Another inept afternoon fielding performance from­ England yesterday as at Lords on the fourth day. I­ thought the object of playing a test match is to try to­ win it, not keep letting the opposition off the hook!­ You simply cannot hope to bowl a side out cheaply with­ less than 5 bowlers, it's not rocket science, is­ it? When the Windies were 136-6, England should have­ gone in for the kill; the old Aussie side would­ certainly have nailed them from that position. We­ should have won the first test inside 4 days, not the­ performance that should be expected from supposedly the­ world's number 1 team. The malaise from India and­ Sri Lanka is still showing at times; I know that many­ test fans probably want to see an even contest, but as­ an England fan, I just want us to win whether in 3 ,4­ or 5 days. Number 1 in the world, you're still­ having a laugh and I don't suppose that either our­ football team or Englebert will bring us any further­ joy tonight! Bring on the Olympics, at least most of­ them will be trying to win first and entertain later.­ In the famous words of Brian Clough; England want­ bloody shooting!

I think he must have Dan!

Chris M@104. . .just a point of interest. . . the­ letter "n" is missing from your­ "Funy". . .so there !!

What an asset Jimmy Anderson is to a team, Pretty­ decent night watchman {holds world record for most test­ innings without a duck} World class opening bowler and­ a superb fielder in lots of positions. First player on­ my team sheet every time.

So dizzy and carl bringing gayle and dwayne bravo in­ will help will it first of all it may stregthen the­ team but win test matches ? No bowlers win test­ matches and neither of there bowling will bowl a team­ out once never mind twice all the winning teams have­ great bowlers the windies had more than neede d years­ ago the aussies had warne and mcgrath the proteas­ steyn and morkel the indians khan and harbajan the­ pakistanis waquar and wasim the english broad and­ anderson+swann on a good pitch they all had at least­ one great batsman ­ richards,ponting,tendulkar,kallis,younis,pieterson but­ the bowlers are always the key

The Windies have proved England is not invicible. Keep­ the runs coming as we welcome back a fighting side.

dizzy FYI dwayne bravo narine an gayle wernt picked by­ the wicb to play test cricket if you looked at the last­ series at home bravo an narine only played in the odi­ and t20 games so dont blame them blame the wicb

I've never seen Tim Bresnan's bowling look so­ innocuous. Last year against India, he was a good­ couple of yards quicker and as hostile as anyone. Now­ he's looking like a common or garden trundler. I­ hope he sees this comment and gets riled up, taking it­ out on the Windies batsmen.

lol only england can make the match hard for themself­ what a turnaround

Once again England have let a very strong position slip­ through thier fingers . The balance of the side is­ wrong , they need five bowlers as was obvious this­ afternoon . I like Bresnan , but he is not a 1st change­ at test level , that needs to be Fynn or Onions . Well­ done to Windies though as that was 9is ) a great­ partnership , really stuck at it .

What a load of rubbish this so called no 1 side being­ taken about by two average batsmen it's so hard to­ believe they have no idea it's time to stay out of­ the pub lads an analise the previous game because you­ haven't changed a thing but the west indies have­ done thier home work pity the England team didn't

Alibinwilts, absolutely old chap, perhaps the selectors­ are under pressure to make it last for five days, for­ the extra revenue. Somehow we made a game out of the­ last one, possibly by including an out of form­ all-rounder who can't bat. If Michael Holding had­ been English he'd have had to wait till he was­ forty to get a game because of his batting average.

Can't help thinking England should have played Finn­ for Bresnan. They should be confident enough in the­ batting strength with Swann in at 9 and Finn is much­ more of a proven wicket taker (and looked brilliant­ over the winter when called upon). . . In this game it­ might not affect the outcome but I reckon that the­ Proteas will deal with Bresnan without much fuss

carl, he can still only bat once.

The bad performance of any team must begin with the­ management. Top managers get it right.

@ ock-hi just a point of interest. . . Funy - I­ thought it was the apostrophe sign that was located­ below the @ character.

This isn't Test cricket. The WI's are no­ better than my village club side.

@GUY@95. . . .just a point of interest. . . if­ you'd like to use the "apostrophy" its­ located below the @ character.

It does not matter where he bats though Carl because­ the whole team is batting way too slow and when they­ try to push the pace, they are not good enough and get­ out. Chanderpaul can only do so much really. The truth­ is that when the ball is doing a little against good­ and consistent bowling, these windies batsmen have­ neither the experience or ability to survive long­ enough to get set. Samuels is having a go but he looks­ like he could go at anytime. This pitch is hardly­ terrible and they are 90 for 4. They are just all over­ the place. Totally outmatched again. They had a good go­ in the first test but they are struggling.

Dizzy,agree with you on the Gayle issue but there is no­ gayle in the team and W.I. have to make best of what­ they currently have. I believe that in the "old­ school" cricket when your top order batsman is not­ consistent and struggling to score runs you move him­ down the batting order for him to regroup and build­ back confidence. Chanderpaul has been through all that­ and can handle it. If you look at the batting card,­ scores, stats ... for W.I. even before the England test­ you will see. W.I. is one down in the series, do what­ is necessary to win the series or otherwise they are­ happy to settle for a draw at the most. The bowlers­ aren't given a fair chance to protect a decent­ score.