England in the West Indies

[spud_gun]

This pitch is a disgrace.

You weren't saying that during the first innings.

Still you've got a chance of salvaging a series draw against the mighty Windes in the 5th test.

[Shaggy]

A disgrace of a pitch no question.

Imagine you'd travelled out there to watch this ****? According to Nasser loads of England fans have ****ed it off for today and gone to the beach instead. Who can blame them.

[Shaggy]

What a final day this is shaping up to be. Almost two tests worth of utterly boring **** and now it’s all going off. Hopefully we’ll declare right now and give ourselves two sessions to try to bowl them out.

[dww]

The odds on that happening? I really have no faith at all.

[Neil Young]

I really have no faith at all.

It would be appreciated if we could all keep religion out of this thread otherwise I'll have to lock it.

[dww]

It would be appreciated if we could all keep religion out of this thread otherwise I'll have to lock it.

[Ben_Itez]

Finally a bit of excitement!!

England just had a shout against Sarwan for lbw turned down so they referred it. The referral was turned down by the third umpire yet Hawkeye clearly showed it was hitting leg stump wtf??

The commentators said that if the umpire had initially given Sarwan out then the 3rd umpire would have upheld the decision. This referral system has got me severely confused.

Anyway come on England!!

[Neil Young]

Finally a bit of excrement!!

Sorry, but that's how I read it at first.

[Ben_Itez]

56-3 for now!!

47mins to tea and plenty overs left....i like it

[Ben_Itez]

Oh and Gayle's crocked too....be quite remarkable if we manage to get a result here. Then we really will be ruing the third test draw when we should have won.

[Shaggy]

Tea now, 78-3. Need 7 wickets in the last session. Never gonna happen.

[CharlieMansonsSquint]

Is anyone even remotely confident about beating the crims this summer with Strauss as captain?

Because I'm not.

[mersey86]

Is anyone even remotely confident about beating the crims this summer with Strauss as captain?

Because I'm not.

I'm not sure why Strauss' captaincy comes into the equation. Australia have re-asserted themselves over recent weeks, while England have found more problems than answers. Its a stretch to see us regaining the Ashes - and will require a strong fan backing to give us any hope.

The problems I see:
Cook - has been shown as vulnerable to hooking - if you think the Aussies won't exploit that, think again.
Our #3 position is a mess. Bell on form is good enough, but its hard to see him performing well enough in an Ashes series. And Shah did not take advantage of his opportunity.
Our fast bowling - Harmison seems to have disintegrated, Hoggard has been jettisoned, Sidebottom has gone backwards and Simon Jones has been out of the picture. I don't have a lot of confidence in Jimmy.

The improvements:
Strauss has been batting very well.
We have wicketkeepers who can score runs. Prior has been looking very good. He's an improvement on Geraint Jones from the last time around, but how come so many byes in this last test?
Stuart Broad is making good progress. We do need somebody to fill Ashley Giles' boots as run-scoring tail-ender.

To win the Ashes we need Flintoff at his best. I would also say Harmison at/close to his best, but it seems that is unlikely.

[CharlieMansonsSquint]

I'm not sure why Strauss' captaincy comes into the equation. Australia have re-asserted themselves over recent weeks, while England have found more problems than answers. Its a stretch to see us regaining the Ashes - and will require a strong fan backing to give us any hope.

The problems I see:
Cook - has been shown as vulnerable to hooking - if you think the Aussies won't exploit that, think again.
Our #3 position is a mess. Bell on form is good enough, but its hard to see him performing well enough in an Ashes series. And Shah did not take advantage of his opportunity.
Our fast bowling - Harmison seems to have disintegrated, Hoggard has been jettisoned, Sidebottom has gone backwards and Simon Jones has been out of the picture. I don't have a lot of confidence in Jimmy.

The improvements:
Strauss has been batting very well.
We have wicketkeepers who can score runs. Prior has been looking very good. He's an improvement on Geraint Jones from the last time around, but how come so many byes in this last test?
Stuart Broad is making good progress. We do need somebody to fill Ashley Giles' boots as run-scoring tail-ender.

To win the Ashes we need Flintoff at his best. I would also say Harmison at/close to his best, but it seems that is unlikely.

The batting isn't the problem. I'll grant you that number 3 is up in the air, but given a chance I reckon Shah would score runs. I still think that come July it'll be Vaughan batting there, but the rest of the batsmen are fine. Add in Prior at 6, Flintoff at 7 and Broad at 8 and there's enough batting for me.

The main problems is a lack of aggressive captaincy, yesterdays declaration and not enforcing the follow on in Antigua, was an abomination. The other problem is the inability to take 20 wickets. That said I do think the England players and coaching staff took the Windies for granted, certainly in respect of expecting them to crumble under pressure, which they didn't and Australia certainly won't. The bowling isn't 2005 anymore agreed, it's England's biggest problem. There's no more Harmison in his pomp, he's D-O-N-E. Jones is a crock, he can't be counted on. Hoggard's too old and too slow and Flintoff keeps getting injured. Broad is still developing and lacks top end pace, he isn't a strike bowler and never will be. He will be and already is a good all rounder for England. Anderson's a good swing bowler, especially back home, but after that the cupboard's bare. And I do think that is a factor in Strauss's cautious captaincy. Right now England don’t have enough bowling to beat the Aussies.

[Vermilion]

Flintoff gets a Hatrick.... England will win the series.

edit. England Win.