Time to take medicine? WI Cricket! Eng vs WI

[Karl]

Test no. 1831
West Indies in England Test Series - 1st Test
England v West Indies 2007 season
Played at Lord's, London, on 17,18,19,20,21 May 2007 (5-day match)


England - 158 for 2

Umpires Asad Rauf (Pakistan) and RE Koertzen (South Africa)
TV umpire NJ Llong
Match referee AG Hurst (Australia)
Reserve umpire RA Kettleborough

[Karl]

England dominate rusty Windies
WINDIES MEET THE QUEENCMC
Friday, May 18, 2007

LONDON, England - The England (left) and West Indies cricket teams are presented to Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (centre) during a break in play at the first Test at Lord's yesterday. (Photo: AP)
LONDON, England (CMC) - Showing obvious rust, West Indies failed to make the most of ideal bowling conditions, and Alastair Cook collected his fifth Test hundred to give England a strong hand before bad light stopped play on the rain-affected opening day of the opening Test yesterday at Lord's.

Having not bowled a ball in a practice match simulation prior to the Test, the West Indies' bowlers lacked control, and England's batsmen, led by Cook with an undefeated 102, exploited it to reach 200 for three when bad light stopped play 34 overs early.
Cook struck his 162nd ball from Daren Powell through cover for two to reach his landmark before bad light sent the players off for the third and final time.

Cook was prepared to be mostly circumspect throughout his innings, and only explored the range of his strokes when the West Indies bowlers strayed off line as they regularly did.
Powell was the most successful West Indies bowler with two wickets for 52 runs from 18 overs.

LONDON, England - England's Alastair Cook hits a delivery from West Indies bowler Dwayne Bravo (out of picture) on the first day of the first Test match yesterday. (Photos: AP)

After looking rusty during the morning period, the West Indies' bowlers showed more control in the afternoon period, and Powell was rewarded with the scalps of Andrew Strauss for 33 and Owais Shah for six.

Powell made the breakthrough, when he had Andrew Strauss caught at backward point slicing a drive. The interim England captain shared 88 for the first wicket with Cook.

Owais Shah, playing in his second Test, was clearly full of nerves and Powell put him out of his misery, when he had him caught at third slip.

Cook soon reached his 50, when he stroked his 76th delivery from Corey Collymore to long-on and ran four.
Kevin Pietersen had arrived and quickly got into stride, when he whipped a delivery from Collymore through mid-wicket for the first of his four boundaries.

West Indian fielder Chris Gayle fails to catch a ball edged by England's Andrew Strauss on the first day of the first test match against at Lord's, London, yesteday.

He and Cook took the sting out of the West Indies' attack with a stand of 59 for the third wicket before he was caught at cover for 26 driving a wide, half-volley from Collymore.

It was the last success West Indies had before the close, after they had come back from a wicketless toil before lunch, when England had reached 85 without loss.

Rain had delayed the start by half-hour, and Strauss and Cook got on top of the rusty West Indies attack to give England a solid base.

None of the West Indies' bowlers could find a consistent line, and the England opening batsmen prospered.

Strauss looked particularly comfortable off the back foot - striking successive boundaries off Jerome Taylor through the leg - while also driving down the ground with authority.

Cook was similarly assured with a couple rasping strokes through the off-side and was a delight to watch.

Twice just before the interval, Collymore caused Andrew Strauss some anxious moments when he found the left-hander's outside edge, both falling short of the slips.

West Indies stuck with the same 11 that was selected for the badly rain-affected, warm-up tour match against Somerset last weekend.

It meant Sylvester Joseph and Fidel Edwards will have to wait a little longer to resume their Test careers, and Ravi Rampaul and Daren Sammy to start theirs.

Andrew Flintoff failed a fitness test on his injured left ankle and missed out, as James Anderson was sent home leaving England with a frontline attack comprising Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard, Liam Plunkett, and Monty Panesar.

West Indies have not beaten England in a Test since they crushed them by an innings and 93 runs seven years ago at Birmingham.

Since then, West Indies have lost 10 of their last 12 Tests against England, and they have gone almost four years and 17 matches without a Test win on the road.

Scoreboard
England 1st Innings
A Strauss c Smith b Powell 33
A Cook not out 102
O Shah c Smith b Powell 6
K Pietersen c Smith b Collymore 26
P Collingwood not out 21
Extras (lb10, w1, nb1) 12
Total (3 wkts, 56 overs, 249 mins) 200

Fall of wickets: 1-88 (Strauss), 2-103 (Shah), 3-162 (Pietersen)
To bat: I Bell, M Prior, L Plunkett, M Hoggard, S Harmison, M Panesar

Bowling: Powell 18-4-52-2; Taylor 6-0-35-0; Collymore 19-4-60-1 (1nb); Bravo 13-4-43-0 (1w)

West Indies: Chris Gayle, Daren Ganga, Devon Smith, Ramnaresh Sarwan (capt), Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Runako Morton, Dwayne Bravo, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Daren Powell, Jerome Taylor, Corey Collymore

Toss: West Indies

Umpires: Rudi Koertzen (RSA) and Asad Rauf (PAK)

TV umpire: Nigel Llong (ENG)

Match referee: Alan Hurst (AUS)

[Karl]

Stumps - Day 2!

England 553/5 (142.0 ov)
West Indies

[Farmah]

At this rate we are well set to get an arsing in England. I can't understand how the same set of bowlers who failed terribly in the WC could be given the job to take England apart!

Fidel Edwards is in the squad; yet, he is not selected. Wayne Lawson showed in the Caribbean cup series that he was back to his old lightening -fast effective self but he was ignored for the World Cup and now ignored for the English trip.

Maybe it is past time we start looking at self-representation. Look at the recently concluded world cup and tell me which one of the associated teams (USA, Canada, Bermuda, N Ireland, Holland etc) could have beaten a Jamaica, Trinidad or Bajan team? I firmly believe the West Indies should now look at disbanding the old conglomerate and let the individual teams stand on their own in the international arena. Not only will we see players give more for their country, but it will afford a greater scope of opportunity for good players who would otherwise not get the chance to shine in a West Indies shirt. It' stime to secede and go separate ways!

[Mosiah]

Tiyad fi say it. We a laugh at Bermuda, but they have the balls to play by themselves. Kingston Cricket Club probably have more members than all the people of Bermuda.

Time we dismantle this farce called West Indies cricket!

[Karl]

Tiyad fi say it. We a laugh at Bermuda, but they have the balls to play by themselves. Kingston Cricket Club probably have more members than all the people of Bermuda.

Time we dismantle this farce called West Indies cricket!

Yuh nuh...di more mi tink pan hit, di more mi believe yuh seh ban hit be-caucen wi a lose...hat disyah time wi nuh good? Seh hit his-n't sooo?