*Official* West Indies in Zimbabwe Thread

[Craig]

Have you seen him bowl? I havent yet.

[Rik]

Originally posted by Craig
Have you seen him bowl? I havent yet.

Seen a few pictures, has a round-armish action, not illegal, it's just not that often you see a pace bowler round-arm it.

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Originally posted by Craig
I hope Edwards does go and I hope he does well. From what I am told he has it all, pace, accuracy and the ability to swing the ball.

It's a 99% chance that Edwards will go. The WICB have no justification for dropping him and will get severe heat if they did.

[gibbsnsmith]

I have an interest in West Indian cricket mainly because i want another Curtly to come through, so i will take more of an interest here an expect Liam to provide me deatils of youg promisng West Indians etc.

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

<B>Ravi Rampaul gets the call </B>

Ravi Rampaul is going to Zimbabwe! In a surprising move, the West Indies selectors continue to prove very unpredictable as they call up 19-year-old (on the 15th of this month) Ravi Rampaul of Trinidad and Tobago to go to Zimbabwe with the senior team. The right-arm pacer has had alot of press in the past couple of years as a potential candidate for the future of West Indies cricket. Apparently, the future is now.

Most of Rampaul's success has come at youth levels, with superb a superb performance in the recent U-19 regional tournament. Rampaul has played nine (9) FC matches with just 24 wickets at an average of 32.83 in those games. He debuted at domestic OD level in this year's Red Stripe Bowl, with an impressive 8 wickets in four (4) games and a 15.12 average.

The rest of the squad poses few surprises. The captain and vice-captain are Brian Lara and Ramnaresh Sarwan respectively. Chris Gayle, Daren Ganga, Wavell Hinds, Marlon Samuels and Shivnarine Chanderpaul are the specialist batsmen, with Ridley Jacobs sharing the wicketkeeping duties with young Carlton Baugh. Omari Banks represents the lone spin option as the remaining six (6) players are seamers.

Vasbert Drakes, Mervyn Dillon and Corey Collymore lead an inexperienced attack which consists of Jerome Taylor, Fidel Edwards and the afore mentioned Rampaul. Taylor, Edwards and Rampaul possess an average of age of 19 between them.

The full squad is as follows:

BC Lara (captain)
RR Sarwan (vice-captain)
CH Gayle
WW Hinds
MN Samuels
D Ganga
S Chanderpaul
OAC Banks
RD Jacobs (wicketkeeper)
CS Baugh (wicketkeeper)
VC Drakes
M Dillon
CD Collymore
FH Edwards
JE Taylor
R Rampaul

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

15 men and Ravi Rampaul

[Richard]

I don't know what it is about the West Indian selectors recently, but they just seem to have gone teen-crazy, if you know what I mean.
Or at least inexperience-crazy. It's a problem the Pakistani and Sri Lankan selectors have had for decades; bringing players in too young risks ruining potentially good ones, and naturally bringing in those who have played hardly any domestic cricket can mean false impressions are given. Any player with a poor domestic record who gains international selection is very unlikely to do well.
There aren't many proven bowlers in that squad and of course there is the one who is proven RUBBISH yet continuously gains selection. Mervyn Dillon is the only bowler who approaches international standard ATM IMO.

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Who is the proven rubbish bowler?

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

I just researched these and added them into my feature article...

Interesting facts...

1/ In Ganga, Gayle, Samuels, Sarwan, Collymore, Taylor, Edwards, Baugh, Banks and Rampaul the West Indies have a total of ten (10) players who are 25 years or younger and thirteen (13) players who are under the age of 30, with Lara, Drakes and Jacobs being the exceptions.

2/ The average age of the squad is 25.25 years and the average of those under 30 is 23.4.

3/ The West Indies bowling attack poses an average age of 24. They have played just 48 Tests between them with Dillon having played 34 of those Tests - 70.8%. Those 48 Tests are exactly half of what Brian Lara (96) has played in his career. The six-prong pace attack averages 24.5 in age.

4/ Five (5) cricketers - Collymore, Edwards, Taylor, Baugh and Banks - played either their first or second Test this year. Rampaul is the lone debutant.

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Originally posted by Richard
Any player with a poor domestic record who gains international selection is very unlikely to do well.

That's not the way it works with West Indies cricket. We don't play enough cricket (<10 FC games and 4-6 OD games per year) to judge players on stats.

[Craig]

That was a very predicatable side really. Except Ravi Rampaul. I read on a West Indies cricket website about fixing Ravi Rampaul's bowling action.

[Richard]

Originally posted by Mr Mxyzptlk
That's not the way it works with West Indies cricket. We don't play enough cricket (<10 FC games and 4-6 OD games per year) to judge players on stats.

And maybe, just maybe, that's beginning to catch-up with you.
West Indies were the best side in The World with few breaks from the '50s to the early '90s, but they've been going from bad to worse since about 1997, no matter how many optimistic reports are received.

[Richard]

Originally posted by Mr Mxyzptlk
Who is the proven rubbish bowler?

That great champion of the irrelevant Vasbert Drakes.

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Originally posted by Richard
And maybe, just maybe, that's beginning to catch-up with you.
West Indies were the best side in The World with few breaks from the '50s to the early '90s, but they've been going from bad to worse since about 1997, no matter how many optimistic reports are received.

I don't think you can deny the fact that we now have some good young talent coming through, especially in the bowling department. I'm not expecting anything radical, but I believe that we will be a much much better team by the time 2007 comes around.

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Originally posted by Richard
That great champion of the irrelevant Vasbert Drakes.

Drakes may not be an awe-inspiring bowler, but he certainly isn't rubbish. He bowled quite well against Australia and I would say that he was our best bowler in the Tests, bar Banks and probably Lawson. Drakes had little luck, but very few of the West Indian bowlers did!