West Indies v England, 1st Test, Kingston, Feb 4-8

TBH i would rather have Bell face the NEW ball than Shah, he(Bell) looks solid

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bell's about as solid as diarhoea

krikri wrote:Bell's about as solid as diarhoea

at least he got out to a spinner

This looks like the perfect opening for an Agatha Christie novel.

Pretty batsman, repeated failure, once lauded and now viscerally hated, turns in another spineless performance and then turns up poisoned in the garden, just before tea and crumpets. Who could the suspects be?

And oh PP, nice woof.

Bell and (for the time being) Cook just have to go now. We need some attacking intent in the top three, particularly with Strauss now much more limited in strokeplay than he used to be and guaranteed his place as captain.

Shah for Bell is obvious, but what other opening options do we have?

beamer wrote:

Shah for Bell is obvious, but what other opening options do we have?

Blob Power!

WIFAN wrote:What the hell has happened to Cook? He looked so good just 2 years ago.

It all went carp when they moved him up to opener.

I'd love Key to come back in the test side but can't see it happening. Vaughan is yesterday's man and the only other name I can think of is Samit Patel, but doubt he's anywhere near ready for test standard. Haven't seen enough of him to make a judgement.

Rob I wrote:

beamer wrote:

Shah for Bell is obvious, but what other opening options do we have?

Blob Power!

He wasn't in the touring party last time I looked, I was thinking for the next three matches, as opposed to the Ashes - but worth thinking ahead as well I suppose.

what a delivery! surely the windies should win from here

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES

What a delivery.

So, if we lose convincingly to what's equivalent to an ordinary county side, will the selectors finally realise there's a problem?

A bigger problem is that there's only one batsman to call on from the backup. Players in reserve are Shah, Swann, Ambrose, Anderson and Rashid. Even the simple task of actually taking a backup opener seems beyond them!

equivalent to an ordinary county side

We are stampeding all over you, and still no respect? Cerry ya rass!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WIFAN wrote:

equivalent to an ordinary county side

We are stampeding all over you, and still no respect? Cerry ya rass!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WI have three players of international quality. Perhaps that makes them slightly better than Direbyshire. But probably not in terms of bowling.

Jerome Taylor is not of international quality?

You sir are an idiot

beamer wrote:So, if we lose convincingly to what's equivalent to an ordinary county side, will the selectors finally realise there's a problem?

Nope. I'm sure their reasoning will be that if Pietersen scores 1 in his second innings and Bell has scored 4, then he must be worth his place for the next match.

strauss gone as well. these are like the 1980s

Well this is fun isn't it?

What say you beamer? Direbyshire bowling that isn't it?

WIFAN wrote:Jerome Taylor is not of international quality?

You sir are an idiot

Average 34. TAYPOC (though not much worse than some of ours I'll admit)

all we need is some blood on the pitch. go windies!! taylor bowling with some real fire

WIFAN wrote:Well this is fun isn't it?

What say you beamer? Direbyshire bowling that isn't it?

Yeah, just minor counties batting making it look good. Actually that's a bit harsh on the minor counties, this is village 3rd XI stuff.

beamer wrote:

WIFAN wrote:Well this is fun isn't it?

What say you beamer? Direbyshire bowling that isn't it?

Yeah, just minor counties batting making it look good. Actually that's a bit harsh on the minor counties, this is village 3rd XI stuff.

So, more or less than 46 anyone? At least that had the excuse of being against Ambrose and Walsh at their peak.

Oh FFS