**Official** West Indies in England Thread

[Craig]

Series begins in two weeks time.

Predications please?

England 2-1.

England win at Lords, West Indies fight back and in Edgbatson, and in typical Greater Manchester weather it pours down with rain and the third Test at Old Trafford ends in a draw, and England win at The Oval.

I think Tino Best and Steve Harmison (barring injury) will be the two leading wicket takers with Harmison finishing on top of the wicket takers list.

[Adamc]

Originally Posted by Craig

Series begins in two weeks time.

Predications please?

England 2-1.

England win at Lords, West Indies fight back and in Edgbatson, and in typical Greater Manchester weather it pours down with rain and the third Test at Old Trafford ends in a draw, and England win at The Oval.

I think Tino Best and Steve Harmison (barring injury) will be the two leading wicket takers with Harmison finishing on top of the wicket takers list.

Windies to win at least one.
Lara to pass 10,000 runs at Lords, Tino Best to get alot of wickets, Sarwan alot of runs. Harmison to get hammered at least once.

[Craig]

IMO he will get at Lords in the Wi first innings.

[Revelation]

ENGLAND 3-0. I really don't see anything changing with the Test team and one has to remember that Tests are a 5 day affair, not a 50 over affair. WI will be hammered. I am preparing for that. What i would like to see is some improvement. That said, i won't mind at least one WI victory. Lara is 170 runs from 10,000. I think he wants a century at Lords badly. Whether or not he will get it or get to 10,000 there it's left to be seen, but i think 10,000 by the 2nd Test (unless WI pull some major surprises and win the first two by an innings )

[Adamc]

Originally Posted by Craig

IMO he will get at Lords in the Wi first innings.

So he's going to score 170 in the first innings? Even I'm not that optimistic.

[garage flower]

Originally Posted by Revelation

ENGLAND 3-0. I really don't see anything changing with the Test team and one has to remember that Tests are a 5 day affair, not a 50 over affair. WI will be hammered. I am preparing for that. What i would like to see is some improvement.

I think a comfortable England win is the most realistic result. If Windies get a draw out of the series I'd say it would be their best series result since drawing at home to the Aussies.

I agree that what's important is that there are clear signs of improvement, such as; more intelligent batting, more consistent bowling and committed fielding.

Preferred 1st test team would be:

C Gayle
De Smith
Lara
Sarwan
Chanderpaul
Bravo
Banks
Jacobs
Best
Collins
Edwards (if fit) or Lawson

[Craig]

Originally Posted by Adamc

So he's going to score 170 in the first innings? Even I'm not that optimistic.

Yes.

Hey I once predicated Fidel Edwards would take five wickets on his ODI debut and not concede not a lot of runs!

[Andre]

Originally Posted by Craig

Yes.

Hey I once predicated Fidel Edwards would take five wickets on his ODI debut and not concede not a lot of runs!

That was against Zimbabwe, nostrodamus.

[wpdavid]

Originally Posted by Craig

Series begins in two weeks time.

Predications please?

England 2-1.

England win at Lords, West Indies fight back and in Edgbatson, and in typical Greater Manchester weather it pours down with rain and the third Test at Old Trafford ends in a draw, and England win at The Oval.

I think Tino Best and Steve Harmison (barring injury) will be the two leading wicket takers with Harmison finishing on top of the wicket takers list.

Depends on the wickets, but England should win comfortably - say 3-0. Not just because of the recent series, but WI's away form has been dreadful in recent years. However, if the wickets are batters' paradises, then England will struggle to bowl out WI and could find themselves under pressure.

Beyond that, I expect Crystal Gale to actually produce the goods rather more than he did in WI and Edwards should be a real threat if fit. For England, I'd love to see Anderson make a successful comeback, and I think he might just. And I'm not convinced that Tresco will repeat his form against NZ, although I'd love to be wrong.

[Waughney]

England 2-0, can't see WI pulling of a series win.

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Originally Posted by wpdavid

Beyond that, I expect Crystal Gale to actually produce the goods rather more than he did in WI.

Why would Gayle do better on seaming pitches (with his total lack of foot movement) in England than he did on seaming pitches (with his total lack of foot movement) in the West Indies? I predict a miserable series for Gayle.

[wpdavid]

Originally Posted by Mr Mxyzptlk

Why would Gayle do better on seaming pitches (with his total lack of foot movement) in England than he did on seaming pitches (with his total lack of foot movement) in the West Indies? I predict a miserable series for Gayle.

A very fair question, and it does depend on the pitches we produce. Lord's, Old Trafford & the Oval tend to be pretty sedate, and I think Edgbaston has been this year too. He's shown in the past he can play, I suspect he was complacent before the England series having done OK against SA and I would imagine he'll be under no illusions this time. However, if it is moving around, I may well be very wrong.

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Originally Posted by wpdavid

having done OK against SA

Let's be fair to the man. 2 centuries in 3 Tests and 366 runs @ 61 is rather a bit more than OK.

[wpdavid]

Originally Posted by Mr Mxyzptlk

Let's be fair to the man. 2 centuries in 3 Tests and 366 runs @ 61 is rather a bit more than OK.

Well quite, but I was being conservative and couldn't be bothered to check the actual stats. But that's why I'm saying he should do better than he did in the Caribbean *if* the wickets are batsman-friendly, which I suspect they will be. Sobers made an intersting comment after the Barbados test to the effect that after batting well against Pollock, Ntini & co, a lot of the WI guys were overconfident about facing an Englsih attack which, on paper, was weaker. Obviously Harmison came a rather an unpleasant shock to them, but I would imagine they'll be more geared up to facing him this time. And the wickets over here will probably have less pace than the ones in the firt 3 tests in the WI.

[wpdavid]

Originally Posted by garage flower

Preferred 1st test team would be:

C Gayle
De Smith
Lara
Sarwan
Chanderpaul
Bravo
Banks
Jacobs
Best
Collins
Edwards (if fit) or Lawson

Is Bravo a test number 6? I could see them playing him at 7 as he's done well in the ODI's with an extra batsman at 6. Maybe Dw Smith, who's hugely talented and should only get better with experience. Is Banks the spinner? If so, it's unlikely he would do a vast amount over here. Most spinners don't, although I suppose Old Trafford & The Oval have been known to take spin.