England declare on 569/6
Sunday, 17 May 2009
Tea England 569 for 6 dec (Collingwood 60*, Broad 28*) v West Indies
Matt Prior hit a quickfire 63 from 83 balls, and added 94 for the sixth wicket with Paul Collingwood, as England made up for lost time after the second-day wash-out at Chester-le-Street. By tea, they had marched on from their overnight 302 for 2 to reach 569 for 6, with all eyes on the England captain, Andrew Strauss, who confirmed the declaration during the interval.
After an entertaining morning session, in which a fired-up Fidel Edwards provided the impetus for his team in an 11-over spell, the second session was more a case of waiting for the inevitable. With the honourable exception of Sulieman Benn, who bowled with flight and variety and added the prize scalp of Kevin Pietersen to his earlier extraction of Alastair Cook, West Indies were once again bereft of attacking intent, and any pre-tea declaration would have been a mercy.
All of England's batsmen made starts, even the nightwatchman, James Anderson, whose mere presence coaxed Edwards into his most hostile spells of the innings, late on Monday night and again when play resumed this morning. Edwards eventually got his man after he had been gifted two lives - one via a bad drop down the leg-side from Denesh Ramdin, the other from a no-ball that was fenced to second slip - but instead of carrying that intent forward for the rest of the innings, Edwards and his team-mates rather shrunk from view once Pietersen got into his stride.
Pietersen got off the mark second-ball with a clip through midwicket off Edwards, but it was the next over he faced, from Jerome Taylor, that really set him up for his innings.
— Cricinfo
Matt Prior hit a quickfire 63 from 83 balls, and added 94 for the sixth wicket with Paul Collingwood, as England made up for lost time after the second-day wash-out at Chester-le-Street. By tea, they had marched on from their overnight 302 for 2 to reach 569 for 6, with all eyes on the England captain, Andrew Strauss, who confirmed the declaration during the interval.
After an entertaining morning session, in which a fired-up Fidel Edwards provided the impetus for his team in an 11-over spell, the second session was more a case of waiting for the inevitable. With the honourable exception of Sulieman Benn, who bowled with flight and variety and added the prize scalp of Kevin Pietersen to his earlier extraction of Alastair Cook, West Indies were once again bereft of attacking intent, and any pre-tea declaration would have been a mercy.
All of England's batsmen made starts, even the nightwatchman, James Anderson, whose mere presence coaxed Edwards into his most hostile spells of the innings, late on Monday night and again when play resumed this morning. Edwards eventually got his man after he had been gifted two lives - one via a bad drop down the leg-side from Denesh Ramdin, the other from a no-ball that was fenced to second slip - but instead of carrying that intent forward for the rest of the innings, Edwards and his team-mates rather shrunk from view once Pietersen got into his stride.
Pietersen got off the mark second-ball with a clip through midwicket off Edwards, but it was the next over he faced, from Jerome Taylor, that really set him up for his innings.
— Cricinfo