btb

After 19.2 overs he was on a hat-trick. As for knowing my stuff, I didn't have to wait until the West Indies came in to know that they were going to struggle to match England's total. Anyway I'm off to do a rain dance.

West Indies 99/4(19.2 ov) Swann on a hat-trick! A bit of a desperate performance (with the exception of Simmons) from a West Indies team with no confidence in their ability to match England's 377 by orthodox means.

Swann opens the bowling from the Pavillion End!

Bresnan & Onions may be playing their first Tests but they'll be playing in familiar conditions and Onions is in great form. Compare that to West Indies where only three of the specialist batsmen (Chanderpaul, Gayle & Sarwan) have played in county cricket. If England can't get 20 wickets here.................. 377 all out! Edwards will be on a hat-trick in the Second Innings always presuming England have to bat again.

England 377/8 (111.0 ov) As bad as it can get for the West Indies, difficult to see anything other than an England win from here.

Ah statistics - slice them & dice them, can be served hot or cold. Nothing in the above post backs up your original point - that Collingwood "regularly digs them out of a hole". Edit - IMO Collingwood has only twice changed the result of a Test Match -West Indies in 2007 and New Zealand last year.

Well I do (to an extent) 9 Test centuries but only one in a Test England went on to win - most of his runs have come in high scoring draws. As for Baker being pish - possibly but it's only his second game in England. It's a sign of how weak the West Indies bowling is that he's being asked to come in as first change. ***************************************** If England can score 350 there's a good chance they'll roll over the West Indies cheaply. ***************************************** England 289/7 (90.0 ov) - despite a poor fielding performance & West Indies being short of a bowler. Looks like a good score if England's seam attack can perform well.

See that's where I disagree with you. He scored a lot of run in the Caribbean last winter but failed the one time it counted and again today he's out for 8. It's Bopara digging England out of a hole today not Collingwood. Edit - Century for Bopara, congrats!

Oh for a fourth seamer! Why is Bravo still playing in the IPL? Edit - As I type he's bowling for Mumbai Indians!

Re Paul Collingwood Do any other cricket fans think he's over-rated? IMO today is another example of him not contibuting when the going gets tough. *************** On another notemonly one more wicket and the Windies will be into England's lower order - possibly before Tea on Day 1!

I understand what you're saying but this is Lords at the beginning of May. unless we lose a lot of time to bad weather I predict a finish in four days.

Looks like England'll intend to play Broad & Swann at 7 & 8. First Test - May 6-10, very early in the English summer to be playing a Test Match but I guess that's the way it got to be to fulfil contracts. Definitely a toss to win and insert the opposition.

Congats to England winning the ODI series 3-2. Disappointed that any momentum West Indies might have taken from the Test Series seems to have slipped away - how much of that is down to the internal strife is open to question.

Go Chris, go!

Great start for West Indies (Currently 43/5), my main worry is the weather and the possibility of the Duckworth/Lewis formula being applied. B)

The problem with Strauss is that if he wasn't Captain of the Test side he wouldn't be in the ODI's. I wouldn't open with him as with the fielding restrictions at the start of an Innings tends to reward improvisation rather than the orthodox. Having said that the current score is 208/3 (40.2 Ov) and you probably wouldn't put him in ahead of either Prior or Mascerenhas in the current situation altho' if you'd opened with of them then Strauss could come in at 6 or 7.

There is the problem, in terms of support they are closer to being a SFL 2 side than a SPL one.

He's explaining the background to the series, putting the way West Indies played into context. They're certainly not the words of a man with "little or no respect for the way the West Indies treated the series". Not that I'm particularly bothered but which team has had players fined & reprimanded for breaching the rules?

I am. Not pander to but entertain - fine definition! When I see phrases like spirit of the game being applied to professional sport I cringe.

I'll let Tony Cozier put the case for West Indies. Is it up to the home side to pander to the opposition support? I got as much joy from West Indies holding out at St. Johns & PoS as I did from Saints holding out for 1-0 victories against both halves of the OF.

Well I have to say that once we got the formality of England's First Innings out of the way it was a cracking Test. The fragility of West Indies batting meant that the game was never safe (although it probably would have been had Gayle not pulled his hamstring) and West Indies decision to go in with just three frontline bowlers nearly backfired. Over the series England were clearly the stronger side and it must be worrying that they couldn't take their chances in the St. Johns & PoS Tests. Odd that in a series where the bat dominated (17 centuries in the 4 Tests) the crucial spell was the hour after lunch on Day 4 of the First Test when England collapsed. Hard to see where West Indies go from here - they do not have enough players of the standard required to win more than the occasional Test, maybe winning this series will lead to a resurgance in the game although it's just as likely the Stanford fiasco will keep West Indies cricket in the doldrums. As for England - plenty of runs (when the going was good) but unable to take 20 wickets in any of the 4 matches. I foresee a long hard summer against the Aussies............

YEEEEESSSSSSS!

Fear West Indies will get what we deserve for such a negative team selection - the extra batsman Simmons got 32 runs and the lack of a fourth bowler allowed England cheap runs in the Second Innings, to concede at over 6 an over in Test Match conditions is very poor. For all those who criticised the pitch - it's not turned out to be a tame draw after all. Bad light is my hope, that close to the equator it gets dark quickly. Edit - See Panesar was find 25% of his match fee for excessive appealing!