Live Test Match Blogging / Ed Hawkins / 14 May 2009 /

It's overcast and cold at Durham so Andrew Strauss has chosen...to bat. Whether this proves to be a good decision or not remains to be seen but one thing is for sure: momentum is very much with England. Ed Hawkins talks us through it all. Email him at hawkeyeview@hotmail.co.uk

18.17 CLOSE Eng 302-2
A demoralising day for West Indies. Hardly surprising given the build-up they had to this Test, not to mention the result of the first game. The story for England has to be Bopara, if only because he allowed me to delve into the record books thanks to his third-successive ton (gosh if I had a pound for every time I've written the words 'third', 'successive' and 'ton' today I'd have, er, well, loads). Anyway, that's yer lot. England are [2.28] and the draw is [1.80]. England's price is interesting because the freefall has been halted. Okay, that could have been down to Bop-ra's wicket but England sending in a nightwatchman certainly would have played a part.

17.50 WICKET 282-2
Bopara bowled by Baker. Nice little bit of shape on that as it bent in to squeeze between the gap of bat and pad. Bop made 108. WIll England send in the nightwatchman? Have they learnt from their mistakes in the Caribbean? Really, KP should strut out now. There's the answer to my question. It's James Anderson. What a waste of time.

17.44 Eng 282-1
West Indies have taken the new ball. But it's made little difference. There are 5 overs left tonight chaps.

17.31 Eng 272-1
Bell's centuries, by the way, came against Pakistan in 2006 at Lord's, Manchester and Leeds. Geoffrey R has been in touch again. He says: "You say England's price looks a belter. I agree with you. But when does there price start to contract, and when does the draw start to go out? When England get to 250-1, 300-1, 350-1? Well, England's price was still drifting at tea when they were 183-1 and it would appear the tipping point was when 200 was reached. This is not an exact science, however, which can applied on a match-by-match basis because we have weather worries here. Light rain is forecast for the next four days. England are currently [2.28]. So they have dipped 0.12 points in the last 33 runs. The market is trying to right itself in sharp time. They are still value, though.

17.21 Eng 263-1
Bop-ra has become the 12th Englishman to score three successive Test tons. Good for him. The 11th, to put you all out your misery came from ... Ian Bell. There's something ironic about that I would have thought given that Bops has taken his place at No. 3.

16.58 Eng 239-1
A century for Cook.Although I'm not a fan, he has battled through his problems today and that has to be admired. Now, back to that stat why England are value at [2.40]. In May, England win 64% of Test matches. That makes them effectively a [1.58] shot. And we haven't even factored tin the runs on the board.

16.43 Eng 231-1
Let's just get back to the match situation. Cook has 97, Bop-ra 73. West Indies are looking increasingly hopeless. Very little in the way of ideas coming from Chris Gayle, hardly a surprise given his comments earlier in the week when he said that he didn't want to captain the side anymore and he wasn't bothered about Test cricket. Gosh, we haven't even found time to discuss that yet. England have shortened to [2.40]. That remains a very good price. They are winning this game and one has to doubt WI's stomach for the fight. I'll give you a good stat a bit later about why that is such a belter of a price.

16.40 Eng 210-1
Right, I've made a bit of a balls of the quiz by virtue of forgetting to list Strauss as one of the 10. Thanks to JC and Geoffrey R for pointing that out. Let's try again. The Englishmen who have scored three successive centuries in Test matches are: Hobbs (2), Hammond (2), Sutcliffe, Compton, Barrington, Boycott, Lamb, Chris Broad, Gooch, Strauss and one other. Who have I left off the list? Email me at hawkeyeview@hotmail.co.uk

16.27 Eng 206-1
House guest Cherrene continues to add flavour with her female perspective. "Bopara's got a VPL - they really haven't thought these outfits through." A VPL (visible panty line) is something wholly different to an IPL. Talking of the IPL, Rajasthan are going great guns against Mumbai. They are 62-1 off 8.5. Guesses have flooded in for today's quiz questions. No, it's not Atherton, Gower or Botham.

16.16 Eng 196-1
Just to let you know to save your typing fingers for our quiz. Don't email saying it's KP. Pietersen scored three consecutive centuries in England. They were split by a winter. Bop-ra continues to impress. He has 64 with the contrastingly awful Cook on 83.

16.05 Eng 186-1
We're back. And here's that quiz question that I promised. The Englishmen who have scored three successive centuries in Test matches are: Hobbs (2), Hammond (2), Sutcliffe, Compton, Barrington, Boycott, Lamb, Chris Broad, Gooch and one other. Who have I left off the list? Email me at hawkeyeview@hotmail.co.uk

15.41 TEA Eng 184-1
Don't forget to come back after the break when I'll be setting a really, really brill quiz question. England continue to drift, [2.67] now with the draw shortening like an ageing dwarf. It's [1.69].

15.39 Eng 183-1
Friend of the blog JC has emailed all the way from sunny Qatar. He says: "I'm not Bell's greatest fan, but he has to be asking 'Has there ever been an easier series to get your eye in at No.3'. Cue false dawn ashes predictions."

15.28 Eng 180-1
I'm warming to my task regarding England players who have hit three successive Test centuries. The most obvious is Andrew Strauss, who did it in February and March, of course, in the Caribbean. In total there have been 11 Englishmen who have scored three consecutive hundreds in Test matches. I'll name them in a bit.

15.07 Eng 162-1
50 for the Bop man. We may be getting ahead of ourselves here with regard to three successive Test tone for Bopara, but so what? This is what I've found so far. When Kevin Pietersen hit 142 against Sri Lanka in the second Test in 2006, he became the first batsman since Graham Gooch in 1990 to score a century in three successive Test innings on English soil.

14.55 Eng 149-1
Ravi Bopara is [2.04] to score his third successive Test century. I must say he is looking rather good. Right behind the ball, playing it under his nose at the moment. He hasn't looked in trouble for a second. Gosh, I wonder how many England players have hit three successive centuries? I'm going to the archives to find out. He's got 44 by the way.

14.30 Eng 131-1
Alastair Cook continues to bore. "Isn't that a newsreader?" asked my friend Cherrene, who has joined me for the day. Shame she asked such a question because I was just about to sing her praises for being the woman with the most cricket knowledge that I know. She has been admonishing me for criticisng Cook. I suggested that she was only a fan of Cook because of his looks. "I don't think it does any harm," she said. "The future of Test cricket's at stake here. Onions looks like a builder's apprentice and that new chap [Bresnan], who wasn't use much in the first game is awful."

14.15 Eng 121-1
Cook has gone to his 50. Bopara, who has 30, is not far behind. This is Cook's highest score in first-class cricket in six innings on this ground. It is Bopara's highest, too although this is only the second game he has played there. Of the two, Bopara still looks the more comfortable.

14.04 Eng 107-1
To continue our discussion about who the pitch will and won't suit, we'll start with spinners. If the slow pace proves to be its nature, then Sulieman Benn, Chris Gayle - who have been bowling in tandem - and England's Graeme Swann may struggle for wickets. They are getting some turn but it is not quick turn which they require. Of the 85 wickets to fall at Riverside, only 8% have been to spinners. And in the six Test first-innings on the ground only three wickets have gone to twirlers: Ray Price, Monty Panesar and Gayle.

13.41 Eng 85-1
Chris Gayle continues with his twirlers after the break on what is increasingly looking like a slow, tacky surface. That throws up all sorts of possibilities as to who will and who won't fancy this surface, batting or bowling. We'll discuss it all as the Test continues.

LUNCH 13.00 Eng 85-1
That's the first session done with. England are in charge. Cook remains at the crease. Don't know how. It worries me when someone as out-of-form as him makes runs. As punters what are we to make of it all? It's confidence eroding, that's what it is.

12.47 Eng 72-1
Ravi Bopara is the new man at the crease. He is going for his third successive Test century. Bopara averages only 15 in first-class cricket on this ground. However, he has only played there once. He is [4.10]. The unholy mess that is Cook is [2.14]. He has 35.

12.36 WICKET Eng 68-1
Andrew Strauss has fallen. Sweeping at Chris Gayle, he got either an under edge or a bit of glove on it. Gone for 26. England are [2.34], West Indies [13.00] and the draw is [1.07].

12.34 Eng 65-0
Cook is a lucky boy. That tentative foot movement, which we saw at Lord's and is being repeated here, almost cost him his wicket. Half forward he got an inside egde which whistled past his stumps. It was exactly the same sort of shot that cost him in the first Test.

12.24 Eng 51-0
Slow going folks. Slow going. Sirloin of Beef has been forced to talk about Newcastle's relegation battle. topical I suppose because we're in that part of the world. Personally I am desperate for the barcode-wearing club to be relegated. This will be the first of many anti north east jibes throughout the day.

12.10 Eng 40-0
Wahey! First mention of the Betfair blimp. Last week I caused controversy by suggesting Betfair could save their money on an airship by giving Fern Britton a Betfair t-shirt to wear and a handheld camera to wander aound the ground with. After all, the principle is the same. It upset people for reasons which were twofold. One, that I was in fact being 'fattist' (I don't think that's a word) and obesity was no laughing matter. Indeed, it's an eating one. Second, and this was extremely valid in my view, was that it was a stupid idea because all Fern would bother to film was the hot dog, sandwich, burger, fish 'n chip, southern fried chicken or cake stall.

12.00 Eng 27-0
Typically when Alastair Cook is batting I fill this blog with how much I loathe watching him bat. But today I'm going to refrain.You've heard it all before. I will tell you, however, that he is struggling with his technique (what's new? he's always struggling with it! He's just not very ... sorry, I've slipped back to my bad old ways). So desperate is he not to get caught in the crease that he is shuffling forward and planting his front foot. Now, not only does such a tentative movement mean he may snick behind but planting the front peg is a good way to get leg before, too.

11.40 Eng 18-0
While Strauss and Cook continue to negotiate this early onslaught - that is wholly the wrong word because West Indies bowlers have been pretty woeful - we should take the opportunity to have a look at England's top runscorer market. So, the records of England's top six in all first-class cricket at the Riverside are as follows: Strauss average 33/highest score 77, Cook 17/39, Bopara 15/21, Pietersen 70/110, Collingwood 34/190, Prior 28/62. Immediately Cook looks horrendous value at [4.40]. Andrew Strauss is the current market jolly at [3.25].

11.31 Eng 12-0
This wicket is looking rather easy-paced at the mo. There is no bounce, no zip, no carry. Certainly no seam. No swing yet, either. I say yet because we must always remember that we have to wait for the sweat to get into the ball before it will bend enough to challenge the batsmen. That time may come in about 30 minutes. By the way, England average 421 in first-innings in their three Tests at the Riverside.

11.15 Eng 3-0
Time to have a look at the match odds market, which has been moving around this morning. England have drifted to [2.48] and West Indies have come out a couple of points to [10.00]. The reason is the draw price, which has gone odds on at [1.98]. That can only be down to punters logging on for the first time having looked at the weather forecast, which is not very good at all for tomorrow. Two days ago the draw was as big as [2.80]. Backing the draw a few days before a Test and then laying it on the start day is almost foolproof in England. It always dips when more and more punters start to take an interest.

11.00 Eng 0-0
The award for the West Indian who looks mnost like he would rather be inside goes to: Sulieman Benn. A face like thunder and it looks as though he is wearing about fifty jumpers. Mind you, none of them look exactly happy to be out there. "Warm it ain't," says David Lloyd.

10.50 England win the toss and bat
Welcome to my living room for coverage of the second Test between England and West Indies. Glad I'm here and not in the north east, that's for sure. It looks very chilly up there and the forecasters were reckoning the max temperature would be no more than 10C. The West Indies lads will not fancy that. Sirloin of Beef has just given his pitch report. He thinks there will be runs and it will take swing, seam and turn. All bases covered there, then.

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