TOPIC:

Great win by the WI boys....especially after being 3/27....well deserved win....controlled it from the off.

Well done to the Windies. Let's hope they back up this performance with a strong 2nd test.In the recent past there form has been all over the place.

Well done to the Caribbean boys chasing down the 200 to win losing 6 wickets in the process.
Jermaine Blackwood with 95 really deserved a century whilst Holder & Gabriel must be 2 of the most improved cricketers on the planet in the last couple of years, good to see.
As for the Pommy bowlers as predicted the West Indian 3 for & the Kiwi 2 for did most of the damage with the ball.

On another note how good was the pre recorded interview with the great man Viv Richards in the lunch break, taking him back to his childhood home in St Johns Antigua, where he played his cricket as a youngster etc.
Don Bradman is no doubt the greatest batsman of all time but Viv is still the best I have seen and no one has had his presence at the crease that I can remember.

Wonderful game of test cricket, just reinforcing it's superiority over all other formats. England had more than enough chances to bowl the Windies out but muffed about 5 catching and run out chances. England's batting line up also seems threadbare and is held together by a few players. WINDIES are definitely on the rise again which is great to see. There is a discipline to their game that I haven't seen for many years. I was expecting them to collapse after being 3 for 27 but they kept at it.

well done to the WI; silly thing is, as mikeh has stressed, had it played properly on day five England would have won. I have complained about the selection of Buttler for a long time. Root, of course, should take responsibility for the loss.

Definitely did not give the Calypso lads much of a chance after the quick losses of bats early but that was a very good win on that wicket
England have issues with that top order that will require sorting otherwise it'll be a home series spud

mikeh wrote: Wonderful game of test cricket, just reinforcing it's superiority over all other formats. England had more than enough chances to bowl the Windies out but muffed about 5 catching and run out chances. England's batting line up also seems threadbare and is held together by a few players. WINDIES are definitely on the rise again which is great to see. There is a discipline to their game that I haven't seen for many years. I was expecting them to collapse after being 3 for 27 but they kept at it.

Totally agree Mike no form of cricket beats Test Cricket especially one like last night that goes right down to the wire.
There have been some ripper Tests in England this century, maybe the moving ball plays a part there, but think 05 & 19 Ashes Series and a few others have been crackers.

Having said that I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the old 1980s World Series Cricket matches on replay on Fox Cricket over the last couple of weeks. Take out our mid 80s Aussie side where we had to rebuild after the Lillee, Marsh, Chappell etc retirements (plus the 2 Rebel Tours to South Africa) but gee there were some great cricket sides back then the Windies obviously were the standouts but England, NZ, India, Pakistan & SL all had their moments with some decent sides and top cricketers as well.

BH -- great post mate, just to illustrate your point about the strength of cricket in those days, the following countries all had to cope with tours to SA; and yet, as you rightly said, standards remained high indeed.

Sri Lanka
WI
Australia
England

Even more than that, from memory, the WI XI actually won the series in SA.

ArkRoyal wrote: BH -- great post mate, just to illustrate your point about the strength of cricket in those days, the following countries all had to cope with tours to SA; and yet, as you rightly said, standards remained high indeed.

Sri Lanka
WI
Australia
England

Even more than that, from memory, the WI XI actually won the series in SA.

AR there was a good piece written about the WI rebel sides that toured SA in the early 80s I read just recently.
Unfortunately a lot of those players that toured there were shunned on return to the Caribbean and many had succumbed to drink & drug problems like David Murray.
Also just recently read a good article by an Indian cricket writer on Patrick Patterson the WI firebrand bowler who had been virtually out of sight for 25 years there in his home town and has had his own demons in that time.

BH -- it certainly would have been hard for the players; but, I guess the lack of opportunity together with the 100 000 US a year counted for a bit. On the good side, players, such as Stephenson, played for Orange Free State in the Currie Cup; and, like you, from what i have read, made a really big impact on the Afrikaners, improving race relations in the country.

Have you read the book 'two tours' by harte? I am pretty sure he is the same bloke whom wrote the book on Hughes.