Will Jerome Taylor solve the West Indies Fast Bowling crisis?

[tooextracool]

Matthew Elliott was/is another.

Hashan Tillekratne continued to do so only a couple of years ago

 

[tooextracool]

For those who have watched darren powell recently, what do you make of his bowling? He was one of those bowlers that i went up about a couple of years ago and then when a few months later i couldnt believe how i even rated him when he couldnt bowl with an upright seam position.
I think Taylor has plenty of potential although i think hes quite far from the finished article just yet. As far as Cuffy was concerned, ive always thought that he should have played more cricket than he did and he was certainly the best of a very bad bunch during the time.

 

[SquidAU]

I like Jerome Taylor. Adds fire to the Windies pace bowling attack.

If only their batting could hold together more....

 

[Craig]

Hashan Tillekratne continued to do so only a couple of years ago

Wasn't he like that throughout his whole career, even when he retired? There might have been a few other West Indian batsmen other then Campbell or Adams that didn't wear a grille.

 

[tooextracool]

Wasn't he like that throughout his whole career, even when he retired? There might have been a few other West Indian batsmen other then Campbell or Adams that didn't wear a grille.

Yeah thats what i was meant. As mentioned earlier, Hooper didnt wear a grilled helmet and im fairly certain that Keith Arthurton rarely even wore a helmet when he played.

 

[Craig]

What about Stuart Williams or Junior Murray?

 

[Richard]

Yeah thats what i was meant. As mentioned earlier, Hooper didnt wear a grilled helmet and im fairly certain that Keith Arthurton rarely even wore a helmet when he played.

I can't ever remember Richardson wearing a helmet, either. Maybe he did of times.

It's ludicrous that people say Richards was the last one not to wear a helmet.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

I can't ever remember Richardson wearing a helmet, either. Maybe he did of times.

I don't remember Richardson wearing a helmet either. He would tend to the broad-rimmed hat.

 

[Slifer]

Richardson started wearing helmets towards the tail-end of his career.

 

[Richard]

That's a shame.

 

[Goughy]

Nasty.

Had never heard of that one before.

Really? Its a wierd thing that for all the scary fast bowlers WIs produced, 2 of the worst blows during that period were in England on West Indian batsman. This and the sickening blow Phil Simmons got in 1988 from Syd Lawrence that nearly killed him (IIRC stopped his heart).

If anyone is interested here is a report of the blow to Adams. Also, for the benefit of the younger forum members, it is worth reminding that Andre van Troost was lightening. Some claim him to have been the fastest in the world for a period.

JIMMY ADAMS, one of the most significant components of the West
Indian cricket machine, seems certain to be out of the current
Test series after receiving a sickening blow beneath the right
eye from Somerset`s Andre van Troost.

Coming in to bat shortly after 5 O`clock with the West Indies
comfortably placed at 218 for two in their second innings, Adams
appeared to lose sight of the first ball he received and ducked
into it.

The ball was shortish but could have been played defensively with
a straight bat. Immediately before, the West Indies captain,
Richie Richardson, having made a fluent 88, apparently lost sight
of a delivery from van Troost and was bowled offering no stroke.

Richardson confirmed after the close that Adams had sustained a
depressed fracture of the cheekbone. "We don`t know yet if sur-
gery will be necessary," he said. The manager, Wes Hall, and the
coach, Andy Roberts, remained with Adams at the local Musgrove
Park Hospital, while a concerned van Troost was due to visit
Adams last night.
.....
Adams, like Robin Smith, was not using a grille. If he had done
so the impact of the ball would certainly have been greatly re-
duced.

http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1995/WI_IN_ENG/WI_SOMERSET_02-04AUG1995_MR

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Surely the umpires offered light immediately after...

 

[Goughy]

Surely the umpires offered light immediately after...

Ive never been to the ground. van Troost was a very tall man. Is it not possible that the light wasnt that bad but the ball was coming from above the sightscreens?

A combination of average light and a poor seeing ground could be the reason. Pure specualtion on my behalf

 

[Richard]

It's not unheard of for a bowler to be, for no apparent reason, difficult to pick-up.

Richardson and Adams were hardly novice batsmen.

Nor is Brian Lara.

Some might remember that in the summer of 2004, Lara lost sight of 2 deliveries from Andrew Flintoff in consecutive Tests. Those deliveries had absolutely nothing in common other than the bowler - one was a slower-delivery wide Yorker, the other was a quickish short, straight ball.

And the latter took his wicket, the former unnerved him so much that he played a terrible stroke next ball and edged to slip.

Van Troost, incidentally, was hardly a bowler with a conventional action. Not surprising that he might have been tricky to sight given some anomaly (eg a poor sightscreen, for example).

 

[Richard]

Its a wierd thing that for all the scary fast bowlers WIs produced, 2 of the worst blows during that period were in England on West Indian batsman. This and the sickening blow Phil Simmons got in 1988 from Syd Lawrence that nearly killed him (IIRC stopped his heart).

The Simmons one was certainly the worst (had there not been a hospital nearby he'd have been gone).

But Andy Lloyd and Paul Terry might disagree with you that the Adams blow was any worse than theirs.

 

[PhoenixFire]

Malinga is a classic example of a bowler who's trajectory is very difficult to pick up, I can imagine he hits a fair few people on the head.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Fidel Edwards had the Kiwi helmets in disarray last year.

 

[Richard]

Well Edwards and Maaaalinga are pretty similar, aren't they?

When was the last time we saw someone as round-arm as Edwards, never mind Maaaalinga?

I was talking to David about him when he debuted and took a decent haul of Aus wickets - David had been watching and I was going to watch the third day - and we mentioned him. David said "he's very, very round-arm"; I said "what, like Edwards?"; "no, way more round-arm than that"; "ah, interesting... can't wait to see that"

I wasn't disappointed!

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Well Edwards and Maaaalinga are pretty similar, aren't they?

When was the last time we saw someone as round-arm as Edwards, never mind Maaaalinga?

Edwards is a lot more orthodox now that he was when he started. He was a lot closer to Malinga's style in the early going. Then the coaches got him to straighten up, because they said it would improve his accuracy and ease up his back.

 

[Richard]

I thought he looked a bit less round-arm when I saw him in Aus compared to in SA in 2003\04.