West Indies vs England - 5th Test

[CatInASuit]

Well, it's must win time for England in the 5th Test.

Looks like we won't be playing Sidebottom or Harmison either and they will give Khan a run instead. Sidebottom was very poor in the last test and Harmison just looks liek he doesn't want to be there, as usual.

Here's hoping for a great contest.

[CatInASuit]

Ok, so 5 bowlers in the England team, so Strauss is defintely going for a win. The West Indies have gone for the extra batsman.

Despite that, England are racking up another very large total and here's to hoping the pitch actually gets worse over time as it is supposed to do instead of remaining a featherbed.

[Malacandra]

Hundreds for Strauss, Collingwood and Prior. Slow game all round, WI concentrating almost entirely on defensive fielding - they must be playing for the declaration and figuring they'll be hard to bowl out twice. This is not the Windies of old, for sure - more like India in the 1970s.

[CatInASuit]

Well England just declared at 546/6. Strauss has obviously had enough.

Time to see if England can get 20 wickets in the next 3 and a bit days.

[Kaspar Hauser]

While waiting for the day to begin, I just want to note the horrible bowling India is putting out at the moment with just a few overs to go..

[Kaspar Hauser]

And just as I finished typing that post, Kumar and Pathan removes the last two Kiwis within 2 balls.
Great match by Tendulkar - and an interesting finish..

[CatInASuit]

Hmm, this game is getting interesting.

The latest word is that Gayle has retired with a torn right hamstring. He really will not want to bat again unless he has to. Chanderpaul is injured as well, but still batting and the West Indies are 4 wickets down.

[Kaspar Hauser]

Windies are 256/4 halfway through day three. The state of the wicket appears to be unchanging - I predict a draw..

[CatInASuit]

It is looking that way really.

Even with two spinners in the side, not to mention retirees, it doesn't look like England will take 20 wickets.

A batting collapse would be nice, preferably a West Indies one.

[Kaspar Hauser]

That would be entertaining, at least. I am not an England supporter, but if a collaps is to happen I hope it will be the Windies. With the ashes coming up in a few months the last thing we need to ruin the fun of that is complete disarray on the English side.

[Kaspar Hauser]

Six centurions in the 1st innings alone! Bah..

[CatInASuit]

Well, Strauss is at least being adventurous.

He has set the West Indies 240 to win in two sessions with England requiring 10 Wickets.

Here's hoping a couple of early wickets fall just to spice things up.

[Malacandra]

As you wish...

[Wash]

Is Gayle expected to bat today if he is needed, or has his injury ruled him out completely?

[Kaspar Hauser]

Cricinfo lists him as next batsman up - but I don't know if they have made the list before he was injured. Anyway - the next session could get interesting, but I still fear it won't be. Windies aren't pushing for the win, just trying to ride off the storm.

[CatInASuit]

84/4 with 30 overs left. Gayle won't bat unless he really has to.

This is getting tense. I would guess that the West Indies will hold on, but its nice to see a much more positive attitude from England.

[Wash]

85/5. Yahoo's Cow Corner confirms that Gayle is padded up and will bat at 8 if needed.

[Kaspar Hauser]

Interesting. Minimum 25 overs left - we could be in for an exiting evening. Still - this series has not exactly been a great advertisement for test cricket. In stead this final match have turned into a bit of an ODI on day five.

[CatInASuit]

90/6 now.

:: CIAS starts running through his fingernails and is now onto his fingers ::

[Duke]

Oh, Monty, Monty! Why did you burn that last referral?

[Duke]

I joined this board just to post in this thread.

Gripping stuff, Monty and Swann are bowling in tandem, Gayle is indeed batting at 8. 98/6 now with a theoretical 19 overs remaining.

Swann has the ungodly bowling figures of 19-11-13-3.

[Duke]

107/7! Monty traps Gayle.

So that's 4 lbws and 3 catches by Collingwood. 9.2 overs to go....

[Kaspar Hauser]

Min. 2 overs left - and 2 batsmen to go. Exiting!

[Duke]

And the Windies hang on! Tremendous stuff, shame for Swann and the rest of the England bowlers.

[Kaspar Hauser]

Yep. But congrats to the Windies - that seals their first series victory in a long time.. Nice avatar btw, duke. Is it Muralitharan? Perhaps I should have gone for my originally intended VVS Laxman avatar..

[CatInASuit]

OVerall, it's a shame about the flat pitches for the series, but the last couple of sessions were certainly exciting.

Congrats to the West Indies and roll on the ODIs

[Duke]

Yep. But congrats to the Windies - that seals their first series victory in a long time.. Nice avatar btw, duke. Is it Muralitharan? Perhaps I should have gone for my originally intended VVS Laxman avatar..

Yes, that is my favorite cricketer and fellow offspinner Murali. As a teammate of mine once said to me, "You bowl with a bent arm just like him...but not anywhere near as well."

I managed to see Sky Sports (replayed on Fox Soccer Channel here in the US) and caught what Ian Botham had to say about England and in particular about Andrew Strauss. Yowza. Let's just say Botham was not a fan of Strauss' timing of the declaration.

[Wash]

I managed to see Sky Sports (replayed on Fox Soccer Channel here in the US) and caught what Ian Botham had to say about England and in particular about Andrew Strauss. Yowza. Let's just say Botham was not a fan of Strauss' timing of the declaration.

I'm assuming he said it came too late? It did seem like the total was too high for the Windies to really go for it, especially once the first couple of wickets fell. However, even if it had come earlier and the total was lower, I just don't see them going for a victory they didn't need on a quickly deteriorating pitch.

[Duke]

In a nutshell, yes, although I think he was more concerned about the timing of the declaration. He felt that Strauss should have declared when Prior was out, and had a couple overs to bowl at the Windies before lunch. Botham was also disappointed that Strauss didn't seem that bothered by getting so close. He also insinuated that England would have won the series 2-1 with better captaincy (although he'd deny that he meant that).

[Malacandra]

When Botham talks about good captaincy it is as well to listen, for he played under some good ones. But what difference he thinks two more overs would have made when 10 overs weren't enough to shift the Windies' last pair in the 3rd Test is anyone's guess. Keeping the extras below 70 in the 1st innings would have helped, of course.

[Duke]

Strauss would do well to ask Botham how many Tests he won as captain. I believe it's a nice round number.

[CatInASuit]

Strauss would do well to ask Botham how many Tests he won as captain. I believe it's a nice round number.

Agreed. Great player, not a great captain.

[Malacandra]

Strauss would do well to ask Botham how many Tests he won as captain. I believe it's a nice round number.

Agreed. Great player, not a great captain.

Great player for the first half of his Test career - he was very quick to 1000 runs/100 wickets and then to 2000 runs/200 wickets. And a career total of 5200 runs and 383 wickets isn't to be sneezed at by any means, but he took his first 200 wickets cheaply and his last 180 wickets at a 75% higher cost on average - and scored something like three-quarters of his centuries in the first half of his Test career, and so only one-quarter in the second half. IOW he lived the second half of his career on the back of the reputation he'd made in the first half.

One of his greater feats as captain was losing only three Tests in back-to-back series against the West Indies. Sounds like failure, but the Windies spent the rest of the 1980s whitewashing England as often as not.