Wet Weather Washes Windies Woes aWay
The 4th test between England and West Indies failed to get underway today due to torrential rain in most of northern England. That the game was abandoned by midday says plenty about exactly how wet it is. The forecast isn’t great for the next few days so it could be a very frustrating time indeed for all involved.
Despite the implication of the ridiculous title to this post, the West Indies would certainly have wanted to play, if only to save some face in this largely disappointing series. They very nearly pulled off a shock in the 3rd test during which England would have certainly been a little nervous - from England’s point of view, the Windies should never have got within 60 runs of their 450 target. They did thanks largely to some determined batting, led by Chanderpaul, whose 7 hour 116* demonstrated the type of concentration and commitment that is required of a test batsman, a quality severely lacking in the rest of the West Indian (and English) line up. In that game, Monty was the pick, albeit in very spin friendly conditions against a generally lacklustre batting lineup. Sidebottom also impressed, however, enough to keep his place for the final game of the series, even with Hoggard back from injury.
As and when play actually gets under way, Harmison is likely to play and it seems a good idea to give him a game at his home ground. But should he chuck down the type of pies to which we have become accustomed over the last 6 months then he surely must get dropped in favour of going back to the county game for the rest of the season. The same is true of Anderson, Mahmood and Plunkett - they must not be included in the side and allowed to get back in to form in the usual way. It’s what Nasser Hussein has repeatedly referred to as “the groove” - an expression that if I hear it one more time, I’ll be certain to groove the inside of Hussein’s inner passages with the long handle of my cricket bat - and the pick of English bowlers in the county game, such as Sidebottom, should replace them. I’m not sure who those players are, but we need two (to accompany Sidebottom, Hoggard and Monty).
Surely that can’t be so hard to find?
(photo from BBC).
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