Sunday, March 1, 2009
watch West Indies vs England 4th Test Day 4 live streaming
Neither of these grounds has produced a draw since April 2001, a run of 12 matches encouraging the tourists to believe that all three series results are still possible.
After the third Test at St John's we might yet get some cricket out of the whole thing. As they did against India three years ago, the West Indies fought to the very final ball to salvage a draw in one of the outstanding recent Tests and hopefully the series is now on track.
England batting collapse and the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium debacle has subsidedEngland will be feeling the pressure at 1-0 down with two to play,
Friday, February 27, 2009
watch West Indies vs England 4th Test Day 3 live streaming
Neither of these grounds has produced a draw since April 2001, a run of 12 matches encouraging the tourists to believe that all three series results are still possible.
After the third Test at St John's we might yet get some cricket out of the whole thing. As they did against India three years ago, the West Indies fought to the very final ball to salvage a draw in one of the outstanding recent Tests and hopefully the series is now on track. The anger with the referrals system, the cricket will move on easily enough from the Stanford embarrassment even if the legacy for Antigua is far more serious.
watch West Indies vs England 4th Test Day 2 live streaming
England will be feeling the pressure at 1-0 down with two to play, but the remaining Tests are at Bridgetown and Port of Spain. Neither of these grounds has produced a draw since April 2001, a run of 12 matches encouraging the tourists to believe that all three series results are still possible.
After the third Test at St John's we might yet get some cricket out of the whole thing. As they did against India three years ago, the West Indies fought to the very final ball to salvage a draw in one of the outstanding recent Tests and hopefully the series is now on track. The anger with the referrals system, the England batting collapse and the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium debacle has subsided; cricket will move on easily enough from the Stanford embarrassment even if the legacy for Antigua is far more serious.
If Strauss hits the Carib Beer hard he might be tempted to restore Ambrose to six, where he was so dreadfully exposed against South Africa last year, and pick five bowlers including Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann and Adil Rashid, all of whom can bat.
watch West Indies vs England 4th Test Day 2 live
Given the pitch reports and England's conservative selection there can only be one serious option. Ian Bell and Ravi Bopara are head-to-head for Flintoff's spot with the decision likely hanging on a selector's hunch. Both scored runs against the BCA President's XI, Bopara a century and Bell 72, but the opposition was marginal. The question is whether they want to shake things up with the volatile Bopara or stick with the devil they know in Bell. The opportunities afforded to the Warwickshire batsman in that tour match suggest he has the advantage.
Tim Ambrose is restored to wicketkeeping duty. The Warwickshire man first took over from Prior in 2008 after 10 Tests and played 10 himself before losing the gloves in India.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
watch West Indies vs England 4th Test live streaming
No such trials and tribulations for the West Indies, who retain the same 13 from the second and third Tests on Antigua. However there must be a temptation to replace two of the great underachievers in this generation.
Devon Smith has made six, 38 and 21 in the series so far and though he showed better patience at St John's - a constant gripe against the left-hander - he is under severe pressure from Lendl Simmons, compiler of 282 for West Indies A in a tour match that now seems some months ago.
watch West Indies vs England 4th Test live streaming
No such trials and tribulations for the West Indies, who retain the same 13 from the second and third Tests on Antigua. However there must be a temptation to replace two of the great underachievers in this generation.
watch West Indies vs England 4th Test live streaming

Instead the choices will be much more straightforward. Swann plays if fit, Broad plays if breathing and then perm two from James Anderson, Ryan Sidebottom, Steve Harmison and new arrival Amjad Khan. Harmison, like Rashid, is a dubious option as one of four bowlers though for very different reasons. He and Anderson are the men in possession and after the toothlessness in St John's it will be tempting to shake up the seam attack for a fast, grassy surface. If Sidebottom is carrying an injury, and there are times when it looks that way, then Khan is in contention for a debut after his tour match five-fer; if Swann is ruled out Strauss may prefer a fourth fast bowler to the down-on-his-luck Monty Panesar.
No such trials and tribulations for the West Indies, who retain the same 13 from the second and third Tests on Antigua. However there must be a temptation to replace two of the great underachievers in this generation.
Devon Smith has made six, 38 and 21 in the series so far and though he showed better patience at St John's - a constant gripe against the left-hander - he is under severe pressure from Lendl Simmons, compiler of 282 for West Indies A in a tour match that now seems some months ago.
watch West Indies vs England 4th Test live
Given the pitch reports and England's conservative selection there can only be one serious option. Ian Bell and Ravi Bopara are head-to-head for Flintoff's spot with the decision likely hanging on a selector's hunch. Both scored runs against the BCA President's XI, Bopara a century and Bell 72, but the opposition was marginal. The question is whether they want to shake things up with the volatile Bopara or stick with the devil they know in Bell. The opportunities afforded to the Warwickshire batsman in that tour match suggest he has the advantage.
Tim Ambrose is restored to wicketkeeping duty. The Warwickshire man first took over from Prior in 2008 after 10 Tests and played 10 himself before losing the gloves in India. Prior had re-established himself since Chennai, batting well and cutting out the costly drops so Ambrose will have to do something special to keep his place. We might even argue that this is a missed opportunity to blood a serious rival to the incumbent.
watch West Indies vs England 4th Test live score
After the third Test at St John's we might yet get some cricket out of the whole thing. As they did against India three years ago, the West Indies fought to the very final ball to salvage a draw in one of the outstanding recent Tests and hopefully the series is now on track. The anger with the referrals system, the England batting collapse and the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium debacle has subsided; cricket will move on easily enough from the Stanford embarrassment even if the legacy for Antigua is far more serious.
England will be feeling the pressure at 1-0 down with two to play, but the remaining Tests are at Bridgetown and Port of Spain. Neither of these grounds has produced a draw since April 2001, a run of 12 matches encouraging the tourists to believe that all three series results are still possible.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
watch West Indies vs England 3rd Test Day 5 live streaming

Monty Panesar has been out of form and struggled in the recent series in India. His place is under threat and he must look at improving his game. Ian Bell has fallen away since his brilliant 199
"We hope we can home in on that now. It seems to be Freddie's [Flintoff's] length, and we all know how accurately Freddie can bowl."
Collingwood hit 113, following hundreds against South Africa at Edgbaston and India in Chennai to make it three in nine innings.
"It was important that we backed up a good day on Sunday, started again and built on what we had done," added the Durham batsman, who faced a hostile greeting from Fidel Edwards following nightwatchman James Anderson's second-over dismissal.
"To get through Fidel's fast spell in the first hour got us off to a great start.
"Jimmy did his job on Sunday as nightwatchman - but for me, it was good to get in early against the hard ball and score a few runs."
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
West Indies vs England 3rd Test Day 3 live streaming
Monty Panesar has been out of form and struggled in the recent series in India. His place is under threat and he must look at improving his game. Ian Bell has fallen away since his brilliant 199
Collingwood hit 113, following hundreds against South Africa at Edgbaston and India in Chennai to make it three in nine innings.
"It was important that we backed up a good day on Sunday, started again and built on what we had done," added the Durham batsman, who faced a hostile greeting from Fidel Edwards following nightwatchman James Anderson's second-over dismissal.
"To get through Fidel's fast spell in the first hour got us off to a great start.
"Jimmy did his job on Sunday as nightwatchman - but for me, it was good to get in early against the hard ball and score a few runs."
"Short balls are going through pretty quickly - but the more and more you can hit those areas where the halfway line is, the more you can extract inconsistent bounce.
