England v West Indies, 1st Test, Lords, 17-21 May, 2012

We have a very slack Mod.

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:And can't believe the Fiddler is still getting picked after all these years of;

Gash, gash, gash, gash, jaffer, gash, gash, jaffer, gash, gash etc.

May as well recall Tino Best and Colly.

Tino Best has never bowled a jaffer in his life.

Henry wrote:I can't believe Sarwan isn't in their squad, to be honest. Almost 100 tests and an average around 40 is not a record the Windies can afford to ignore, imo.

Yup, Crazy.

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:And can't believe the Fiddler is still getting picked after all these years of;

Gash, gash, gash, gash, jaffer, gash, gash, jaffer, gash, gash etc.

May as well recall Tino Best and Colly.

Settle down ... Best was a joke, but Colly was OK.

One feels Colly would've fared better in a better team. He was a one man attack for the entirety of his international career.

Brass Monkey wrote:One feels Colly would've fared better in a better team. He was a one man attack for the entirety of his international career.

I have never seen a bowler beat the outside edge more than Corey, particularly against England. If he could have just moved his length forward a touch he would have been so good. His back injury was also a massive shame because when he was in his early 20's he was a tearaway fast bowler who could move the ball both ways. Shame.

Oh well, we have a decent pace bowling attack nowadays anyway so I won't complain too much.

WIFAN wrote:
I have never seen a bowler beat the outside edge more than Corey, particularly against England. If he could have just moved his length forward a touch he would have been so good. His back injury was also a massive shame because when he was in his early 20's he was a tearaway fast bowler who could move the ball both ways. Shame.

Oh well, we have a decent pace bowling attack nowadays anyway so I won't complain too much.

Agreed, he was an unlucky bowler. He did beat the bat plenty and had a few dropped as well. His worst portion of luck was the fact he had to bowl in the most difficult of times and on shirtfronts not seen around the Windies for the last couple of years.

He still managed a low 30's average, which is quite decent.

Thought he was going to have a long career (did well-ish versus Pak, Aus & Ind) but tailed off a little.

Yep agreed. He always used to kill teams at Sabina Park, which for a good 3/4 years was the only seam bowler friendly pitch in the Caribbean.

He will make an excellent bowling coach when he does retire, he spent much of his time teaching Taylor, Fidel and Pedro Collins what to do at the point of release etc.

Where is Taylor? I've missed him.

Is it still boggy and raining?

tricycle wrote:Is it still boggy and raining?

It was about 6 °C here today (70 miles from the venue), mad rain and wind.

Bad times.

Not good. I'll be missing the last half of the match, even if it takes place, anyway.

The forecast isn't bad for Thursday... maybe some rain around lunch. It could be a little soggy from previous days, but Lord's is one of the best at keeping their turf drained...

Hopefully, the outfield didn't seem very good in that pro40 match recently though. Still should be in better condition.

Brass Monkey wrote:Where is Taylor? I've missed him.

Playing league cricket in the US last time I heard. He wasn't picked for Jamaica because he wasn't fit and because they already have Richardson, Santokie, Cotterell and Andre Russell to pick from.

As to why he is not being treated by the WICB physio or playing A team cricket to get fit I have no idea. He was always regarded as lazy in terms of fitness. Because Otis has decreed that you have to be able to bench press an ridiculous weight to be eligible for selection if your name is not Chanderpaul, I don't see him returning anytime soon which is a massive shame.

That's a shame. I had high hopes. If here were an England player (i.e. Onions) I'm sure the ECB would have had a bigger part to play in his rehab.

So Bairstow due to make an England test debut.
Windies going for all out pace after the Shillingford/Samuels debacle against the Lions.
Darren Bravo pulling in all the interest for this touring WI side.

As long as it's better than the chilly, subdued and unenthusiastic encounter of 2009, then I can't wait to watch.

Darren Sammy needs to pull something special out of the bag. Otherwise it'll be just another loss for the WI, while England will push onto bigger fish.

of course the Poms are the whale at the top of the food chain atm

Brass Monkey wrote:

WIFAN wrote:
I have never seen a bowler beat the outside edge more than Corey, particularly against England. If he could have just moved his length forward a touch he would have been so good. His back injury was also a massive shame because when he was in his early 20's he was a tearaway fast bowler who could move the ball both ways. Shame.

Oh well, we have a decent pace bowling attack nowadays anyway so I won't complain too much.

Agreed, he was an unlucky bowler. He did beat the bat plenty and had a few dropped as well. His worst portion of luck was the fact he had to bowl in the most difficult of times and on shirtfronts not seen around the Windies for the last couple of years.

He still managed a low 30's average, which is quite decent.

Thought he was going to have a long career (did well-ish versus Pak, Aus & Ind) but tailed off a little.

Collymore was a legend at Sabina Park. Average anywhere else.

So, about 24 hours to go. Hopefully it's many, many hours (perhaps into the later Tests) before the contest becomes NOT a contest.

Having just watched Sunil Narine completely bamboozle one of the best players of spin the game has ever seen, I'm rather annoyed that he won't be facing England tomorrow, as I'm pretty sure he would have had them for breakfast. The guy is exceptional, I can't wait to have him in the test side to complement our pacers.

Granted even with him we probably wouldnt have enough runs on the board to actually win but it would have been extremely interesting, even in these early season conditions.

A full strength West Indies XI (having to include Sammy though):

Gayle
Barath/Powell
Edwards
Bravo
Chanderpaul
Sarwan
Ramdin
Sammy
Roach
Rampaul
Narine

That right there is a quality team that would be capable of winning test matches IMHO. I hope I get to see it soon.

I don't expect the WI to cope with the England bowlers in these conditions but I think they can be competitive against our batsmen. The big thing for them will be finishing the tail off, they are forever getting the opposition 5 or 6 down only for them to add another 150+.

So it's been pretty wet in Engulund? Juicy decks in the first couple of Tests? 3 dayers, perhaps?

skully wrote:So it's been pretty wet in Engulund? Juicy decks in the first couple of Tests? 3 dayers, perhaps?

Warmest March on record followed by the wettest April on record.

Think the Lords pitch will play well as always with no demons. Tis all about the overhead conditions.

gotta love the bizarre quality of global weather patterns