Ah nuts!

Balls.

Annoying not to win in the context of the game, but in some ways it's good to see the Windies showing a bit of steel.

Indeed, nice to see. Powell's impressed as a resilient batsman over both innings, and even Edwards was getting his bat down well at the end.

We wouldn't have taken that last wicket in a month of Sundays, I was abit bemused as to why Harmison was bowling for so long at the end, he doesn't make the batsmen play enough, and if Flintoff was right enough to come on near the end, surely he could have done abit more?

Gutted. We deserved to win but maybe we should have declared a bit earlier.

Bollox. Snatched a draw from the jaws of victory. Again.

England had 128 overs in the 2nd innings to bowl out the Windies. Should've been more than enough!!

Strauss is a fool. Knackered or not they should have enforced the follow on as the lead was so enormous the Windies were never in a position to win it. It would have demoralised them and left at most a nominal chase in the second innings.

A typically English lack of ruthlessness.

Don't agree about enforcing the follow on but we should have declared as soon as KP got out we wasted 5-6 overs with the wickets tumbling, O how they wish they coulda had them back last night.

Sending Jimmy out as night watchman wasted valuable time too, must learn for these types of mistakes.

no1 knows what would have happened if the follow-on had been enforced. hindsight is a wonderful thing as is luck. with a little bit more im sure england would have won. obviously missed flintoff. never mind at least they put up a decent performance in this test. onwards and upwards as they say

Agreed that was a ridiculous thing to do, absolutely no need for a nighchman with the lead we had.

It didn't prove enough though.

With only 3 fully fit bowlers at the time I can see why he did it.

The biggest mistake Strauss made IMO was not declaring early enough. I wouldn't have forced the follow-on with the injuries to the bowling attack that we had.

Another good performance by Broad, has to be a shoe-in for the Ashes if he carries on. Monty has got a fair bit of work to do to regain his place from Swann IMO.

So can I although I would still have enforced it, there were only 12 overs to bowl that night.

The big mistake was not declaring at lunch on the 4th day, we should never have sent Anderson in and he certainly should have retired on the following morning and allowed the batters to come in and get runs more quickly.

England bowled really well on the last day though and were very unlucky.

Swann bowls like a spinner who has spent time perfecting his craft away from Test cricket - his variety of pace and flight puts Panesar to shame, he's not afraid to be hit out of the ground if the batsman is good enough to do it.

Given he's ahead of Panesar in the batting and fielding departments by some distance it may be a little while before Monty gets another look-in.

Interesting dilemma facing England if Flintoff doesn't make the next test. Do they stick Bell back in the side to bat at 6 and go with a four-man attack, or go with Sidebottom and bat Prior at 6 with Broad at 7?

The best choice in terms of balancing the side would probably be Rashid, but I can't see Barbados(?) being a two spinner pitch.

I'd hazard a guess at Bopara getting the nod ahead of those 2, given that he's been called up from the Lions squad.

wonder what happened

I got jipped, made 5 changes for the game which didn't happen now I don't get them back how's that fair.

His ton today won't have hurt his chances.

I would like to see Bopara in for Flintoff or Rashid coming into the side and play with two spinners.

Apparently, Pietersen [url=http://content-gulf.cricinfo.com/england/content/current/story/391767.htmlsmelled a rat[/url all along.

Q: If the bloke's a sleazebag, and you were uneasy about the whole thing, why'd you take his money regardless?

A: You're a mercenary

Prior is returning home as his wife has given birth, wonder if Stanford knows?

Harmison out and Sidebottom in, Bopara in for Freddie.

Surprised at Sidebottom as he is not supposed to be fully fit at the minute?

Glad to see both Shah and Bopara playing in the same side, pretty much what I wanted to see at the start of the tour.

Aus 194-5 Clarke just gone to Steyn.

Eng won the toss and are batting 61-0 (16)

batters paradise then

That and Daren Powell is a bit rubbish. 33 off his five overs so far.