England v West Indies : Cricket

[Hippy Dave]

I can't actually believe the negativity towards Vaughan - we've been shit since he's been out of the team. Yes he was crap in the WC, but he's been crap in ODIs forever.

[Colbro]

Squad announcement.
Strauss Captain
Prior WK
Mahmood/Anderson out
Shah 12th man???

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cric...nd/6644239.stm

[Swooperman]

England squad Andrew Strauss (capt), Alastair Cook, Owais Shah, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Matt Prior (wk), Liam Plunkett, Monty Panesar, Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard.

Thats about as good as can be expected in the circumstances I reckon. Shahs in form & did well in his 1 test so hes been picked for the right reasons which is refreshing, but I guess Rob Key must now think he'll never play another test what with a new coach & being in form yet hes overlooked again.
I said somewhere I'm no fan of Prior & I'm not really, but he averages nearly 40 with the bat so apart from potential nerves then thats not the problem, its his keeping that worries me. That said, with the farce surrounding Englands keeping picks in the last year or so he deserves a chance so fair play. I thought it would be Nixon personally but although hes done nothing wrong, Priors runs win the day. You have to think that Chris Read myuust be a really bad person to have around the dressing room though

Regarding Tresco: Asked about the situation regarding Marcus Trescothick, who scored a double hundred for Somerset in the week, Graveney said that there was no consideration being given to him being recalled. "We have no intention of picking him in the foreseeable future. We have to take it slowly. We tend to talk about Bristol City and Bristol Rovers rather than cricket."

Now thats a somewhat bizarre quote

[Pie-chucker]

Windies are around 6-1 for Lords. Nice price, but very hard to have considering the two teams' exposure difference to decent match practice over the last month. Let alone talent/experience differential. You can bet the weather winning at 2-1.

One bet definitely worth a go is first innings lead England -37.5. Shah at 3 and Bell at 6 would make this look even rosier.

[Pie-chucker]

The (assumed) lack of threat from Windies allows Moores to think final XI in a more nuanced way. To get Shah to Lords and have him carrying drinks or umbrellas for the first day, then leave him out of the whole picture second test, wouldn't do him much good.

I would think no Monty for this one. Weather?

Which brings me back to Vaughan.

He'll want to have his fingers (the working ones) all over this and the last thing HE wants is a bloke to come in at 3 and score a ton. This Vaughan is the captain of England thing -- Graveney in perpetuity -- and Vaughan's pavilion haunting is not good.

[Swooperman]

Thinking along the lines of Plunkett being a shout at most match wickets @ 8/1 Sporting Odds. Only 11/2 just on englands wickets but I'm going for the fact there'll be more WIs wickets falling than Englands & discounting any WI bowler due to that.
Thinking along the lines of one of Strauss, Collingwood or Freddy for England runs. KPs too short as usual & I can see it being a grafters track tbh which is where Colly comes in. Strauss's love affair with Lords could continue particularly if England bat 2nd & get into bat in an afternoon rather than an overcast morning. Flintoff is available at around 9/1 which I really like as I can see the hard ball being a problem on a possibly typical early season wicket, but the pitch flattening as it goes on & the ball becoming much easier to bat against when softer as if its damp then reverse swing is out the window. Few ideas there & in truth its Freddy I'm edging towards.

Its difficult to make a case for WIs here as to my knowledge theyve never toured England this early as normally theyre the 'main event' in july & august. Its difficult with the weather around & a pitch with a green tinge to see Gayle getting going against the moving ball & Chanderpaul will be an absolute must for runs for a strong WIs showing. If I was picking a WIs bowler to do well it would be Corey Collymore in early english conditions as hes quite similar to an English seamer, although I did see Chris Gayle available @ 16's somewhere (Bet365 ??) to be leading WI bowler in the test. That seemed high but you'd think England would need to get 500+ for that to come in....although an interesting point is Gayle has an ODI 5-for under Sarwans captaincy in the ICC Champions Trophy whilst Lara was off the pitch

[Swooperman]

Freddys suffering from his ankle again:

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/engvw...ry/294115.html

Chris Gayles 16/1 was Stan James btw

[Colbro]

There was an interview with Nasser Hussain the day after Duncan Fletcher resigned on Sky. During the interview it came out that Hussein always had the final say on team selection and Fletcher was there to coach/advise.
Moores has been appointed with less power than Fletcher had but who has the extra power.
Its intersting that Shah is the 12 selection when they normally pick an extra bowler.
Are Vaughans powers being curtailed as well.

I just hope England are fully focused on Thursday and there are no power struggles and politics undermining them.

[Swooperman]

Interesting article about Vaughan claiming he was 'shut out of the Ashes'

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/engla...ry/294197.html

There seems to be a few comments regarding Fletcher being slagged off at the death going around, Owais Shahs had a bit of a dig as well.
I must admit I was laughing the other day at Pie moaning about Vaughan but I'm beginning to see where hes coming from
I'm pretty certain that the best man to captain the England test team is Vaughan & no-one else is close, although I feel he doesnt warrant his ODI place batting wise, but some of the things hes saying are a bit 'dont forget about me' :wasntme
Flintoff isnt certain to make Lords

[Pie-chucker]

A young (only Chanderpaul over 30) and very green Windies side with pathetic schedule of preparation should get blown away by England conditions experts. 4-0 would seem to be an absolute banker (as in 2004), unless it's seriously wet up north.

Such is the lack of Windies selection depth there are geezers like all-rounder Dwayne Bravo (24) and young keeper Ramdin (22) who have breezed through the system on precocious talent alone. Bravo was here in 2004 (27.50 with the bat in series) and has played for Kent so must lead the way in young knuckling down stakes. Can't see it happening.

Harmy's the man for Lords so...

England win @ 4/7 at 35pts
Strauss outscore Gayle first innings @ 4/5 at 10pts
Buy Harmison match bowling @ 52 at 1.5pts 10 pts wkt + 25 for inn fifer
Harmison MOM @ 10-1 at 5pts

[mullet1984]

Hi

Two bet pre series for me

Shah top england runs scorer 50/1 (price gone now) 2 pts. Looks like he will play tomorrow and if he scores big could get a run in all four tests, hence the price.

Who will score the fastest century.
Collingwood 25/1. This guy can hit a bit if he has to, he's shown that. Coming in down the order against lesser opposition he's got a chance. Plus there's a chance there may be only be one player who gets a century (KP last summer springs to mind)

If you think ENG will dominate 6/4 ENG -2.5 tests.

1st Test. No bet. Want to see what the conditions, fitness, form of the players is like. Bookies seem to have this well priced up.

[Pie-chucker]

India's going to be tough to beat so let's dispense with this part-time captain nonsense - appoint Strauss to the job and let him forge his own team without that creepy bloke with the dodgy finger and wonky knee lurking about the dressing room muttering about the Ashes...

This blog on the BBC Sport site. Not me! :wasntme

I'm all for Vaughan, great skip etc, but the bloke's getting delusional. Still wants to cling on to ODI job. He's playing team politics but should playing for Yorkshire for a 2 month spell, being bossed around by Gough!

[Swooperman]

Agree with the WIs doomed predictions tbh, very hard to see them making a fist of it. Weather could be a key point so I'm ducking the outright here but WIs could easily be dispatched in 3.5 days play. Not much precedent to go on, but I'm backing Cook to have benefitted from a rest whilst the WC was on, & Collymore to do well. I'm similar to Pie with Harmy but I've a feeling for Plunkett at better odds & I've ruled Hoggard out due to the ball getting damp & affecting swing
Priors performance bet I like as I think there'll be decent catches behind due to the WIs struggling to play the moving ball, but I'm backing no English ton here & I reckon 350 could be enough

Series Bets
1: Plunkett overall wkts @ 12/1 Lads 2pnts EW
2: Cook overall runs @ 8/1 Lads 3pnts EW
3: Eng -1.5 tests @ 8/15 Lads 60pnts
4: Collymore WIs wkts @ 9/2 Hills 2pnts
5: Prior perf.315+ @ 5/6 B365 12pnts
6: Gayle -280 runs @ 5/6 B365 12pnts

1st Test
1: Cook Eng HS @ 4/1 SJ 3pnts
2: Bravo WIs HS @ 10/1 SJ 2pnts
3: No Eng ton @ 5/2 Lads 4pnts
4: Gayle perf.-97 @ 5/6 B365 18pnts

[Swooperman]

Looked at the weather on www.accuweather.com @ & it says after a possible delayed start with rain @ 11am it should be ok for the 1st 4 days

[rcgills]

I had a dream last night that England were beaten inside 2 days. Having said that, they were playing in a park, and the Windies wicketkeeper took a couple of catches with the help of the briefcase he had with him behind the stumps. Not sure whether that helps anybody, but just felt I should document it here, just in case it comes true (with the possible exception of the briefcase bit ).

Good luck to everyone with their bets anyway