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.
Showing posts with label watch West Indies vs England 4th Test live. Show all posts
Showing posts with label watch West Indies vs England 4th Test live. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
watch West Indies vs England 4th Test live streaming
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.
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
More difficult to spin is the reality of team selection. England admitted that the third Test draw felt like a defeat and now the engine room has gone kaput, Andrew Flintoff ruled out with a hip problem and Matt Prior playing peek-a-book in a Hove-area BUPA. Andrew Strauss must therefore choose between six batsmen or five bowlers for a Test he's desperate to win on a green, bouncy track prepared to help fast bowlers.
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.
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
By all accounts Sir Allen Stanford has made a howler or two recently, but has he ever been wider of the mark than in calling Test cricket 'tedious'? At times the Wisden Trophy 2008/9 has been atrociously umpired, embarrassingly played and incompetently managed, but - with the FBI's words 'fraud of shocking magnitude' providing an outrageous sub-plot - no-one is saying it has been dull.
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.
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.
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