Mohammed Aamer, Umar Akmal and Adrian Barath

[0RI0N]

And Wayne Parnell,Timothy Southee and Phil Hughes.
Future greats or fly by nights who will waste their talents OR see their careers ruined by pesky, stupid cricket boards?
PS I left out Ishant as I do not see him having a stellar career.He is not good imnsho.
His career will suffer as he plays half his tests on the airport strips or dustbowls of India.

[Athlai]

Originally Posted by 0RI0N

Future greats or fly by nights who will waste their talents OR sea their careers ruined by pesky, stupid cricket boards?
PS I left out Ishant as I do not see him having a stellar career.He is not good imnsho.

What about Parnell and Southee? Probably still missed a few.

[Hurricane]

I hope for WI that Barath can be a find for them. That will give them 4 batsman who are capable. Which is enough for them to be competitive with a lot of teams.

[Athlai]

Originally Posted by Hurricane

I hope for WI that Barath can be a find for them. That will give them 4 batsman who are capable. Which is enough for them to be competitive with a lot of teams.

4? Gayle, Sarwan, Chanders are great. Bravo and Nash are quite good.

[Hit_Wicket]

Originally Posted by Athlai

Bravo and Nash are quite good.

Brendan Nash was struggling to nail down a spot in the state side a few years ago. He's had a relatively solid start to his career to date, but his selection fairly illustrates the dire straits which the West Indies find themselves in at the moment.

I really lament not being able to watch the great WI teams of the mid 70's to early 90's. Unfortunately, the current crop seems to lack any desire to compete, let alone triumph.

On a more sanguine note, Barath's debut century was marvellous and the only bright spark for them. Hopefully Adelaide will be a better contest.

[Hurricane]

Originally Posted by Athlai

4? Gayle, Sarwan, Chanders are great. Bravo and Nash are quite good.

Capable was a bad choice of words. 4 great players would have been better.

Nash seems to have trouble against shorter stuff in some of the limited games I have seen him in.

Bravo is useful too you are right.

[Uppercut]

Hmm only Chanderpaul is great, but it's a nice solid batting lineup. Add to that a Roach-Taylor-Edwards attack with one of the spinners tearing up their FC circuit (there must be at least one who's useful) and you have the basis of a very solid team.

They'd still struggle to deal with any injuries at all, though.

[Hurricane]

Originally Posted by Uppercut

Hmm only Chanderpaul is great, but it's a nice solid batting lineup. Add to that a Roach-Taylor-Edwards attack with one of the spinners tearing up their FC circuit (there must be at least one who's useful) and you have the basis of a very solid team.

They'd still struggle to deal with any injuries at all, though.

Yeah I don't know what word to use to collectively describe those players. Very good? You went with solid.

Either way if Barath comes through it gives them 4 solid/great/very good players which will make them a stronger batting proposition than New Zealand.
Early days for us to be making these comments about Barath though. It is just one inning.

[Beamer]

They'd still struggle to deal with any injuries at all, though.

Spot on, that is the biggest problem we face, particularly as our fast bowlers and Sarwan receive more than their fare share of injuries.

Incidentally I predict that Kraigg Braithwaite will break Barath's youngest West Indian test centurion record in the next 3 years.

[Aritro]

I predict that Kraigg Braithwaite will be hauled in front of an ICC tribunal and ultimately banned for spelling his name with a K and two gs.

No call for that tbh

[shivfan]

Originally Posted by Aritro

I predict that Kraigg Braithwaite will be hauled in front of an ICC tribunal and ultimately banned for spelling his name with a K and two gs.

No call for that tbh

Let's see how Braithwaite performs in a full domestic season for Barbados first....

As for Barath, I find his start very encouraging. It would be a relief to finally find an opening batsman who can share duties with Chris Gayle, who must be getting tired of all the musical chairs he's been playing with opening partners down the years.

[Beamer]

Well Braithwaite scored 74 on his FC debut and has produced even more runs than Barath at the junior level (and that really is remarkable as Barath himself was a dominant under 15 batsman at age 13). There are some things in cricket that appear almost certain. If a young cricketer has dominated every level he has played at so far their promotion to test level seems almost certain.

That is why I predicted Barath could and should have been playing Test cricket since he was 18 whilst you were more pessimistic, and it is why I am 99% certain Braithwaite will end up opening the batting with Barath at Test level.

Some people will say 'hang on a minute, it does not work like that, look at Xavier Marshall and Devon Smith'. My answer to that is Marshall never looked like doing well at FC level and has lived a troubled existence off the field, whilst Devon Smith never averaged 40 overall in FC cricket despite doing well at Under 19 level.

[tooextracool]

Originally Posted by shivfan

As for Barath, I find his start very encouraging. It would be a relief to finally find an opening batsman who can share duties with Chris Gayle, who must be getting tired of all the musical chairs he's been playing with opening partners down the years.

I am not sure Gayle should be opening ITFP. Throwing him up against the new ball is IMO the least effective way to get the most out of him because he is a ticking time bomb on any pitch with a little bit in it.West Indies would do themselves some good if they opened with Barath and Nash and have Gayle come in during the middle overs:

Barath
Nash
Sarwan
Chanderpaul
Gayle
Deonarine
Bravo
Ramdin
Taylor
Edwards
Tonge

Jaggernaut

[shivfan]

Originally Posted by Beamer

That is why I predicted Barath could and should have been playing Test cricket since he was 18 whilst you were more pessimistic, and it is why I am 99% certain Braithwaite will end up opening the batting with Barath at Test level.

Some people will say 'hang on a minute, it does not work like that, look at Xavier Marshall and Devon Smith'. My answer to that is Marshall never looked like doing well at FC level and has lived a troubled existence off the field, whilst Devon Smith never averaged 40 overall in FC cricket despite doing well at Under 19 level.

I was hoping you wouldn't remember my pessimism about Barath....

That said, Simmons was tried and he didn't cement his place, so I was quite pleased when Barath was selected to play the home series against Bangladesh. I thought that was the perfect setting for Barath to make his debut. Of course, we all know what happened next....

I must say, I fully supported Barath's selection for the tour of Australia, and I'm pleased he's among the runs so early.

As for Braithwaite, I would like to see how he does playing a full season for Barbados in the spring. I hope he does well, and we've heard a lot about him. But I'm loathe to see him pushed into the side too early, like Marshall, before he's hit some big scores consistently for Barbados first.

tooextracool, let's not be too quick to push Gayle out of the opening slot yet, until we at least try the Gayle-Barath combo for a couple of series. Personally, I think he's better suited down the order, but until another opener comes along to take his place, Gayle has to open the batting.

As for Nash opening the batting, I believe he has to do so for Jamaica first, before he can be considered for that spot....

[Faisal1985]

After watching Umar in the last test against NZ on a tricky pitch........provided that he fixes his certain short comings while playing aggressive, i think he is the Pak middle order back bone for future.

If Aamir can consistently get a wicket without giving away a single run like he did to NZ and master the one that comes back in to the righty......, i think if he does not make to the Pak squad then....Aussies will give him the Australian citizenship and put him in attack with Mitchel Johnson.........don't you agree OZs....?


Lets say if Aamir as he is right now, is up for grabs for any other national team other then Pak, where would you put him?