Cricket

weather intervenes, no result, 5th match boycotted, WI find ANOTHER way to kill cricket and come out victorious

pfunkboy spontaneously combusts

we're off

or on

135 the target, a maximum of four overs per bowler. Eight overs of powerplay to England - so that's almost half the innings with only two fielders allowed outside the circle.

lol i think that's kinda worked in england's favour

In theory, but THIS IS ENGLAND

esp considering that lionel baker is not an international-class bowler

look we're gonna cream em, strauss is doing a kinda english gayle thing on 'em

Which is what you want from a skipper and presumably why he has put himself in as opener. It's how he played in the test series so it's got my vote. Even if he fails I think it was a good idea.

It's not like the opening pair have been great this series

It would be nice if this series went to a deciding game.

nice easy england win, all pumped for the decider, then WI boycott finishes the tour on the awesomest note possible

Oh I think they will pay up to avoid a strike that loses the series.

Oh, so they'd actually forfeit that game...fair enough

If WI won today they would still win the series if they boycott the final game.

yeah if they refuse to play, they lose the game.

Plus in theory should get a ban from cricket. But that wont happen.

but if they keep everyone guessing to whether they turn up, it will be hard for England to focus on the game as it's always going to be in the back of their minds that the WI might not turn up. So they might get into the mindset that they will not play, WI decide to play and England aren't ready. So it would be much better if it was all resolved now before it descends into farce.

But then, that's not the west indies way.

England will prepare for that game as if it's going ahead until it's officially called off, just sayin', they're a professional international sports team

with a professional whinger disrupting the dressing room!

thread needs DJ Martian input

plank pietersen is TIRED

that did not carry

not out

i think it probably did

oh wait it didn't

lol nearly out lbw next ball

i really dont think it carried

if you had told me a year or 2 ago that Strauss would play like this , I would have laughed in your face.

lol omg six over long-on off quickie lol

^^^the kind of sentence that would have dan perry or any good american cricket-virgin in stitches

oh my bopara just launched a HUGE six onto the roof

anything straussy can do i can do better KP style hehe

haha the ball is lost

out next ball

KP not allowed to bat until 5 wkts are down

ggs

yay an England win by 9 wickets.
It all looked so different when Gayle was smashing the ball out the ground after wrongly being given not out earlier.

Bucknors last game.

strauss >>>>> gayle

also wtg steve

one of the better umpires tbh. Sad to see him go.

Hasn't been so consistent in his later years, but has never really courted controversy.

Former Test cricket umpire Steve Bucknor has revealed he was the victim of racist abuse earlier in his career.

The Jamaican, 62, retired as an elite umpire on Sunday after standing in 128 Tests and 181 one-day internationals.

He told BBC's Test Match Special: "Nobody made me feel black on the field but I did get a letter in London saying 'you black b******' or 'you n*****'.

"You don't want to talk about it but people write these things. You have to let these things lie. I grew up tough."

Bucknor, who grew up in poverty, added in a wide-ranging interview with the BBC's Kevin Howells: "I have no fears in talking about what I went through as a youngster.

"They were very, very tough times. I had one pair of shoes to go to school in, to go to church, to go anywhere. I didn't eat until I got home in the evenings."

He also said that although many people had tried to persuade him to continue his career, he felt he had reached a natural time to retire.

"There are some who would want me to stay around, my body feels good but 63 ought to be the cut-off age. I have seen people go beyond that age and have suffered because of their inability to see properly, hear properly. I am pretty close to that age now."

Bucknor, who stands an imposing 6ft 3in, had a distinctive way of delaying his decisions, a mannerism that earned him the nickname "Slow Death".

He stood in five World Cup finals, the last of those in Barbados, which was also the venue of his final match - an England win against West Indies.

A former football referee, he once officiated in a World Cup qualifier.

And despite retirement from cricket, he is likely to remain busy in other fields, particularly athletics. He is being invited to work in development programmes in Jamaica, and serve as a track official.

KP is at it again, he has said he will never spend 11 weeks away from his wife again.
Now there will be speculation about him not touring again(therefore surely he cant play for England at all since they didnt let tres play home games only)

KP is at it again, he has said he will never spend 11 weeks away from his wife again.

Awwwwwww, diddums

Wonder if KP will get the same flak from louis that Harmison got when he complained about being homesick.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_pDuf6-A6hCs/SXjVw2Ljj9I/AAAAAAAAAII/QDq9G-NpXwg/s800/harmyhelmet.jpg

Kevin Pietersen has said he would not go on another extended England tour like the one in West Indies, without his wife, singer Jessica Taylor.

Explaining his comments on Saturday that he was "at the end of his tether" he said it was partly down to frustration at England's poor results.

He added: "I've never said I want to miss a tour and there's no way I will ever miss a tour. I love touring.

"But there's no way I'll be without my wife for 11 weeks again."

Pietersen, 28, will be fit to play in the one-day series decider, and tour finale, in St Lucia despite a back spasm sustained on Sunday.

He said the England team's general failure to win matches, whether in India before Christmas under his leadership - or in the West Indies since then - had left him drained.

He said: "The first half of the winter was a shambles under my leadership. We didn't come close to winning a game in India and we didn't come close to winning a game here before we won on Sunday - except for the mathematical error on the West Indies' part in Guyana.
"The comments were born from the frustration of that. We all want to go home, but it does not stop the commitment we all put in on a daily basis.

"I am absolutely 100% passionate about playing for England. I absolutely never take it for granted about wearing the three lions on my chest.

"The second part of the frustration was I hadn't seen my wife since 21 January. It's the longest period of time I've been away from her."

Pietersen also explained how he sat down with the tour management to request a 48-hour break between Test matches to be with wife Jessica, 28, who used to be with group Liberty X, who he married in December 2007.

"We decided it probably wouldn't be a good idea for the team going forward," he said. "There were no arguments, no nonsense, no disappointment on my behalf.

"I have been totally supportive of everything that has happened on this tour."