West Indies Tests in the UK

[Zidane]

The West Indies are in England for a 3 Test series and one dayers of which this Test match at Edgbaston is the first to be played under floodlights.Cook and Root both scored centuries for England but new boy,Stoneman,failed being out for just 8 and Westley for the same score.
England 348-3 (Cook 153* Root 136)

[Zidane]

First Investec Test, Edgbaston, day two

England 514-8 dec: Cook 243, Root 136, Malan 65, Chase 4-113
West Indies 44-1

Alastair Cook remorselessly churned out 243 as England tightened their grip on West Indies on day two of the day-night Test at Edgbaston.
Cook batted for almost 10 hours, his eventual dismissal prompting England's declaration at 514-8.
Dawid Malan, looking to secure a place at number five, scored 65, his maiden Test half-century.
West Indies had reached 44-1, 470 behind, when rain forced the players off with 26 overs left to bowl.

[Zidane]

England v West Indies: Hosts race to innings-and-209-run win at Edgbaston

First Investec Test, Edgbaston, day three
England 514-8 dec (Cook 243, Root 136, Malan 65, Chase 4-113)
West Indies 168 (Blackwood 79*, Anderson 3-24) &137 (Broad 3-34)
England won an innings and 209 runs

England took 19 wickets on the third day to beat West Indies by an innings and 209 runs in the day-night Test at Edgbaston.
West Indies, 44-1 overnight in reply to England's 514-8 declared, were bowled out for 168 and 137.
James Anderson took 3-34 in the first innings and Stuart Broad 3-34 in the second to move above Sir Ian Botham into second on the list of England's all-time leading Test wicket-takers.
England take the lead in the three-match series, and have named the same 13-man squad for the second Test beginning on Friday at Headingley.
That and the final match at Lord's will revert to traditional playing hours after this contest was held under lights to help England prepare for the Ashes.
While they have been given experience of playing with the pink ball, a poor West Indies side do not look likely to provide any sort of examination before the tour of Australia.
Off the field, the staging of the floodlit game can be seen as a success - the three days that have seen play were close to a sell-out - but the contest was not befitting of the historic occasion.

[BobHelm]

Looks like being a much closer contest in the second Test as the West Indies fielding/bowling improves but the English batting doesn't.
England all out in the first innings for a lowly 258 which would have been pathetically worse without a Ben Stokes' ton.
The new (& old) boys batting at the top of the order all failed; to give even more concerns about who will winter tour Australia.
One bright spot (just for Statto ) was that Jimmy managed another 0 not out!!

The West Indies lost 1 wicket before the end to continue today 239 runs behind with 9 remaining..

[BobHelm]

Can't be nice batting in Yorkshire this morning & so the West Indies have lost a couple of wickets already..
This is what it looks like - note the sky..

England being England in summer though, here is a picture taken in Bournemouth (where they kick off against Man. Citi soon) this morning!!

[BobHelm]

Lunch... West Indies 109-for3.

All wickets to Anderson. While the conditions were bowler friendly only Anderson provided the threat to go with it. Both Broad & Woakes (only played 1 game since a long layoff) bowled poorly.
Stokes & Moeen bowled better than B&W but to 2 reasonably established batsmen & had zero luck..

Sun coming out, could be a long afternoon in the field if these two batsmen remain..

[BobHelm]

The rest of the day was all West Indies as the conditions improved & the bowling didn't.
A huge, near 250, stand between Kraigg Brathwaite & Shai Hope put the West Indies well in charge.
Shai Hope was still there at the end on 147 after England did manage to snaffle Brathwaite for 134 & then Roston Chase cheaply.

West Indies start the day on 329 for 5 wickets and a lead of 71.

[BobHelm]

Another very up & down day in the game, but the Windies have the edge unless England can actually bat in their second innings..

WI 427 all out

The day started brilliantly for England. Anderson took 2 wickets in his first 2 balls this morning - Hope & Dowrich, but then England dropped a catch & the game swung back again towards the batters with a 80 odd stand between Captain Holder & Blackwood. Disappointedly for both of them, neither registered the 50 but it has put pressure on the England batting lineup that many of them will not enjoy!!

169 runs to make the WI bat again....I hope that they at least manage that for day 4 & 5 ticket holders!!

[BobHelm]

England 171-for3 at the close, so they start the day effectively 2 for 3..

Stoneman did enough with an opening 52 to suggest he will get another go in the final Test. Not sure about number 3, Westley, who the pundits reckon the West Indians (& so everyone else) have worked out & went cheaply for 8.

As long as England don't suffer one of their frequent batting collapses it looks like being a rather good Test match , which might even reach Day 5, i!

[Zidane]

Although England have had a relatively successful summer they have still only got 3 top class batsmen.....Cook,Root and Stokes.....one dreads to think what will happen if all three fail in an innings in Australia.
Jennings and Westley not good enough.....Stoneman and Malwan not looking great either but could get one more Test to prove themselves......Bairstow,Moeen and Woakes are good at 7,8 and 9.
At least we've got some decent pace bowlers.I can remember years ago we had plenty of batsmen but no fast bowlers.Its gone the full cycle.
Who would be the batting alternatives for England ? Hameed,Robson.....Bell,Morgan ? not too much there.

[BobHelm]

Well, Marcus Trescothick has just signed a 1 year extension at Somerset..
Not that he would be any good for the Ashes, of course... Ooops, sorry Marcus..

The problem for English players seems to be that there is such a large gap between the County game & Internationals.. Given some of the top world foreign players are playing in the Counties, it is hard to understand why.. However the players that they have brought in have all had excellent County records, but often look way, way out of their depth when given the cap... I have no idea why, or what the cure is..

[Barney]

Well, Marcus Trescothick has just signed a 1 year extension at Somerset..
Not that he would be any good for the Ashes, of course... Ooops, sorry Marcus..

The problem for English players seems to be that there is such a large gap between the County game & Internationals.. Given some of the top world foreign players are playing in the Counties, it is hard to understand why.. However the players that they have brought in have all had excellent County records, but often look way, way out of their depth when given the cap... I have no idea why, or what the cure is..

Bob your comment is in complete contrast to the pommy commentators. Botham, Hussain and Atherton sitting smugly in the box.
Last night telling how the WI may not have the batters to win this game they boasted that England, as opposed to the Windies, have a large pool of test standard players that can be called upon to slot in at any time, presumably from the county teams, while advising that the Windies have struggled to fill vacant spots because they don't have the large pool of up to test standard players anymore.
Maybe they were just trying to boost the egos of the british fans before the ashes.

[BobHelm]

I would like them to name a 2, 3 & 5 that they think are up to Test standard, let alone Ashes standard!! The selectors certainly have not manage to identify them.
As Zid said earlier, we are currently pretty blessed with bowlers & all rounders & have men in the wings capable of filling in those positions - Anderson excepted.

The batting has constantly failed as a group this summer & it has only been individual performances by the captain, or 1 of the 2 all rounders, that has meant that a competitive score was posted.
If this 11 go down under then your bowlers will think Christmas has come early...

[Barney]

Yes they did not mentions to many names to fill in the positions. They fact that there a re a few new boys in now who are not setting the world on fire seems to go against their talk.
I suppose they were only trying to fill in gaps with small talk during the break in play and weren't to serious? :-"

Off topic the aussies are out obviously out of match practice at the moment.

[BobHelm]

Off topic the aussies are out obviously out of match practice at the moment.

They did seem to have rather an England start to the batting in Bangladesh yesterday...

[BobHelm]

Australia give Bangladesh a first innings lead of 43 as they are bowled out for 217.
It could have been far worse as a late stand took them from 144 for 8.
Shakib al Hasan was playing in his 50th. Test & took a fifor (68) to make him only the 4th. player to get 5 wicket hauls against all the other Test sides - Muralitharan, Herath & Steyn being the first 3.

All set at Headingley with zero prospect of rain (on a British Bank Holiday Monday ?? NEVER!!) they have just started the mornings play..

[BobHelm]

Lunch - England lead West Indies by 82 runs with 6 wickets remaining

Root out for 72.
Malan (41) & Stokes (29) at the crease.
Those 2 need to stay together to build an England lead as England are, in effect, 82 for 4.
Stokes won't hang around as far as scoring goes but that will mean chances - with a new ball currently overdue & undoubtedly will be taken after lunch..
The pundits are saying anything over a 150 lead gives England a chance. I am not so sure, England have already scored 251 (just 7 less than they managed in their first innings) so the wicket is not really deteriorating..

[Barney]

Good to see Boycott in the team and charging ahead on 41 with a 27 strike rate.

[BobHelm]

Tea - England lead West Indies by 188 runs with 3 wickets remaining

So 357-for 7, Moeen on 23, Woakes on 9.

Too close to call, I think. Day 5 tickets should be worth having for 1 of the few times, lately..

[BobHelm]

This has been a real sea-saw of a game. Even during the individual days, the advantage has swung towards both sides.
Thanks to a fine late knock by Moeen (84) with support from Woakes (61 no) the advantage on the final day looks pretty firmly with England though.
England declared on 490 for 8 & the West Indies managed to bat out the remaining 6 overs without loss. They will be back at it today, needing 316 runs to win it with all their wickets standing.

Should be a great & close Day 5 - which has not been said in a Test in England for a very long time.
All 3 results are still possible..