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*** Official *** West Indies in South Africa 2014/15

Cabinet96

Global Moderator
I hope the big teams remember that the first important match isn't until the 18th of March, and that if a player is ruled out for eight weeks today they're going to be fine for the quarters.

Biggest ****ing farce was Hussey and Morgan not getting in the original squads last time.
 

Beamer

International Vice-Captain
Wow. Absolutely awesome bowling. Not sure there was too much these batsmen could do about that, most teams would have struggled as that was quality.

Still, it would have been nice if someone had stood up to it but alas it wasn't meant be. Not looking good for the rest of the series as Roach will be flying home, Darren Bravo won't be joining the team, Gayle is definitely out and an absolute hound like deonarine is flying in to replace fudadin.

Scary times!
 

Beamer

International Vice-Captain
I like Deonarine. He's live a very very very very poor man's Chanderpaul.
His off spin is almost good enough to be an all-rounder but his batting is just one big let down at international level. He gets out in such amateurish ways.

The fact that he and Smith are the replacements for Gayle and Bravo shows you just how much our cricket lacks depth. In spite of today's trouncing and all the comments in this thread, I don't think our best XI is that far behind the top teams. But as soon as anyone gets injured we bring in such dross that we begin to look like Bangladesh and Zimbabwe again.

There is a batting crisis in the Caribbean and we desperately need some of our youngsters to develop quickly and reach test standard. I reckon Blackwood will make it pretty soon because he is a special talent but no-one else is really close to selection so the likes of Deo, Edwards and Smith keep getting recycled.
 

Swingpanzee

International Regular
Don't get why Morkel is so criticized, have always heard a dozen people or so constantly wanting him to be dropped. Wtf? That guy compliments Steyn and Philander so well and some of his spells have been brilliant, eg. First Test in Sri Lanka, Port Elizabeth vs the Aussies. He may not get the wickets but he is a great enforcer.
 

Beamer

International Vice-Captain
Don't get why Morkel is so criticized, have always heard a dozen people or so constantly wanting him to be dropped. Wtf? That guy compliments Steyn and Philander so well and some of his spells have been brilliant, eg. First Test in Sri Lanka, Port Elizabeth vs the Aussies. He may not get the wickets but he is a great enforcer.
I don't think he bowled particularly well in this test but stylistically he compliments the others perfectly. To me the Steyn, Philander and Morkel combination is literally perfect.

Steyn =Skiddy, good pace, swing, movement and just all around awesome.
Philander = Medium fast, each way seam movement, metronomic accuracy, exploits any help from the pitch perfectly
Morkel = Very fast, extra bounce, uncomfortable to face and takes wickets when people take risks against him because they've struggled to score against the others.

Abbot should be the one that doesn't play IMHO. Bring in Tahir for him and you have an amazing pace attack and a passable spinner. It's a seriously hard attack to face.
 

OverratedSanity

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I don't think he bowled particularly well in this test but stylistically he compliments the others perfectly. To me the Steyn, Philander and Morkel combination is literally perfect.

Steyn =Skiddy, good pace, swing, movement and just all around awesome.
Philander = Medium fast, each way seam movement, metronomic accuracy, exploits any help from the pitch perfectly
Morkel = Very fast, extra bounce, uncomfortable to face and takes wickets when people take risks against him because they've struggled to score against the others.

Abbot should be the one that doesn't play IMHO. Bring in Tahir for him and you have an amazing pace attack and a passable spinner. It's a seriously hard attack to face.
Nah, Abbott's good. You literally don't play Tahir and it's a stronger attack.. he's horrendous. Dan Piedt is way better the little I've seen of him.
 

Beamer

International Vice-Captain
Abbot's good but a class or two below those 3. If Tahir is a bit rubbish they should just play another spinner then because there will be a time (please God at PE next week!!) when the pitch does make things hard for the pacers and they will need variety.
 

Beamer

International Vice-Captain
Also, please indulge me in a quick WICB based rant.

Not only are we playing away against the best side in the World with a heavily depleted batting lineup, we are doing so without a fully qualified international quality head coach! That's right, still no sign that Gibson will be replaced any time soon. If any side needs an outstanding head coach it's us. Lots of young players like Braithwaite, Blackwood and Johnson who need guidance and aren't getting any at the moment.
 

WindieWeathers

International Regular
Come in here to see what people are saying...and of course a certain poster mentions my name for the millionth time...SURPRISE SURPRISE!!.

Anyway on to the game....what we saw was a side consisting of top class players with vast experience who have been developed in a good system from youth upwards. Infact all but three of them have also had stints in county cricket to further hone their skills.

Then you have our lot. Already on the backfoot with Narine still out of the attack and two of our best batsmen (Gayle & Darren Bravo) not there, the others have mostly been developed in a flawed system where first class matches these days don't even have the best players playing in it. Only Roach and Shiv from our side have played in county cricket and in Kemar's case it was only for half a season.

Another thing to mention is i don't believe our players are actually ready for these series when they start!!..the guys had a warm-up game which only allowed our bowlers to bowl once and our batsmen only batting for one innings due to rain...over the last 15 months or so we've played India, NZ twice and now SA and did you know that in each of those series in the opening tests our bowlers have bowled first and conceded over 450 runs each time? that to me suggests they are simply undercooked for the first test.

Also what Beamer said regarding the coach is also valid. How the hell could you contrive to head into a major series with no damn head coach? 8-) and the crazy thing is this is the third series in a row and they even said we may not have one at the world cup too!!..i'm inclined to believe they have been wanting to give the cheapest option as long as possible a go before having to make a decision (smh)

Now to some ratings

Brathwaite= Got starts and looked decent..has to push on in the next games though
Smith= got blatantly robbed in the first innings which is a shame but i don't see him as a longterm opener for us
Johnson= like Kraigg he got starts but just didn't carry on...
Samuels= as a senior player he disappointed me and i expect better in the next game...it's players like him who have to stand up and steady the ship
Chandeerpaul= The end is near i think...he's been a great servant to our team and may God bless him but it's time to move on unless he really fires some big scores
Blackwood= looked the most confident out of the new guys but his form right now simply isn't good enough...has to start learning from his errors and at least give us a couple of 50s on this tour
Ramdin= Rubbish..anoher senior player who needs to stand up
Taylor= an embarrassment in the first innings and him giving away boundry after boundry is what pretty much killed our chances in the end
Benn= not good enough for this level imo..just doesn't have enough variation imo
Cottrell= tried his best but once more he was looking like a one trick pony. It's fine to be able to swing it back into the right-hander but if you can't move it away from them then batsmen will figure you out pretty quickly
Roach= That spell he bowled was simply world class...he single handedly dragged us back into the contest only for his partners to let him down once again...he deserved that Amla wicket as it was a brilliant delivery.

Moving forward it's hard to know what to think...on one hand we lost heavily like this to NZ at Sabina and then the guys bounced back with a ten wicket victory in trinidad....but i can't see it here...all we can hope for is the youngsters gain experience and come back home a better player...

The Roach situation appears to be up in the air...some say he's going home but others think he might be ok...if he's ok then my team for the next game would be...

Smith
Brathwaite
Johnson
Samuels
Chanderpaul
Blackwood
Ramdin wk
Holder
Gabriel
Roach
Benn/Taylor

Not sure they will drop Taylor but i would..if not then i'd consider playing four quicks...can they really do any worse then Benn did? we'd still have Samuels and Blackwood to bowl spin. We'll lose this 3-0 most likely and then hopefully the board will sit down and really decide where our cricket is heading...because right now it's a complete embarrassment. Yes we're playing the top ranked side and in the end class told from Amla, Ab and Dale but to go down without even a hint of a fight just doesn't sit well with me.
 

Beamer

International Vice-Captain
I agree with most of what you said there WW with these notable exceptions:

- Chanderpaul and it being time to move on: He got two great deliveries but I bet you anything he reels of a ton or unbeaten half century at PE. Shiv is an absolute soldier and I really don't want to think what our batting is going to be like when he's gone.

- Sulieman Benn: I actually thought he was our best bowler apart from Kemar. He went at under 3 runs per over, span the ball, got good bounce and on occasion caused all the batsmen a problem. In more favoruable conditions I saw enough to suggest he would have been all over Van Zyl for example. Yes if Narine comes back I'd have him ahead of Benn but until that happens he is the least of our problems.

- Dropping Taylor: It just isn't going to happen. He's had one bad match since returning to the team, otherwise he has been excellent. I too was really disappointed with his performance here but we can't drop him on the basis of one match, we need his experience, especially if Kemar is out.
 

Beamer

International Vice-Captain
PS word is Kemar isn't going to be able to play for a good few weeks and so will need to be replaced. According to CMC, the selectors are choosing between Miguel Cummins and Kenroy Peters as his replacement.

No brainer for me, go with Kenroy. Only medium pace but is incredibly accurate and constantly moves the ball even in Caribbean conditions. He's been totally dominant in our domestic cricket whereas Miguel has really fallen out of form recently. Also this tour is not the place to be blooding raw fast bowlers with talent but in need of refining, it's far more sensible to pick a slightly older bowler who knows his game and won't get damaged by the beatings that seem extremely likely to take place.
 

GotSpin

Hall of Fame Member
Surely any suggestion at dropping or pushing Chanderpaul out simply ludicrous.

One failure doesnt mean he needs to go and its not like the West Indies have an abundant of young batsmen beating the wall. Thats clearly not the case.

Yeah its pretty obvious the Windies need better preparation. Might avoid Taylor completely losing his ****.
 

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