The summer of cricket 2020

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Stokes gone at last...and Roach gets one at last ! Bit fluky , reverse leg side edge but I think Kemar was entitled to dome good fortune...

Hell of an innings from Stokes

Looks like Holders the source of the "play positively" approach. Again only a matter of time before one has his name on it, was a dodgy review but still a moral victory for the bowler beating him.

Duty281 wrote:Well done, Dom Bess, sound bit of fielding. Hasn't had anything else to do this test!

Yeah, it was looking like he would get one of Olly's ''thanks for turning up'' badges.

Holder given out and reviews

Who needs Broad.

Woakes
9 161 for Woakes in the series.
Last 18 home tests 77 wickets at 20.

GSC wrote:Holder given out and reviews

That's out .

Yes indeed. Woakes again

Fat Lady warming up...

Not too much better than England's review

Magnificent bowling from Woakes today.

England are nearly there.

guildfordbat wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Well done, Dom Bess, sound bit of fielding. Hasn't had anything else to do this test!

Yeah, it was looking like he would get one of Olly's ''thanks for turning up'' badges.

Theres the entire west indies side queuing up for them

Only another 299 runs to go

Gooseberry wrote:

guildfordbat wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Well done, Dom Bess, sound bit of fielding. Hasn't had anything else to do this test!

Yeah, it was looking like he would get one of Olly's ''thanks for turning up'' badges.

Theres the entire west indies side queuing up for them

To be fair to this modest West Indian outfit , they have competed well and arguably overachieved this summer.
But they appear to have completely run out of petrol these last few days.

Woakes has been excellent today

Someone is hearing things behind the stumps today ! That is another daft review...

Hope they don't need that later.

They don't call him Sir Chris for nothing folks!

Blackwood playing pretty well...uncharacteristically careful. Sound policy in the circumstances.

Archer not looking very threatening ...time for Broad to come back and finish this , I think.

Duty281 wrote:Well done, Dom Bess, sound bit of fielding. Hasn't had anything else to do this test!

KP would have run them out at both ends

Woakes again. Pretty poor batting from Dowrich.

Fourth for Woakes. Before this series, Dowrich had a normal pair of lips and a place in the Windies team.

Woakes with his fourth

Dowritch hopelessly beaten then. Surely The End is Near...

Should really be done before tea now

Suppose with Pakistan next week, if Stokes can't bowl do you keep Bess given he hasn't bowled here.

Bess was the straight man in the partnership with Broad, which looked important at the time. Spin was expected to play a part here and really hasn't featured. Poor old Cornwall, didn't he end up with no wickets at all?

Michelle for Sir Chris, Cornwall has not been a hit

Five for Woakes. That was rubbish from Cornwall.

Five for Woakes

Dreadful batting... All rooted to the crease , easy lbw decisions...

VTR wrote:Bess was the straight man in the partnership with Broad, which looked important at the time. Spin was expected to play a part here and really hasn't featured. Poor old Cornwall, didn't he end up with no wickets at all?

No wickets and he conceded about 150 odd runs. Think he dropped a sitter too, at some point.

The WI had a very good first hour but they've looked like they'd rather be at passport control since then.

Picking Cornwall made bowling first an even weirder decision

I don't think you can get away with carrying a fielder in test cricket nowadays and whilst it's only a two innings sample he possesses no footwork whatsoever and that's an issue.

GSC wrote:The WI had a very good first hour but they've looked like they'd rather be at passport control since then.

Yeah, they caved in after Hope's stupid shot. They should be very disappointed after falling apart so easily, in all departments, after a good first test.

Only one match ; but Cornwall does not look Test quality at all , with bat or ball.
And you really can't field him anywhere but slips. Odd selection.

GSC wrote:Suppose with Pakistan next week, if Stokes can't bowl do you keep Bess given he hasn't bowled here.

Hopefully he should be fit to bowl by then, I think by all accounts they were being pretty careful with him here (and lets face it, Stokes hasn't done much bar sit in the changing rooms or stand in the slips for five days too)

Only takes the miracle man one ball

Ten for Broad

Fittingly Broad gets the final wicket and England seal the series.

Very enjoyable series and full credit to the West Indies.

On to the ODIs against Ireland next.

So great comeback from England to win the series .

Broad MoTM , of course. Him or Stokes for PoTS ?

alfie wrote:Only one match ; but Cornwall does not look Test quality at all , with bat or ball.
And you really can't field him anywhere but slips.  Odd selection.

He looks like a half decent bowler in fairness but this was not a match for the spinners so they would surely have been better off selecting Reifer?

Dom Bess has the ignominy of not bowling a single ball in the match.

alfie wrote:So great comeback from England to win the series .

Broad MoTM , of course. Him or Stokes for PoTS ?

Broad for me. His bowling turned the series.

Yeah nice to bounce back, even a draw at home to Windies would be a very poor result. Two emphatic wins and one they probably should have won. Absolutely awful from the Windies today, the weather actually gave them a fair chance of a draw

Crikey nipped off for 15 minutes and its done. Every bit as rubbish a performance from the west indies as had been expected when they turned up here, lord know what happened in that first test!

Does Broad beat Stokes to Man of the series?

VTR wrote:Yeah nice to bounce back, even a draw at home to Windies would be a very poor result. Two emphatic wins and one they probably should have won. Absolutely awful from the Windies today, the weather actually gave them a fair chance of a draw

Was evident even in the field that a few of them were mentally on the plane already...not really surprised they folded up today.

alfie wrote:So great comeback from England to win the series .

Broad MoTM , of course. Him or Stokes for PoTS ?

Got to be Stokes. Too embarrassing for the England selectors to give it to Broad having left him out of the opener!

As Alfie has picked up on, I've not been a great supporter of Buttler but that was a fine catch to finish the Test and clinch the series win. Good fielding all round today by England. Bess' run out the stand out although I also liked Broad's catch. Swirling and the victory wasn't assured at that stage.

Terrible batting today by the West Indies. Such a shame to end it that way after such a professional and impressive start in Test one.

Soul Requiem wrote:

alfie wrote:Only one match ; but Cornwall does not look Test quality at all , with bat or ball.
And you really can't field him anywhere but slips.  Odd selection.

He looks like a half decent bowler in fairness but this was not a match for the spinners so they would surely have been better off selecting Reifer?

Dom Bess has the ignominy of not bowling a single ball in the match.

Id tend to agree. he gets a lot of psin. The issue with him is that you have to hide him in the field, or at least keep a slip in all the time, and hes not really a bat either. Do agree they shouldve picked the extra seamer although it looks like both selectors thought spinners might play a bigger part here, England really could've picked Curran. On that note I cant help feeling Root wasnt the one who made the call to keep Bess in, and if he'd been given Leach mightve bowled him a bit as a left armer at least has a decent chance against the right handers.

Either way its not what decided this test, its that England are significantly better than the west Indies especially at the top of the batting order.

Only player who really come out with credit for the Windies are Chase and Blackwood, and maybe Gabriel for sheer effort.

I think the West Indies can walk away with credit for just coming here and playing a series altogether. Minor Jofra incident aside, everyone involved deserves credit for getting this series played.

They're one or two quality bats away from being a really threatening team. In the end Holder had no confidence in his batting lineup to put a score on the board so had to insert England twice.

Given some recent WI teams have shown up on these shores and stood around with their hands in their pockets looking cold for a few days, they're on the right track though

Decent from England in the end but that first test blip is a problem for the side so not an unbridled success.

The opening pairing whilst stodgy is finally providing a platform for the shot makers in the middle order which in itself is helped by the adaptability of Stokes who has proven himself capable of both hanging around and playing more aggressively, having someone able to play to the situation is so important. Would like to see Crawley come back in for the Pakistan series, modest numbers so far but he looks like he's got something about him and offers a more proactive option. Pope did ok and will be annoyed not to get his second century but the talent is there for all to see, he took the Windies attack apart on Friday with ease. Buttler got a decent score but simply does not look up to test cricket as either a batsmen or keeper.

The Windies seem to handicap themselves by not rotating their seamers, why Gabriel played all three matches is anyone's guess.

2-1, then. I reckon if Root had put the Windies in at Southampton it would have been 3-0.
All credit to the Windies for coming over here at all. There were flashes of improved play from them in this series but they're still a shadow of their former selves.
Perhaps Broad, given his heroics in Tests 2 and 3, should be left out more often (although that's unlikely to happen now).
Not too worried about England's bowling anyway. As for the batting, all the top order guys have got some runs now.

sirfredperry wrote:2-1, then. I reckon if Root had put the Windies in at Southampton it would have been 3-0.
  All credit to the Windies for coming over here at all. There were flashes of improved play from them in this series but they're still a shadow of their former selves.
  Perhaps Broad, given his  heroics in Tests 2 and 3, should be left out more often (although that's unlikely to happen now).
  Not too worried about England's bowling anyway. As for the batting, all the top order guys have got some runs now.
 

Bit harsh to blame Root for the toss decision in the first test when he was in the hospital with his wife and new kid, Sir Fred!

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

sirfredperry wrote:2-1, then. I reckon if Root had put the Windies in at Southampton it would have been 3-0.
  All credit to the Windies for coming over here at all. There were flashes of improved play from them in this series but they're still a shadow of their former selves.
  Perhaps Broad, given his  heroics in Tests 2 and 3, should be left out more often (although that's unlikely to happen now).
  Not too worried about England's bowling anyway. As for the batting, all the top order guys have got some runs now.
 

Bit harsh to blame Root for the toss decision in the first test when he was in the hospital with his wife and new kid, Sir Fred!

Whoops. Silly me. Of course, it was Stokes captaining. What a quiet game he had in the 3rd Test. Probably not worth his place!

Absolutely heaving it down at Old Trafford now...looks like they got it done in the nick of time!

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Absolutely heaving it down at Old Trafford now...looks like they got it done in the nick of time!

Yeah ! Looking at all those brollies and the water dripping off 'em... Suppose there are a few hours still but it might have been a nervy wait if they'd not got it finished in that session.

Broad with all the awards then : fair enough I think . But much honour to Stokes - and Burns , Sibley and Woakes

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Absolutely heaving it down at Old Trafford now...looks like they got it done in the nick of time!

I'd be fuming if I were the West Indies coach. They only had to bat a maximum of 60 overs today to save the test and retain the trophy and couldn't manage that. Some of the dismissals were absolute garbage, the run-out and Hope's uncharacteristic shot being chief amongst them.

Some test teams that tour England - mainly the West Indies and Sri Lanka, but also India when things get difficult - seem to put in the bare minimum of effort for the most part. Embarrassing stuff.

Thankfully Pakistan are over next. They always make a good fight of it.

Duty281 wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Absolutely heaving it down at Old Trafford now...looks like they got it done in the nick of time!

I'd be fuming if I were the West Indies coach. They only had to bat a maximum of 60 overs today to save the test and retain the trophy and couldn't manage that. Some of the dismissals were absolute garbage, the run-out and Hope's uncharacteristic shot being chief amongst them.

Some test teams that tour England - mainly the West Indies and Sri Lanka, but also India when things get difficult - seem to put in the bare minimum of effort for the most part. Embarrassing stuff.

Thankfully Pakistan are over next. They always make a good fight of it.

Batting doesn't get much more difficult than the 2018 series and India performed admirably throughout and there bowling attack was very nearly a match for Englands, the 4-1 result makes it look more one sided than it was, could easily have been 3-2 India.

guildfordbat wrote:

alfie wrote:So great comeback from England to win the series .

Broad MoTM , of course. Him or Stokes for PoTS ?

Got to be Stokes. Too embarrassing for the England selectors to give it to Broad having left him out of the opener!

As Alfie has picked up on, I've not been a great supporter of Buttler but that was a fine catch to finish the Test and clinch the series win. Good fielding all round today by England. Bess' run out the stand out although I also liked Broad's catch. Swirling and the victory wasn't assured at that stage.

Terrible batting today by the West Indies. Such a shame to end it that way after such a professional and impressive start in Test one.

Stokes for me too. He only got 5 fewer wickets than Broad, but scored 363 with the bat including the series changing century that had a far bigger impact than Broads spell. Add in captaining a game and fielding, he kind of did it all. Broad you could argue takes it for the landmark and key contributions in the two victories, but I kinda feel had Woakes been given the new ball he wouldve ended with series figures to match. Theres noone who can come close to the all round performance Stokes put in over the first two tests.
Either way the series win wasnt just down to those two star turns, Sibley with two 50s and a century doesnt even enter the conversation about MOTS but still exceed expectations as did Woakes.

Its not as bad as that loss over in the West Indies but Im still trying to work out how England did conspire to lose the first test.