*Official* West Indies In Australia

[Ilovecric]

Not sure where to post this, but this thread will have to do. T & T have won the West Indies List A competition for the 3rd time in 4 years. Darren Ganga has also become the most successful captain in the history of West Indian domestic cricket. It was a bit of a pathetic tournament blighted by rain but at the end of the day the best team definitely won it.

Here is the match summary:

T & T: 286/6 (Darren Bravo 76, Kieron Pollard 57, Darren Ganga 46, Denesh Ramdin 44 not out).

Guyana: 205 all out (Ramnaresh Sarwan 60, Royston Crandon 46, Travis Dowlin 41, Kieron Pollard 3/38, Dave Mohammed 2/38)

T & T won by 81 runs

Notes:

- The pitch was terribly slow and difficult for strokemakers so T & T's was a huge score.
- Kieron Pollard's 57 came from 50 balls.
- Denesh Ramdin's 44 came from 18 balls.

I'm going to just ignore your claim that ganga has become the most successful captain, and that Trinidad had the best team.

 

[Perm]

- Denesh Ramdin's 44* came from 18 balls.

Nice knock. Pity he's so timid at international level.

 

[iamdavid]

Sadly I think Stuart Clark's time is up, would be pretty suprised to see him in a test squad this summer to be honest, maintains the control and trajectory that made him such a great bowler when he broke into the test team, but he's simply lost too much pace to be a consistent threat at test level imo, discounting terrible opposition batting or Headingley-esque pitches..

Watched his second spell in the FRC match last weekend and he was consistently 118-123kph (no exageration).

 

[Nate]

He does slow it down in LO matches tbf, has looked very sharp in the Shield game this week.

 

[roseboy64]

What do people think of his chances of making inroads towards the Test side ? Or will he be a classic case of a LO specialist ?

Not right now. Possible though. Has a decent enough FC record from last check.

I'm going to just ignore your claim that ganga has become the most successful captain, and that Trinidad had the best team.

He never said that.

 

[roseboy64]

Re: Spin in the squad, there's Gayle, Benn and Deonarine who are all decent enough spinners. Backing Deonarine and Gayle to be a much better option than Gayle and Benn TBH. Not much difference really between them and Deonarine provides the better batting so wouldn't be surprised at this:

Gayle
Barath
Sarwan
Deonarine
Chanderpaul
Nash
Bravo
Ramdin
Taylor
Rampaul
Roach

Then again they might surprise and put:

Gayle
Barath
Sarwan
Bravo
Chanderpaul
Nash
Ramdin
Taylor
Benn
Rampaul
Roach

 

[vic_orthdox]

Honestly, as a cricketing nation, what do we gain out of playing Lee and Clark?

 

[Top_Cat]

Honestly, as a cricketing nation, what do we gain out of playing Lee and Clark?

I think the question is, what as a cricketing nation do we gain by leaving them out? Fewer blue-baggers in the team.

Not seeing a downside.

 

[Beamer]

I'm going to just ignore your claim that ganga has become the most successful captain, and that Trinidad had the best team.

Ok so where are you from then? Jamaica? Ganga being the most successful West Indies domestic captain in terms of titles won is not my opinion, it is now fact. He is back where he belongs leading T & T's exciting youngsters to higher standards performances. He should not be playing international cricket again and calls for him to be captain of the Test side were laughable.

Also T & T are indisputably the best Limited Overs side in the West Indies. 3 titles in 4 years, 20/20 finalists in 2007, winners in 2008 etc. I would say Jamaica are the best 4 day side in the Caribbean with T & T just behind them but capable of taking over in the near future if their matches are less blighted by rain and Jamaica fail to keep up their high standards.

What do people think of his chances of making inroads towards the Test side ? Or will he be a classic case of a LO specialist ?

As roseboy said, he has a decent FC average of 37 so there is hope. He also has a little bit more match awareness than the likes of Dwayne Smith so if he continues to score runs in 4 day cricket he will be in with a shout.

 

[aussie]

Honestly, as a cricketing nation, what do we gain out of playing Lee and Clark?

Clark, nothing since he has clearly lost a few yards of pace & that nip that made him so superb between SA 05/06 to WI 08.

Lee, once fit the same super bowler from WI 05 to WI 08 - thus a must pick.

 

[Uppercut]

Honestly, as a cricketing nation, what do we gain out of playing Lee and Clark?

I was just assuming you want to play your best team, rather than play your young players under the assumption that you'll beat the West Indies and Pakistan anyway. Or is it at the stage where Australia are adopting the English policy of having all selection policy revolve around winning the Ashes in a year's time (when Lee will more than likely still be around, in any case).

 

[Matt79]

We want to select a team that will be successful now and position us best to be successful next season and beyond. Managing the transition of players in a planned way to minimise the disruption to the team is something successful teams do when they can. In Clark and Lee's cases injuries probably brought that process forward the best part of a year, but either way the transition process is underway now I don't see how it will help to backtrack on it now.

Without being disrespectful to the Windies and Pakistan, on paper we should beat them, so it's a useful chance to consolidate the change.

 

[aussie]

Picking Clark again would be backtracking, given it is clear since his return from injury he has taken a Gillespie 05 type regression in his bowling. Blokes like Nannes, Bollinger & even McKay should be ahead of Clark in test cricket ATS.

Lee however would not be backtracking in any way. He clearly would strenghten the test attack once fit, in this transition phase.

 

[aussie]

He does slow it down in LO matches tbf, has looked very sharp in the Shield game this week.

I didn't see that sheild game of course. But Clark's drop in pace was seen since the warm-up games before he played in the Leeds test & it carried on into the Champions Trophy with NSW.

 

[Uppercut]

We want to select a team that will be successful now and position us best to be successful next season and beyond. Managing the transition of players in a planned way to minimise the disruption to the team is something successful teams do when they can. In Clark and Lee's cases injuries probably brought that process forward the best part of a year, but either way the transition process is underway now I don't see how it will help to backtrack on it now.

Even from that perspective, I don't rightly agree. An attack of Hauritz, Johnson, Siddle and Hilfenhaus, as was shown in England, is horribly, horribly inexperienced. For the purposes of transition, you'd surely ideally want at least one experienced bowler in there.

 

[Nate]

I didn't see that sheild game of course. But Clark's drop in pace was seen since the warm-up games before he played in the Leeds test & it carried on into the Champions Trophy with NSW.

Haha, maybe because he was coming back from an injury? And again, I don't care what pace he bowls in LO cricket, it's a different beast.

I was there, at the SCG. And he looked sharp. Again, I don''t know how fast, or if it was a one-off, but that's my point.

 

[aussie]

Haha, maybe because he was coming back from an injury?


And again, I don't care what pace he bowls in LO cricket, it's a different beast.

I was there, at the SCG. And he looked sharp. Again, I don''t know how fast, or if it was a one-off, but that's my point.

Yea i see your point. But the regression in Clark's pace lasted straight into the CT so its be very noticable for a while. Would be great if what you saw is a sign or recovery though.

But in comparions with Lee, although he gotten the odd injury here & there, his pace has been very high all the way. So when some advocate playing Clark & keeping Lee out (given they both have been on the same road to recovery over the past year) it does seem a bit hypocritical.

 

[Matt79]

What does experience mean though, in this specific context. I wouldn't necessarily trust Lee to bowl tightly to maintain control anymore than I would Johnson or Siddle - which is to say, not much at all. I'd be more comfortable with Hilfy playing that role than any of those three. There's a reason that despite his strike rate, Lee still averages 30. So then, he'd be in the team as the potentially expensive strike bowler - thanks we've got a couple of those who are younger, bowl at virtually the same pace, and in Johnson's case is also a bowling allrounder.

The issue with Lee is that when he's not cherry ripe he can be pretty awful. And can we afford to give him another shot, factoring in a couple of games where he'll be getting match fitness back, when he's likely into his last year or two of his career?

I'm just saying stick with the incumbents until they prove they deserve to be dropped.

 

[NUFAN]

Yeah Matt's that's exactly right. Siddle is genuinely a tighter bowler than Lee.

Also with the matches being played in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, I think there is a good chance that Australia will go with the 4 quicks in Brisbane with North bowling spin and Hauritz 12th man. In Adelaide the worst performed quick (unless it's Johnson) will make way for Hauritz.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

I'm just saying stick with the incumbents until they prove they deserve to be dropped.

Well, they did kind of lose the Ashes and everything...