luke Wells off Liddle. Edwards and Kieran Powell then defended stoutly until Edwards was out for eight as he was caught at third slip by Chris Nash. Bad light then stopped play just before tea and no further action was possible. "I don't mind the extreme conditions. It's nice to experience these things," said Barath. "We're not surprised about these conditions. It's something we expected." The tourists are also confident that Assad Fudadin, Narsingh Deonarine or Marlon Samuels will arrive in time for the game against England Lions at Northampton, which begins on Thursday. Fudadin and Deonarine are in Jamaica awaiting visas, while Samuels is still to begin his journey from the Indian Premier League. "We are not concerned about it," said a team spokesman. "We are hopeful that they will be here in time for the (England) Lions match."

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West Indies hopeful of reinforcements West Indies are still missing three members of their squad as their tour match against Sussex got underway More... West Indies hopeful of reinforcements The Report by George Dobell at Hove May 6, 2012 West Indies 46 for 2 v Sussex It was surely fitting that the West Indies tour should start with a depleted day's play and under a cloud. In bitterly cold and damp conditions, the tourists' batsmen enjoyed - or experienced, anyway - a brief snatch of cricket before rain returned and, for the second day in succession, play was abandoned mercifully early. It means the West Indies now have only five days cricket in which to acclimatise to English conditions ahead of the Test series. That is for those of the squad that are here. Three of them - Assad Fudadin, Narsingh Deonarine and Marlon Samuels - have still not arrived in the country, with the first two held up by "visa problems" and Samuels delayed by "a travel problem". The West Indies tour management insist they are not concerned by the delays, but this is hardly ideal preparation. With poor weather in the UK expected to continue well into next week, some of the squad will have very little chance to adjust to the unique conditions ahead of the Test series. "We are not concerned about the late arrival of the three players and we are extremely hopeful that they will all be here ahead of the game against England Lions," a spokesman for the West Indies team said. But the use of the word "hopeful" is just a little unsettling. It would be easy to criticise the WICB - it pretty much always is - but there may some be some mitigating factors. For a start, the West Indies squad was only named a few days ago and, bearing in mind that the Border Agency in the UK has recently undergone a significant - and somewhat controversial - restructuring, it is entirely possible there is a backlog at their end. In the 18 overs of play that were possible, the West Indies scored 46 runs but lost two wickets. With the damp outfield soon preventing the ball from swinging and bowlers struggling to retain their footing on a surface that quickly became skiddy, the lack of pace was the main problem for the batsmen. Adrian Barath, leaving the ball well and appearing compact and tidy, looked comfortable until he missed one that hit his thigh pad and dribbled on to his leg stump, while Kieran Powell looked less at ease but battled through and will have benefited from the experience. Kirk Edwards was even less comfortable. He survived a simple chance to Luke Wells at slip from the second delivery he faced - hanging his bat out at one he should have left - and, though he punched one pleasing drive through mid-on for four, soon felt for another one he should have had no business with and gifted a catch to slip. Since making a century on debut at the Gabba, Barath's career has stalled, as a Test average of 23.60 underlines. He knows this is an important tour for him. "Over the past year or so, I haven't really had the sort of performances I'd like," Barath said afterwards. "But I'm going to have to put that behind me. It's all about learning from my mistakes in the past, and building from it, and learning from team-mates like Shivnarine Chanderpaul about these conditions. He's played a lot of cricket here, scored a lot of runs and has a lot to offer. "I'm working on playing the ball a bit later and leaving a lot more balls. It's about learning fast, and I have a lot of responsibility. I was a bit unlucky, but the time I was out there I felt really good." The weather has also been far from ideal from a Sussex perspective. The club worked hard to market this fixture and were expecting 10,000 spectators over the three days. With a beer festival and steel band inside the ground, the atmosphere could have been excellent had the weather been a little kinder. As it was, when the Barmy Army's trumpeter, Billy Cooper, blasted out Jerusalem it seemed tinged with irony. The land may be green; it certainly doesn't feel very pleasant. Meanwhile Sussex are waiting to hear news on Luke Wright who is undergoing tests in India to ascertain whether he has contracted Dengue Fever. Wright has been playing for Pune Warriors in the IPL. The club are also currently talking to Ajmal Shahzad, the unsettled seamer released by Yorkshire, with a view to bringing him to Hove.

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WI need a star team, not a team of stars - Hilaire Ernest Hilaire, the West Indies Cricket Board CEO, has said selectors should focus on selecting the 'best XI' for the West Indies team, one that was a strong collective unit rather than just comprising 11 star players More...

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Windies opener curtailed by rain Further rain means only 16 overs are possible on the third and final day of West Indies' opening tour match against Sussex at Hove. More...

[jairamesh]

Test cricket :headshake:, wasn't this an issue last year too with England vs SL, where they managed to complete 1 over in 5 days.

[Sir john]

so far mixed day for windies.

[Zelig]

Tests: 2-0 England ODIs: 2-1 England T20: 1-0 WI :om:

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West Indies still waiting on Deonarine Darren Sammy, the West Indies captain, has said he has 14 fit men available for selection for the four-day tour match against the England Lions More... West Indies still waiting on Deonarine Nagraj Gollapudi at Northampton May 9, 2012 Darren Sammy, the West Indies captain, has said he has 14 fit men available for selection for the four-day tour match against the England Lions, starting on Thursday. Marlon Samuels flew in from India, where he was playing in the IPL, on Tuesday and Assad Fudadin, who was delayed due to visa issues, joined the squad on Wednesday morning. According to a West Indies spokesperson, Narsingh Deonarine, the only missing member from the 15-man Test squad, was due to arrive on Thursday, but would not be available for selection in the Lions match. Sammy welcomed the new arrivals and said it would bolster the confidence of the team ahead of the Lord's Test, starting on May 17. Sammy was happy to have virtually a full squad to pick from. "I'm quite pleased to see Marlon and Fudadin this morning. It is very good for us," he said. "We welcome them and it's good for them they are here to practise with us today. The whole family is united and now we are preparing ourselves for the first Test match." It is understood the visa delay in the case of the Guyanese pair of Deonarine and Fudadin was inevitable. The West Indies selectors had waited for the home series against Australia to finish before announcing the Test squad for the England tour at the end of April. Once named, Deonarine and Fudadin then had to apply to the UK embassy for visas because nationals from Guyana and Jamaica do not get a free entry, unlike the other Caribbean countries. A further delay may have been caused by the UK Border Agency tightening its visa screening process. But Sammy did not want to gripe about something not in his control, saying the team would move forward. "We were aware once we were leaving the Caribbean that Narsingh and Fudadin were trying to sort it out," he said, "and Marlon was with Pune Warriors in the IPL. You just move on with things and handle distractions." Sammy said all his players, including Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Fidel Edwards, who had been reported as fitness doubts, were available for selection. "We will come up with the best eleven in these conditions to prepare ourselves for the Test match," Sammy said, adding with a smile that team manager, Richie Richardson, would not be needed to handle 12th man duties. The visitors have not had much too much else to smile about in the last week, due to the cold and rainy weather prevalent across England. In their first tour match, against Sussex at Hove, only 34 overs were possible across three days. The forecast for the Lions match is not encouraging either. Sammy said it was frustrating, having been forced to stay indoors last week and now resorting to indoor nets in Northampton. But Ottis Gibson, the West Indies coach, has been keeping the players busy by asking them to go through video footages and involving them in various team and one-on-one meetings. Such exercises, Sammy said, allowed the players to bond together. "It is disappointing because our main goal here is to play cricket, get out in the middle. But we have no control over the weather," he said. "We are just moving along."

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Pietersen: I've never batted better Most cricketers, heading into a Test series in a week and without a bat in English conditions for some months, might be anxious for time at the crease. But Kevin Pietersen is not like most cricketers. More... Pietersen: I've never batted better George Dobell at New Road May 9, 2012 Most cricketers heading into a Test series in a week without a bat in English conditions for some months might be anxious for time at the crease. But Kevin Pietersen is not like most cricketers. Unlike Ian Bell, who requested to play extra matches for Warwickshire and England Lions, Pietersen has never been the sort who felt he required lots of county games to find his form. Indeed, his appearance in Surrey's game at Worcestershire represented just his fifth championship match - four for Surrey and one for Hampshire - since he was first selected for Test duty in 2005. He does things his way and, with 20 Test centuries and a career average a fraction under 50, he can claim with some justification that it works rather well. Instead Pietersen - who experienced a winter in which his performances progressed from poor to outrageously good - feels he is in the form of his life. While other players may need endless nets and time in the middle to feel well prepared, Pietersen relies more on confidence and knowledge that his hand-eye reflexes are working properly. That may be just as well. While there was no sign of the floodwater that submerged this ground as recently as the weekend, only 26.1 overs were possible on the first day of this game due to rain. With Worcestershire choosing to bat first and the weather forecast hardly promising, there is a strong chance that Pietersen may have just one first-class innings ahead of the Test series against West Indies. "I feel like I've never batted better," Pietersen said on the first day of Surrey's game at New Road. "I feel in great nick at the moment but everyone knows you have a couple of bad scores and everyone says you are in bad nick again. I know that is not true but all I'm doing at the moment is concentrating on my batting, doing whatever I can do to influence a fixture here in Worcester." There was a time, not so long ago, when it would been unthinkable that a man could fly in from a T20 event in markedly different conditions and resume Test duties. But those days have gone. The IPL is a fact of life and Pietersen, for one, has clearly tired of justifying his involvement in it. "It's plain and simple, mate," Pietersen said. "I'm sick and tired of having to defend myself about going to the IPL every year. I don't see why I need to defend myself. It's something that's there which all the best players in the world play in. Every single time in March and April, I have to defend myself about going to India. It's not going to change: I will play in the IPL. It's the best tournament going and that's the way it is." That is not to say that Pietersen is a critic of the county game. Far from it. "I love county cricket," he said. "It is what served me well at the start of my career in England. It's a brilliant format and what makes a lot of players around the world. A lot of them learn their game in county cricket. It's a brilliant concept and the opportunity to turn up here for hopefully four days will be special. Batting here at Worcester might prove a little harder than at Lord's next week if I'm honest." He admitted that the timing of his absence from home is not ideal - he would, naturally enough, prefer to spend Thursday with his son, Dylan, who celebrates his second birthday - but dismissed the idea that he required more of a break from the game after his stint in the IPL. "Look, I love doing what I'm doing," Pietersen said. "I'm as fit as a fiddle. There is nothing wrong with my fitness at the moment. I love my job and there is nothing else I would rather be doing. "I'll play as long as I'm fit. I'm not going to play until I'm 40 but I'm going to play as long as I can. I love playing for England. It's the best. Everyone says it's a shame missing out on the rest of the IPL and yes it is. But I'm playing the best form of cricket next week, I'm playing in a Test at Lord's. Growing up as a kid, that's the sort of things you dream of. "This week is very tough for me because I've been away for two months. I haven't seen my kid for two months and it's his birthday. It's not the best situation for me but this is my job, this is what I've got to do, my family realises that and it doesn't last forever. It's a case of if the rain falls [on Thursday], I'll be going back to London for a day." The problem for Pietersen comes if he fails. If he does so, having not been seen to acclimatise to English conditions, he will be condemned by those who, you suspect, are always looking for an opportunity to criticise him. "It was a hell of a difficult winter," he continued. "We came under pressure from a very good Pakistan side and we realised we weren't as good as we thought we were. I'm not saying that we thought we were the most incredible outfit but we had played some very good cricket and it was nice to come under a bit of pressure. It is never nice to lose but good that we realised we've got some work to do especially in the sub-continent." Pietersen had little to do on the first day of this game. Fielding mainly at cover or deep square leg, he looked fit and relaxed as he watched Worcestershire's openers justify the decision to bat first on what turned out to be a slow pitch offering little encouragement to the bowlers. George Edwards - selected ahead of Chris Jordan and Matt Dunn - was the pick of the Surrey attack. Aged just 19 and another product of Surrey's bountiful youth system, Edwards bowled with impressive pace and control and looked to be a cricketer with a bright future. Daryl Mitchell and Michael Klinger managed only three boundaries between them but completed Worcestershire second half-century opening stand of the championship season with the only moment of alarm coming when Mitchell, on 13, got a leading edge to a delivery from Tim Linley that fell into space.

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Lions playing for more than pride England's Lions players will be hoping to make an impression on the selectors in their tour match against West Indies More... Lions playing for more than pride Andrew McGlashan at Northampton May 9, 2012 A week out from the first Test and West Indies' squad is assembling piece-by-piece in England but it continues to be a difficult build-up for the tourists. England Lions, who they face in Northampton for their final warm-up match, managed outdoor training on Wednesday but, right on cue, as West Indies arrived at the ground the rain returned and they were forced to use the indoor school. Darren Sammy continued to shrug off the issues with a cool smile, but the forecast is not promising for the opening day of the Lions match and, although prospects are better towards the weekend, it seems inconceivable that West Indies will enter the Test series anything other than seriously underprepared. The situation was summed up when Sammy was asked about whether Fidel Edwards, whose back has caused some concerns but has been declared fit, was bowling at full pace. "We haven't had a chance to find out," was Sammy's response. Providing the weather does clear up to allow a substantial amount of cricket this match should provide an intriguing contest between the tourists and the England fringe players vying for further recognition. Lions matches are unloved by the counties as they lose key players for important Championship games - Surrey, for example, are without Jade Dernbach and Stuart Meaker against Worcestershire this week - but they are a valuable stepping stone to the next level both in terms of acknowledging performance and also integrating players into the Team England bubble. Rarely, if ever now, does an England player reach Test level away from the Lions pathway. In the corresponding fixture a year ago, against the Sri Lankans at Derby, there was a clear head-to-head battle between Ravi Bopara and Eoin Morgan for the No. 6 spot, which the latter won with an aggressive 193. This time there are no glaring vacancies in the Test line-up for Lord's if it is assumed that Bopara will, finally, get another chance at No. 6 - although Jonny Bairstow could further his claims with a strong display in Northampton - but there is so much cricket on the horizon that depth of resources is vital. Dernbach and Meaker are part of the deep bowling reserves available and Lancashire's Simon Kerrigan is vying with Scott Borthwick as the young spinner to watch. Middle-order options are led by James Taylor, who will captain the Lions, Bairstow and Samit Patel, who remains the man in possession after the Sri Lanka tour but is unlikely to be in the first Test squad of the summer. However, this is not a Lions side based purely on youth. Nick Compton, still on course for 1000 runs before the end of May in a bowler-dominated start to the season, and Michael Carberry are 28 and 31 respectively and have been rewarded for consistent run-scoring. If one of England's top three broke a finger between now and next Thursday it could well be one of those two who stepped into the breach. Further runs in this match will do no harm. For both, though, their chance (or, in Carberry's case, second chance) will have to come soon otherwise the baton passes to the next generation. Ian Bell will also be on display having asked for a chance for further match practice after finding form for Warwickshire last week against Durham. Despite a difficult winter he is the one player from this team certain to be included when the Test squad is announced on Sunday morning. However, the players on the next rung of English batting need to keep breathing down the neck of the incumbents, something which has not quite happened in the same way as with the bowling attack, where England could field two high-quality units. With all the rain around it could be that the Lions play a full hand of quick bowlers, which would include Kent's Matt Coles and Northamptonshire's Jack Brooks on his home ground, and leave the spin bowling to Patel. Whichever combination is decided on it will provide a tough test for West Indies' brittle top three, which is leaving huge pressure on Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Darren Bravo to provide a potent attack something to defend. For Adrian Barath, Kirk Edwards and Kieran Powell it will not come much tougher than May in England but West Indies can ill-afford to be three down early too often during the Test series. Before all that, however, the rain needs to stop. England Lions squad James Taylor (Nottinghamshire) (capt); Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire); Jack Brooks (Northamptonshire); Michael Carberry (Hampshire); Matt Coles (Kent); Nick Compton (Somerset); Jade Dernbach (Surrey); Simon Kerrigan (Lancashire); Stuart Meaker (Surrey); Samit Patel (Nottinghamshire); Joe Root (Yorkshire); Ben Stokes (Durham) ;Ian Bell

[Sir john]

3 day tour match starting today

[indiaregulator]

They're getting eaten alive by England Lion's fast bowlers.... That's Meaker, Dernbach, Brookes and Coles. 147/9.... Anderson, Bresnan, Broad, Finn, Tremlett must be licking their lips.

[Sir john]

windes all out for 143 :sniffle:

[Laaloo]

windies :hysterical: :hysterical:

[maverick451]

It will be lambs to the slaughter, the Windies always come over here early season and get annihilated. Only the rain can save them imo

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Lions shine as Windies struggle West Indies struggle in damp conditions as they are bowled out for 147 by England Lions on the first day of their tour game. More...

[Old guy]

gonna be hard series for windies

[Sidhoni]

West Indians 147 England Lions 159/5