West Indies tour of England
1st ODI: England v West Indies at Lord's, Jul 1, 2007

West Indies 1 Chris Gayle (capt), 2 Devon Smith, 3 Marlon Samuels, 4 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 5 Runako Morton, 6 Dwayne Bravo, 7 Dwayne Smith, 9 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 9 Ravi Rampaul, 10 Daren Powell, 11 Fidel Edwards

England 1 Alastair Cook, 2 Matt Prior (wk), 3 Ian Bell, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Paul Collingwood (capt), 6 Owais Shah, 7 Dimitri Mascarenhas, 8 Liam Plunkett, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 James Anderson, 11 Monty Panesar

10.15am England have recalled Ian Bell, Monty Panesar and Liam Plunkett for today's game. Ryan Sidebottom has been ruled out with a virus while Jonathan Trott and Michael Yardy also step aside from the Twenty20s

Cricinfo - 1st ODI: England v West Indies at Lord's, Jul 1, 2007

hmmm WI seem to be doing quite well here, England are bogged down.. although no wickets have fallen its 11 of 6 overs..

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A really poor show from Englands middle and late order batsmen, the last 6 did not even reach double figures.

I think 225 is about par for England in recent years, and the Windies should pick of the runs.

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Ern

Or not. Barring something special now from Chanderpaul and Smith, I can't see the Windies getting to the target. Anderson and Broad have got a couple each, there's a bit in the pitch for the bowlers which England appear to be using to their advantage.

88/6 after 20 overs. Ish.

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"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose."
- Ayrton Senna

The WI performance puts the England performance in perspective: only Chanderpaul and Bravo coped. Add in the fact that Cook left Prior trailing in his wake, and that Bell scored more quickly than Pietersen... and the overall picture is of a game in which lesser batsmen were going to be found out.

Now add this in: the 5th wicket fell with just 8 overs remaining.. and the 6th with just 6 overs remaining. The time left didn't leave much scope for the lower order batsmen - they couldn't "play themselves in"... and they had to try and ride their luck... so getting out in single figures off fewer than 7 deliveries was going to be par no matter HOW good the lower order was!

Chanderpaul must feel let down yet again, although Andersen, Broad bowled well - but the WI capitulated.

Prior scored more runs that Cook (who I believe is a test player only), and should be suited to this format.

Bell scored faster that Pietersen in this game, but is not consistent - also I wish he would bat like that is test cricket (against the best opposition) - although this was a gritty innings.

With Edwards getting five wickets, the weather must have been a major factor in this game - and this could have flattered both Andersen and Broad, who need to bowl like this on a regular basis - also there is a dnager of over reaction to Broads bowling, I bet there are plans to include him in theb test side against India - even at this early stage.

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Ern

The devil, as ever, is in the detail....I'm encouraged by Prior's response in that I doubted he had the temperament to cope with being becalmed... but as ever, class counts when the going gets tough.

England would surely do better if they re-arranged the order so Bell opened with Cook: stick Prior down the order to slog with the tail.

Most certainly, at the moment Broad will do little better than Anderson or Plunkett in the test arena. As he is currently the media "favourite" though he will get hyped until he gets picked (and fails).

The guy does have some potential, but is still very raw.

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Mark.

When the WI bowled it was overcast but when we bowled the sun was out for most of the time and Broad, Plunkett and Anderson were excellent. Well done to the young bowlers.

Who gets left out on Wednesday when Sidebottom's feeling better? I'm not convinced that Plunkett used to new ball as well as Sid would have done.