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

England Test squad: Joe Root (captain), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Ben Foakes, Keaton Jennings, Jack Leach, Adil Rashid, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes.

Poms should win this 3 Test series in a canter.

Word is that we're playing Moeen as the lone frontline spinner.

by the way, has the ECB completed and announced its findings on the Stokes affair?

horace wrote:by the way, has the ECB completed and announced its findings on the Stokes affair?

Both Stokes and Hales have been fined but no other sanctions.

What is the trophy for this series called?  The Billy Wilberforce Cup?

Wisden

Windies quicks to trouble our top 4 as the one downside to what should be a strong England showing.

Broad dropped. First England team to pick more wicketkeepers than bowlers?

First session to WI

An early first take on this match. England seem to have the bowling totally wrong. After 42 overs Curran, picked as a strike bowler, has only bowled 5.

taipan wrote:An early first take on this match. England seem to have the bowling totally wrong. After 42 overs Curran, picked as a strike bowler, has only bowled 5.

Aye Taips. Has bowled 10 now. Windies 3/160 odd. At least one of the Windies bats needs to make a big ton here.

Have not got Foxy here. I guess the Bridgeton Pitch is rather flat.

Great England come back by the old master Anderson with help from the fiery Stokes. Windies made 24-4 at the end of the day. I don't get Broad being left out. Why on EARTH do we need 2 spinners on that deck? We can't fit 2 spinners into what is a weirdly balanced 11 without dropping a front line batsman (maybe not such a bad idea going by the past year or so) or leaving out Broad or Curran. For me they both play and Ali or Rashid miss out. Anyway honours even for me after day one. What do you say Mr. Taipan?

The end for Sturat??

Looks like the Windies failed to capitalise on numerous good starts. Bit like Aus v India really.

At 4-240, the Ganjas would've been chuffed. Enter Jimmeh!!

Good post W. Jimmy remains my most admired Pomgolians cricketer this century. He just never stops trying, be it in BanIndia, Oz or WI. He is always competitive. I think the pressure he applied created wickets for others, inc Lady Di Broad.

After Steyn and maybe McGrath, Jimmeh is the next best quick this century.

whitburn wrote:Great England come back by the old master Anderson with help from the fiery Stokes. Windies made 24-4 at the end of the day. I don't get Broad being left out. Why on EARTH do we need 2 spinners on that deck? We can't fit 2 spinners into what is a weirdly balanced 11 without dropping a front line batsman (maybe not such a bad idea going by the past year or so) or leaving out Broad or Curran. For me they both play and Ali or Rashid miss out. Anyway honours even for me after day one. What do you say Mr. Taipan?

I am an admirer of Sam Curran but he is probably 2 yards short to get the new ball. Do England actually need two "specialist" spinners when Root can do a job? They seem to be anticipating a top order failure by shoehorning as many batsmen as possible into the team.

I would have England slightly ahead at this stage.

taipan wrote:

whitburn wrote:Great England come back by the old master Anderson with help from the fiery Stokes. Windies made 24-4 at the end of the day. I don't get Broad being left out. Why on EARTH do we need 2 spinners on that deck? We can't fit 2 spinners into what is a weirdly balanced 11 without dropping a front line batsman (maybe not such a bad idea going by the past year or so) or leaving out Broad or Curran. For me they both play and Ali or Rashid miss out. Anyway honours even for me after day one. What do you say Mr. Taipan?

I am an admirer of Sam Curran but he is probably 2 yards short to get the new ball. Do England actually need two "specialist" spinners when Root can do a job? They seem to be anticipating a top order failure by shoehorning as many batsmen as possible into the team.

I would have England slightly ahead at this stage.

Prolly right Fails, though as you say let's see how the other team bats on the pitch. Think this generally safe, other than when Oz are playing, when it is a road for them and minefield for us.

taipan wrote:

I am an admirer of Sam Curran but he is probably 2 yards short to get the new ball. Do England actually need two "specialist" spinners when Root can do a job? They seem to be anticipating a top order failure by shoehorning as many batsmen as possible into the team.

I would have England slightly ahead at this stage.

I think 2 yards is a bit harsh tbh!.
We both agree 2 spinners is a daft idea on that surface. It would be different if one of them was absolutely top notch in which case (like Warne) you play him every game even when opposition teams make it as spin un-friendly as possible and if the other one is a genuine all rounder, but neither of our fellas quite count as that so i was surprised Broady missed out. He surely will return for test 2? On reflection yeah as long as the tail doesn't wag too viciously England probably are just in front. But then we do have our ''top four''!

The atmosphere at the ground yesterday felt bland as english cuisine. Could well have been birmingham instead of barbados but for the beautiful weather.

Windies should be disappointed. Their batting line up is capable of much more than this.

Aditya wrote:The atmosphere at the ground yesterday felt bland as english cuisine. Could well have been birmingham instead of barbados but for the beautiful weather.

Windies should be disappointed. Their batting line up is capable of much more than this.

You are forgetting our famous top order which recently would struggle against Durham's second string attack.
40-3 and almost 300 is looking like plenty from where i am, albeit 2,400 miles away.

whitburn wrote:Windies quicks to trouble our top 4 as the one downside to what should be a strong England showing.

FFS 48-4 and people try and tell me the 3 Australian pacers won't bash us up in the Ashes? They'll kill our top order.

OMG 50-7. Looks like it's a 150 pitch that we simply had the wrong attack for. I said Broad should have played and if he had done i'm sure they'd have been under 200 all out.
Congratulations however to the Windies for getting the runs and then exposing our top order for the p*ss weak gathering it has been for a long time. You can only play what's in front of you.
All rounders and wicket keepers cannot keep saving a side, runs have to come from 1-5.

Just got home and it's 49-7.

Might just get past the follow on but it wouldn't be enforced anyway.

The balance of the team was wrong as we said earlier.

61-8 and only Rashid looking them straight in the eye and serving up some courage.
Roach is hardly Anderson or Steyn yet look how this post-30 year old is chewing us up. He hasn't even got as many wickets as M Panesar yet!

77 all out. Why was our attack so harmless for such long periods if the pitch is a minefield as just described on the radio?

Because we played spinners and slingy seamers instead of height and bounce, which is clearly what works on this pitch.

No excuse for batting like that against what is basically just the equivalent of a half decent county attack though. No proper warm-up match and we’ve once again lost a match, and probably the chance of winning a series, in one session.