Run feast expected - W.I v india (1st test)

[Amjid Javed]

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/wivin...ry/249077.html

Twenty matches, one quadruple century, two triple centuries, the fastest Test hundred, the highest successful fourth-innings chase, and ten draws. That pretty much sums up the history of the pitch at the Antigua Recreation Ground, one where bowlers usually turn to pea-shooters. If the last Test played here is any indication - when eight batsmen ransacked hundreds - the bowlers might as well enjoy the sights and sounds of the country. Only batsmen will mourn the passing of the ARG as an international venue at the end of this match.

West Indies have lost just three Tests here. With 365 beaches dotting the country, visiting teams have probably been a bit distracted. India's last visit here produced 1142 runs, over just two innings. VVS Laxman, who made 130, will have fond memories of that game, as will Wasim Jaffer and Rahul Dravid, who made half-centuries. It was also the third occasion when all 11 players bowled in an innings, as the game petered out to a most boring draw.


Two days back, there was a distinct tinge of green on the pitch. On the eve of the match, there was hardly any. Yet, India would be encouraged by the fact that spinners could come into play later in the game. Nicky Boje and Stuart MacGill have had a good time here, both in West Indian defeats. England A played a game here in February this year and managed a result, thanks to Gareth Batty's seven first-innings wickets. Rahul Dravid has already hinted that the team was veering towards picking two spinners.

Anil Kumble's last visit was highlighted by him bowling with his face bandaged; now he returns as the spearhead. Harbhajan Singh didn't play then; this time he may need to shoulder a large portion of the burden. India's bowling problems mainly revolve around Irfan Pathan, who, ironical as it may sound, may be fitted into the side for his batting. With the surface likely to be pancake-flat, and this being just the first Test, India might prefer to pick five bowlers, just to distribute the load and prevent tiring them out.

For West Indies, Corey Collymore passed a fitness test this morning and could partner Fidel Edwards with the new ball. There could be a toss up between Ian Bradshaw, who troubled the Indians in the one-day series, and Jerome Taylor, who comes with a bit of additional pace. The fourth bowler is likely to be Dave Mohammed, the left-arm chinaman. He's played just two Tests before, managed only three wickets, and it's tempting to think that Indian batsmen, oriental wrists and all, would make mincemeat of him. But one just needs to look at India's previous Test to realise the folly of such a line of thinking - they were felled by Shaun Udal, 37-year old three-Test veteran, in their own backyard.

Teams (probable)

West Indies 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Runako Morton, 3 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 4 Brian Lara (capt), 5 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 6 Dwayne Bravo, 7 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 8 Jerome Taylor, 9 Fidel Edwards, 10 Corey Collymore, 11 Dave Mohammed.

India 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Wasim Jaffer, 3 Rahul Dravid (capt), 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 VVS Laxman, 6 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 7 Irfan Pathan, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Anil Kumble, 10 Sreesanth, 11 Munaf Patel.

[Amjid Javed]

intresting to see if anyone gets a double or triple ton with the bat in this match.

[kc_subodh]

A good history for the Windies. And I think Indian team is full of unexperienced guys so I hope Windies will take advantages of them and get another win over the Indians

[akram_rejuvinated]

why have a fracking game on a pitch so dull as this? it the pitch is a graveyard for bowlers, i can understand the motivation to use it as an ODI venue, but for a test match... thats just absurd. Its kinda like taking 5 days of your life and crumpling them like a piece of paper, just before tossing it into the bin.

[Rickz]

Originally Posted by akram_rejuvinated why have a fracking game on a pitch so dull as this? it the pitch is a graveyard for bowlers, i can understand the motivation to use it as an ODI venue, but for a test match... thats just absurd. Its kinda like taking 5 days of your life and crumpling them like a piece of paper, just before tossing it into the bin.

Exactly mate.

[Easa]

I wouldn't be suprised if Lara scores another triple. This pitch is as flat as they come ; I bet I could go there and make some runs.

Let's hope it has some green in it to make this a contest.

[Easa]

These would be my teams:

Gayle, Ganga, Sarwan, Lara, Chanderpaul, Bravo, Ramdin, Taylor, Edwards, Mohammad, Colleymore.

Sehwag, Jaffer, Dravid, Laxman/Kaif, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Pathan, Singh, Kumble, Munaf, Sreesanth.

[Daoud]

Originally Posted by Easatheman I wouldn't be suprised if Lara scores another triple. This pitch is as flat as they come ; I bet I could go there and make some runs. Let's hope it has some green in it to make this a contest.

You certainly would if the opening bowler is bowling at 115 kph

Pathan better hope he gets some swing otherwise, things could get VERY ugly

[Easa]

Originally Posted by Daoud You certainly would if the opening bowler is bowling at 115 kph

Yeah, I was going to target Irfan Pathan and the spinners.

[Waseem]

Originally Posted by Easatheman Yeah, I was going to target Irfan Pathan and the spinners.

Indians go for PACE against Windies, Irfan Khan Pathan has been DROPPED and Indian EXPRESS VRV Singh makes debut

India's another matchwinner Harbhajan Singh has also been DROPPED

Indians go for all out PACE (Munaf, Sree and VRV are all capable of bowling above 140 kph).

Indian squad: MS Dhoni, R Dravid, W Jaffer, M Kaif, A Kumble, VVS Laxman, MM Patel, V Sehwag, VR Singh, S Sreesanth, Yuvraj Singh

[Waseem]

Windies squad is not all that bad either:

IDR Bradshaw, DJ Bravo, S Chanderpaul, CD Collymore, FH Edwards, D Ganga, CH Gayle, BC Lara, D Mohammed, D Ramdin, RR Sarwan

Bowling attack: Bradshaw, Edwards, Collymore, Bravo and D Mohammed

Batting is pretty strong too, Gayle is in good form. Lara, Sarwan and Chander make solid middle order and Bravo has been in very good batting form (batted well against Aussies), Ramdin is pretty handy with bat as well.

[Easa]

Pathan and Harbhajan DROPPED.

India have elected to bat first, Edwards to bowl the first over.

0-0 (1)

Good start.

[UJ]

Originally Posted by Easatheman Pathan and Harbhajan DROPPED.

Thats a shame for Indian fans. Their two fastest bowlers MIA!

[Easa]

Two fours hit by Sehwag.

As soon as he is in the whites, he's a completely different player. Looks much more confident, to be honest.

10-0 (2.3)

Poor line Bradshaw is bowling.

[UJ]

Jaffer is OUT!!

Edwards strikes

[Easa]

Jaffer out to a Gaffe

27-1

[jusarrived]

3 fours n edwards over for shewag!

[nadeem]

Guys, how fast is edwards bowling? Avg speed and fastest delivery please.

[Waseem]

Nadeem, it's travelling to boundary really fast yaar

[in_cutter]

Shewag on fire! looks a different player in Tests

[jusarrived]

shewag out of collymore's first ball 36(37)!

[khanpuria]

gone

[Easa]

Originally Posted by nadeem Guys, how fast is edwards bowling? Avg speed and fastest delivery please.

Average is around 88 MPH.

[Easa]

Laxman GONE. Bravo strikes, Ramdin takes the catch.

72-3, Yuvraj, the man in form walks in.

Lara opting for Gayle, even when they have a specialist spinner, Mohammad.

[Uzzy]

Dravid 4 from 30 balls with a deadly strike rate of 13!!! I remember against England he made 30 runs from like 120 odd balls.

[Easa]

Dravid playing a beastly knock, 5 (34).

[khanpuria]

raz, get ur camera out!!!

[Imy]

If Shewag was playing Pakistan he would have scored a century as we would have just dropped him the slips and then again some where else.

[Rob H]

This wicket has more for the bowlers than expected. For the 2 ODIs v Zimbabwe the balls were jumping up on the batsmen for all areas. Its no more than an average batting strip. Not suprised the Indians have lost some early wickets.

[Amjid Javed]

latest - India 93/3 (dravid 11* yuvraj 12*)

india trying to re-build inns here...

[Officer Barbrady]

Originally Posted by Waseem Windies squad is not all that bad either: IDR Bradshaw, DJ Bravo, S Chanderpaul, CD Collymore, FH Edwards, D Ganga, CH Gayle, BC Lara, D Mohammed, D Ramdin, RR Sarwan Bowling attack: Bradshaw, Edwards, Collymore, Bravo and D Mohammed Batting is pretty strong too, Gayle is in good form. Lara, Sarwan and Chander make solid middle order and Bravo has been in very good batting form (batted well against Aussies), Ramdin is pretty handy with bat as well.

It's a good move to allow a specialist spinner a run with the team. Not sure Bradshaw is test material.

Some brave moves by India as well.

[Amjid Javed]

on probably one of the most lifeless pitches in the world am not surprised both teams have gone for extra bowlers.

[Amjid Javed]

India 144/4 @ TEA.

On such a good batting wicket this is a pretty poor performance thus far.

[Amjid Javed]

Kaif gone, survived LBW SHOUT ball before. next ball gets inside edge nick and is caught behind.

india 155/5

[Abid]

India in a spot of bother
Dhoni is in

[Amjid Javed]

Counter attack need from dhoni for india here.

India 171/5

[Amjid Javed]

looks like dhonis in no mood to block.

india 177/5

[Amjid Javed]

Dhoni gone. collymore the bowler and lara snares the catch.

dhonis lack of patience is his downfall.

india 6 down!

[Amjid Javed]

Dravid gone for 49, tryed to steer ball down to third man for sing but instead gives Lara catching practice.

India in the shitter!

7 down!

[Rob H]

194/7, the pitch is really crap.

Kumble and Sreesanth in. Kumble is the key to get them to a respectable total.

[jusarrived]

its surely not a batting pitch as some ppl have suggested here...but india shud have got atleast 300!

[Indian]

dravid cant do jack without sachin and sourav!

[kablooee87]

I can't wait till India's bowling looks like crap against windies. How can you not include A) You best new ball bowler (Pathan) B) Your you best bowlers from the ODI series (Harbajhan and Agarkar)

[Amjid Javed]

India 202/7

new ball due in a few overs...

[jusarrived]

Originally Posted by Indian dravid cant do jack without sachin and sourav!

here comes another blind tendu fan..ganguly's contributed a lot to indian cricket team both as a player n captain,but wen he was droped he had bcom a liability to the team...!

[Amjid Javed]

Kumble gone, drags short ball from bravo onto stumps.

india 227/8

[Indian]

here comes another blind tendu fan..ganguly's contributed a lot to indian cricket team both as a player n captain,but wen he was droped he had bcom a liability to the team...!

fair weather loser is wat u are!

[spindoctor]

for guys who are watching the match...whats a good score on this pitch?

[Indian]

atleast 400

[jusarrived]

Originally Posted by Indian fair weather loser is wat u are!

I tolerate 100's of your type's evry day,typical tendu fan!

[shan]

well another one gone

[Amjid Javed]

India 231/9

[Amjid Javed]

sreesanth dropped @ 3rd man.

India 234/9

3 overs left in days play...

[Amjid Javed]

Intresting to see what indians seam attack does tmoz.. all 3 seamers are in-experienced.

[Indian]

btw jusarrivd thats not sachin in my avatar..do you know who it is?

[khanpuria]

its shewag, no??

[Noman]

guys,, what is the pitch like??? how is it behaving..!!!

[Amir]

btw jusarrivd thats not sachin in my avatar..do you know who it is?

Its Jadeja.

[Indian]

your right. jadeja it is

[jusarrived]

Originally Posted by Indian your right. jadeja it is

I knew it was'nt tendulkar

[Amir]

Originally Posted by jusarrived I knew it was'nt tendulkar

They all say that after the answer is revealed.

[Geordie Ahmed]

jadeja? isnt that top fairly recent tho? when did he last play?

[Amir]

Originally Posted by Geordie Ahmed jadeja? isnt that top fairly recent tho? when did he last play?

That picture was taken during the 99 WC.

[caribbean fan]

The pitch is not a batting track.It has variable bounce but will become a good batting wicket on days 2 & 3. It will then keep slow and low for the last 2 days.

We will give India a sound licking

[HAFRIDI]

Amir u seem to know quite a bit about india.. your not...ahem..

[lahori]

Dravid 49 off 173 what the...!?

[mooz]

Originally Posted by lahori2 Dravid 49 off 173 what the...!?

Dravid only seems to have one gear in test cricket.
Neutral.

[Easa]

Once again, Dhoni shows us that when the ball is doing even a tiny bit, he can't do ****. It's still pretty early in his test match career, but with his average glove work, he needs to bat really good to cement his place in the team.

[zMario]

236/9 India, Edwards to continue!

[zMario]

India has a single since start!

[Hash]

Munaf Patel has scored a massive 0 runs from 26 balls faced.

[Easa]

What a BEAST.

[Easa]

India bowled out for 241.

[Hash]

Munaf bowled by Edwards for a duck (28 balls)

[waquas_uk]

india all out for 241

[Rob H]

Shesanth made 29*, he's actually quite decent with the bat.

[Hash]

9 for 0 after 2.3 overs

Solid start.

[UJ]

Good opportunity for the West Indies to take control of this match. They need to bat well and they need a good solid start from these two at the crease now!

[Hash]

18 for 0

[Monsee]

Originally Posted by akram_rejuvinated why have a fracking game on a pitch so dull as this? it the pitch is a graveyard for bowlers, i can understand the motivation to use it as an ODI venue, but for a test match... thats just absurd. Its kinda like taking 5 days of your life and crumpling them like a piece of paper, just before tossing it into the bin.

Sounds like a runfeast...what's the score, anyone