Who is the best swing bowler realistically in contention for the West Indies? Because you need to fly them over if they're not here already imo. Despite day 1 and parts of other days in this test, modern NZ pitches usually offer a hell of a lot less than this one did. At best you'll get good pace and bounce. The Basin is usually the fairest pitch in the country but still, ever since 2008 or so due to both hotter late summers and the preferences of whoever is making these things, you could make a motorway from our pitches. Swing is key in New Zealand, followed by good old fashioned channel bowling and bounce. Ideally in NZ Best or someone like him would bowl first change.
This. Totally agree. We need to start focusing on more bowlers who can actually move the ball generally, our selectors are still obsessed with pace. It is difficult, because conditions and pitches in the Caribbean don't tend to reward swing bowling, so the natural length is back of a length for most of our young bowlers. Roach and Rampaul bowl slightly fuller, partly because they've now played around the World and are just better than our other pacers. My assessment of our young (or youngish) pacers that aren't here or didn't play in this test but are being talked about as Test prospects:
Sheldon Cotterell - Very fast when fully fit (which he still isn't). Offers a left arm angle which can be useful for our offies later in the match. He can swing the new ball when he pitches it up, but he loves banging it in and is not someone who will try and bowl consistently on a good length. Could be a good impact bowler in future but not one we want to be relying on at the moment.
Jason Holder - Medium fast really, but more accurate than most of our fast bowlers. He does swing the ball when he pitches it up and gets excellent bounce on most surfaces as he is 6 feet 7 inches tall. Does tend to bowl consistently just short or on a good length. I'd definitely have selected him ahead of Gabriel and can't understand why he is not on this tour. He has an excellent FC record and did very well for the A team.
Miguel Cummins - The newest of our young pacers, he has been taking wickets non-stop since his stint at our High Performance Centre. Bowls between 135 and 145kph, stock delivery is back of a length. Gets good bounce as he's reasonably tall. He reminds me of Courtney Walsh in that he is accurate and most of his deliveries cut into the batsman. He does have the ability to get the ball to hold it's line or occasionally jag away a bit like a leg cutter. I think he's an excellent prospect and he was superb on very flat pitches on the A tour of India.
So for this tour, I'd have brought Holder instead of Gabriel and I'd have played him. He's far more suited to these conditions. Miguel Cummins can't be far off selection either and I'd have chosen him ahead of Gabriel too.
