*Official* South Africa in West Indies

[WindieWeathers]

Cozier's a cheeky ****. "Some instructions being given out there in Afrikaans; we heard that quite a bit in the England team in the recent world 2020 tournament too"

He's a grumpy b#rstard when it comes to WI cricket but i must admit that's a belter!!! .

As for the game yesterday!!!!.. i don't want to talk about it!!

 

[nexxus]

That was a pretty inept game of cricket, poor show from everyone involved I think. Both sides would've gotten their clocks cleaned against a better opponent, comedy batting & bowling all round, the umpiring was beyond hopeless, the groundsman produced an absolute shocker of a pitch.

Just as well nobody bothered to turn up.

 

[TT Boy]

Another six overs wasted. Terrible surface mind, 100 more and the game should be won.

 

[TT Boy]

Ball which bowls Smith crawls across the surface, next ball, JP's head is nearly taken off.

 

[TT Boy]

First 6 of what should be many for young Miller.

 

[popepouri]

Thank you David Miller for being awesome.

 

[TT Boy]

Wow, great shot from Botha, into the pool. Looks like this won't be South Africa's lowest total in 20/20s.

 

[TT Boy]

That was even better.

 

[popepouri]

120 looks a mammoth total on this pitch.

 

[grecian]

funny ****

 

[Protean]

Can't believe we're playing like this and still managing to win.

 

[Beamer]

Can't believe we're playing like this and still managing to win.

If this doesn't wake the West Indies selectors up nothing will tbh. SA have been absolutely awful, but we have been even worse!

They simply have to experiment with the batting lineup. The bowling looks good IMHO, the fielding is up and down but certainly athletic. The batting is just dire. Shiv is not cut out for T20, let him rest and play the formats he dominates.

I can't believe we have to put up with the same squad for the first two ODI's. What were they thinking? I may not even bother to watch until they introduce some fresh faces.

 

[Prince EWS]

Shiv is not cut out for T20, let him rest and play the formats he dominates

Unlike someone like Clarke I think Shiv has the tools - he's played some really explosive innings where he hits the ball all round the ground in his time - but I just don't think he really 'gets' the format yet. I'd persist with him and just have a word about his role.

Also, I know he's not a popular player but Devon Smith has a pretty awesome T20I record. I remember watching him on his debut put together an awesome partnership with Shiv. Averaging 34 at a strike rate of 126 is nothing to sneeze at. Teams opening the bowling with off-spinners could be his undoing I suppose but he's definitely worth a go ahead of Fletcher IMO.

And on Fletcher.. with Sammy, Bravo and Pollard in the team you can afford for the keeper to be a weak bat but he has to bat 8 if this is going to happen. Fletcher always bats in the top five when he plays and Ramdin often gets shunted up the order above Pollard and Sammy if early wickets fall which never works - Ramdin's the better keeper of the two but neither of them are genuine batsmen in the format if they really are your best two options then Ramdin should just bat eight or nine in T20 cricket and basically play as a specialist gloveman.

 

[TT Boy]

Cripple fight so far. Fear for the Windies if the Proteas get their **** together but I doubt it, even with the injection of Miller and dumping of Gibbs and Boucher, they still are playing archaic cricket.

 

[Beamer]

Also, I know he's not a popular player but Devon Smith has a pretty awesome T20I record. I remember watching him on his debut put together an awesome partnership with Shiv. Averaging 34 at a strike rate of 126 is nothing to sneeze at. Teams opening the bowling with off-spinners could be his undoing I suppose but he's definitely worth a go ahead of Fletcher IMO.

Top point regarding Devon Smith, I think we have all become so fed up with his failures in the other formats that we just ignore his effective T20 performances.

Lendl Simmons also has a very decent T20 record and played a superb innings against SA in the 2009 T20 WC. He is a part time keeper and as Ramdin and Fletcher have been so bad I might be tempted to give them a shot. Hell, even Baugh Jr comes back into the reckoning at this point, at least he can hit the damn ball hard.

About Shiv, the problem is we simply can't have him blocking out all these dot balls and transfering pressure onto the other batsman (most of whom have proven conclusively that they are not up to withstanding pressure).

I wait with baited breath to see what the selectors come up with. Devon Thomas is an excellent young keeper/batsman who lives in Antigua, maybe they could try him out? Otherwise we are stuck with this lot until the A tour of Bangladesh finishes.

 

[Beamer]

Cripple fight so far. Fear for the Windies if the Proteas get their **** together but I doubt it, even with the injection of Miller and dumping of Gibbs and Boucher, they still are playing archaic cricket.

Tbh you could say the same about SA. If Gayle got his **** together in any of these games we would have won easily ourselves.

But you are right in that it has been woeful stuff. From the pitch, to the umpiring to the standard of batsmanship and fielding, it has been diabolical.

 

[shivfan]

The thing is, until we have batsmen who can make runs at 20/20 level, Shiv commands a place. For example, Shiv clearly deserves his place ahead of Fletcher....

Has everyone noticed how the standard of 20/20 cricket in the Caribbean has declined since the demise of Stanford? The long-overdue domestic 20/20 competition starts this summer in the Caribbean. Hopefully, we will see a few replacements coming out of this competition.

 

[Beamer]

The thing is, until we have batsmen who can make runs at 20/20 level, Shiv commands a place. For example, Shiv clearly deserves his place ahead of Fletcher....

Has everyone noticed how the standard of 20/20 cricket in the Caribbean has declined since the demise of Stanford? The long-overdue domestic 20/20 competition starts this summer in the Caribbean. Hopefully, we will see a few replacements coming out of this competition.

We need to take a leaf out of T & T's book. They are a well oiled machine when it comes to T20. We could do much worse than include some more members of that team in the short-term tbh.

Also Mike, there is simply no way Shiv or Sarwan are better T20 players than Lendl Simmons. I wish the WICB would just tell us what he did wrong on the tour to Australia so we know where he stands.

 

[pasag]

When was the last time Steyn had a poor Twenty20 match? Has had a great year in the format.

 

[TT Boy]

When was the last time Steyn had a poor Twenty20 match? Has had a great year in the format.

Two weeks ago