Guide to West Indies v England Cricket

West Indies v England, 2nd Test (starts Friday, 13.30 GMT)

We should be batting now with a lead of 600 and knocking the Aussiees all over the park.Aussies would then face 5 sessions of very attacking field settings with NO CHANCE of winning and a day 5 pitch to bat on.


Quite possibly Mushtaq but although I think we will still win this match we have given them something to cling to. Their chins were really on the floor yeserday morning and a few sessions of balls flying to the boundary would not have helped their morale. England bowlers would also have had a nice little rest before steaming in this afternnon with the Aussies chasing 650+ and NO CHANCE of a win. Australia have hardly ever enforced the follow on in the last 10 years. With a perfect forecast it was definitely the wrong move. They should have been facing 5 and a half sessions needing 500+ and victory an absolute formality . Do you really fancy sitting through England needing 200 this evening and tomorrow morning ? The difference between following on and not following on is
(1) Following on gives the convicts a chance of winning this match. They do that, they are assured of retaining the Ashes. If we had batted, they would have virtually no chance of winning, just of saving.
(2) We had some lucky decisions in their first innings, especially in top order dismissals. Following on runs the risk of us not getting those decisions.

From an Ashes win-back viewpoint, we should not have followed on.

We'll still probably win this match, but it's more important not to lose it. If this was the last match in the series, and the series score had been even, there would be nothing to lose, and it would have definitely been right to enforce the follow-on.