England v West Indies - 3rd ODI

Shame that this match will either not happen, or will be seriously shortened. Apparently the groundstaff reckon so much rain has fallen that despite working through the night it will take 3 hours to mop up and prepare for play. Once it has stopped raing, that is. It is still raining.

I was looking forward to seeing how the fringe England players performed, hoping to see Bairstow on his home ground and the bowlers added to the party etc.

Yeah, big shame and an opportunity missed for those youngsters/fringe players.

Not a prayer of any play.

I live and work very near Headingley stadium. Given the weather yesterday, and how its looking today, I'd be very surprised if there is any play.

As expected, play is abandoned.

Game is off. England win 2-0

What a dull tour

Graeme Swann's Cat wrote:

What a dull tour

Not one that will be remembered. Hopefully the rain disappears in time for the Olympics and South Africa series.

Its sad that Windies tours are now invariably filed in the "forgettable" pile. The 2000 tour was great, but there's been nothing of note since then.

It feels like one of the main home series has been lost to us, and we're only left with the India, SA and Aus visits to really look forward to.

VTR wrote:Its sad that Windies tours are now invariably filed in the "forgettable" pile. The 2000 tour was great, but there's been nothing of note since then.

It feels like one of the main home series has been lost to us, and we're only left with the India, SA and Aus visits to really look forward to.

In 2007, 2009 and this year the time of year has played a part in that.

At least they seemed interested this time. In 2009 the Windies mind's were elsewhere which made the series a tour a complete non-event. The Test side had definitely improved since then.

liverbnz wrote:At least they seemed interested this time. In 2009 the Windies mind's were elsewhere which made the series a tour a complete non-event. The Test side had definitely improved since then.

Indeed. The Test part of this tour continued the recent themes of competing for large parts of the game, but not converting into wins or even tight finishes. The individual performances perhaps need improving - Samuels was well above par, Ramdin OK, Roach good whilst he was there, and Chanderpaul dependable as ever, but nobody else really stood out. However, having competed well in three consecutive series they will now know they need to learn to win, starting with the upcoming series against New Zealand for which they will be favourites.

In the ODIs they were predictably beaten by the better team. Quite how to accomodate so many medium-pace all-rounders outside of slow conditions as they tend to get at home, is a question that needs answering.