West Indies v England, 1st Test, Bridgetown, 24-28 January, 2019

beamer wrote:Has there ever been a wicketless day of Test cricket in which both sides batted, before this?

Probably. Skully or jgk will know.

I expect Skully's great grandchild, an absolute nerd cricket nut like his ancestor, will have a trivia quizz involving this match.

beamer wrote:Absolutely shameful, throwing in the towel against a couple of tailenders.

“Best all-rounder in the world”, Athers (re. Holder)? He’s no more an all-rounder than Stuart Broad. Noddy Holder himself would have made a century today. Every single one of this shower of shite needs dropping for the next Test to send out a message.

Why is it that every time we go to the Caribbean, they think they only have to turn up in order to win? We’ve had some pathetic capitulations over the years, but I can’t think of a worse single Test performance than this, taking account of the standard of the opposition.

You're seriously underestimating the West Indians.

Holder is a far better batsman than Broad ever was, let alone the tailender he became after breaking his nose. Shakib remains the best all rounder in cricket imo, but consistently averaging 30 with the bat and having a 20s bowling average, tending lower in the past 2 years, definitely puts Holder in consideration for one of the best all rounder right now.

beamer wrote:Has there ever been a wicketless day of Test cricket in which both sides batted, before this?

Not that I can find, beams. Crikey, what a knock by Holder. Highest ever no. 8 score in a team’s 2nd innings.

Cricinfo said it happened in this match but that it's the only other occasion:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/17251/scorecard/63082/west-indies-vs-new-zealand-4th-test-new-zealand-tour-of-west-indies-1971-72

Source:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283079.html

Holder, let's face it is an alright player, good but not great with the ball, same with the willow. Mr.T he's the best all-rounder in world cricket this week, i m h o.
I would love someone to tell me their thoughts on quite how a team can be 77 all gone on a track that looked like a minefield and then a team ranked as one of the worst in international test cricket can get 600+ ahead declared, with the 7th wicket putting on a faintly ludicrous 295. What the actual feck happened unless the pitch was changed somehow, just maybe?

Some perspective. West Indies are rated EIGHTH in the test table, way behind 7th place Pakistan on points (who have been poor in tests for a while) and just a SINGLE point (!!!) above Bangladesh FGS, so safe to say WI's test performances have been largely garbage for a long time.
Holder? He's not rated as high in the rankings as the bits and pieces man that is Jadeja, a good player but no Botham, Hadlee, Kallis or even Flintoff.
England need to be worried about the old enemy coming up. I said a while ago i see Australia winning here and they will, even though several people said it's a home win all the way. With the abject display we've just seen, a team that is hopelessly out of all logical make up and with the 2 main Aussie players returning with plenty to prove and plenty to pay back to their fans i see us losing or possibly drawing (weather, etc.) without any doubt at all. In fact the odds are generous in my view so i am slinging £1,000 on Aus to retain the ashes.

Did Athers really call England a 'shower of shite'?

I reckon the Poms will give this a shake.

whitburn wrote:Some perspective. West Indies are rated EIGHTH in the test table, way behind 7th place Pakistan on points (who have been poor in tests for a while) and just a SINGLE point (!!!) above Bangladesh FGS, so safe to say WI's test performances have been largely garbage for a long time.
Holder? He's not rated as high in the rankings as the bits and pieces man that is Jadeja, a good player but no Botham, Hadlee, Kallis or even Flintoff.
England need to be worried about the old enemy coming up. I said a while ago i see Australia winning here and they will, even though several people said it's a home win all the way. With the abject display we've just seen, a team that is hopelessly out of all logical make up and with the 2 main Aussie players returning with plenty to prove and plenty to pay back to their fans i see us losing or possibly drawing (weather, etc.) without any doubt at all. In fact the odds are generous in my view so i am slinging £1,000 on Aus to retain the ashes.

Not disagreeing with any of the first paragraph. They're on par with Bangladesh, can beat teams at home and are almost exclusively crap away from home.

That said, their bowling and a couple of individuals are very good. Point was made about Holder being a similar allrounder to Broad. Holder's a better batsman than even peak batting Broad (2010 or so), but definitely worse a bowler. He's a better allrounder than the post nose busted Broad. Also fwiw, I don't believe any one of the current allrounders come close to the 80s peak or Kallis.

None of that takes away from England's crapulence in this match.

Fred Nerk wrote:Did Athers really call England a 'shower of shite'?

The only bit attributed to him was the “best all-rounder in the world” re. Noddy, which is why I put it in quotes... shower of shite was my own description, though wish the pundits would be that brutal on occasions (Bob Willis often is, as far as you can be without effing and jeffing...)

Say what you like about Burns' set up, but he invariably brings the bat down straight.

Horrible shot by Jennings.How much longer do we have to put up with this muppet at the top of the order?

Basil wrote:Horrible shot by Jennings.How much longer do we have to put up with this muppet at the top of the order?

Well, they’re struggling for alternatives. I still say we should try picking an all-rounder or one-day opener up there, with licence to have a slog. Some days they would get out early (as our conventional openers usually do anyway). On others they would have us on 80-0 after 10 overs and the slip cordon scattered in the deep. It could revolutionise Test cricket.

At least one opener is cementing his place, so something positive to take from this game.

I would give Jason Roy a go. He could hardly do worse.

Yeah, either him or one of the all-rounders/keeper-batsmen. Tell them to pretend the ball is white and that they’re setting the team up for 400 off 50 overs.

There's always Ollie Pope, he seems a fairly decent technique.

Stokes looks out of sorts.

Root gone, caught At slip. The fat lady is leaving her hotel.

Basil wrote:Stokes looks out of sorts.

At least he’s shown he has the application to stick around when he’s not in fluent form, unlike a few others.

Mo out, another shoite shot.

i see the Poms have just lost 3/3... Chase has 5 wickets.

Six wickets for the non-spinning spinner Royston Chasey. Has to be one of England’s worst single Test performances of all time. If this was 1989 we would see six changes after this. I wish they would do exactly that, to send out a message that if these players want to feature in the Ashes, or even the World Cup, they can’t produce this sort of crap.

I feel sorry for the 8,000 England supporters who had paid to watch this bollocks.

So, yesterday we let a tailender get a double century, today we let a part-time slow bowler get eight wickets with better figures than Shane Warne ever managed.

Send every one of these qunts home. Bring back Ian Bell. Bring back KP, Cook, Trott... or just let 11 of the Barmy Army play the next one, they would have more ****** pride in the shirt. Tell them all they will only be considered for the Ashes (and even the World Cup, for those in the JAMODI setup) if they get tough runs and wickets in County Championship games in freezing April. This tour is not a holiday, but they sure treat it as one, in the 20 years that WI have been shite we’ve only beaten them once over there.

Basil wrote:Mo out, another shoite shot.

And bags a pair too.

Well done Windies. What is it about England in the Caribbean?

Amazing a part-time spinner can wreak such havoc!