Posts tagged with ‘West Indies in England 2009’

Knowing as we did that West Indies’ players weren’t too keen on being here, it is no surprise that England took the ODI series 2-0. And we didn’t learn much about the players that we didn’t already know.

He was off the field on the last day of the recent test. We were told (on TMS) that he was feeling “queasy”. Perhaps not.

For England, this may well be a blessing in disguise where the rest of the summer is concerned.

Strauss can pat himself on the back, knowing that the West Indies players are now distracted, wondering who their next captain will be, whether they will be the next captain, whether they agree or disagree with their captain and so on and so on.

We thought that it was a new dawn. We felt that a definitive statement had been made about the future direction of the England team. We felt there would be no more passengers or shirkers. We were wrong.

If the 1st Test against West Indies has taught us anything it is that test cricket doesn’t care a damn about reputations. Two of the worlds finest batsmen, Kevin Pietersen and Shiv Chanderpaul, faced just 7 deliveries between them, whilst it was the likes of Swann and Onions who took the limelight.

Ravi Bopara has done in 1 innings what Ian Bell hasn’t managed in 31. He has scored a century batting at no. 3 for England.

Ian Bell needs to talk things over with Geoff Miller. He has issues with those mean selectors. He is hurt at his omission from the test squad, as if he has some divine right to be included.

Bravo for the selectors! After all the debate about whether England would select Ian Bell or Michael Vaughan to bat at three against West Indies, the selectors have chosen to ignore both with their squad for the 1st Test.

It had to happen. Just one day after we questioned the value of Flintoff’s IPL performances so far as preparation for the summer internationals, it is announced that Freddie is injured, needs an operation and will miss the West Indies series.