WI tour of England, July 8-28

[sussexpob]

looking at the crapinfo commentary.... short, short, short, short, short, over after over from BS

He's clearly bowling to a plan

leg theory?

is it working?

does it look like it will work?

should we just let them duck their way to a draw and the wisden trophy and blame the weather later? Maybe blame Denly instead

He seems to get batsman playing terrible shots to crap balls a lot, so I guess you can say yes

[alfie]

At least that wicket has brought the sometimes dodgy Chase to the crease...really need to nip him out quickly so they can get at Blackwood and co before/with the new ball.

Hard to see any dramatic collapse from here ; but funny things happen sometimes .

Brooks a good fifty

[Arthur Crabtree]

Fifty for Shamarh.

Bad news if Gentle Ben is their choice to bowl bodyline given how physically taxing it is.

[mikesiva]

Brooks gets his half century!

[alfie]

looking at the crapinfo commentary.... short, short, short, short, short, over after over from BS

He's clearly bowling to a plan

leg theory?

is it working?

does it look like it will work?

should we just let them duck their way to a draw and the wisden trophy and blame the weather later? Maybe blame Denly instead

When nothing is happening , they seem to resort to wall to wall short stuff quite often. I'd have thought a little more variation would be preferable. Even if it's only the odd really full ball once you have them on the back foot.

Guess it brought the breakthrough. But I fancy the new batsman might find it easier to duck than dig out yorkers first couple of overs...

Bit of Bess now before tea :

[sussexpob]

Said a while back Brooks looked shaky, but England have bowled pretty much utter dross to him since, and hes now looking comfortable. The last 2 tests, save for glimpses, have been poor from an English bowling perspective. Against a line up of batters where an average of 35 stands out like Everest, its not really rocket science is it. These are players who either lack discipline or technique, so just keeping on testing them with simple bowling. England have been all over the place.

Archer got wickets in the last test by going full and straight. Just seen hardly any of that. The wickets England are getting are either isolated good balls the Windies cant block, or most likely terrible strokes from far from quality bats.

[Durhamfootman]

cruising to the wisden trophy

55 runs needed, 6 wickets in hand, plenty of time to kill in doing it

[Arthur Crabtree]

Still the best batters to come in too.

[Durhamfootman]

presumably Broad isn't getting his hands on the new ball

unless honest Joe is going to do a JH and take the new ball in the 102nd over or whatever it was

[sussexpob]

Buttler just missed the glove chance. Two consecutive Broad short balls being poorly played. I guess it may actually be time for bodyline

[Durhamfootman]

well then thank goodness England have got loads of snarling quicks playing

[Arthur Crabtree]

Two good sessions for WI. Only lost two top order batters in two sessions.

[sussexpob]

well then thank goodness England have got loads of snarling quicks playing

Well according to the speedo, which I think might have been out last night in fashion quarter drinking 11 percent Craft IPA till 4am, Broad got up to ninety mph in an earlier spell.

But this is the same speedo that clocked Mark Wood at 96mph last week. I some how doubt Wood is in the Brett Lee at his peak quickness range

[alfie]

So : last session today. Pretty clear they aren't losing six for forty , follow on is a dead duck. England have to keep working and hope to get them out some time in this session...and then start building a lead with the (remote) hope of giving them a tricky couple of sessions tomorrow.

Unfortunately I think we are more likely to see West Indies batting out the day.

( I say unfortunately only because it kills the game. They deserve their 1-0 lead ). I'd always rather see a tight contest...

[Arthur Crabtree]

How about WI post 650 and give England a few anxious hours tomorrow?