England Lions vs The Caribbean - on tour 2011

One nice, neat thread to keep up to date with the, no doubt, disappointing returns from the next best cricketers in England after Luke Wright.

* James Hildreth (Somerset, captain)
* Jimmy Adams (Hampshire)
* Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire)
* Ravi Bopara (Essex)
* Danny Briggs (Hampshire)
* Maurice Chambers (Essex)
* Jade Dernbach (Surrey)
* Steven Finn (Middlesex - first half of tour only)
* Andrew Gale (Yorkshire)
* James Harris (Glamorgan)
* Craig Kieswetter (Somerset)
* Adam Lyth (Yorkshire)
* Liam Plunkett (Durham)
* Adil Rashid (Yorkshire)
* Ben Stokes (Durham)
* James Taylor (Leicestershire)
* Chris Woakes (Warwickshire - second half of tour only)

Jan 28-29: Warm-up v St Kitts/Nevis combined, Conaree, St Kitts
Jan 30-31: Warm-up v St Kitts/Nevis combined, Molineaux, St Kitts

Feb 4-7: v Leeward Islands, Warner Park, St Kitts
Feb 11-14: v Barbados, Kensington Oval
Feb 18-21: v Trinidad & Tobago, Queen's Park Oval, Trinidad
Feb 25-28: v Combined Campuses & Colleges, 3 W's Oval, Barbados
March 11-14: v Guyana, National Stadium, Providence
March 18-21: v Windward Islands, Windsor Park, Dominica
March 24-27: v Jamaica, Sabina Park

Liam Plunkett & Jade Dernbach, farquin heck.

I'm most interested in seeing how James Taylor goes. For a little midget who can't hit the ball off the square his record is pretty damn good.

At the risk of being boring - It mystifies me that Moeen Ali has missed out. He was in prime form for the pears last season for us and his bowling is coming along nicely.

Right, now that I've got that off my chest: this might be a crunch tour for Rashid. If he doesn't take wickets I think he will fade quietly from England consideration as the management have clearly had second thoughts about him recently.

I reckon he'll always be there or there abouts. As opposed to the likes of Danny Briggs he's got a 2nd string to his bow and they seem to like that.

Not many West Indian batsmen play spin well. I reckon he'll take a few.

JKLever wrote:Liam Plunkett & Jade Dernbach, farquin heck.

I'm most interested in seeing how James Taylor goes. For a little midget who can't hit the ball off the square his record is pretty damn good.

It'll be interesting to see how long Taylor stays with the SS Titanic Leicestershire if he has a decent tour.

Basil wrote:At the risk of being boring - It mystifies me that Moeen Ali has missed out. He was in prime form for the pears last season for us and his bowling is coming along nicely.

Right, now that I've got that off my chest: this might be a crunch tour for Rashid. If he doesn't take wickets I think he will fade quietly from England consideration as the management have clearly had second thoughts about him recently.

Alex Hales too - good player in the making. Where he?

Re: Rashid. He's 22. 200+ FC wickets (13 x 5-fors) and a batting average of nearly 40 (4 x 100).

Everyone wants him to be ready, like, yesterday, but if he needs a few more years to really get it nailed, then so be it. Time is his friend. He could play until he's 40.

Incidentally, I assume Finn won't be in the party for the "first half of the tour only" (until Woakes joins up) as he's staying on with the ODI squad now T-Brez has snapped.

This tour may play a part in deciding who replaces Colly in the test team. Hildreth, Bopara, and Taylor are fighting with Eoin Morgan for the one spot.

I've got a feeling that Morgan is a near certainty to bat at six against Sri Lanka in May, but there are still question marks about his record in the longer form of the game.

Henry wrote:This tour may play a part in deciding who replaces Colly in the test team. Hildreth, Bopara, and Taylor are fighting with Eoin Morgan for the one spot.

I've got a feeling that Morgan is a near certainty to bat at six against Sri Lanka in May, but there are still question marks about his record in the longer form of the game.

Taylor's no chance of playing yet.

Dello wrote:

Henry wrote:This tour may play a part in deciding who replaces Colly in the test team. Hildreth, Bopara, and Taylor are fighting with Eoin Morgan for the one spot.

I've got a feeling that Morgan is a near certainty to bat at six against Sri Lanka in May, but there are still question marks about his record in the longer form of the game.

Taylor's no chance of playing yet.

Well he's done pretty well so far. I don't think they would select him for the Lions if there's no chance of him playing for England in the next 12 months.

Henry wrote:

Dello wrote:

Henry wrote:This tour may play a part in deciding who replaces Colly in the test team. Hildreth, Bopara, and Taylor are fighting with Eoin Morgan for the one spot.

I've got a feeling that Morgan is a near certainty to bat at six against Sri Lanka in May, but there are still question marks about his record in the longer form of the game.

Taylor's no chance of playing yet.

Well he's done pretty well so far. I don't think they would select him for the Lions if there's no chance of him playing for England in the next 12 months.

And yet they've also picked Jimmy Adams, Ben Stokes, James Harris, Maurice Chamers, Jade Dirtbag...?

Won't see any of them in an England shirt any time soon.

Henry wrote:Not many West Indian batsmen play spin well. I reckon he'll take a few.

Our guys tend to play well against leg spinners though tbh. It's left arm finger spinners that get the most wickets against us.

Adil Rashid seems to be stuck at this level

Dello wrote:Incidentally, I assume Finn won't be in the party for the "first half of the tour only" (until Woakes joins up) as he's staying on with the ODI squad now T-Brez has snapped.

Nathan Buck has been added to the England Lions squad due to Finn's unavailability.

Buck probably has half a yard more pace than Chris Woakes. I like his attitude and presence whenever i've seen him. Has naturally aggressive body language ala Simon Jones.

England is slipping. Only four OS born players in that lot. 2 Jaaps, 1 WIndian, and a Kiwi. Oh, one Welshman, shame Smerk isn't around to bleat about it.

Henry wrote:Buck probably has half a yard more pace than Chris Woakes. I like his attitude and presence whenever i've seen him. Has naturally aggressive body language ala Simon Jones.

He also has Matthew Hoggard as his mentor.

England Lions played the 2 day warm up match v St Kitts & Nevis
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/498655.html

Eng made 277 (Gale 53, Lyth 45) & 175-2 (Lyth 75* Bopara 57*)

St Kitts bowled out for 89 ( Briggs 3-17, Plunkett 3-31)

Adam Lyth can't stop scoring runs. Matt Prior already makes up the prematurely balding quota in the England team, though.

Another 2 day warm up just ended
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/498751.html

Danny Briggs impressing again 7 for 38. He's very much a Vettori style bowler without the batting potential unforch.

James Taylor made 82 & Jonny Bairstow 81* with 5 sixes.

Don't think St Kitts are up to much and aren't FC so they probably decided England would get more practice for more players with 2 x 2 day games.

Heh, I posted that before reading his crocinfo profile

lists Daniel Vettori as his cricketing hero, having modelled his bowling style on the New Zealand skipper

So the Lions first match is on Friday against Leeward Islands on what is usally an absolute road at Warner Park (also a tiny stadium so mishits often go for 6).

Leeward Islands are notoriously bad against finger spin so if Briggs has anything about him he he will take a few wickets. He doesn't even need to turn it, their batsmen tend to get themselves out playing too aggresively against slow bowling.

Watch out for Devon Thomas, a very impressive young batsman and the West Indies reserve wicket keeper.

All the competing squads have been named. Pick the bones out of them:

WICB regional championship squads:

Barbados: Ryan Hinds (captain), Dale Richards, Kraigg Brathwaite, Jason Haynes, Kirk Edwards, Kevin Stoute, Kyle Hope, Roston Chase, Shamarh Brooks, Shane Dowrich, Jason Holder, Tino Best, Pedro Collins.

Combined Campuses & Colleges: Omar Phillips (captain), Kyle Corbin, Kjorn Ottley, Raymon Reifer, Romel Currency, Floyd Reifer (player/coach), Nkrumah Bonner, Ryan Austin, Kavesh Kantasingh, Carlos Brathwaite, Kevin McClean, Gilford Moore, Shervon Penco.

England Lions: James Hildreth (captain), Jimmy Adams, Jonathan Bairstow, Ravi Bopara, Danny Briggs, Maurice Chambers, Jade Dernbach, Andrew Gale, James Harris, Craig Keiswetter, Adam Lyth, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Ben Stokes, James Taylor, Nathan Buck (for the first two matches), Steven Finn (joins from the third match in place of Buck), Chris Woakes (replaces Finn for the second half of the tournament).

Guyana: Assad Fudadin (captain), Devendra Bishoo, Shemroy Barrington, Ronsford Beaton, Brendon Bess, Rajendra Chandrika, Derwin Christian, Esuan Crandon, Royston Crandon, Steven Jacobs, Leon Johnson, Veerasammy Permaul, Vishaul Singh.

Jamaica: Tamar Lambert (captain), David Bernard Jr, Bevon Brown, Odean Brown, Sheldon Cotterell, Wavell Hinds, Danza Hyatt, Simon Jackson, Brendan Nash, Andrew Richardson, Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor, Chadwick Walton.

Leeward Islands: Steve Liburd (captain), Devon Thomas, Shane Burton, Kieran Powell, Lionel Baker, Anthony Martin, Justin Athanaze, Omari Banks, Kelbert Walters, Montcin Hodge, Jacques Taylor, Gavin Tonge, Tonito Willett.

Trinidad & Tobago: Daren Ganga (captain), Denesh Ramdin, Lendl Simmons, Justin Guillen, Runako Morton, Jason Mohammed, Aneil Kanhai, Imran Khan, Dave Mohammed, Rayad Emrit, Amit Jaggernauth, Shannon Gabriel, Atiba Allert, Sherwin Ganga.*

Windward Islands: Liam Sebastien (captain), Lindon James, Mervin Matthews, Delorn Johnson, Tyrone Theophille, Donwell Hector, Johnson Charles, Kenroy Peters, Gary Mathurin, Keron Cottoy, Keddy Lesporis, Andre Fletcher, Nelon Pascal.

Barbados and Trinidad the sides to beat, by virtue of the fact that I've heard of a couple of their players?

I'd be disappointed if England Lions don't win or finish runners up.

Yes, especially in 4 day cricket

England A came 3rd in this about a decade ago, not sure if WI domestic cricket was stronger then though.

West Indies B v England A: England A won by 224 runs
http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/71/71347.html

Trinidad and Tobago v England A: Draw
http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/71/71377.html

Guyana v England A: Draw
http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/71/71450.html

Barbados v England A: Draw
http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/71/71505.html

Jamaica v England A: England A won by 7 wickets
http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/71/71555.html

Windward Islands v England A: England A won by an innings and 17 runs
http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/71/71614.html

Leeward Islands v England A: Draw
http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/71/71650.html