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Root rather got himself out then...

If you want pressure for the middle order , budget , you have it

alfie wrote:Root rather got himself out then...

If you want pressure for the middle order , budget , you have it

He always gets himself out

He should have a better record than Steve Smith but he just isn't ruthless enough

Constantly gets out between 50-80 playing a sloppy shot

It's like the team being 40-3 forces him to focus, then once we recover to a decent score he loses concentration and gets out

backfootpunch wrote:

alfie wrote:Root rather got himself out then...

If you want pressure for the middle order , budget , you have it

He always gets himself out

He should have a better record than Steve Smith but he just isn't ruthless enough

Constantly gets out between 50-80 playing a sloppy shot

It's like the team being 40-3 forces him to focus, then once we recover to a decent score he loses concentration and gets out

Just as well they're usually 40/3 then

Nice to see better from WI in this game after the exaggerated drubbing they got from everyone after the last Test.

Bishoo gets the big wicket of Root for 59...five down.

At least we've got a game on our hands now.

Might generate a bit more interest in the series.

Not entirely sure a part of the ball didnt touch the ground but there wasnt enough evidence to over turn the soft signal

Bairstow not saving them this time...

Low catch but it looked as if he got his fingers under it all right. Serious trouble now for England. Still batting to come but West Indies will be fancying having them out for under 250 .

Of course , then they have to bat : but it's a huge improvement on last week whatever transpires from now on. Ambrose might even be impressed...

budgetmeansbudget wrote:

sussexpob wrote:The insensible selections of Stoneman and Malan are paying of perfectly, arent they.

Are they the best of what's currently available in the county game?

You would have expected one or two of the recent triallists to have made a mark, but they just can't. It seems that due to the demand for more shorter format cricket, the skill sets required for test match cricket just aren't there anymore.

I put it down to the new toss rules in County Championship cricket, such a rule messes with the opener and #3 mindset and the art of crease occupation is lost. One week the top 3 may go into a game where runs are freely scored because of a flat pitch and the ball offering zero assistance. Another week runs are so difficult to come by because the ball is doing all sorts, increasing the chances of a batsman being lulled into playing a false stroke.

At least with the traditional toss, openers and no3 batsman know they have to survive first before playing attacking strokes.

Gabriel gets his second wicket...Bairstow out for two.

153-6

for such a no contest match we have a contest

one day the UK media will realise that they invariably end up looking stupid when they make such exaggerated claims

of course they are stupid, so perhaps they should just carry on

England should not be in this position. WI have bowled a lot better, but there have still been too many sloppy shots and poor technique. Root should have been out on 8 and Stokes has had at least two lives. England might squeak 250 from here, but surely WI will bat better than last week too?

I can envisage the West Indies changing room having a photo of Colin Graves pinned to their wall

In fairness to the British press , there was a fair bit of rubbishing of West Indies floating around among the Experts of the Internet too
Possibly even some on this site ? I haven't checked.

Cue the cliche "wait until both teams have batted " . But certainly England have not played particularly well today even crediting some useful bowling. Overconfidence ? Doesn't look like it : in fact I'd say Malan , for one , suffered through not playing his natural game - to an exaggerated extent.
Does put the five hundred last week back into some perspective.

Old ball

Stokes and Moeen at the crease and Woakes still to come in

wouldn't rule out some sort of a recovery