By English Cricket
July 27 2004

First Test, Lord's: England 568 & 325-5 dec beat West Indies 416 & 267 by 210 runs England completed their fourth victory in a row yesterday at Lords to take a 1-0 lead in their test series against West Indies.

1^st Test Match Eng v WI: Day 5 Review

 

It was a fairly commanding victory given that they would have gone into the final day facing the prospect of a rear guard action from Lara and Chanderpaul. It almost seemed that way, as both batsmen began to play themselves in and build a partnership. Lara definitely had plenty to play for, given the controversy of his first innings dismissal and the fact that this may be his last game at Lords.

 

However, it was not to be as he was outthought by Ashley Giles with a ball that beat him in flight and spun back sharply to knock the middle stump back. It was a delivery, that many would have thought beyond the ability of Giles but he has surprised many with his bowling in the last few months. I would say it is as good as it has ever been at this level, including his first tours of Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

 

After Lara’s dismissal, there could be no real expectation of sustained resistance, and bar another fighting innings from Chanderpaul, this proved to be true. West Indies if they are planning to come back in this series will need to reinforce the cricket basics into their players as it is severely lacking. It appeared through much of the innings that the batsmen were confused about whether they were going for a win or draw, when only the latter was a realistic option.

 

England, however, also have a few issues themselves. It is some testament to the fitness and stamina of Hoggard, Harmison & Giles in that they carried the bowling for virtually the entire innings. Jones, suffering from another injury, this time a bruised foot and Flintoff still not fully fit were used as fill-in bowlers for most of this match. In this respect, England were very lucky that the Windies did not put in a more dogged effort, because then the bowling stocks would surely have been stretched. My personal feeling is that if Flintoff and Jones were fit, they would have been used more, since they were not they should have played. It is certainly poses another question for the selectors, though they will be grateful that the Butcher injury means that at least one of the issues will be resolved in the short-term.

 

England squad for second Test v West Indies, Edgbaston, Thursday:

M P Vaughan (Yorkshire, capt), M E Trescothick (Somerset), A J Strauss (Middlesex), R W T Key (Kent), G P Thorpe (Surrey), A Flintoff (Lancashire), G O Jones (Kent, wkt), S P Jones (Glamorgan), A F Giles (Warwickshire), M J Hoggard (Yorkshire), S P Harmison (Durham), JM Anderson (Lancashire)