Second Test: West Indies v England, April 21-25

[backfootpunch]

i think if you compiled a list of people who think devon smith is good enough to play test cricket, even the name devon smith wouldn't feature on it

he is truly hopeless, must be the worst batmen to have played that many test matches

Bopara ?

ravi wins the award as worst cricketer to play 100 ODIs

but he has only played 13 tests compared to devons 37, also devon also only has 1 hundred whereas ravi has 3

[Gingerfinch]

i think if you compiled a list of people who think devon smith is good enough to play test cricket, even the name devon smith wouldn't feature on it

he is truly hopeless, must be the worst batmen to have played that many test matches

Bopara ?

ravi wins the award as worst cricketer to play 100 ODIs

but he has only played 13 tests compared to devons 37, also devon also only has 1 hundred whereas ravi has 3

Ravi scored 3 tons in 13 tests, and he was dropped

[Gingerfinch]

[shankycricket]

Absolutely phenomenal performance from England to force a win on this pitch!

[ianp1970]

Well done boys

Didn't really expect to be writing that, fantastic by Jimmy this morning but some of the WI batting / running was truly woeful.

Mom has to be Joe

[Gingerfinch]

It is Joe.

[Durhamfootman]

I wonder why?

the game was heading for a snore draw until Ando turned the game on its head

odd decision, for me. Just goes to show that good batting is always seen as being more worthy than good bowling

[ianp1970]

Would never have been in the position to perform like that this morning without the runs from Root on the previous days.

Doesn't overly matter though, it's a team game and winning matches is much more important

[budgetmeansbudget]

I wonder why?

the game was heading for a snore draw until Ando turned the game on its head

odd decision, for me. Just goes to show that good batting is always seen as being more worthy than good bowling

Yes, but he stopped Root getting a double hundred so points off for that!

[Alviro Patterson]

I wonder why?

the game was heading for a snore draw until Ando turned the game on its head

odd decision, for me. Just goes to show that good batting is always seen as being more worthy than good bowling

Anderson bowled one good spell of bowling, Root batted for 5 and a half hours and shepherded the lower order who scored few runs.

[braveneutral]

I wish it hadn't been left to me to point it out but the obvious MOM is Steely for his assured batting and outstanding captaincy and sublime fielding and...

[Slipstream]

Ridiculous statement by Pollyanna Hussain about Anderson, 'who can do no wrong'. He's doing ok, but can he really do no wrong?

There seems this determination to insist he is 'the most skillful bowler' in the world. Who averages 30? Why are Harris and Steyn so successful?

He must be the most highly rated 30 averaging bowler ever.

Well , this morning , he could do no wrong...

Apart from one set of four overthrows...and even that was a decent attempt at another run out. Surely that is what Nass meant ?

I was stirred up a bit by Agnew criticising Jordan in comparison with Anderson, who is 'so skillful'. Which was on the back of a pretty ordinary game to that point (close of play last night). But if he is that skillful, why does he have such an ordinary SR? Why does he do no better than Stuart Broad?

That is a good question , Arthur. I believe he is indeed more skillful than almost any pace bowler currently around : what he doesn't have is the outright pace (he can get up around 88-90 , as he showed this morning. But not consistently) This mightn't matter if he was part of a good balanced attack ; but as Dobell pointed out the other day , he has all too often been asked to do all the work for England , often on unresponsive pitches - with some cost to his figures. The lack of extreme pace , and the fact that he always bowls a lot early in an innings , also means he doesn't often get to hoover up cheap tail end wickets.

If you look at the figures, Anderson bowls only 12 odd balls per test more than Broad, or an over extra..... Graeme Swann bowled much more than both. Tremlett bowled more than both of the other quicks. Harmison, a quick strike bowler, only bowls 9 balls per test less than Anderson, Hoggard slightly less by 2-3 overs per test.

The figures seem to indicate no proof that Anderson has been used that way, and to be frank when I remember Anderson carrying the attack for instance in 2013 at home to Australia, he was visibly shot by the middle of the series, and his returns pettered out.

71 Tests together
2737.4-688-7985-283 - Anderson
2488.5-540-7544-258 ~ Broad

[rich1uk]

Ha,ha really? Perhaps you mean English teams.

Growing up in Australia and playing a lot of cricket you were always with the mindset of constantly calculating when the new ball would come at the end of the day to get a second crack. Of course you also expect you will never have to take it. The batting team know it's coming though and it's in the back of their minds and it makes them do funny things. Admittedly though rarely in club cricket did you ever see a new ball.

I also played back in the day when you had to bowl 120 overs in a day.

no I don't mean just English teams

in case you haven't noticed ALL teams now are very protective of their bowlers and try to avoid over-bowling , even Australia

I'm not saying I agree with the principle but I am fairly confident no team would actually declare to try and have a new ball available 5 overs from the end of a days play, especially on the 4th day of the test

this isn't "back in the day" , this isn't the era where teams bowl 120 overs , this is an era where bowlers are wrapped in cotton wool, where teams very rarely enforce a follow-on as they don't want their bowlers to have to bowl back to back innings and where teams will rotate bowlers to avoid issues with fatigue, and I repeat this applies to all teams not just England

[greyblazer]

England won due to that spell by Anderson. He found something out of a lifeless track. He is a crafty swing bowler, but people always underestimate his ability to extract movement off the deck. Yes, he lost the ability to push the batsman back with a good short delivery somewhere around in 2008, but has found it back. Even if you're a swing bowler, it is always good to occasionally push the batsman back and then pitch it up. Yes, he is England's striker and many times their stock bowler, too.

If you want to judge Anderson, look at what he has done over the last 5 years. In that period, he has flopped in one series away from home in Australia, with the series in NZ being borderline. For various reasons, he wasn't half this good before that. His overall average was 38s and if I remember correctly, he was averaging 50 away from home in say 2008.

2010
57 wickets, 22.96, 48.7

2011
35 wickets, 24.85, 50.8

2012
48 wickets, 29.5, 70.7

2013
52 wickets, 31.82, 61.3

2014
40 wickets, 22.15, 49.5

2015*
10 wickets, 22.9, 56.2

He had a couple of average years, but in this era, most bowlers would be pleased if they average about 29 for a particular period. Other than those two years, he has averaged in low 20s. Well, that pretty much indicates his skill, as to average in low 20s in this era, takes some skill. But if you look at his overall average, then it is hard to gauge the bowler we have seen over the last 4-5 years. Even then his average has come down to 29s now. Longtime ago in 2008, I had said it on bbc 606 that he will end up with an average of 27 or 28. He is getting there

[yuppie]

Well played England on getting a great result.

Certainly did not look possible before start of play on the 5th Morning. Anderson deserves the credit for that.