Calypso Kings v Collapse-o Kings

[crabis]

That was a sign at the WI vs England test match which was pretty good - especially since England are now 26-7 and still 20 short of reaching their lowest score EVER in a test match.

And also on course for an innings defeat - great viewing.

[Part/Time Supporter]

England 27/7

[robinp]

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England 27/7

[robinp]

now 30-7

[crash]

England all out for 51

[Mikey]

Jings! That's astonishing.

And rather funny

[Doddie]

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Jings! That's astonishing.

And rather funny

Hilarious, actually.

The Australians are here in the summer?




Oh dear.

[robinp]

Bump


Day 1 abandoned after 10 balls - the ground is a health and safety hazard. They are currently looking for another ground ASAP - the sand is 3 inches deep.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cric...nd/7886840.stm

[DaveF]

Never mind the farce in Antigua, check out the BBC's excellent cricket archive of some real WI legends.

This one is of the late, great Malcolm Marshall who tragically died at the age of 41 from cancer.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/7843408.stm

[Joe's ice cream]

Its a flat pitch for the 3rd Test ( 2nd was rather a short one!!)

Got to admit that it's a hell of a come back so far by England, currently 262-1

Also got to be one of the best places to go to an away fixture, def seems to be thousands of English fans over there

[GhostofBolivar]

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Its a flat pitch for the 3rd Test ( 2nd was rather a short one!!)

Got to admit that it's a hell of a come back so far by England, currently 262-1

Also got to be one of the best places to go to an away fixture, def seems to be thousands of English fans over there

The Recreation Ground in Antigua is notorious as being probably the flattest track in international cricket. It's where Brian Lara scored his 375 and 400. The test's most likely to be a draw.

[DaveF]

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The Recreation Ground in Antigua is notorious as being probably the flattest track in international cricket. It's where Brian Lara scored his 375 and 400. The test's most likely to be a draw.

A lot depends on how WI bat.

They are easily capable of being rolled over for under 200 in each innings and you have to fancy England to be over 500 at the end of today if Pietersen starts belting it all over the shop - as I reckon he will.

[Doddie]

46 overs to go, 6 wickets to fall. Sarwan gone.

Hmmm. It's all on Chanderpaul....

[Doddie]

Chanderpaul out 55.

Looking much more like England....

[DaveF]

Ramdin and Benn in now.

They have an hour to see out if they can.

[Doddie]

23 overs.

3 wickets standing.

Good finish.

Ramdin gone. 21 overs. All over.

[Doddie]

Wheee-oooooh!

What a finish. Well done the tail-enders.

[Danderhall Hibs]

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Wheee-oooooh!

What a finish. Well done the tail-enders.

Did you want the West Indies to win?

This is the kind of result that makes cricket seem strange to folk that don't watch it - having played for 5 days, England have scored more runs and taken more wickets but still only draw?!

[Doddie]

On balance - yes.

But I tend to back the batsmen in a situation like that - tail-enders having to do what they're not good at to save the game.

And I have the feeling that England have been taking this series a little too lightly - almost as a 'useful warm-up' for the Ashes and nothing much more.

So now they know - 1-0 down, two to play, and we have a series.

[Danderhall Hibs]

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On balance - yes.

But I tend to back the batsmen in a situation like that - tail-enders having to do what they're not good at to save the game.

And I have the feeling that England have been taking this series a little too lightly - almost as a 'useful warm-up' for the Ashes and nothing much more.

So now they know - 1-0 down, two to play, and we have a series.

It's only a 4 match series though isn't it? They binned the 2nd test.

Listening to Sir Beefy just now - quite scathing of a few of Strauss' decisions.

[Doddie]

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It's only a 4 match series though isn't it? They binned the 2nd test.

Listening to Sir Beefy just now - quite scathing of a few of Strauss' decisions.

Nope - 4th Test Barbados 26 February to 2 March, and 5th Test Trinidad 6-10 March.

As for Lord Beefy of Shredded Wheat - he wasn't exactly the most successful with his decisions when HE was captain, hm?

I find it amazing that The Great Man himself, Sir Viv Richards, the man with ice-water in his veins when batting, was totally off his seat watching that finish.

Hope Pieterson's hand's OK.

[Danderhall Hibs]

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Nope - 4th Test Barbados 26 February to 2 March, and 5th Test Trinidad 6-10 March.

As for Lord Beefy of Shredded Wheat - he wasn't exactly the most successful with his decisions when HE was captain, hm?

I find it amazing that The Great Man himself, Sir Viv Richards, the man with ice-water in his veins when batting, was totally off his seat watching that finish.

Hope Pieterson's hand's OK.

I know they're calling them the 4th and 5th tests but they didn't play the 2nd test did they?

I don't know much about Beefy's captaincy but didn't he get the captaincy at a bad time for English cricket (they have more of them than good!)?

I can see what he was saying about Strauss though - why the need to keep going for 500 and why have the night-watchman in - he just wasted time that they could've done with tonight.

Looked a sore one for Pietersen - hopefully he's ok though he's brilliant to watch when he's in full flow.

[Doddie]

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I know they're calling them the 4th and 5th tests but they didn't play the 2nd test did they?

I don't know much about Beefy's captaincy but didn't he get the captaincy at a bad time for English cricket (they have more of them than good!)?

I can see what he was saying about Strauss though - why the need to keep going for 500 and why have the night-watchman in - he just wasted time that they could've done with tonight.

Looked a sore one for Pietersen - hopefully he's ok though he's brilliant to watch when he's in full flow.

Beefy wasn't the most successful of captains - I think they gave it to him too early, and maybe he wasn't the right man for the job anyway.

On the other hand, he captained the side 12 times, with 8 draws and four losses, and 9 (NINE) of those matches were against the Windies in the days when Greenidge and Haynes and Richards and Kallicharan and Clive Lloyd and Larry Gomes and Malcolm Marshall and Colin Croft and Andy Roberts and Big Bird and Whispering Death were playing. He didn't captain England against New Zealand, or India, or Pakistan.

Oh, yes, AND the other three were against the Australians.

So you could say he got a raw deal.

And I guess you'd be right.

So I withdraw the comment.

And yes, come to think of it, there IS a scent of missed opportunities about this match - even if they'd got on with the last innings a bit quicker, they might have got in the last four overs. One ball was all it would have taken to win the match.

And he's right about the nightwatchman.

Make your runs as quick as you can, bowl 'em out as cheaply as you can, and if you get the chance, make 'em follow on.

[GhostofBolivar]

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It's only a 4 match series though isn't it? They binned the 2nd test.

Listening to Sir Beefy just now - quite scathing of a few of Strauss' decisions.

They binned the 2nd test and added a fifth. So they're still playing the same number of matches.

[GhostofBolivar]

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On balance - yes.

But I tend to back the batsmen in a situation like that - tail-enders having to do what they're not good at to save the game.

And I have the feeling that England have been taking this series a little too lightly - almost as a 'useful warm-up' for the Ashes and nothing much more.

So now they know - 1-0 down, two to play, and we have a series.

A nice little holiday to play themselves into form before the serious business of the summer comes along.

In fact, I'd go further. Since the Ashes win of 2005, the England team seem to have been overtaken by a tremendous sense of entitlement. They seem to believe that, having scaled the mountain once, they can afford to sit back. There seems to be none of the hunger and desire to remain on top that drives great teams - Steve Waugh's Australia, for instance.

Even after the disaster in Australia - a series where England had chances to win before imploding messily - they seem to regard the fact they won in 2005 as enough. The adulation, awards and sponsorships they garnered from triumph have persuaded them that, having ascended the summit, they will always stay there, when the four years since then have shown that their tenure was noticably brief and has been superceded by hungrier and better run teams.

To my mind the selectors, management and players have displayed a tremendous complacency regarding the health of the team. Without going into the ridiculous era of the Pietersen captaincy, it's clear that the board lack a clear picture of how the setup of the future will look. Strauss seems to have been given the captaincy by default - not because he's the best man for the job, but because he's the only man. Not to mention that four months away from an Ashes series, they have no coach.

Since the last Ashes series, results and form have slipped towards mediocrity. They have beaten teams like New Zealand and the West Indies, but lost at home to India and South Africa and away to Sri Lanka and India. Yet the team is not held accountable for poor performance. The same team is rolled out again and again with only injury and the troublesome wicketkeeping position forcing changes. Drops in form that would see players banished to domestic cricket in Australia, India or South Africa are forgiven in England so the team can have continuity.

Ian Bell and Alistair Cook have been given more chances to come good than Pete Doherty, despite their form and mental strength seeming coming under increasing suspicion. Andrew Strauss has deeply flawed technique, yet continues to get himself out driving at wide-ish deliverys, which shows either an unwillingness to work at his batting, or an absence of the iron discipline which saw Steve Waugh refuse to pull or hook the ball during the latter stages of his career. Harmison looks flat out terrible. No rythym, no threat and ever since that wide against Australia in 2007 he seems shorn of all confidence. And there are now deep concerns as to whether Monty Panesar can ever become the sort of match winner he once showed the promise of becoming, with most commentators unhopeful at best.

There's every chance they can beat Australia this summer. The Australians are obviously in decline and don't seem to have a new generation of test-quality players to call on. But I do feel that England will have to work a lot harder and show a lot more self awareness than they have done of late to do so.

They could do worse than look at how the West Indies have approached this series - a sense of collective responsibility and pride taken from knowing that they may be beaten, but at the very least, the opposition will have to earn victory. Right now, good teams don't have to work hard to beat England.

[Doddie]

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A nice little holiday to play themselves into form before the serious business of the summer comes along.

In fact, I'd go further. Since the Ashes win of 2005, the England team seem to have been overtaken by a tremendous sense of entitlement. They seem to believe that, having scaled the mountain once, they can afford to sit back. There seems to be none of the hunger and desire to remain on top that drives great teams - Steve Waugh's Australia, for instance.

Even after the disaster in Australia - a series where England had chances to win before imploding messily - they seem to regard the fact they won in 2005 as enough. The adulation, awards and sponsorships they garnered from triumph have persuaded them that, having ascended the summit, they will always stay there, when the four years since then have shown that their tenure was noticably brief and has been superceded by hungrier and better run teams.

To my mind the selectors, management and players have displayed a tremendous complacency regarding the health of the team. Without going into the ridiculous era of the Pietersen captaincy, it's clear that the board lack a clear picture of how the setup of the future will look. Strauss seems to have been given the captaincy by default - not because he's the best man for the job, but because he's the only man. Not to mention that four months away from an Ashes series, they have no coach.

Since the last Ashes series, results and form have slipped towards mediocrity. They have beaten teams like New Zealand and the West Indies, but lost at home to India and South Africa and away to Sri Lanka and India. Yet the team is not held accountable for poor performance. The same team is rolled out again and again with only injury and the troublesome wicketkeeping position forcing changes. Drops in form that would see players banished to domestic cricket in Australia, India or South Africa are forgiven in England so the team can have continuity.

Ian Bell and Alistair Cook have been given more chances to come good than Pete Doherty, despite their form and mental strength seeming coming under increasing suspicion. Andrew Strauss has deeply flawed technique, yet continues to get himself out driving at wide-ish deliverys, which shows either an unwillingness to work at his batting, or an absence of the iron discipline which saw Steve Waugh refuse to pull or hook the ball during the latter stages of his career. Harmison looks flat out terrible. No rythym, no threat and ever since that wide against Australia in 2007 he seems shorn of all confidence. And there are now deep concerns as to whether Monty Panesar can ever become the sort of match winner he once showed the promise of becoming, with most commentators unhopeful at best.

There's every chance they can beat Australia this summer. The Australians are obviously in decline and don't seem to have a new generation of test-quality players to call on. But I do feel that England will have to work a lot harder and show a lot more self awareness than they have done of late to do so.

They could do worse than look at how the West Indies have approached this series - a sense of collective responsibility and pride taken from knowing that they may be beaten, but at the very least, the opposition will have to earn victory. Right now, good teams don't have to work hard to beat England.

Not a lot of that about yesterday....