Early team news and Ollie Robinson will miss out due to a back injury, so Saqib Mahmood might come into the attack for his debut.

This just makes the decision to omit both Anderson and Broad even stranger, as England could well be fielding an inexperienced attack of Mahmood, Craig Overton, Woakes & Wood, and the latter of those is known to be injury prone at the best of times.

Yes a very thin bowling “attack”, Woakes record overseas is woeful, Overton and Mahmood are novices and Robinson’s injuries are becoming a problem.

CleggHall wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 07, 2022 11:43 am

Yes a very thin bowling “attack”, Woakes record overseas is woeful, Overton and Mahmood are novices and Robinson’s injuries are becoming a problem.

Indeed! and this is where a fit Archer would be a huge bonus, I suspect he'd be a handful on Caribbean pitches.

Agree on Woakes, he'd one of the first names on the team sheet in a home series, but his overseas record isn't great.

From a Lancs POV it's great to finally see Mahmood in the running for an England cap, and if he doesn't feature tomorrow, he'll surely play in one of the tests during this series.

You can only take so many bowlers and most of our top performers are injury prone sadly.

Not many management teams will suggest plugging injury problems with fast bowlers in their late 30s.

Jimmy will be at the end of his mark ready for the first over of the home series this summer. Let the younger lads try their craft in the West Indies.

I suspect that Robinson will be hit with a few injuries for some time now. They've done so much work on him trying to get him fitter/ stronger that as daft as it seems, that can have a negatvie effect on the body. Fast bowling is brutal for the body, but it does get used to it and the weight it's having to distribute through impact at the crease etc, as soon as you change this, even by something as simple as losing weight, or putting muscle on this can upset something that's been in place for years and for thousands of delieveries over time. Jimmy had this, all be it more radical when they tried to change his action.

Woakes should be used in a horses for courses way. Wouldn’t surprise me to see Broad or Anderson flown out at some stage of the series if any more injuries pop up. Robinson is a strange one, he’s been great so far just doesn’t look his body may have the ability to handle Test cricket. I would imagine Overton will play ahead of Mahmood even though you could leave Leach out too with Lawrence and Root in the squad.

Spot on tempo upthecolne

TBH it doesn't really matter which four bowlers you take, unless they sort out the batting which has been woeful for 18 months pretty much, you're not going to win many Test's all out for 150 each and every innings

Rumours in the press that Overton and Woakes will take the new ball, Wood and Leach then Stokes will also play some part with the ball.

Looking forward to Overton bowling 75mph and taking 1-70

buzzclarets79 wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 07, 2022 1:14 pm

TBH it doesn't really matter which four bowlers you take, unless they sort out the batting which has been woeful for 18 months pretty much, you're not going to win many Test's all out for 150 each and every innings

Exactly! and until the batsmen start putting scores on the board, England's bowlers will always be under the pump.

The batting stats are dire, and that's with Root's immense contribution, imagine how dire they'll look if he goes through a bad trot.

I'd actually favour WI to win this series, there was little between the sides in England recently, and with home advantage, and an untested England squad the hosts have to be slight favourites.

Root wins the toss and England will bat first.

Can't possibly be as gutless as the Ashes rollover

Crawley
Lees
Root
Lawrence
Stokes
Bairstow
Foakes
Woakes
Overton
Wood
Leach

England win toss and bat

I notice it's on BT Sport again, have Sky lost test match cricket ?

Aclaret wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 08, 2022 1:59 pm

I notice it's on BT Sport again, have Sky lost test match cricket ?

Bt got the rights for England away games

Already an improvement on the Ashes

12/1 Lees gone for 4. Reviewed

Gone. Umpires call. 12/1

Lees thought he middled it

17/2 - usual sort of England start, top catch by the keeper.

17/2 Crawley gone for 8.

Groundhog Day.

Here we go...

Great catch though.

Great catch. 2 wickets down in less than 4 overs is still abysmal.

Both openers gone a long tail and what looks a limited bowling line up Windies at 2/1 to win this test looks big.

England tend to be poor the 1st test of every tour

TalkSport2 radio commentary for those without Bt.
Another fine start by England!

CleggHall wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 08, 2022 2:24 pm

TalkSport2 radio commentary for those without Bt.
Another fine start by England!

You can also watch it on bet365 without commentary, which compared to BT sport would seem a godsend

If we aren't going to give someone like Mahmood a chance then it's hard to see the logic for not taking Anderson and Broad?

Here we go. Root gone and 27/3.

27/3 Root gone bowled after getting dropped. Time to switch off?

Milltown1882 wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 08, 2022 2:42 pm

27/3 Root gone bowled after getting dropped. Time to switch off?

Stick with it, least you would be able to say I watched us get bowled out for less than 100 by a rank bad outfit

Wow.
Excellent bowling.
Conned Root with that one.

Here's hoping we xan get 3 days out of this.

Don’t know whether to laugh or cry

Awful attempt at a drive.
Thank goodness I've got to go shopping.

And four down

48/4 Lawrence for 20. Going to be a long (short) series this.

40 minutes from lunch and 1 wicket away from the tail on day 1 of a series

claretonthecoast1882 wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 08, 2022 2:43 pm

Stick with it, least you would be able to say I watched us get bowled out for less than 100 by a rank bad outfit

Pathetic from England again, but I disagree with your comment about the Windies being a rank bad outfit, yes they had a poor spell in international cricket, but recently they're showing signs of being competitive once more, which is great for fans of test cricket, as we need as many teams as possible to improve in this format.

I thought I'll check in on my break, and why am I not surprised that England are toiling with the bat once again.

Woohoo! 50 up for the loss of only 4 wickets.

tiger76 wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 08, 2022 3:36 pm

Pathetic from England again, but I disagree with your comment about the Windies being a rank bad outfit, yes they had a poor spell in international cricket, but recently they're showing signs of being competitive once more, which is great for fans of test cricket, as we need as many teams as possible to improve in this format.

I thought I'll check in on my break, and why am I not surprised that England are toiling with the bat once again.

Woohoo! 50 up for the loss of only 4 wickets.

In the last 5 years they have beat Zimbabwe, Bangladesh (twice), Afghanistan and England as well as losing a test series to Bangladesh.

One day cricket they can be anything, in test cricket they are rank bad. Only Bangladesh & Zimbabwe are ranked lower

claretonthecoast1882 wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 08, 2022 3:41 pm

In the last 5 years they have beat Zimbabwe, Bangladesh (twice), Afghanistan and England as well as losing a test series to Bangladesh.

One day cricket they can be anything, in test cricket they are rank bad. Only Bangladesh & Zimbabwe are ranked lower

Are England any better currently, you'd have to say no, is it 1 win in 15 tests, and no series victories for a couple of years now, so I hardly think any fans of English cricket can be too judgemental about any opponents.

Right now I wouldn't bank on England batting Bangladesh, certainly not away anyway, a good thrashing in the Caribbean,might finally bring the management and Root to their senses,and they'll stop picking the same side who are living on past glories for far too long, a massive overhaul is needed to make England a force in the test arena once more, as this bunch simply isn't up to the task.

tiger76 wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 08, 2022 3:49 pm

Are England any better currently, you'd have to say no, is it 1 win in 15 tests, and no series victories for a couple of years now, so I hardly think any fans of English cricket can be too judgemental about any opponents.

Right now I wouldn't bank on England batting Bangladesh, certainly not away anyway, a good thrashing in the Caribbean,might finally bring the management and Root to their senses,and they'll stop picking the same side who are living on past glories for far too long, a massive overhaul is needed to make England a force in the test arena once more, as this bunch simply isn't up to the task.

On current form no, but that is like saying Watford can't claim Norwich are a bad side. If England were at full strength how many of the West Indians would you have in our 11

57/4 at lunch. How to sum up those two hours?

Just got back in to see BT showing Shane Warne get his 700 again.
Do mind admitting to slightly moist eyes.

Buxtonclaret wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 08, 2022 4:38 pm

Just got back in to see BT showing Shane Warne get his 700 again.
Do mind admitting to slightly moist eyes.

52 is no age , but what a 52 years it was

50 partnership for Stokes and Bairstow, good effort to steady the ship.

Now the 100 up, 102/4.

These two have done well

115/5 Stokes gone for 36, brilliant delivery

You've got to say, The Windies have bowled well.
Great discipline and variation.
Then again, imagine our batsmen might make me look good, if I turned my arm over.

145/5 at tea. Need Bairstow and Foakes to put a strong partnership on here.

50 for Bairstow great knock.