West Indies v England, 2nd Test, Grenada, 21-25 April, 2015

ATM they're looking good, but as mentioned, very pudding like without the overhead movement

"I've got to cut down
Cut down on my overheads ...
The way things are going now
I'll have to cut down on my butter 'n' bread"
(Champion Jack Dupree)

England's highest opening partnership since Perth 2013. That says it all...

lardbucket wrote:Opening partnership of 50 ... been a while?

Over 18 months and 5 different pairings, apparently.

This is good:

Blah blah blah.....
But are they still the best men for the job? And, most pertinently, are they still the men for the new ball?

England squandered the first new ball in Grenada, just as they squandered it in similarly helpful conditions against India at Lord's. With an opportunity to seize the game and inflict serious damage, England's opening bowlers failed to make the batsmen play: not one ball in Broad's five-over opening spell would have hit the stumps; only three balls in Anderson's seven-over spell would have done so.

Both Broad and Anderson have lost pace in recent times. It is not that they are completely unable to hit high pace; it is that they are unable to sustain it as they once could. Anderson's first spell started with him bowling at 76mph; Broad was - with an average speed of 81.5mph - the slowest of England's four seamers on the first day.

Perhaps for this reason, both men have pulled their length back a little to compensate. While this makes them harder to drive and therefore protects their bowling figures, it also renders them less dangerous. They will gain less swing and they will demand fewer strokes from batsmen. While their figures may appear admirably frugal, it is the wickets column that will always remain most important.

There may be another factor.

England's method over recent years - certainly since the early days of Andy Flower - has been to "bowl dry". That means to make run-saving a priority. While that is an admirable method most of the time in Test cricket - where pitches tend to be flat and patience plays a huge role - there are times when it is not enough.

There are times, with conditions in the bowling side's favour, when you need your opening pair to go for the throat. To aim to destroy. To forget - temporarily - about conceding runs and go on the attack in the knowledge that such opportunities are rare and precious.

Yep.

Hoo dat?

I dunno... George Dobell or some wanker. The author isn't important. The message is.

Watching Cook and Trott bat is painstakingly dull. It's great to see they are determined to play the right brand of cricket.

WI shorn of Taylor look totally unthreatening. By the end of this innings our openers will have stats to indicate to all doubters that they are back to being world class players. Will be interesting to see if this leads to a return of self-belief in their own abilities and a true long-term return to pre-crap form or whether it's a blip and they crumble again when confronted by good fast bowling.

Lindsay no.2 wrote:a true long-term return to pre-crap form or whether it's a blip and they crumble again when confronted by good fast bowling.

Hmmm... I can answer that one

By the way, does anyone know how Taylor picked up his shoulder injury?

Lindsay no.2 wrote:By the way, does anyone know how Taylor picked up his shoulder injury?

Smacking his head in disbelief that he didn't get Trott first ball.

Okay, so perseverance is definitely an achievement.

And beats jelly babies any day.

But someone might want to start to PUSH ON just a little bit now? At the very latest from lunch on this Day 3. Unless a draw really is the limit of ambition.

Playing very much like the Nagpur pitch three years ago. Doubt anyone can do it without taking unworthy risks, especially not two out of form players.

PeterCS wrote:Okay, so perseverance is definitely an achievement.

And beats jelly babies any day.

But someone might want to start to PUSH ON just a little bit now? At the very latest from lunch on this Day 3. Unless a draw really is the limit of ambition.

Surely the draw is England's most optimistic forecast? They've run the data and it says that the best you can hope for if when batting second you don't get in until back end of day 2 is stalemate. The data doesn't take into account the fact that half of the time prior to that was lost to weather and that the oppo made under 300. Why bother with such trivial details like that.

PeterCS wrote:
But someone might want to start to PUSH ON just a little bit now? At the very latest from lunch on this Day 3. Unless a draw really is the limit of ambition.

You'd think. Especially after Shannon gifted England to a 26 run start off 4 overs. Oh well, let's watch England bully a toothless attack on a deady. By 'bully' I mean girly slap the attack, then hide behind the bigger boys.

Hooray - Trott gone, scoring rate to increase as our dynamic no.3 heads to the crease.

Oh hang on...it's Ballance isn't it.

must be lbw

please

no way

hawkeye, horseshit more like.

Gone for 59 off 147 balls... Cook 65 off 180 balls...

By gosh those antipodeans are going to skull-f*ck us mercilessly until we choke to death.

There's no way that ball was hitting that high, surely?

Side on angle makes the trajectory look a lot flatter/lower from the point of pitching to where it hit Cook's pad.

And surely as the ball travels on, loses speed and the effect of the spin/rotation of the ball continues on then the ball flight shoud begin to flatten on/fade as gravity takes effect.

We'll get to see what the more industrious players do now that Cook is gone. But I seriously doubt that anyone cruising at a S/R 55+ will last for too long.

Would be the perfect type of wicket to play Australia on, imo...

ETA: Nice to see Bishoo get a wicket earlier

This is the thing - crabby crab, quick wickets and next thing you know WI are back in the game. Pleased for Gabriel really, he was given a bit of a raw deal yesterday after a nervy start

I have always been loath to criticise gritty batting in tests. My earliest memories are Barrington grinding his way to yet another century but this is bum numbing stuff. Even England of the 60's dropped Barrington for slow scoring in an era of boring cricket but nothing will happen here.

For once I am glad SA is not televising this game.