England sealed a 2-0 series victory against the West Indies in a closely contested match where the pendulum swung both ways during the match. It was an absorbing Test but had aspects of the good, bad and the ugly.
The Windies batting collapse in the first innings was ugly as they once again meekly surrendered without any fight.Their fielding again proved to be less than good with the exception of Bravo who was outstanding.England's bowling in the first innings by Harmison and Plunket was not pretty to watch as they continued to spray it around adding to the extras column.
There were some good performances from both sides. Alastair Cook reached his sixth century in a very short career and proved what a fine prospect he is. The Windies showed some fire power with Fidel Edwards in the side and troubled the England batsmen. Darren Sammy made a promising debut with a seven wicket haul and his batting showed some fight. Monty Panesar proved that he is proving to be a be a world class spinner with his first 10 wicket haul and his first man of the match award.
The best performance of the match undoubtedly was a fighting century in testing conditions by Shivnarine Chanderpaul. He is not pretty to watch but very effective and has been the best player for the Windies for a while now. He is under rated, but when the chips are down you can count on the shy and awkward Chanderpaul to come to the party. He nearly took the Windies to a record breaking win and it just needed someone to stay with him at the end, but Harmison had got that fire in his belly after lunch on the final day which proved too much for the tailenders. He gives the team the stability and consistency that they so desperately require. He got very good support from his team mates to halt England's progress on the 4th day and that must auger well for the future. His knock must rate as one of the best and it is a shame that it was not for a winning cause.
This Test match proved to be an absorbing contest and a lot of credit must go to the pitch as it had something for both the batsman and bowlers if they played well and adapted to the conditions. Both teams can take some positives from the match, the Windies will want to continue the good form that they showed and England will be happy that they managed to win after being tested but both have areas that they need to improve on.
6 comments:
So how do you see the India series shaping up? How much can we read into the batting/bowling performances of the Poms?
I think the India series will be very interesting and will be a test for both side.
I think the Poms have a lot of improving to do as they are still prone to batting collapses and the bowling is anything but consistent at the moment so when put to the test there are weaknesses to exploit. They are improving thou and have a good captain and coach who are keen to improve and can only get better.
India will do well to study them well like the Aussies do and exploit the weaknesses.
It needs a good coach to work behind the scenes and do the hard graft and prepare the team so you have your work cut out coach. :)
ps if you are recruiting for support staff, I am ready to apply for the position :)
Do you approve of Chanderpaul s tactics to frequently expose tailenders to face Harmison and Panesar ? Harmison was a shadow of 2005 days and exposing cuckoos like Taylor, Fidello and Colleymore to the duo is by far the idiotic move. Had he shown some sense, WI would have been home with a rare victory (2nd in 28 Tests)
I think Chanderpaul was outstanding and played one of the best innings ever in very testing conditions. Yes it was very near to a historic win but I really cannot be critical of the guy as few would have done what he did and he deserves praise not damming in my opinion.
Last 2 Test series between India and England have been drawn affairs (home and away). I bet this time it would be the same with form deciding the 3rd Test result or may be the weather.
Its their batting vs our batting contest, because the bowling of both teams look inconsistent and jaded. Courses for horses :
Harmison = Sreesanth
Hoggard = Zaheer
Sidebottom > 3rd Indian seamer (RPS, most prolly)
Panesar < Kumble.
What do you reckon ?
I think it will a tight series. the Indian bowlers should get plenty of help in England if they get it right. Zaheer had success here last year and should continue that from. Think Shree could do well if he keeps up his enthusiasm.
England are warming up well and their bowling could just start to fire but could be inconsistent so all in all should be interesting.
I can't wait for the action to begin....
Post a Comment