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Rahkeem Cornwall makes it to West Indies Test squad
He is an all-rounder from the islands of Antigua and is perhaps the heaviest cricketer ever. He stands at a towering height of 6’6” and weighs around 140 kg.

Cornwall made his first-class debut in 2014 and has since become a regular for Leewards Islands, even captaining them earlier this year. He has 260 wickets from 55 first-class matches and finished as the leading bowler in the most recent regional four-day tournament.

Yeah, I did see that. Very odd selection. Will be very tough to NZ win this test - lots of rain about and SL are batting first and making a decent fist of it so far.

India vs WI
from his aggressive template of 5 bowlers.....Kohli came down to 4 bowlers in Aus and now down to picking even the 4th bowler for his superior batting skills in Jadeja over ashwin.

India's top order looked fragile against seam and bounce and while wicket settled in the second half of the innings there was still a lot in the pitch for seamers and WI bowled well.

For a change India has batting down to No.9 in Ishant who can hang around....and WI inspite of having India on the defensive tend to lose focus and release pressures.

India should get to 300ish from here on the back of a 50 run partnership more from these two and one of them batting until the end.

Absolutely bizarre day of cricket in Antigua. Windies crept up to 222, Holder wasn't able to go through the gears.

India gained a 75 run lead, but in their second innings Holder was very reluctant to use premier fast bowlers Roach and Gabriel. Out of 72 overs they only bowled 22 overs.


India where in trouble at 81-3 but fifties from Kohli and Rahane lead them to 185-3 at stumps. Another session of batting and the game will be beyond the Windies.

West Indies 26/5, chasing a total of 419. We'll lend 'em Ben Stokes!

Duty281 wrote:West Indies 26/5, chasing a total of 419. We'll lend 'em Ben Stokes!

Or give them back Archer.

37/7 now. Utterly shambolic. You just don't win Test matches by getting bowled out for double figure scores

NZ look like pulling out a win even in a severely rain curtailed game

And India steam rolled WI...and should be at the top of ICC championship tree if Lanka loses today.
It was interesting to hear Bumrah post match as he explained how Ishant got his inswinger going from one end in the direction of breeze.....and Bumrah the out-swinger from the other.....and this swing at 140kph was juts too hot for WI to handle

Galted wrote:

Duty281 wrote:West Indies 26/5, chasing a total of 419. We'll lend 'em Ben Stokes!

Or give them back Archer.

NZ have first claim on Ben Stokes - and he has already been nominated for NZ sportsperson of the year.

Lanka go down...and with that I think for now India goes on top of the ICC test rankings.....and should stay there unless WI beat them in next game

Remarkable win for the Kiwis, doing it in a test match that only had about 3 days play in it. Dickwella nearly the unlikely rearguard saviour. Shame there isn't a third test to settle matters!

As I said , the Kiwis are pretty tough to beat these days. Always seem to be underrated ..but in Williamson , Taylor , Boult they have some regular strong performers . And the like of Watling and Latham tend to fly under the radar...

Good win but not really unexpected...or shouldn't have been.

I saw a bit of the Windies-Ind game yesterday....
Ball was jagging around off the seam like a square turning pitch....and Holder is the perfect bowler for such a pitch.....with height advantage to boot.

Rakhim Cornwal was a sight rarely seen on a cricket field.....a man-mountain ambling in....probably the only bowler leave aside a leap.....but rather delivering with both feet stuck to ground and left arm hardly going up.
A body powered, flat pie-chucker

Vihari is delivering on promise.....one who is cut out in the mould of Yusuf Youhanna and Younish Khan.
The Indian seamers would be a handful for the brittle WI batting on this pitch,

Cornwall has to be one of the worst bowlers I've ever seen in test cricket.

Always a pleasure to watch Jasprit Bumrah bowl and he's just got a test hat-trick. Amazing spell of swing bowling to leave the Windies ruined at 13/4, still adrift by 403 runs.

The hat-trick ball was slightly odd as it was an LBW shout which Bumrah didn't really appeal for - thankfully for him, Kohli reviewed and it was overturned.

The Windies are so bad. How did England lose to them?

India's seam bowling attack was good for last 2 to 3 years and is taking a step up further with Bumrah in this sublime form....finding genuine swing at speeds touching 90mph...

As are Shami and Ishant.....bowling quite well, but eclipsed by Bumrah in last 2 innings.

and with Saini,Bhuvi, Khaleel and Umeshh in the reserves.....pace bowling resources are better than ever before

The pitch is seaming and bouncing and seemingly gotten faster....so Windies 117 seems only slightly short of par and India's 417 monumental

Vihari bats like Yousuf Youhanna in his prime

I wouldn't read much into performances vs that shambles. They once made Ravi Bopara look like an actual cricketer

India wins all thee ODIs, T20s and both tests on this tour..........

And with 120 points in ICC test championship get comfortably on top
If there was 3rd test India would have needed a BIG break or would have had to rest Bumrah

BD might be up and against it vs Afg in Chittagong
BD has to bat 4th on a pitch that generally turns square from D2....and Afg spinners are as good as any and probably better than BD spinners.

And Afg got as good as 200-3 before being 217-5.....and need 100 more in first inning to hold upper hand

Bit of a novelty to see 96 overs sent down on the first day of a test! There again, it was an all-spin attack. Afghans in a good position.

I had stuck$ 9 in on Afg win yesterday at 3 time return and now they have BD on the ropes at 88-5
BD heading for not only a loss...but seemingly big one....and this shows you the value of winning toss and batting first and getting to bowl 2nd and 4th on these "crumblers"

even an Afg can upstage BD who showed having some very solid and deep batting in the worldcup and good players of spin and good spinners themselves.

Toss creates a hug skew

Bet365 is already letting me cash out 16$...but I will wait

Still a superb price available on Afghanistan - around 4/6 or 8/11, I think. Seeing as how they're going to end up with a 100-run minimum first innings lead, and have the luxury of fielding in the fourth innings, it's difficult to see how they're not going to win!

BD appear dead and burried and I cashed out.
But if there is a side that can do a miracle 400+ chase it's BD vs an inexperienced Afg.....shakib is the Bangla Stokes and could crack a 150 odd

Rain to deny Afghanistan.

They seem like winning inspiote of rain taking out 4 sessions nearly...a wicket needed by Afg with 6 overs to go

They had 19 overs today.....4 wickets to take and Afg got home with 3.3 overs to spare and a drizzle in the air...to a MONUMENTAL victory

BD lost shakib to the first ball...and didn't look like playing it out since

Well at least England arent the most embarrassing test side in the world. West Indies and Bangladesh are propping us up into dignity land.

Fantastic win for the Afghans. Really thought the rain had sabotaged them.

Khan will be relieved after batting for 90 overs in the 2nd innings with rain a threat. Probably worked against Bangladesh bowling the Afghans out.

LondonTiger wrote:Rain to deny Afghanistan.

So glad to be proven wrong.

Kohli got a 4th demerit point over the weekend.

Fair to say the Indians are going well against the Saffers.

So much rain forecast that the Saffers might escape.

Bizarre team selection by the South Africans. Three spinners is going away from their modus operandi which they’ve previously used in India. They should’ve tried Nortje, supposedly the fastest bowler in their squad. Why on earth would you pick two left arm spinners? Maharaj naturally world class but I don’t think the other boy will get too much opportunity.

Rohit typically gets cheap Test runs when the pitch is as dead as the dodo.

Seeing Mahaaraj & Mutthuswamy bowling SLA to Kohli & Aggarwal....sound like a South Zone vs North Zone Duleep trophy game of old

SA have a medicore bowling attack.... a pitch with little for seamers and then lose the toss and then run into an imposing partnership.....are seemingly dead and buried unless rain plays a HUGE part.

With two spinners in the side and pitch bound to spin...Ind won't mind imposing a follow-on if rain takes off more time.

a pretty one sided game so far...and hence not very interesting, inspite of Indians having a tight grip

KP_fan wrote:Seeing Mahaaraj & Mutthuswamy bowling SLA to Kohli & Aggarwal....sound like a South Zone vs North Zone Duleep trophy game of old

SA have a medicore bowling attack.... a pitch with little for seamers and then lose the toss and then run into an imposing partnership.....are seemingly  dead and buried unless rain plays a HUGE part.

With two spinners in the side and pitch bound to spin...Ind won't mind imposing a follow-on if rain takes off more time.

a pretty one sided game so far...and hence not very interesting, inspite of Indians having a tight grip

Their batting line up doesn't look too clever either with Philander listed at 7.

India finally had enough 502/7 dec. agarwal 215 and Sharma 175. Maharaj 3-189 off 55 overs. The other two spinners 2-170 off 34 overs combine.

The game is following the "Indian Template"........India pile on 5000....and then spinners into action from almost newish ball at the end of D2......to have SA 3 down.
It won't be a surprise if Ashwin and Jadeja polish off most of the remaining 17 wickets tomm itself

What exactly is Sanjay Manjrekar's issue with Ravi Jadeja? Keeps calling a geezer with nearly 200 test wickets rubbish. Manjrekar was a mediocre player only relevant due to his fantastic father.

Dean Elgar with a marvellous century, keeping the South Africans afloat.

Nathaniel Jacobs wrote:Dean Elgar with a marvellous century, keeping the South Africans afloat.

With the forecast for the next day looking like thunderstorms intermittently through both days, could be a match saving effort. Du Plessis and now De Kock providing some much needed support so far too

Indian fans - why isn't Pant playing? Injured?

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

Nathaniel Jacobs wrote:Dean Elgar with a marvellous century, keeping the South Africans afloat.

With the forecast for the next day looking like thunderstorms intermittently through both days, could be a match saving effort. Du Plessis and now De Kock providing some much needed support so far too

Elgar playing the innings of his life here 151*. Elgar is like a pint sized Graeme Smith

Nathaniel Jacobs wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

Nathaniel Jacobs wrote:Dean Elgar with a marvellous century, keeping the South Africans afloat.

With the forecast for the next day looking like thunderstorms intermittently through both days, could be a match saving effort. Du Plessis and now De Kock providing some much needed support so far too

Elgar playing the innings of his life here 151*. Elgar is like a pint sized Graeme Smith

Yeah, both useless for Surrey but Smith much more expensive.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Indian fans - why isn't Pant playing? Injured?

Dropped. Test 100s in England and Aus not goof enough...

JDizzle wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Indian fans - why isn't Pant playing? Injured?

Dropped. Test 100s in England and Aus not goof enough...

He was garbage when it mattered in the England series, that century covered up his many deficiencies as a batsmen, can't really comment beyond that.

Soul Requiem wrote:

JDizzle wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Indian fans - why isn't Pant playing? Injured?

Dropped. Test 100s in England and Aus not goof enough...

He was garbage when it mattered in the England series, that century covered up his many deficiencies as a batsmen, can't really comment beyond that.

He made his debut in the Third Test and made a century in the final Test, his third ever. Given this was in England and a historically tough series for batsmen, I’d say that was decent. Then he averaged 59 in Aus vs Cummins, Hazlewood and Starc. He can play. Especially given his replacement averages 30 in 32 Tests.