*Official* Australia Tour of West Indies 2025

[govinda indian fan]

Exactly. He needs to prove he's back to where he was, because by eye test and results he's not in the best team IMO. Looks worse than Mitch Marsh did last summer

Green is supposed to be next ricky ponting but turning out to be next subhman gill

 

[Sliferxxxx]

That same WI attack got destroyed in England last year.

That same attack bowled WI to test draws in Australia and Pakistan. Two places everyone including myself expected WI to get swept. And Seales in particular did not get destroyed in England. He did well considering how England was batting: 3 tests 13 wkts at 27 and sr of 36. That's as good as Starc who was the best of the Aussie pacemen who toured England in 2023

 

[Beamer]

Why the hell did windies dropped alick athanzhe. He looked best of this lot

They are all 20 to 30 average merchants. Alick would score a 50 and then fail 5 times with poor shot selection. He also failed during the A team series vs SA.

I don't really mind what they did with the batting, they have to try something. Personally, I'd have Kevlon Anderson in ahead of Carty and I wouldn't have Campbell in. But it is what it is.

My next Hail Mary pick, given we have zero red ball openers in the carribbean, would be to ask Rutherford to play the Ben Duckett role up top and see how it goes. I'm not sure what we have to lose.

 

[Niall]

My next Hail Mary pick, given we have zero red ball openers in the carribbean, would be to ask Rutherford to play the Ben Duckett role up top and see how it goes. I'm not sure what we have to lose.

I don't have an issue with that as how could he be any worse than big john, but I think its going to be very hard to get any of these guys who can get franchises to commit to test cricket. Its a shame that Mayers turned into a mercenary, I don't blame him as bills to pay but I do recall him looking a good test cricketer once.

 

[Sliferxxxx]

They are all 20 to 30 average merchants. Alick would score a 50 and then fail 5 times with poor shot selection. He also failed during the A team series vs SA.

I don't really mind what they did with the batting, they have to try something. Personally, I'd have Kevlon Anderson in ahead of Carty and I wouldn't have Campbell in. But it is what it is.

My next Hail Mary pick, given we have zero red ball openers in the carribbean, would be to ask Rutherford to play the Ben Duckett role up top and see how it goes. I'm not sure what we have to lose.

Any other fast bowling prospects? I'm not going to presume he's guilty this early but let's say he was who do we have as back ups?

 

[trundler]

Any other fast bowling prospects? I'm not going to presume he's guilty this early but let's say he was who do we have as back ups?

It's a safe assumption to make if he's got 11 allegations against him

 

[WICFan]

Evin Lewis is one of the T/20 franchise players I would've liked to have seen try his hand at test cricket.

 

[govinda indian fan]

They are all 20 to 30 average merchants. Alick would score a 50 and then fail 5 times with poor shot selection. He also failed during the A team series vs SA.

I don't really mind what they did with the batting, they have to try something. Personally, I'd have Kevlon Anderson in ahead of Carty and I wouldn't have Campbell in. But it is what it is.

My next Hail Mary pick, given we have zero red ball openers in the carribbean, would be to ask Rutherford to play the Ben Duckett role up top and see how it goes. I'm not sure what we have to lose.

Boy you guys needed pooran to be your pant

 

[WICFan]

Any other fast bowling prospects? I'm not going to presume he's guilty this early but let's say he was who do we have as back ups?

Isai Thorne and Johann Layne are young pacers, Layne is with the squad at the moment.

Anderson Phillip might be the next cab off the rank, after that there is the likes of Marquino Mindley, Chemar Holder, Akeem Jordan.

Not sure on Jason Holder's future in test cricket.

 

[Beamer]

I don't have an issue with that as how could he be any worse than big john, but I think its going to be very hard to get any of these guys who can get franchises to commit to test cricket. Its a shame that Mayers turned into a mercenary, I don't blame him as bills to pay but I do recall him looking a good test cricketer once.

I think Rutherford is one we could persuade if we don't require him to play the FC season etc. I also think he has a technique that could work in tests.

Lewis is a lost cause, he's not interested and also I have doubts about his technique in tests anyway.

Otherwise all the other white ball players are now in this squad or retired.

I'm at a stage now where unless it's someone like Kevlon Anderson who averages in the high 40s in FC cricket, I'm happy for Sammy to experiment.

 

[Beamer]

Isai Thorne and Johann Layne are young pacers, Layne is with the squad at the moment.

Anderson Phillip might be the next cab off the rank, after that there is the likes of Marquino Mindley, Chemar Holder, Akeem Jordan.

Not sure on Jason Holder's future in test cricket.

We have lots of excellent 80- 88mph swing and seam prospects, from Layne to Nathan Edward who looks like a supremely talented left arm swing bowler.

What I'm more worried about is out and out pace. Thorne and Pitman both have it, but Thorne has gone backwards. Pitman did well against the SA academy but has struggled against everyone else.

We even have two very promising teenage leg spinners in Micah Mckenzie and Zishan Motara.

Basically, the bowling pipeline is in good enough shape to stay competitive even when we lose Shamar, though obviously he is a world class bowler and it will take time to recover from that.

But ultimately we would still be fighting at the top end of the world championships if we even had 2 or 3 batsmen worthy of the name. But we don't.

 

[Sliferxxxx]

We have lots of excellent 80- 88mph swing and seam prospects, from Layne to Nathan Edward who looks like a supremely talented left arm swing bowler.

What I'm more worried about is out and out pace. Thorne and Pitman both have it, but Thorne has gone backwards. Pitman did well against the SA academy but has struggled against everyone else.

We even have two very promising teenage leg spinners in Micah Mckenzie and Zishan Motara.

Basically, the bowling pipeline is in good enough shape to stay competitive even when we lose Shamar, though obviously he is a world class bowler and it will take time to recover from that.

But ultimately we would still be fighting at the top end of the world championships if we even had 2 or 3 batsmen worthy of the name. But we don't.

Wait what? We have a prospective left armer??. That's all I needed to hear....

 

[Sliferxxxx]

We have lots of excellent 80- 88mph swing and seam prospects, from Layne to Nathan Edward who looks like a supremely talented left arm swing bowler.

What I'm more worried about is out and out pace. Thorne and Pitman both have it, but Thorne has gone backwards. Pitman did well against the SA academy but has struggled against everyone else.

We even have two very promising teenage leg spinners in Micah Mckenzie and Zishan Motara.

Basically, the bowling pipeline is in good enough shape to stay competitive even when we lose Shamar, though obviously he is a world class bowler and it will take time to recover from that.

But ultimately we would still be fighting at the top end of the world championships if we even had 2 or 3 batsmen worthy of the name. But we don't.

Ok so I just looked up Edwards and he has pace and swing. My only question would be, does he have the control patience and temperament for the longer formats.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Why bother with law courts

Agree, I much prefer food courts

 

[Beamer]

Ok so I just looked up Edwards and he has pace and swing. My only question would be, does he have the control patience and temperament for the longer formats.

I'd say he's early 80mph range but with wicked each way swing and a superb control of length.

Against SL Academy he definitely demonstrated good red ball bowling habits. I really think he'll be playing for West Indies within 18 months.

 

[the big bambino]

Australia's batting from 4-7 is ok atm and Green isn't a 1, 2 or 3 so I wouldn't have him in the side. If you want to spell Marnus at 3 then McSweeney should be his replacement. If you're looking for another opener for the frankly irrelevant reason that Konstas is too young, then it's Harris, because that is the consequence you're asking for.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Australia's batting from 4-7 is ok atm and Green isn't a 1, 2 or 3 so I wouldn't have him in the side. If you want to spell Marnus at 3 then McSweeney should be his replacement. If you're looking for another opener for the frankly irrelevant reason that Konstas is too young, then it's Harris, because that is the consequence you're asking for.

Makeshift openers have been largely very successful for Australia over the last few decades. Katich, Watson, Warner, Langer, Khawaja etc. Green might not be the answer but there's no reason a very good middle order bat can't open if there are no specialist openers*

*of course this is all hypothetical because there are no gun in form middle order bats anyway

One thing they could do would be Head to the top order to make a spot from 5-7 for Inglis or Green

 

[the big bambino]

Not sure I'd move Travis. If you look past the dismal 3 of Bancroft, Renshaw and Harris then potential openers, make shift or actual could be Clayton, Davies, Patterson, Sangha and Ward. Patterson runs cold too often so has to convince with some consistency. Sangha could just be the guy to establish himself if he can avoid the next season let down that has happened to so many of our potential batsmen. Hopefully Ward can start converting starts to tons too.

Best outcome would be for Marnus to regain form, Smith to continue beyond the Ashes and McSweeney get his way back in.

 

[Gob]

Anyone noticed Konstas's top hand when he grips the bat? Looks like it's going around the handle. Shouldn't that make it extra harder for him to defend the ball as the bat would sort of come around?

 

[TheJediBrah]

Based on the eye test I don't see Sangha or Davies as having the game to open (especially Davies), could be wrong though. KPat absolutely does, there's a lot of Simon Katich about him

I really think Inglis needs to be given a proper run somewhere but similar to Green I don't see how it can be anything other than in the top 3 with 4 to 7 so locked down

I would ditch Konstas tbh but he never should have been picked in the first place. Give him tha chance to get a Shield season or 2 under his belt