West Indies v England, 2nd Test, North Sound, Feb 13-17

Bell dropped for Shah and Jimmikins in for Harmy

tac wrote:Bell dropped for Shah and Jimmikins in for Harmy

And an in-form Hinds replacing Marshall should shore up the Windies' batting.

About time Bell was flicked.

Interesting Windies electing to field first and what was expected to be a plum batting pitch.

Thank the stars for that, whether or not Shah fails that gutless piece of mediocrity has finally got what he deserves. Vanilla twat.

As for Harmison, people seem to be going overboard. He wasn't great but was hardly shit. Still, Jimbo has done a lot over the last year to warrant selection ahead of Steve, so no real complaints.

Brass Monkey wrote:Thank the stars for that, whether or not Shah fails that gutless piece of mediocrity has finally got what he deserves. Vanilla twat.

As for Harmison, people seem to be going overboard. He wasn't great but was hardly shit. Still, Jimbo has done a lot over the last year to warrant selection ahead of Steve, so no real complaints.

Harmison wasn't as bad as was made out in the last test. Anderson seems to be preferred when there's swing about.

Gayle pulls a Ponting, or Gayle is a genius?

Bell dropped.

Thousands of TV's relieved.

Wrong decision IMHO, should have piled up the runs and let England stew on their last batting disaster.

Woop.

Tinker should have been dropped the best part of 12 months ago.

What a wasted year that was, but at least the little shit's gone now.

Augustus wrote:Gayle pulls a Ponting, or Gayle is a genius?

Maybe just wants to put the side who have just been bowled out for 51 under more pressure straight away.

At least we've made changes.

I think it's madness from Gayle, but I suppose you're right in that he's preying on the psychology of the 51 all-out and saying to the Englishmen 'have another go straightaway.'

It's stupid psychology though, in my opinion. Two days out in the field would be harder to take. The only way I could see England winning was by batting first, by flushing out the demons of the 51ao straightaway, so I think Gayle's been a bit silly, really.

Not that England aren't capable of going one better with a 50ao on a flat pitch, just saying, like...

I hate this stadium, it shouldn't be given tests.

Takes people hours to get into the ground, no music allowed, expensive prices, slow outfield, awful drainage, slow low wicket.

Urgh. Bring on Barbados and a proper wicket and stadium.

JKLever wrote:

Augustus wrote:Gayle pulls a Ponting, or Gayle is a genius?

Maybe just wants to put the side who have just been bowled out for 51 under more pressure straight away.

At least we've made changes.

Was just about to say the same.

Has the possibility of backfiring, but an aggressive move nonetheless given the top three.

The captain's under pressure to turn round his side's fortunes on the back of a couple of personal failures, Alistair Cook has been jumpy about his place given his comments in the media this week, and Shah (as good as a Test debutant given his previous two lone Test matches) could be facing the second ball of the match.

This is farcical. If Sabina Park could have been cancelled all that time ago, then this could well be too.

This looks dangerous to field on. I dread to think of Sidebottom running in on this, will he ever reach the crease?

It's an absolute joke - this ground should never host a Test Match again.

Bring back the ARG.....

Crocinfo: -

Oh dear, that's unfortunate. The shower is sweeping in, and we have a delay. Hopefully it is only a brief interlude. Gnasher, our man on the ground, claims he can see a kid building a sand-castle at fine leg. That's not a kid, it's Ian Bell, who's suddenly got a lot of time on his hands on this trip

Cricinfo is almost tolerable when Andrew McGlashan is providing the commentary.

You wait, it will take them 30 mins to get us restarted even though it only rained for 10 mins.

"Another aborted attempt at a run-up. Edwards finds his boots are sinking into the quicksand, and he pulls up short of the crease"

Oh good...

I am guessing i can skip this test simply because its in Antigua

This is awful. Dread to think when Broad and Anderson run in.

lmao, what a farce.

Antigua should be denied test cricket for a number of years.

This may well be abandoned.

I can see this being abandoned. Terrible just terrible. You know your in trouble when the curators get it wrong.


Sand on the run up, ffs. There should be stricter guidelines in preparing a cricket pitch. I believe in stadiums having character, but when the "character" becomes unplayable, then you've got to question if everything is organised with the right protocal in place.

Match Abandoned, lets move to Barbados.

WIFAN wrote:Antigua should be denied test cricket for a number of years.

This may well be abandoned.

They should forget this stadium. The World Cup was in 2007. If they still can't get it right then just go back to the ARG. At least that ground has history and character. Also seemed to recover from a rain delay in reasonable time and had an outfield that wasn't a serious injury risk.