Three (or two, whichever way you look at it) matches into the test series and we must start having serious doubts as to our ability to get us out of this series deficit we find ourselves in. To win the series means having to win each of the final two tests, difficult enough with the England team alone, and unavailability is making the task even more difficult.

Despite the tense end to the last test, the test as a whole wasn’t as exciting as I’d hoped, although I don’t sit in the Botham camp (ie. I know everything, I told you so type words) and blame Strauss for batting too long. Had Chanderpaul and Sarwan been batting towards a more achievable target, on the pitch they had I reckon we could have lost the game. Anyway, that is done and dusted, but what team can we pick for the next game?

Flintoff is out injured, Prior is in England with his wife and new baby, and Swann is a small doubt with an arm injury. Coupled with the fact that Harmison is still useless, there is the need for 2, 3 or 4 changes to the side. Ambrose will take the gloves (oh.. joy…), but I’d seriously put Broad ahead of him in the batting line up. Going in with five bowlers doesn’t really show you have faith in them, so assuming Swann is fit I’m going with him, Broad, Anderson and a n other. Amjad Khan took 5 wickets in the warm up game but bringing him in would be nearly as close to insanity as bringing in that Australian roofer Pattinson, after only one warm up game. In for Freddie will be Bell or Ravi Bop – I’d go with Ravi for the simple fact that he brings fresh enthusiasm into the team, and not the same old same old mentality.

However, I have little confidence in that team actually pulling a win out of the bag unfortunately, such is my pessimism with the England team at the moment. Just call me Bob Willis!!

What can I say about the horrific, dreadful, abject “performance” of the England team in the first test? Since it happened I’ve been trying not to think about it, taking the “if I don’t think about it, it didn’t happen!” route, but that isn’t really working!

The first innings from the England batsmen (and I use the term batsmen in its lightest meaning) was bad enough, but when Gayle and Sarwan came to the crease it was made to look all the more worse. We were lucky that we only came out of the first innings with a 70 run deficit the way they were batting. Broad was the only bowler to come out with any real credit, finally getting the wickets that have evaded him in test cricket until now.

Then comes the shocking second innings, for which I am at a complete loss to explain. Despite the protests of the management, the fallout of the KP and Moores falling out must have played its part. Even if it didn’t in an obvious way in their training and build up, the players can’t have mentally approached the game correctly, and known who expected what of them.

I’m still behind Strauss as skipper, its not his fault he’s picking up a pack of cards that has been thrown on the floor, and if he can get us out of this he’ll show true leadership qualities. KP was a bit of an idiot in the way he got out in the first innings but in the grand scheme of things his performance was still better than the rest of the team and there are other’s more deserving of our wrath right now.

Where do we go for the next test though? Flower has said there won’t be sweeping changes and there can’t really be given the size of a touring squad, but if Bell plays I will eat my hat. They won’t drop Monty despite how much they should do, and Anderson might expect to come in for Harmy or Sideshow. Whatever happens I hope its a better pitch than the one at Sabina Park which served up some dull cricket (although that might have been Englands fault!)

I’m always quite happy at the start of an English test series, when its in the warmth of the West Indies and the timings mean I can watch a fair bit of action I’m even happier! With the day’s play starting around 3pm it gives me plenty of time to watch live cricket rather than highlights so lets hope for some good action!

They say they won’t announce the side until closer to the start of the game, but if they go in with two specialist spinners I would be very surprised. KP can do more than enough as a second spinner and given the second warm up game showed us how batsman friendly the pitches can be, I think we need the extra seamer to spread the workload. Thankfully Freddie is fit to play, whether Bell and Collingwood survive will be a close call and Harmy will be hoping to play on the pitch which gave him his best figures of 7-12 a few years back. However, Sidebottom is fit again and in the reckoning and Anderson can be brilliant on his day so there are decisions to be made by the new skipper.

I don’t have any doubts on Strauss as a captain, he’s got a air of calmness and authority that works well and I’m looking forward to how he copes with the challenges of captaining the team. Roll on this afternoon!!

The first warm up game is taking place out in the West Indies and with club nets starting around now for the new season I thought it might be worth checking out which England players are using what equipment. (I’m fully aware that they may not necessarily be using what is stickered on their bats, but lets pretend they are!)

• Captain Strauss – Managed to top edge the second ball of the tour using his Gray Nicolls Ignite, having moved to these bats from the Predator last summer.
• Vice Captain Cook – Wants to be like the captain and uses a Gray Nicolls Nitro, having previously used a powerbow. Gray Nicolls will be hoping for these two to have some good opening partnerships to give their bats good coverage!
• Ian Bell – Will be scratching round for runs using his new Adidas Incurza, having just followed KP to the Adidas stable. He’d be better off with a light saber.
• Kevin Pietersen – Had a high profile move to Adidas at the back end of last year and will be using the Adidas Pellara in the Caribbean.
• Paul Collingwood – A Slazenger player, Colly uses the i-blade to score some big runs just as he’s about to be dropped.
• Owais Shah – Scores a ton with his Kookaburra Blade in a warm up game, but will probably get overlooked incorrectly for one of the Slazenger boys.
• Freddie Flintoff – With the original Woodworm company not making it out of 2008, Freddie moved to Puma where he uses the pink Puma Evolution. Not the best colour for a bat, but I’m not going to argue with him!
• Matt Prior – Another Slazenger player, he uses the Air Blade like Bell did until this month, but generally with greater success.
• Tim Ambrose – Didn’t have a great time with his Kookaburra Ice last summer and will be lucky to get a chance to use it on this tour.
• Stuart Broad – A man after my own heart using a Gunn & Moore, he tries to be the (GM) Hero.
• Adil Rashid – A new entry into the squad, and another Slazenger user he’ll be hoping to get a chance with his Hyper Blade.
• Graham Swann – Back to the Gray Nicolls users, Swanny likes to biff the ball around with the GN Powerbow.
• James Anderson – Ever since he moved from Woodworm to Gray Nicolls and use the GN Nitro he turned into a decent lower order player – coincidence?!
• Ryan Sidebottom – Uses the re-introduced for the ‘08 season Gunn and Moore Cannon, when he’s playing and not injured.
• Steve Harmison – Has used Gunn and Moore’s of various models for a while now – he used to use the hero but now tries his slog sweeps with the GM Cannon.
• Monty Panesar – A bit of a loner with his choice of bat, Monty follows Ashley Giles’ path and uses a Hunts County Glory.

What can we tell from the above… well not a lot really since what they “use” is determined by their sponsorship package – so unsurprisingly most of the big names are represented. Looking for a bat for yourself – then you’ll probably start at one of these big companies, but don’t think that these are the only ones out there as there are plenty of smaller companies that can offer a more bespoke experience and you’ll come out with a great bat at the end of it. However, if you want to emulate your favourite England player you now know which bat you need to get!

England players and those following them out to the Caribbean have the right idea by getting out of this cold country over the next couple of days. How I’d love to be joining them and staying out there until they depart back for England on the 4th April, but following England isn’t a cheap hobby! Things have quietened down after all the fuss that was created when KP and Moores left their respective positions – and with Andy Flower as an interim appointment lets hope that the senior players get behind the new captain and perform well whilst out there. No doubt the tv and press will bring up the shortcomings of the ECB over the “row” surrounding KP, but it shouldn’t distract the players from doing the business.

Losing your coach isn’t ideal before a series but in all reality it shouldn’t be that difficult for them to adapt to the situation in the West Indies. The squad is generally the same, the back room staff are generally the same, and they are playing a side that is beatable when we play well. So there should be a postive vibe, especially as this series could set the tone for the year – a year we know is vitally important if you are an England cricket fan or player.

I’m hoping for a test series win, a win in the twenty20 game (to banish the horrible memories of the Stanford Twenty20 final), and of the ODI’s – who cares as long as we see some entertaining cricket!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again in the future, but following England is never dull!

At first when the news came out of the camp about KP and Moores not quite seeing eye to eye, most of the talk was backing up KP, saying that Michael Vaughan and Paul Collingwood also didn’t have the best of relationships with Moores and that he wasn’t respected by the players enough. Then the commentary shifted after news that the ECB were hardening their stance towards KP as well, and that they weren’t going to cave in to all of his demands, whatever they may be.

After that we then have the shenanigans of Wednesday, with the “did he quit the captaincy in the morning or not”, and the announcement at the end of the day that Moores had been sacked and KP resigned as captain, but only in the afternoon. It all seems a bit farcical, and the Aussies are having a field day with it all (much better to talk about us than their pathetic team obviously!) – but today the papers, websites etc have gone full circle and are now making KP enemy number 1, and for what reason I’m not sure. Yes, it seems he pushed too hard and asked too much of the ECB, but he must have seen the chance to make a real difference as captain, and who’s to blame him for that? Sounds more like he needed someone he respected to quietly take him to one side and bring him back down to earth but keep him on board, not a basically forced resignation.

When KP was made captain he was almost the default choice, the only one secure of his place in all the sides (aside from maybe Freddie, whose fitness was still, and probably will always remain a small doubt), and by making Strauss captain for the WIndies tour they’ve chosen someone not even in the ODI squad! I’m not against Strauss as a captain at all – I think he is a damn fine one – but it was less than a year ago he had only just got back in the team due to poor form, and as I’ve just said, he isn’t currently in the ODI side (although he could do just as good a job as Ian Bell has at the top of the order in that form of the game).

Coach wise, the ECB now have a new hunt on their hands – I don’t know if Andy Flower can step up to the plate from being batting coach but I’d be happy if he did, and by probably taking on the job for the WIndies tour will be a good interview for getting the job full time. Otherwise, the first chance a new coach will have to get used to the team and implement some new practices is a short home series against the WIndies before the Ashes series! Not a perfect solution by any means.

But what of KP though – how does he handle such a high profile loss of the captaincy after only a few months? As often with KP, no-one will know the answer to that than himself. He is professional enough to go out there and do the job, but you’ll always have a nagging doubt under the surface that it wouldn’t take much for him to say “sod it” and run off and chase the Indian Twenty20 money.

All we can hope is that it doesn’t disrupt our performances from here on – we need a good series home and away against the West Indies so we go into the Ashes in good form and with players settled and knowing what is expected of them!