First Test: West Indies v England, Antigua, April 13-17.

[Alviro Patterson]

moeen is better than tredwell, gets way more revs on the ball and is actually a threat, tredwell got wickets in the first innings when the west indies were attacking him, he looked toothless in the second when they were trying to survive

and rashid has obvious wicket taking potential, do we really need jordan?

does he offer anything that anderson, broad and stokes dont?

personally i think picking rashid is worth the risk, he may bowl poorly in both the tests, he may win us a game

we wont find out until they pick him

can 4 right arm seamers who bowl 85mph be any more effective than 3?

With the test matches played back to back, 4 seam bowlers is a must. Last thing England need is Broad and Anderson to be overcooked or suffer an injury.

Nothing wrong with Tredwell containing one end in order to allow a bowler to attack the other end.

Playing Moeen Ali as a bowler is a huge risk when he's not match sharp and was ineffective against Yorkshire. If two spinners are to play in the same XI it has to be Rashid and Tredwell.

[mikesiva]

Sky only seem to care about Jimmy getting the record.

BBC Breakfast too....

[Aidan11]

I hope the second test is a better pitch.

Let's have one with a bit of zip.

[Aidan11]

Jimmy will no doubt have 400 in his sights now.

That will be his next target.

[Aidan11]

I'm curious to know what Moores will now put on his computer to help his team bowl a side out to win a match.

[Aidan11]

Apparantly he Googled is and got this answer -


"Take twenty wickets"

[Arthur Crabtree]

Thought the conditions were good.

[Aidan11]

A bit over 4 sessions we had to do it and failed.

[Aidan11]

And it wasn't Chanderpaul who held us up. It was the WIs tail.

[Aidan11]

I wish I hadn't slept on this. I'm getting angry now.

[captaincolly]

Excellent batting conditions but given the length of time available and the standard of the opposition I think England should have won especially when the 6th wicket went down with plenty of overs remaining. 2-0 is the absolute minimum requirement now and I can't imagine C Graves will be impressed if England make hard work of it.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Batters were hit several times in the game, and the catches almost all carried (even if the fielders weren't there). There was turn for the spinners and a strong cross breeze. No huge scores were posted. There was new ball swing and reverse. And a Dukes ball.

But England don't have good reverse swing bowlers.

And they lack the sustained pace and hostility to test the batters bottle.

Their spinner was shown up by the greater turn a part timer had. In fact the fact Root looked more dangerous suggested England had a problem there.

England had plenty of time and opportunity to win the game, and I'm not sure why so many (including journos) are saying the pitch won in the end. A defensive captain allowed opportunities to pass by until it was too late.

Against that, WI showed a lot of application and Holder turned in what will be a memorable innings. England's better (but still problematic) batting meant they ran the game, though third innings runs following a big lead, should be down valued a few percent in my opinion. If WI are mediocre, England are poor, and cheerleading from the commentators feels incongruous.

[captaincolly]

Batters were hit several times in the game, and the catches almost all carried (even if the fielders weren't there). There was turn for the spinners and a strong cross breeze. No huge scores were posted. There was new ball swing and reverse. And a Dukes ball.

But England don't have good reverse swing bowlers.

And they lack the sustained pace and hostility to test the batters bottle.

Their spinner was shown up by the greater turn a part timer had. In fact the fact Root looked more dangerous suggested England had a problem there.

England had plenty of time and opportunity to win the game, and I'm not sure why so many (including journos) are saying the pitch won in the end. A defensive captain allowed opportunities to pass by until it was too late.

Against that, WI showed a lot of application and Holder turned in what will be a memorable innings. England's better (but still problematic) batting meant they ran the game, though third innings runs following a big lead, should be down valued a few percent in my opinion. If WI are mediocre, England are poor, and cheerleading from the commentators feels incongruous.

An excellent assessment of the match.

[Aidan11]

Ever since turning on the TV this morning it's all been about Jimmy's record and little mention of the match itself.

Moores must be relieved at bad news being buried.

[Aidan11]

KP wasn't playing for Surrey either.


Double Whammy.