Windies v England

[DMR]

Ooooooooh jimmy jimmy

[Sir Pissalot]

Can we now please give up on the Jonathan Trott as an opener experiment?    

[Paolo69]

Get in Chef!

[Nemo]

Hmm. Good to see Cook get a ton but not a great day overall that, 240/7 after choosing to bat first isn't too clever. Hopefully Buttler can add some quick runs tomorrow and we bowl well.

Must say I'm disappointed we didn't make any changes, got a very busy summer coming up and taking a look at Lyth, Plunkett, Rashid etc. seems a no brainer really. I guess Moores and Whittaker are very, very worried about losing their jobs if this test goes against them, so I can kind of understand the conservatism but...still, it seems a wasted opportunity.

[Pax Romana]

It really pisses me off when England batsmen get out just after they get their ton.  Basically they're saying "I've reached my milestone, now I'll relax, bugger the team".  The volume of batsmen out between 100-109 compared to between 90-99 in test matches is exponential.

One of the many good things about Joe Root is his track record of converting hundreds into big hundreds. 

[Paolo69]

Something Cook's been very good at during his career on the whole too.

[Pax Romana]

Yes that's fair. 

It was just getting out in the last over made such a difference to both teams perspective on the day, and to England's chance of making a big first innings score.

[kerry red]

Bloody hell, Steve Harmison looks a right tub of lard

[Reg Smeeton]

Congrats to West Indies.....good series, some decent cricket played in a generally sporting fashion.

Hopefully some of our young talent, will have learnt something about what is need to succeed at this level.

The next series v Kiwis, is going to be fascinating, as they enter it probably for the first time ever as favourites.

[TheMajorSTFC]

Poor from England I have to say, but fair play to the West Indies. Worries me for our summer against NZ and Australia.

For me, Moores has to go as I think the bloke is clueless.

As a Yorkie follower, why Adam Lyth and Adil Rashid didn't get a game is beyond belief! Trott is not an opener and as a KP fan, if he can score some runs over next few games, the pressure will be on Bell to get runs against NZ!

[TheMajorSTFC]

Must say I'm disappointed we didn't make any changes, got a very busy summer coming up and taking a look at Lyth, Plunkett, Rashid etc. seems a no brainer really. I guess Moores and Whittaker are very, very worried about losing their jobs if this test goes against them, so I can kind of understand the conservatism but...still, it seems a wasted opportunity.

Completely agree Nemo, could have been playing for Yorkshire along with Bairstow in the last 2 county championship fixtures. Not sure Cook is keen on Rashid as he tends to go for a few runs in his spells (whilst picking up wickets may I add) and Lyth seemed a natural choice to partner Cook after scoring over 1000 runs last season.

[JoeMezz]

If Rashid wasn't played on that track, he'll never get played. I'm not sure what we're achieving by playing Stokes, Jordan and Broad they seem pretty similar to me.

[fittons_coaching_badge]

Right here goes ....

Cook/Trott/Ballance to similar and create pressure on middle order by not moving scoreboard at any kind of rate. Surely Lyth will come in for Trott but he will come in on the back of having played no cricket and against a quality NZ attack in May so a bit of a hiding to nothing.  Longer term Alex Lees would be the option but would like to see him left at Yorkshire a bit longer.  Alex Hales has started well and could provide impetus but I don't think England fancy him and if honest I don't really.

Buttler at 8 is a nonsense. He needs to bat at least 7. To often is been left with the rabbits in Broad and Anderson and that's a waste of his talent. 

Can't have Stokes and Jordan in the same team they are both to similar. One plus Broad and Anderson and then something a bit different. I would have gone Plunkett with his extra pace and option to start banging it in.

Moeen served up a load of junk but hadnt really played much and probably still has some credit in the bank from last summer.  I don't see him winning test matches long term so a Riley will come into it but probably not till late in Ashes series or tour to Pakistan.

Anderson apart that bowling lacks penetration. Wickets late summer will be low and slow and the role of the spinner will be crucial. It could be a long and pretty horrible summer.

I imagine the team for the first test v NZ will be:
Cook
Lyth
Ballance
Bell
Root
Moeen
Buttler
Stokes
Plunkett
Jimmy
Broad

More fun would be guessing what a team for the 5th test v Aus might look like ....

End in a positive note ... After the summer England go to Dubai to play Pakistan then to SA for 5 test over Dec/Jan.

[Nemo]

Trott's called it a day. Feel really sorry for the bloke, was painful to watch in the Windies. The brain is a strange thing, hope he finds a better place in County Cricket as Trescothick did, would be a shame if he was lost to the game entirely.

[Reg Smeeton]

Trott's called it a day. Feel really sorry for the bloke, was painful to watch in the Windies. The brain is a strange thing, hope he finds a better place in County Cricket as Trescothick did, would be a shame if he was lost to the game entirely.

It does rather call into question again the competency of the England heirarchy, who thought Trotty might be up to a re-run v the Convicts.

So Adam Lyth who may or not be a Test batsmen, has missed an opportunity to gain a bit of experience.

In further news it looks like Andrew Strauss is getting the England Director job thing.....not entirely sure what the job entails, but I suppose in the England set up, you can never have too many jobs for the boys.