19th Match - England v West Indies

[Bijed]

Not that it really matters since it worked well, but I'm not entirely sure why we put Woakes in at 3 and didn't just go with Stokes at that point, given that he'd be typically next in when you factor in the injuries? His relatively stodgy starting surely wouldn't have been a problem as a) we'd had a good partnership, so it's not like he was coming in against the new ball/fully fresh attack; and b) he'd have plenty of time to play himself in so a few dot balls wouldn't really have mattered. Maybe they just wanted him at 4 as, assuming a worst-case scenario where Roy and Morgan can't play in the next match, that's presumably where he'll be batting?

OTOH Woakes at 3 was kinda fun in it's own way

 

[Top_Cat]

Rarely saw so much short filth as that served up by the WI today.

 

[91Jmay]

Root looks in some form. Will need to get him in to bat early and Bumrah to target his pads.

Need to target 4th stump, by far Roots biggest weakness

 

[AndrewB]

Is it a well-known fact that WI's only win against England in a World Cup was the 1979 final?

 

[BSM]

Root now has more WC hundreds than Kohli

 

[smash84]

Comprehensive victory from England. Far more than I thought would occur.

 

[Beamer]

It's not like West Indies were stuffed from the word go though? The opening spells dented their chances of putting up a really big score, but they were 145-3 after 30 and 184-5 after 36. Smarter batting could make 280+ from positions like that.

Absolutely and that's now 2 games where some batsmen have out us in s reasonable position only for brainless over attacking to derail the innings. Jarrod Kimber has it right...

Kimber: The talent is there but West Indies need to rethink ODI batting Kimber: The talent is there but West Indies need to rethink ODI batting | ESPNcricinfo.com
via ESPNCricinfo app ESPNcricinfo App - Download on Google Play & iOS App Store

 

[Fuller Pilch]

That's really hammered their net run rate too. Shame for the Windies that the rain stayed away

 

[Beamer]

That's really hammered their net run rate too. Shame for the Windies that the rain stayed away

Thank goodness for the Pakistan thrashing or we'd be completely screwed. Still feels like we need to win every match left to qualify.

 

[hazsa19]

**** myself when I got in the car and heard Woakes was batting! Impressive victory, let’s hope Morgan and Roy can recover during the Afghanistan match without inviting an upset.

 

[Burgey]

True. Pakistan and West Indies both losing this week would make the top four look a long way from the chasing pack.

It’s pretty well settled up now isn’t it? Will take one of the incumbents falling off a cliff now for it to change, or weather to selectively screw someone over.

 

[DriveClub]

This is shaping up to be the most boring world cup ever. With top 4 teams pretty much confirmed now itself rest of the 30 odd matches are pretty much pointless. And add rain to this and why even bother

 

[mr_mister]

If WI can beat NZ and wollop the minnows as expected maybe all is not lost

 

[social]

Rarely saw so much short filth as that served up by the WI today.

Just an awful performance all round

 

[Prince EWS]

Not that it really matters since it worked well, but I'm not entirely sure why we put Woakes in at 3 and didn't just go with Stokes at that point, given that he'd be typically next in when you factor in the injuries? His relatively stodgy starting surely wouldn't have been a problem as a) we'd had a good partnership, so it's not like he was coming in against the new ball/fully fresh attack; and b) he'd have plenty of time to play himself in so a few dot balls wouldn't really have mattered. Maybe they just wanted him at 4 as, assuming a worst-case scenario where Roy and Morgan can't play in the next match, that's presumably where he'll be batting?

OTOH Woakes at 3 was kinda fun in it's own way

Yeah I guess they just didn't want to be too top heavy given they were already pretty top heavy and WI have based their bowling around new ball wickets. I thought it was a bit "too clever by half" at the time but I love Woakes and it worked out.

 

[hazsa19]

This is shaping up to be the most boring world cup ever. With top 4 teams pretty much confirmed now itself rest of the 30 odd matches are pretty much pointless. And add rain to this and why even bother

Blame Pak and WI for bottling it against the crims

 

[trundler]

That was a such a good innings to watch from Root. So pleasing on the eye.

The novelty of bumpers wearing off.

 

[Beamer]

That was a such a good innings to watch from Root. So pleasing on the eye.

The novelty of bumpers wearing off.

I personally think that the conditions weren't suitable for non stop bouncers. It was quite slow and Root was extremely comfortable against it. It was brain winning over brawn.

 

[SJS]

I'm barracking for England as much as the next Australian, but for the benefit of the World Cup, I'd.love to see Gayle get a massive 100 today. Maybe even 200.

Aha. ������

So there you my friend. Yesterfay I was going through Hear, hear hear. Lend me your hear. And I just couldn’t stop grinning from ear to ear or ar least sporting a ‘beatific” smile right through. My old cook came in to pick up the tea cup and found I hadn’t touched it. He told my wife and she told him something like , “You must have put too much sugar in it.”

He I believe told her “no. I was just sitting with the laptop for almost an hour and keeping on smiling to myself” ��

I had completely forgotten how much fun we had with you taking up the “assistant writer” position on that enterprise. I haven’t enjoyed myself as much as I did going through it.

So I started looking for you.

And here you are. Stay in touch my friend.