poor old windies

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

damn whitewash by ENG that hurts...time to get more weed...

Aside from the obvious poor taste of that comment, I'd say that the West Indies did it to England so many times in the past that it's about time England got one back.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Is this going to be a home & away FC competition?

AFAIK. Less teams and more games.

 

[Craig]

Does that make any sense?

 

[luckyeddie]

Aside from the obvious poor taste of that comment, I'd say that the West Indies did it to England so many times in the past that it's about time England got one back.

You are SO right Liam - it pained me to see so many slaughters under Clive, Viv and co - but my father at the time (such a wise man, but I thought at the time he was a prat, the way all sons respect their fathers) said :

"What goes around comes around" or some other deep philosophical argument to suggest that the biter occasionally gets bit, the worm turns and pride comes before a fall (god, this is good stuff).

What I'm saying is that I know how it feels to support a side which has pretty well hit the skids, but you remember the good times - and they do come back again.

 

[Top_Cat]

If we win in SA, it'll be written off with "they're 6th in the world,so aren't any good"

Welcome to what it's like being an Australian supporter!

"Australia didn't play THAT well; opposition player x had a bad series/they weren't used to the pitches/the Aussies sledge too much/you guys got lucky/if you took player y out of your team, you would have lost/etc."

Sometimes, people can't accept that a particular team is just that much better particularly if they don't like them. But making excuses is just poor in my view.

I have no trouble saying that the Aussies have been thoroughly outplayed in their last couple of trips to India. They had to have been; they've proven they can play the best spinners on turning decks (3-0 in SL) so for India to beat them in the same sort of conditions, they had to have played just that much better.

 

[Craig]

And this is coming from a Derby County supporter?

 

[luckyeddie]

And this is coming from a Derby County supporter?

Careful, Craig. Don't get me started on the contempt I could have for 'long distance supporters'.

Derby are my home team, they are therefore worthy of my undying love (and they're above Dirty Leeds, Fester City and Grottingham F*rest in the table too).

 

[SJS]

another point that i must bring up is y r the 2 takllest playes in the current side both spinners? chris gaylw and omari banks have the height and possible physique to have been developed as geniune pacemen rather than clumsy spinners that are only capable of occaisionally bludgeoning the ball around for a brief speel andd dismissing theteal enders and even with that they struggle./

Lance Gibbs, Ashley Mallet, Hugh Tayfield and even Jim Laker (though not as tall as the other three), are three tall and extremely good to great off spinners from different coun tries.

I have never heard them described as clumsy or heard anyone say that they should have been pacers.

Gibbs, the most successsful windies spinner of all time, was taller then Marshall (I think though I dont have exact heights) . So ??

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Does that make any sense?

Well it's not complete nonesense. My only concern is what I expressed before regarding the sacking of the B team.

 

[roseboy64]

Also the UWI team after only a season or two to get things right which they were going to do next season under the leadership of Jeff Dujon as administrator/coach(something to that effect)

 

[Craig]

Well it's not complete nonesense. My only concern is what I expressed before regarding the sacking of the B team.

Well I agree with you, it does baffle some logic to get rid of a team that gave youngsters a shot they would not get from their own islands.

 

[Craig]

Careful, Craig. Don't get me started on the contempt I could have for 'long distance supporters'.

Derby are my home team, they are therefore worthy of my undying love (and they're above Dirty Leeds, Fester City and Grottingham F*rest in the table too).

I would love to support my local side, except we don't have one.

 

[Richard]

I think Omari banks can develop into a more than handy off spinner at test level and is useful with the bat.

Useful with the bat, but he's got a hell of a lot of improvement to make.
And what makes you think a fingerspinner can be a useful bowler when none have really been playing regularly outside the subcontinent in the last 34 years or so?

Its easy to see the negatives in a team which gets hammerred 3-0 then 4-0 in the space of a few months by the same team...but I think the key thing to remember is that England are now a very good team and I really dont think WI should be too downhearted by getting beaten by this England team

Thing is, they've been beaten by a hell of a lot of good teams recently. If they want to be good, they've got to be better than Australia, South Africa, England, India etc.
They've lost to lots of teams who are better than them.
If they just keep not getting too downhearted they'll not get anywhere.

 

[Richard]

I think Bravo is a fast learner and intelligent enough that he doesn't necessarily need a top class coach to become a top class player. You say 'doing much' but surely Bravo has done more than was expected of him already! He's scored a couple of fifties and taken a six-wicket haul in his first 4 Tests when his team has been thoroughly whipped. Add to that his 2 fifties have been with the team in trouble.

Dwayne Bravo looks like the best thing to come out of the Caribbean for about... well... 5 years... since Sarwan emerged.
I don't think much of most of this touring-party but I certainly like the look of him.
All he needs to do really is get a few second-innings wickets now... how many bowlers go through their first four-Test series without taking a second-innings wicket?
Well, it would have helped if he had've got Harmison out on 5. 4 for 90 instead of 3 for 120. Bit of a shame to see that.
Other than that, a very satisfactory series.

 

[Richard]

Likewise the 3-0 against NZ suggested that they rolled over and died.

The thing is neither side did - England actually played well (which I know a lot of people on here believe to be impossible)

They played well enough to beat both sides convincingly in most cases.
But we won't know whether that's good enough to beat South Africa and Australia until we see it.
All we can say ATM is that England are far better than New Zealand and West Indies.

 

[Richard]

Welcome to what it's like being an Australian supporter!

"Australia didn't play THAT well; opposition player x had a bad series/they weren't used to the pitches/the Aussies sledge too much/you guys got lucky/if you took player y out of your team, you would have lost/etc."

Sometimes, people can't accept that a particular team is just that much better particularly if they don't like them. But making excuses is just poor in my view.

I have no trouble saying that the Aussies have been thoroughly outplayed in their last couple of trips to India. They had to have been; they've proven they can play the best spinners on turning decks (3-0 in SL) so for India to beat them in the same sort of conditions, they had to have played just that much better.

There are reasons for everything.
Series-victories almost always prove fairly conclusively that one team played better than another in that series.
They don't prove much else.

 

[Aylott]

Bowlers

Bravo is a great bowler
Edwards has lots of potential
But what happened to McLean And King who played in the 2000 tour

 

[marc71178]

Dwayne Bravo looks like the best thing to come out of the Caribbean for about... well... 5 years... since Sarwan emerged.
I don't think much of most of this touring-party but I certainly like the look of him.

There are other positives to be had IMO.

Joseph impressed me in his first knock at Old Trafford.
Chanderpaul was very effective, even if his stance is so mad!
Bravo is an obvious one.
Baugh looks like he has the makings.
Best was a huge loss.
Collymore kept it tight, and generally bowled OK IMO.

 

[marc71178]

All we can say ATM is that England are far better than New Zealand and West Indies.

I wouldn't actually say far better than NZ TBH - they had a lot of injury problems, and were relying on clearly unfit bowlers in most games.

They also made a good fight in each game (remember the Trent Bridge position they got into?)

 

[Craig]

Joseph impressed me in his first knock at Old Trafford.

Joesph looks promosing (sp) but he looked to airy fairy outside off stump to make me consider whether or not he is up to it or not. Of course if he stops flashing his bat at balls outside the off stump he looks like a good player.