West Indies v England, 4th Test, Bridgetown - Feb 26-Mar 2

So Flintoff won't be playing. No big surprise.

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/wiveng2009/content/current/story/391713.html

Ian Bell is back - YES!

You probably thought Rasputin was unkillable - he's got nothing on Ian Bell. Ian Bell is da man. Just when you think it's over for him, he gets straight back up and punches you in the eye.

COME ON IAN BELL! YOU DA MAN! YOU GOT IT, BRO! YOU THE KING. YOU GON SAVE THIS SERIES FOR ENGLAND! YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

They'll pick Bopara, won't they? Oh, probably not I guess. Well, we can always hope...

Anything but the Shermanator re-establishing himself and booking his Ashes place with some soft runs that make no difference to the result.

He's a top player but we can't play him if he's going to only be on half rat power.

They'll go with Bell. No way will they play someone from outside of their original pick for the tour.

Clutching at straws a bit I know, but he's a more useful bowler than Bell, could that come into their thoughts?

Possibly, but even as an Essex supporter i'd struggle to see him as anything other than a golden arm 1 or 2 overs bowler at test level

JKLever wrote:Possibly, but even as an Essex supporter i'd struggle to see him as anything other than a golden arm 1 or 2 overs bowler at test level

I'm not suggesting he's anything like a genuine all-rounder, but just offers another option to fill in when we've only got four front-line bowlers, two of which on any given day would probably bowl complete shite. Whether he gives you anything different to Collingwood in that role I'm not sure.

Stop being IanBellist:

Ian Bell - 47 FC wickets @ 32! 32! 32!
Ravi Bopara - 90 FC wickets @ 44! 44! 44!

Ian Bell Economy - 3.31
Ravi Bopara Economy - 3.94

Tell me, why is Ian Bell not England's premier all-rounder with figures like that?

Pick him as a specialist bowler then, bat him at number 10 or 11! He could swap places with Anderson, as they like batting Jimmy up the order so much...

It'll be an interesting side, however they choose to go with it.

They need 20 wickets - they're down in the series - and a side that's going all out for victory tends to play as many bowlers as they can.

There's been some suggestion that Broad might bat seven in a five man attack.

But that's complicated by Swann being a doubt. If he can't play, I wonder if they'll hedge their bets a bit and go for Rashid as their spinner.

They can't have a tail of:

Prior +
Broad
Sidebottom
Anderson
Harmison
Panesar

That's a five out, all out team.

Then there's the issue of Sidebottom's ongoing fitness issues. Will he even play? If not, does that mean we go for two spinners, or debut "Ammi"?

Like I said, it's going be interesting...

But that's complicated by Swann being a doubt.

The pitches at Bridgetown are generally fast and bouncy, but generally favour the batsmen, so hopefully we won't miss having a decent spinner.

Demelza wrote:

But that's complicated by Swann being a doubt.

The pitches at Bridgetown are generally fast and bouncy, but generally favour the batsmen, so hopefully we won't miss having a decent spinner.

The problem is Monty's lack of batting ability though, in terms of the balance of the side, rather than the fact he's bowling crap.

May as well pick Rashid if Swann isn't fit. He can bat as high as six if need be. Assuming Swann doesn't make it-

Strauss(c)
Cook
Shah
Pietersen
Collingwood
Rashid
Prior+
Broad
Sidebottom
Harmison
Anderson

I think Bell will be in, Rashid won't play, Swann or Panesar will play, and either Harmison or Sidebottom will miss out.

England need to win this game. I can't see how Ian Ronald Bell is going to help do this. The guy is a freckle faced shot duck. He deserves a lengthy spell on the sidelines. Consider him again after the Ashes, and a prolific 2009 county season.

He'll be in the side.

I'm expecting England to actually use a four man attack.


Strauss*
Cook
Shah
Pietersen
Bell
Collingwood
Prior+
Broad
Swann
Sidebottom
Anderson

DJ_Smerk wrote:I'm expecting England to actually use a four man attack.


Strauss*
Cook
Shah
Pietersen
Bell
Collingwood
Prior+
Broad
Swann
Sidebottom
Anderson

How will we get 20 wickets with that? We're phucked.

Well, we're playing for a draw aren't we? Strauss and the coaching team will probably settle for a 1-0 series defeat to minimise ranking points damage...

Rob I wrote:

DJ_Smerk wrote:I'm expecting England to actually use a four man attack.


Strauss*
Cook
Shah
Pietersen
Bell
Collingwood
Prior+
Broad
Swann
Sidebottom
Anderson

How will we get 20 wickets with that? We're phucked.

If the pitch looks as if it might have abit of pace and bounce, I would be tempted to play Rashid instead of Bell. A six, seven, eight of Prior, Rashid and Broad ain't so shabby. Not sure about Monty, I wouldn't mind seeing Amjad Khan play.

Windies squad is unchanged forth test.

There could be 2 changes to the final xi though as Lionel Baker has been bowling excellently in domestic cricket and Simmons scored 167 in his last innings.

Basil wrote: I wouldn't mind seeing Amjad Khan play.

Another one sucked in by the 90mph hype!

JKLever wrote:

Basil wrote: I wouldn't mind seeing Amjad Khan play.

Another one sucked in by the 90mph hype!

Anything's got to be better than the tripe we served for most of the last test.

Basil wrote:

JKLever wrote:

Basil wrote: I wouldn't mind seeing Amjad Khan play.

Another one sucked in by the 90mph hype!

Anything's got to be better than the tripe we served for most of the last test.

Let's see if he produces anything worthwhile in this warm up first! Tripe for tripe is not a good swap!

I wonder if Bops will get a start over Bell.