*Official* West Indies Tour of England 2020

[Flametree]

Surely Brooks is worse than Hope

Hope averages 20 over the past 18 tests, back to Dec 2017. Must be someone better somewhere...

 

[weldone]

Finally caught up with the highlights and I was really impressed with Bess's bowling, the body action has been worked upon since I'd last seen him bowl. He was under used for sure, I wonder if the skip was concerned about Blackwood creaming him around the park?

Yep Herath has worked wonders with Bess. Skip had no clue about how to attack with his front-line spinner on day 5 that's all.

 

[grecian]

On current form in tests I'm not so sure. I'm looking forward to seeing what they do at Old Trafford.

Btw I thought Jofra was superb today. Totally owned our top order with pace and skill.

Archer will be a handful at OT, WIndies bats had better be ready to face the chin music.

 

[Athlai]

Nice match but I'm here to see if WW has posted yet

 

[nightprowler10]

Yeah reckon Archer was responsible for 4 wickets easily.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Scorecard looks weird with Campbell not out on 8

 

[the big bambino]

You'd have to look at the WI batting line up and ask "who would i bank on to get those runs?" Pretty scanty isn't it? For temperament Holder. The WI best chance is that England's batting is so fragile I think they'd be grateful to get 150 in front and in that case both sides would think themselves capable.

Well I wouldn't have placed a bet on Blackwood. Pretty rare where a man who bats an average in the low 30s (mid 20s away from home) plays such a wonderful knock under pressure. Palms to Chase for grind and support and the skipper for nerve at the end. Great job from the WI. England may have to consider bringing back Broad, which I think they can now that Root returns, or Woakes who makes such a strong case for inclusion in his home country. Denly might be the obvious one to go for Root but I like the buffer he can provide at 3. Though harsh on Zak or Ollie if he stays.

 

[Victor Ian]

I really enjoyed seeing the Windies win. Mostly, though, I really enjoyed watching live cricket again.

 

[Spikey]

england may have lost the test, but mark wood bowled with heat, so whose to say who really won

 

[Burgey]

Finally caught up with the highlights and I was really impressed with Bess's bowling, the body action has been worked upon since I'd last seen him bowl. He was under used for sure, I wonder if the skip was concerned about Blackwood creaming him around the park?

The only slight criticism I'd put on him from the POV of his action is he sometimes undercuts the ball a bit, which tbf may well be a deliberate MO for the conditions he was bowling in. WOuld personally like to see him with a bit more over spin on the ball, but happy to oncede that may well be my bias towards what works better over here.

Think he looks a prospect though. Biggest challenge for him is going to be having enough runs to bowl to in the immediate future.

 

[Burgey]

I think I'm still confident of England winning in Manchester but they're going to have to bat convincingly better.

I think a lot of people will point to the missed chances this afternoon but it was always an uphill battle after how the first two and a half days went.

You've got the bowlers against this line up to keep you in each match of the series, whether you pick Wood or Broad as the third quick (Broad imho, and it's not close). Root returning will help the batting but tbh unless a few of the top six properly stand up you're batting is as streaky as the visitors' right now. I know Burns hasn't been around long but given the other blokes in your top six, he needs to take on a bit of a senior role and bat time like he did a couple of tests last summer.

And seriously, drop Buttler. Never mind his batting, which is terrible, he genuinely looks like he's going to spill half the balls which go through to him. Haven't seen the crocodile method of glovework so prevalent since Burgeinho played under 10s. Bin him.

 

[Beamer]

england may have lost the test, but mark wood bowled with heat, so whose to say who really won

Ha! Have now seen a fair bit of Wood and Archer. Wood is definitely quicker but Jofra is the far better bowler in terms of skill and accuracy.

 

[Flem274*]

go the ****in windies

 

[harsh.ag]

Burns
Sibley
Crawley
Root
Stokes
Pope
Foakes
Bess
Broad
Archer
Anderson

 

[Shady Slim]

excellent win by the windies - you truly do love to see it!

they really are a few top order batsmen away from being a top flight team and they've got the troops so as to contend in conditions conducive to fast bowling. if cornwall can come on as an allrounder then in spinning conditions they can pose a threat too. while they don't have the bats to compete with an australia or a south africa on roady roads or fast roads, we're seeing the fruits of what holder and co have been building for the past five years or so and it's really awesome to see tbh.

maybe this is the ceiling of this squad, who knows, but really to anyone who's been paying attention, the windies haven't been the laughing stock of the late 00's-early 10's for a while now; but now they're transitioning from "team on the rise" to delivering on that potential in their own right.

cricket may not need to have a strong west indies but it's certainly damn well better for it tbh

 

[TimAngas]

Hope averages 20 over the past 18 tests, back to Dec 2017. Must be someone better somewhere...

Hope is a weird one because based on how incredibly successful he is as a very classical bat in ODIs, there should be nothing stopping him from averaging 40 in test matches. It's totally different from say Butler, where it makes sense his style might not translate effectively. I would keep Hope, he's got all the technical attributes, but get him working hard with a sports psychologist. It's kind of inexplicable how bad he's been in tests.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Hope needs to work with Blackwood

 

[Burner]

There's something about chasing these sub 200 scores in the last day that the Windies have figured out. I don't think any other side have been as successful as far as I can remember in the recent past.

 

[nightprowler10]

We really do need a strong West Indies.

 

[vcs]

There's something about chasing these sub 200 scores in the last day that the Windies have figured out. I don't think any other side have been as successful as far as I can remember in the recent past.

SL are the best at it in recent times. Won two Tests in SA and one against NZ last year chasing non-trivial scores. India suck at it.