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Rains mar Eng-WI match

June 16, 2007 00:00:00


The start of the fourth and final Test between England and West Indies has been delayed by a day because of torrential rain at Chester-le-Street.
It had rained solidly throughout Thursday and continued on Friday morning, and the umpires ruled out any hope of play shortly before 1230 BST.
The forecast is slightly better for Saturday while Sunday offers hope of a fine day.
England won the series with victory at Old Trafford Monday.
That gave them an unassailable 2-0 lead following a draw at Lord's and a crushing victory at Headingley.
Matthew Hoggard and Ryan Sidebottom could be the key figures when play eventually begins.
Hoggard is fit again following a groin strain and eager to join forces with former Yorkshire team-mate Sidebottom at the Riverside.
"If we can get the ball swinging, which it tends to do here, we can really put them under pressure," said Vaughan.
The return of Hoggard - a "beautiful bowler of a swinging ball", according to Vaughan - for local boy Liam Plunkett will be the only change.
Hoggard (30) and Sidebottom (29) shared 53 wickets when Yorkshire won the County Championship in 2001.
And Hoggard said: "Ryan's done really well - it will be rolling back the years.
"It's a while since I've opened the bowling with him, but we enjoyed it last time we did it and I'm sure we'll enjoy it this time."
Vaughan expects England to be stronger after a tough match in the third Test.
"They fought very hard, but we got asked a lot of questions and answered them in the right manner. It got a little bit tight at the end and your team definitely grows quicker when you win a game like that," he said.
England's main concern is the form of opener Andrew Strauss, who some felt was lucky to be given another chance after averaging 15 in the series so far.
"It's just not happening for him at the minute, and when you go through spells like this as a batsman, you've just got to dig in there, keep believing, keep going through your routines, and it will change.
"He got two decent deliveries at Old Trafford , swinging back into the left-hander, pretty quick deliveries as well, but I'm sure there's score around the corner," Vaughan told the BBC Sport.
The England skipper has urged spinner Monty Panesar, man of the match at Old Trafford with 10 wickets, to carry on appealing with as much enthusiasm as ever.
England (from): Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Michael Vaughan (capt), Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell, Matthew Prior (wk), Stephen Harmison, Ryan Sidebottom, Matthew Hoggard, Monty Panesar, James Anderson.
West Indies (from): Chris Gayle, Daren Ganga (capt), Devon Smith, Runako Morton, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Bravo, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Darren Sammy, Jerome Taylor, Fidel Edwards, Corey Collymore, Daren Powell.
Umpires: Billy Bowden (NZ) and Aleem Dar (Pak).

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