Cricket

[Salgado Is Still A Hero]

Poor start. Badree bowling excellently.

[Husky]

Pretty rubbish start. Turning into a disastrous sporting weekend

Do you know where The Samaritans are in Blackburn?

[Baz]

Can we start the weekend again at 12 noon yesterday?

Edited April 3, 2016 by Baz

[Husky]

Nowhere near enough runs. But still............ if they get a couple of wickets early up there could yet still be hope, but it feels similar to half time yesterday (resigned to defeat).

[wolfie]

Windies 5/2 joe root got both of 'em, Gayle out too

[Gav]

Couldn't help themselves, had to try and smack Root out of the ground.

In with a chance now, a slim chance but a chance.

[JBiz]

Swinger- 11/3

Edited April 3, 2016 by Jbizzle

[wolfie]

Windies need 19 off last over

[bob fleming]

Not the start to the over we were looking for...

Bloody hell

[wolfie]

18 off first 3 balls, unbelievable Jeff

[Hasta]

You could see the fear in Stokes eyes as he prepared for that over. Bottled it.

[wolfie]

Bit gutted we lost but was brilliant to watch. Don't think Stokes will sleep well tonight.

[AllRoverAsia]

4 of our top order batsmen also bottled it on the day ... Jordan should have been last over.

Edit: if it been 36 required of the last over they would have got it too...imho

Edited April 3, 2016 by AllRoverAsia

[Husky]

That was an almighty fail right at the end.

I hate sport.

I'll give Euro 2016 a miss this year.

[Gav]

Golden boy brought down to earth with an almighty crash, shocking by Stokes.

[AllRoverAsia]

Stokes with his long hops should never have been last over.....poor strategy.

Overall we got closer than I thought possible but I also thought Gayle was due a big score not another fail.

Edited April 3, 2016 by AllRoverAsia

[jim mk2]

Stokes merely fed the shot whereas a grizzled old league pro would have put the the ball in the block. Poor bowling.

[Baz]

4 of our top order batsmen also bottled it on the day ... Jordan should have been last over.

Edit: if it been 36 required of the last over they would have got it too...imho

He'd have scored 70 off the last over if they'd needed it.

Poor bowling by Stokes, personally think there was too much chatter before the first ball, the pressure was on their man.

20 runs short of a decent score on that pitch.

Also - how lucky is Sammy -10 coin tosses in a row.

[matt83]

That's put the tin lid on a terrible weekend for sport. What's worse is after giving us no hope at half time they made me believe but still managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory

[Husky]

That's put the tin lid on a terrible weekend for sport. What's worse is after giving us no hope at half time they made me believe but still managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory

That's the worst thing about it. The only thing that would have made this weekend worse would have been a Brown equaliser in the last minute and then a Preston winner in the 93rd.

I was quite relaxed at the half way stage as we had no chance - then they got into a position where most neutrals were calling England favourites - yet they still managed a way to choke spectacularly. It's England to a T.

[oldjamfan1]

The captain has to shoulder much of the blame. I don't really rate Morgan to be honest, either as a captain or a batter. One decent innings in every 7 0r 8 isn't good enough and he never really seems like a leader to me.

We were 30 or 40 short today and stupidity by the Windies' top order allowed us back into it. I thought Jordan and Rashid bowled well but Stokes had a brain freeze before that last over, not helped by his captain confusing him at the last minute with a field change. But you have to doff your cap to a bloke that smacks four sixes in a row, just when he absolutely had to!

Windies were not very magnanimous in victory though, and to mouth off like they did just after winning the biff, bash bosh version of cricket was pretty poor.

Joe Root is different class, but he threw his wicket away just when we needed him to bat on!

[Gav]

I think you're being a bit harsh on Morgan, his bowling options and field placing has been exceptional this tournament, sadly his batting has not.

He took the decision to put Root up with the new ball, masterstroke, got us back in the game only for Stokes to bottle it.

I'd also like to know why Hayles was off the field when the sub fielder put down that catch, that decision alone could have cost us the match.

[oldjamfan1]

I think you're being a bit harsh on Morgan, his bowling options and field placing has been exceptional this tournament, sadly his batting has not.

He took the decision to put Root up with the new ball, masterstroke, got us back in the game only for Stokes to bottle it.

I'd also like to know why Hayles was off the field when the sub fielder put down that catch, that decision alone could have cost us the match.

No he didn't. It was the bowling coach that suggested it, along with Root himself.

If you want to talk about being harsh Gav, that sub fielder slipped at the crucial moment when going for the catch, no real blame attached surely? He's a wicket keeper so should be entrusted to take a catch, surely you can't blame 'whoever made that decision', whatever the reason behind Hales being off the field?

I've been far from convinced by Morgan, and I think the revitalisation of England's limited overs performances is more to do with Bayliss. Root seems to be the natural captain - probably in all formats too, though there's no great urgency to replace Cook in the test matches.

[Salgado Is Still A Hero]

That was incredible, unbelievable stuff from Brathwaite.

[Gav]

No he didn't. It was the bowling coach that suggested it, along with Root himself.

If you want to talk about being harsh Gav, that sub fielder slipped at the crucial moment when going for the catch, no real blame attached surely? He's a wicket keeper so should be entrusted to take a catch, surely you can't blame 'whoever made that decision', whatever the reason behind Hales being off the field?

I've been far from convinced by Morgan, and I think the revitalisation of England's limited overs performances is more to do with Bayliss. Root seems to be the natural captain - probably in all formats too, though there's no great urgency to replace Cook in the test matches.

It was said in commentary that the bowling coach was probably the man that suggested Root open, but when Chris Gayle never opened the batting, that wasn't a given, and bottom line is Morgans the captain and ultimately has the final say, so he deserves some credit.

But hey its not worth rowing over, we lost, I can accept that, if only Rovers had as bright a future as Stokes and England cricket team