Latest updates and score from the first TestButtler: West Indies have given England a reality checkFeel free to email Simon or to tweet: @Simon_Burnton 1.46pm GMT Jos Buttler has a chat with Sky. How big a bonus was the opening partnership, and their success batting to the close of play yesterday?A great lift. a great effort from those two guys having spent a lot of time in the field. it can be a tough task but I thought they played very well and we need more of the same today.Strange goings-on. We lost all those wickets and were well below par. Yesterday Holder and Dowrich played really well, though we missed a few chances. There were good signs for us last night and we need to build on that today. We need to work out why that happened. Credit to the West Indies, they bowled very well, but we just weren’t good enough to soak up that pressure and get a partnership going. We have to be much better than that.Either you try to dig in the two of you and ride it out for half an hour or an hour, or you can go on the positive side and almost hit bowlers off those lengths that you’re finding difficult. Whatever way you do it you have to be brave and fully commit to that way.No I wasn’t. The selectors and the captain go into that. But hindsight’s great. It’s a tough task, selecting a team. Batting has really been the major issue. Had we got runs on the board in our first innings we’d be in a position to utilise the attack we picked for this game.Stuart’s been great. I think that’s one of the strengths of the side at hte minute. You talk about a squad, good harmony, people doing things for the team. Of course he’ll be disappointed but he knows showing that doesn’t help the team. He’s been great. 1.30pm GMT “DAB ready, check. Headphones ready, check. Peanuts, check. Beer ready, check. Ginger wine and long bendy straw ready, check. Catheter ready, check. Right, let the hunkering down begin,” says Damian Clarke. That sounds like the full hunkering-down kit. Plus ginger wine. I’m not sure where ginger wine fits in. Continue reading…
Via: West Indies v England: first Test, day four – live!
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