13-Feb-2009 07:20:00 GMT
England in West Indies, 2008/09West Indies v England 2nd Test, Antigua - Feb 13-17
Antigua: England seek to draw level in a Test series that they were favoured to win when they face West Indies in the second Test, starting Friday at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground here.
England were upset in the opening Test at Kingston, where they were bowled out for 51 in their second innings and crashed to an innings and 23-run defeat inside four days to hand West Indies a 1-0 lead in the four-Test series.
The visitors face a crucial challenge in the match. Another defeat for England would give West Indies an unassailable lead in the series and end their nine-year spell of Test series defeats against them.
Barring back-to-back wins over Bangladesh, West Indies have not won consecutive matches in the last 10 years.
England should also recall that West Indies also outplayed South Africa in Port Elizabeth two Decembers ago, and they still lost a four-Test series 2-1.
The visitors also remember that the last time they crumbled in a Test in the Caribbean, when Michael Atherton's side were bowled out for 46 at Port of Spain, their predecessors rebounded with a 208-run victory in Barbados which was highlighted by hundreds in each innings from Alec Stewart.
West Indies captain Chris Gayle admitted that a single Test victory - as dramatic as the opening Test was - will not be enough to satisfy his side, let alone their fans, that they have turned the proverbial corner.
West Indies and England head into the second Test in Antigua in contrasting moods with the common aim of putting the astonishing first Test out of their minds.
Both teams should remind themselves that Saturday's batting collapse was all the more dramatic because it was so unexpected since West Indies had not won a Test against the English in their last 16 attempts going back to 2000.
Team news
England have all the worries with Ian Bell set to be dropped in favour of Owais Shah. Also under the scanner are Monty Panesar and Steve Harmison after their poor show in Jamaica, but it will be a difficult decision to leave both of them out, if they do then Graeme Swann and James Anderson could come in.
West Indies will go with probably one change that of either left-handed all-rounder Ryan Hinds or batsman Lendl Simmons coming in place of Xavier Marshall.
Highlights of the match
|
West Indies |
England |
| Captain |
Chris Gayle |
Andrew Strauss |
| ICC Ranking |
7 |
5 |
| Key Players |
Chris Gayle, Chanderpaul, Powell, Taylor |
Cook, Pietersen, Sidebottom, Flintoff |
| Drawing Broad |
Jerome Taylor produced the spell of his life in front of his home fans at Sabina Park. His full-length, late-swinging, stump-threatening aggression made light of a slow pitch and gave England's batsmen nothing to work with. |
Andrew Strauss endured a nervy reintroduction to a role he performed with aplomb in his last incarnation as England captain in 2006 and 2007. |
| Weather |
There is lot of rain around Antigua, so dont be surprised if there are a few rain delays in the match. |
| Pitch |
The Antiguan pitch is famous for huge scores- Brian Lara has two world record scores of 375 and 400 in Test matches against England here. Another low and slow wicket which is expected to help spin later on is expected. |
| Current Form |
DLDDW |
LWLDL (Recent last) |
| Head to head |
Total 139, West Indies 53, England 41, Drawn 45 |
