I know im getting on but from memory pitches in the Windies in the 70s and 80s were absolutely dangerous. This pitch is the most unlikely Windies pitch I have every seen. This match is nailed on for a draw. How many times could we say that down the years.
Lees out LBW - head not in line with ball and falling over. Even worse, he reviews it in a nanosecond
24-1
Very poor waste of a review. It's become a thing where top order players automatically review LBWs, hoping they're missing. He would have known whether he hit it or not
I don't think we could see whether he got a signal from Crawley but it was, as you say, almost premeditated. Batsmen seem to have forgotten that reviews are meant to be used to turn over howlers not as a vehicle for self preservation.
Lees deserves the series to prove himself and I hope he has some success in that regard but the fact that he has been out LBW in seven of his last 21 First Class innings is worrying. Haven't seen any of the other dismissals but the head going too far across and falling over will mean that he ends up outside the line of the ball and also playing across his pads. Which is a very basic technical fault and not one that one would expect of a Test opener.
England's selection strategy is also causing confusion. Even if Lees and Lawrence make a few runs here, we have no idea if Burns, Hameed and Malan would have made similar scores or better, in easier conditions than in Australia on sporty pitches
I actually think that Stauss, Root etc know exactly what they are getting with the three - in the case of Burns and Malan they will be pretty confident, on all known information, that they probably would get runs against the Windies. They will be, however, 32 and 35 respectively by the end of the season and with Root, Stokes and Bairstow in the top six, probably feel that the time is right to give others a chance. Hameed might well too have scored runs but his confidence is shot to pieces and probably does need time to find his form away from the glare of the international scene.
There might also be another fear and that is that if there is no incentive for those who are in and around the Test squad to actually play, then those players might divert their attention to concentrating on white ball. And that would mean the Test selection pool becoming even smaller than it is already.
That was an example of what I was talking about the stamina and concentration needed by a keeper in such conditions. I'm sure that had that chance been the first ball of the innings then Da Silva would have made a much better attempt at taking the catch. He even knew in advance exactly the line that was being bowled and yet he reacted late to it and was so leaden-footed too.
I didn't realise that Trescothick was part of the "new" coaching set-up. Great to see he is over the worst of his travel issues from 10+ years ago.
Like Harmy, I can see the similarities between Tres and Zak. Most teams these days seem to have one attacking opener
I did have a little chuckle when Harmy said in commentary "the best player I ever played with was Kevin Pietersen but the best English batsman was Marcus Trescothick"
Right here I go. I hate the 100 with a passion and test match cricket should always be the pinnacle of our game. But ffs wickets like this don't help persuade people I'm correct.
Comments
This pitch is the most unlikely Windies pitch I have every seen.
This match is nailed on for a draw.
How many times could we say that down the years.
There might also be another fear and that is that if there is no incentive for those who are in and around the Test squad to actually play, then those players might divert their attention to concentrating on white ball. And that would mean the Test selection pool becoming even smaller than it is already.
146-1, lead by 82.
Crawley 79 (156)
Root 55 (114)
185-1
185-1
Crawley 100 (181)
Root 72 (141)
But we all know we won't.
Fact.
I hate the 100 with a passion and test match cricket should always be the pinnacle of our game.
But ffs wickets like this don't help persuade people I'm correct.
Windies 1%
Draw 74%
England 25%
By the way if you scored over 30 expect to be called up for the second Test.
We've won the toss and will bat.