***Official*** England in West Indies 2015

[morgieb]

Windies tests have really good timings for us with 7.30 PM starts.

Terrible if you live in Australia or New Zealand though.

 

[GotSpin]

Eurgh. Not more Benn. Rubbish attitude as well

 

[Spark]

Terrible if you live in Australia or New Zealand though.

Australia has pretty great timezones for basically everywhere else in the world though. Even English/SA Test series aren't too bad until after the afternoon drinks break.

It helps that, quite frankly, both the WI as a team and the pitches they roll out haven't exactly made their Test series mandatory viewing.

 

[morgieb]

Australia has pretty great timezones for basically everywhere else in the world though. Even English/SA Test series aren't too bad until after the afternoon drinks break.

It helps that, quite frankly, both the WI as a team and the pitches they roll out haven't exactly made their Test series mandatory viewing.

Yeah fair call. Even in England/SA the games finish around 2-3 which isn't terrible....especially on weekends.

 

[Flem274*]

What did Kirk Edwards do to get dropped again? He was solid down here and in the Carribbean playing out of position as an opener. Better than Devon Smith.

Brathwaite, Edwards, Bravo, Shiv, Blackwood, Samuels, Ramdin, Holder, Taylor, Bishoo, Roach

Samuels can be demoted to #6 pls. Not a test match #4 by any stretch. I still have no idea how he scored all those runs a few years ago. Freakish ability, but not sustainable with that footwork and off stump awareness. I've never seen Hope so I don't want to jump the gun but I'd be very tempted to get on with the inevitable and playing both him and Blackwood at the expense of Samuels.

 

[Dan]

I feel like the West Indies are stuck in chop-and-change mode, but have their hands forced somewhat by constantly picking **** cricketers and losing matches.

I mean, they've chosen -- rightly or wrongly -- to invest in Shannon Gabriel. Now he's out of the squad entirely for Carlos Brathwaite. And this is after Kenroy Peters and Sheldon Cottrell were given Tests here and there. Zero consistency in selection at all.

Then in the batting, Leon Johnson hasn't exactly done a huge amount wrong in his limited opportunities so far. But now they've decided to go all form-junkie and pick the promising-but-young Shai Hope ahead of him. For all I know, Hope could be Lara 2.0, but FMD the West Indies go about selection in an utterly bizarre way.

 

[Tangles]

Consistency isn't a WI thing though. Selection meetings are probably regional based pissing matches.

 

[Daemon]

Yeah they seem to have dropped Johnson based on ODI form. He scored a hundred runs against SA in his last Test. Very weird.

 

[Stapel]

Australia has pretty great timezones for basically everywhere else in the world though.

Huh?
Australian Tests are between 1 am and 8 am for me in NL, which is nearly the same as UK-time. Couldn't be messier!

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Huh?
Australian Tests are between 1 am and 8 am for me in NL, which is nearly the same as UK-time. Couldn't be messier!

Spark was talking about living in Australia watching all other games...

 

[morgieb]

Yeah dumping Johnson is weird. But Gabriel didn't set the world on fire in his Tests, isn't in their best three quicks, and if FC stats are any indication, probably worse than Braithwaite as well. He's older than Holder and Roach, too.

 

[Stapel]

Spark was talking about living in Australia watching all other games...

I see.... Not the brightest remark then.

 

[Dan]

Yeah dumping Johnson is weird. But Gabriel didn't set the world on fire in his Tests, isn't in their best three quicks, and if FC stats are any indication, probably worse than Braithwaite as well. He's older than Holder and Roach, too.

Then why did they pick him ahead of Brathwaite or Peters or Cottrell in the first place? Nothing they do makes any sense whatsoever.

 

[Howe_zat]

Consistency isn't a WI thing though. Selection meetings are probably regional based pissing matches.

I imagine it's like selection by a group of professional Scaly Piscines

 

[NUFAN]

Then why did they pick him ahead of Brathwaite or Peters or Cottrell in the first place? Nothing they do makes any sense whatsoever.

I'm not going to buy West Indies selectors shares or anything but I think your reason isn't the best. They picked Gabriel on promise and gave him 11 Tests where he showed a few glimpses that he might be okay but its fair to say he had more bad days then good. He then takes only 13 wickets at 38 in 4 day cricket while Brathwaite takes 19 at 19. They are both the same age, it seems like as good as time as any to make the change.

 

[NUFAN]

What did Kirk Edwards do to get dropped again? He was solid down here and in the Carribbean playing out of position as an opener. Better than Devon Smith.

Edwards is out of form while Devon Smith was the leading runscorer domestically this season.

In the year 2015 Kirk made 59 runs while being dismissed 6 times. If we add in his 2 List A matches, it goes up (down?) to 67 runs, out 8 times.

 

[Goughy]

It really is a horrible WI side but there are not too many other options. This series will say a lot about England more than WI. If England struggle then is shows them to be poor rather than WI being better than expected.

 

[Goughy]

I feel like the West Indies are stuck in chop-and-change mode, but have their hands forced somewhat by constantly picking **** cricketers and losing matches.

I mean, they've chosen -- rightly or wrongly -- to invest in Shannon Gabriel. Now he's out of the squad entirely for Carlos Brathwaite. And this is after Kenroy Peters and Sheldon Cottrell were given Tests here and there. Zero consistency in selection at all.

Then in the batting, Leon Johnson hasn't exactly done a huge amount wrong in his limited opportunities so far. But now they've decided to go all form-junkie and pick the promising-but-young Shai Hope ahead of him. For all I know, Hope could be Lara 2.0, but FMD the West Indies go about selection in an utterly bizarre way.

Shannon Gabriel is an interesting case. I recently had change to watch him live and close up and he both impressed and disappointed. In the flesh, he has a wonderfully strong action, bowls a heavy ball and I wouldnt want to face him. However, he isnt as quick as others on the international circuit and I cant see how he will consistently get Test quality players out.

 

[grecian]

So Moeen Ali in the squad for Worcs, WTF, this is just a joke, so he's going to get fitness there before flying to the Caribbean for the second Test, because, like, the conditions will be dead similar.

I'm bemused.

 

[mightymariner]

Might as well just stay here and get fit for the NZ tests if he's going that

Very excited for this, been too long without any tests. Not even back at uni next week so I can just sit and watch the whole thing, yay