Live Test Match Blogging / Ed Hawkins / 05 February 2009 /

West Indies closed day two in Jamaica 158 runs behind England with nine wickets in hand. Here is how Betfair blogger Ed Hawkins saw it and don't forget he'll be back from 3pm for the day three action...

22.27 WI 160-1
Not good for England this. The pitch is flat, the bowlers look tired. And as Nasser Hussain has pointed out the only wicket they've taken came because the batsman didn't see it. West Indies are [2.76] with England [5.20] and the draw [2.24]. I'd like to lay that we may as well wait to sub [2.00] Little bit of reverse swing for Flintoff at the end but that is about the only bright spot for England. I'll be back here tomorrow from 15.00 so join me again. Sleep tight.

22.07 WI 155-1
Gayle has 69. That is his highest score at Sabina Park, his home ground. That's an odd one. But not as odd as Sir Viv Richards taking 8 Tests at Sabina to get a Test ton. Gayle's early flurry aside, when he hit Flintoff for six and looked to be ticking, he has batted in the zone. Not an error he has made. Often when watching Gayle you get the impression that a risky shot is just around the corner but that has not been the case this time. Draw price approaching [2.20].

21.45 WI 144-1
Panesar is having another go from a different end. His first ball was edged through the slips for two. Let's watch the rest of this over ... patted back to mid on ... Sarwan squared up a bit as he tried to keep his bat straight ... this one is wide and short and Sarwan slaps it out deep backward point for a single. The turn was pretty slow there from Panesar. He hasn't tried using an arm ball yet. He should probably do so.

21.29 WI 132-1
Big moment. Big, big moment. Monty Panesar has been taken off. Potentially a hammer blow this for England. Andrew Strauss can't trust his spinner to keep an end tight, let alone take a wicket. West Indies well in control here. Kevin Pietersen is the man replacing Panesar. Personally I think KP's action is a little suspect. Sarwan doesn't care. He's hit the second ball for four.

21.12 WI 122-1
We could be approaching a turning point in this Test. Panesar is beginning to look ineffective. Sarwan is no longer being troubled by him and Gayle seems capable of hitting him where he likes. Panesar's response has been to try to contain instead of being milked for runs. it may be worth Sarwan or Gayle risking trying to hit Panesar out of the attack. If West Indies can do that, England will be without a bowler who can play the role of Sulieman Benn, who bowled all day. Without that, England would be badly damaged. Already Strauss have been forced to take out a catcher.

20.56 WI 100-1
Sarwan is increasingly looking in control. Gayle has been throughout. The combination means West Indies are beginning to look dominant. We shouldn't be surprised. England were finding it easy going at this stage yesterday after a long day of toil for West Indies' bowlers. England's have not been in the field nearly as long but there are just a few signs of jadedness. Broad and Panesar have dropped short in quick succession and there are a few players puffing out their cheeks. Aye, aye! The draw is [2.44].

20.36 WI 80-1
"The cracks open up and the pitch tends to get uneven." The words of Ian Bishop about what happens to the wicket at Sabina Park on the fourth and fifth days. To that end we need to keep an eye on the draw price. It is [2.80] at the moment. If these two were to hang around for another hour or so we might be able to lay at about [2.30], which in my opinion would be a decent bet. As you know, though, if wickets fall then we won't get close. It's all about timing. Chris Gayle has a 50 by the way, punching one through the covers off Monty Panesar.

20.20 WI 75-1
There is turn for Monty but it doesn't seem to be as quick as it was for Benn. Sarwan is struggling against England's left-arm spinner. His outside edge was beaten a couple of overs ago and just now he almost squirted a catch off a leading edge. Gayle, however, is treating Monty with disdain. He has whacked him for six and has generally looked comfortable. That is no surprise, though. Left-handers are not troubled by the ball turning into them because rarely will they be leg before and they are unlikely to edge.

20.00 WI 64-1
We're in position for the final session. England have one referral left. Important that because Andrew Strauss declined to use it in the last over before tea. If he had then England would have got a wicket. Panesar has started with the first over. Let's watch out for how much turn he's getting.

19.41 WI 64-1
In all the excitement of the referrals, it may have slipped your attention that WI are going great guns. Their run rate is nearly four an over. WI are [3.75}, England [2.60] and the draw is [2.78].

19.25 WI 49-1
This referral system would be a very good thing if the umpires were allowed to see the whole trajectory of the ball. Without it, there is still doubt. Until we had seen it on the Sarwan dismissal we couldn't be sure whether he was out or not, although with the rule 'if in doubt, give not out' I suppose you have your answer. The problem is there is so often an element of doubt in every decision. There will be interesting consequences too for the spirit of the game. Does a batsman now walk if he has edged it? Or does he stay there and make sure a team uses up one of its referrals? The latter is pretty low and compounds the crime. Essentially, the batsman is cheating twice.

19.17 WI 42-1
Sarwan survives. And again it's the right decision, although we only know that for sure because Hawkeye has shown us it would have missed the stumps, the third umpire is not allowed to see where the ball will end up.

19.11
Harmison may not be following through a great deal but he has Sarwan out leg before. At least until the referral. Looks too high to me but I don't think there's enough doubt

19.00
19.05 WI 36-1
We're going to see Steve Harmison for the first time. The last time he played here for England in a Test match he destroyed West Indies memorably taking seven for 12 as the hosts were bowled out for 47. When Harmison was charging in, England had an umbrella field. Yes, he was that good. Long time ago now, though and really Harmy has not found such form since. The key to whether Harmy fancies it is in his follow through. If he keeps going towards the pitch then he is firing. So let's have a look ... okay Chris Gayle has hit for six ... let's try again ... mmmm I don't think he's running through the crease quite as he should. I'll keep you posted.

18.42 WI 18-1
Yep. Out. Hit him in line. A fantastic use of technology. Smith just didn't pick up the attempted yorker from Andrew Flintoff, similar to the way South Africa's batsmen suffered at Edgbaston in the summer. England are [2.08]. How many times have I written that sentence today?

18.37 WI 18-0
Just to let you know that the old computer has returned and it is working beautifully. PC garage are the chaps to go to. Marvellous work. Ooo, we're having another referral. Smith has been hit on the leg by Flintoff. First look at it I think it's out...

18.23 WI 8-0
The opening pair for West Indies are Chris Gayle and Devon Smith. They are contrasting batsmen. Gayle is laidback and has all the shots in the book, often throwing caution to the wind to play them. He has a poor record against England too - averaging around the 33 mark. Smith is more limited. Obdurate you might say. He averages 25.8 against England despite having made a century on this ground against them the last time England were there. The tourists will be confident of removing both cheaply.

18.15 West Indies 1-0
West Indies are underway. Just a note about that draw price, it drifted to [3.45] when the 10th wicket fell so that's a reasonably big shift given not much has happened.

18.01 England 318
Get used to this. When a team has not used up its two referral decisions per innings, they will always ask on the last wicket of the innings, even if it is to check whether it was a no ball. Monty Panesar was the man to go. Benn trapped him in front for his fourth wicket.

17.54 England 313-9
Steve Harmison is leg before to Jerome Taylor. The Durham man referred the decision and from where the ball hit him, it looked as though the ball would shave leg stump. The interesting thing here is: if the umpire had initially not given it out and then the Windies had asked to go upstairs, would Harmison have been given out? I don't think he would have been.

17.41 England 311-8
Back out after lunch. Brendan Nash, from the very first ball, has dropped Steve Harmison at short leg. Nasser Hussain has called it a "dolly". I'm keeping my eye on the draw price, which stands at [3.30] to back. Most of the time when the final wicket is taken in a third innings, it shoots out so it'll be interesting to see what happens in this situation.

17.00 England 311-8 LUNCH
Frustration for Windies as the players head into the break. England, perhaps somewhat cockily considering Monty is in next, are eyeing 330. England back to that [2.08] mark again - the odds the started the day from.

16.55 England 309-8
James E has emailed to suggest that the animal cruelty lobby (or RSPCA) might have something to say about Federer playing with a cat strapped to his back. Chill out, though guys, yeah. The cat would obviously have to be killed first. In the cricket Steve Harmison is looking woeful against both brands of spin from Chris Gayle and Benn. Come on Windies, get this innings over and done with. Let's move this game on.

16.41 England 304-8
Ryan Sidebottom is batting very nicely indeed. He has just hit a sumptuous-looking cover drive off Benn. It didn't go for four, but come one, we can't expect him to time those! These are hugely useful runs for England as they approach the first innings average on this ground. In other news I'm becoming increasingly irked by the pictures of pasty, overweight Englishmen in the stands who are doing the best to not only return from their holiday looking like a beetroot but with an unhealthy dose of the skin cancer. Cover up people.

16.22 England 290-8
I've warned to this idea of players competing while wearing some sort of animal. I mean, so many of them talk about their 'goal' being to make history or to do something unprecedented in the arena. So why doesn't someone like Roger Federer compete in a tennis tournament with a cat strapped to his back? If it wasn't a Grand Slam event he would probably still win. Then his CV would read: 13 Grand Slam titles, 4 Tennis Masters Cup titles, 14 ATP Masters Series titles, Olympic gold in doubles and the FIRST man to win a pro tournament with a CAT STRAPPED to his back. Now that's an achievement.

16.19 England 288-8
Matt Prior has been dismissed. Gone for 64 as Benn holds on to a sharp caught and bowled chance. I'm pleased about that because I backed KP for top runscorer honours in this innings.

16.00 England 279-7
DC has correctly pointed out that Kevin Pietersen was the first international cricketer to bat with an animal on his head. Who could forget the yellow-striped skunk which appeared on his head during the 2004 Ashes?

15.48 England 268-7
Ryan Sidebottom has replaced Stuart Broad at the crease. We have not seen Ryan Hair for some time in England 'colours'. It is a rather shock to the system to be reminded of just how bad his barnet is. It reminds me of an unkempt hedge. I am half expecting to spot sparrows nesting in it. Maybe a badger. I tell you what, there can't have been many Test cricketers who have gone out to bat wearing a badger on their head can there? Mat Prior has a 50.

15.30 England 256-7
The new ball is doing the job for West Indies. Stuart Broad has squirted one into the hands of Sulieman Benn at gully. Too expansive from Broad. When the ball is moving you let those go. Mind you, he's only young so one day it is to be hoped he will learn. Prior may have to play some shots if England are going to get more than 300. Punters are not too convinced by West indies, or more likely the pitch, because England are still as short as [2.06].

15.28 England 255-6
I've been having computer problems recently, folks. I'm sure you will feel for me. I had a massive WHAMMO! on the laptop a couple of weeks ago. It just would not switch on, and then all this white text appeared. Most upsetting. The chaps at PC World said it would cost £700 to get fixed. And this from people who spend all their time available hours on such problems because it's not as if they have a girlfriend (or any sort of friends). So it had to be serious. Instead I took it to a place around the corner and they've done it for £60! I'm picking it up at 18.00. We'll see how good a job they've done.

15.15 England 246-6
Statistics are our friends. The average first-innings total in the last five Tests at Sabina is 305 (I've not included a match against Bangladesh). England look likely to get to around that figure. Stuart Broad should be good to hang around for a bit while Matt Prior is batting nicely. There's not much after that, though.

15.07 England 241-6
Okay, the Windies have taken the new ball. Normally I would suggest that with the bowlers fresh after a night's sleep and the batsmen likewise, it would be wise to get with West Indies expecting wickets. One should never forget that Flintoff and Prior are like new batsmen to the crease. So let's ... Flintoff OUT! How often does that happen? I'm typing something and there's a wicket. Fred gone for 43.

15.02 England 237-5
Here are the prices. West Indies are [4.06], England [2.80] and the draw is [3.25]

15.00 England 237-5
We're back for the day two action from Sabina Park, Jamaica. And the first session will be crucial. If West indies fail to knock over England's last five wickets cheaply, then the game will drift away from them. Chris Gayle and co should be confident, however, because they have a new ball. They haven't taken it immediately, however with Sulieman Benn taking the first over.

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>

:

:

:

?

: