West Indies v England, Only T20, Port of Spain, March 15th

Without Gayle, the Windies would appear to seriously lack firepower. Oh what the hell, i'll back Egland for this one.

Windies-

Chanderpaul
Fletcher
Sarwan
Simmons
Bravo
Pollard
Ramdin (c)+
Taylor
Benn
Edwards
Baker

Not many out and out hitters there for the Windies. Only Bravo and Pollard have the ability to consistently clear the fence.

England-

Prior+
Bopara
Shah
Pietersen
Strauss(c)
Collingwood
Flintoff
Rashid
Mascharenhas
Broad
Anderson

Fred and Dimi can 'float' in the order depending on the situation. If England get a good start then Strauss shouldn't bat.

Fletcher is a huge hitter of the cricket ball, I would have thought the Stanford series match against Middlesex showed that.

Ramdin is an excellent 20-20 batsman, he is one of those guys that doesn't have to hit sixes to score at a strike rate of 180 - 200.

But obviously Gayle is a big loss as he is probably the biggest hitter in World cricket. I would make England favorites for this but only just.

So KP has said he has felt threatened in SA by the abuse. He'll have to endure more of that next summer.

Hard to make a prediction for T20; it's always a bit of a lottery. Windies are the reigning Stanford Stars though.

KP felt threatened in SA



Kevin Pietersen, ex-Maritzburg College Boy and South African-born, feels as threatened in his former homeland as he does in Pakistan.
Interviewed by softie Paul Kimmage in the London Sunday Times, KP was asked him about the threat of terrorism to international cricket.
Did he feel threatened when he took the England team back to India after the Mumbai attacks? (KP was still captain of England at the time.)
“I’ve never felt threatened in India, so it has not been a problem.”
Did he feel threatened anywhere?
“Emm . . . occasionally in some countries you feel a bit on edge.”
Pakistan?
“Pakistan to a certain degree, yes, definitely . . . Actually, there have been a couple of occasions in South Africa when I’ve felt a bit threatened.”
Really, asked Kimmage, possibly surprised after the Sri Lankan team was attacked by men with guns, an RPG and handgrenades?
“Yeah, certain things that have happened in the last couple of years, nothing serious but things I haven’t been happy about.”
You’re talking about the threat of abuse as against terrorism? asked Kimmage.
“Yeah.”
That must be difficult for you, says the interviewer.
“It’s not great.”

So KP has said he has felt threatened in SA by the abuse. He'll have to endure more of that next summer.

Considering that he hit 3 centuries in 5 games the last time he played there, he's probably hoping it continues.

Collingwood passed fit.

So - at a guess:

Bopara
Strauss*
Shah
Pietersen
Collingwood
Prior+
Mascarenhas
Rashid/Batty
Broad
Khan
Anderson

If batty boy plays I'll scweam and scweam and scweam....

Are we seriously considering giving a gig to Mr No-ball too?

I personally don't care, it's only Twenny20. Even Gareth Batty could not further devalue Twenny20.

Well, now we're so crap at Tests maybe it's time to take this a bit more seriously...

Steve Davies plays! Very Interesting... has Big_Bad_Bob been round for a quiet word with the selectors? Well perhaps not, as Noey Khan't is in as well...

West Indies team
DS Smith, RR Sarwan, LMP Simmons, S Chanderpaul, D Ramdin, FH Edwards, LS Baker, DJ Bravo, ADS Fletcher, DJG Sammy, JE Taylor


England team
AJ Strauss, OA Shah, KP Pietersen, PD Collingwood, SCJ Broad, JM Anderson, GJ Batty, RS Bopara, A Khan, SM Davies, AD Mascarenhas

I sense they're using this as a trial for the JAMODI's to some extent. WI won the toss and put England in, by the way...

Batty & Amjad Khan?

Lowest point for English cricket.... EVER!!!

Broad
Anderson
Khan
Batty
Mascherenhas

Cor, TAYPOC

On a par with that drossy scorecard we looked at the other day.

Davies in? How random...

I guess Strauss is effectively playing as a specialist captain in this, and will only bat if the situation demands it, i.e. if early wickets fall. If they've got wickets in hand late on then surely the likes of Mascarenhas come up the order.

Surprised Prior didn't play as a middle-order batsman even if they wanted to take a look at Davies as keeper and opener. Unless he's injured, or a few forum members managed to get hold of his hotel address...

England predictably fuxcing it up.

Decent enough effort from Interesting... but the $1m man not making much of an impact... and there he goes!

Pietersen sawn off.

What a joke - wouldn't have hit a fourth stump.

Where did they get this umpire from?

Well, the crab was slowing us down anyway...

Dello wrote:What a joke - wouldn't have hit a fourth stump.

Where did they get this umpire from?

Tiffinsville, Ashockaland I presume...

Get him a Hummer out of there.

Dello wrote:What a joke - wouldn't have hit a fourth stump.

Where did they get this umpire from?

I hear he's in talks with the ICC to replace Bucknor.

Will 100-9 be enough?

Shah's been doing a pretty good impression of Bell ever since he replaced him in the Test side.

PeterCS wrote:Will 100-9 be enough?

They'll get that off Noey's first over...