The up'n'coming

[DJ]

SA really only have 2 youngsters in the team (Smith and Rudolph) although the rest of the team could hardly be called old. Another youngster might be added to replace Kirsten - Andrew Puttick more than likely, as JP Duminy is still very young.

Boeta Dippenaar looks very effeminate, but this is beside the point.

 

[marc71178]

i find it quite hard to believe how this WI test batting line up happens to be so strong. theres one great batsman,one quality batsman and one who has the talent but had barely shown much improvement in quite a while.

Look at the career records - a top 6 including Lara, Gayle, Chanderpaul and Sarwan is strong.

 

[tooextracool]

Look at the career records - a top 6 including Lara, Gayle, Chanderpaul and Sarwan is strong.

if the recent test series is any indication, sarwan still needs to go some distance before he will be considered a serious threat by any side....not that he doesnt have the potential to but i dont think i would rate him highly just yet.
i dont rate gayle very highly either, if i were a selector i would have dropped him from the test side long ago. hes more hit and miss than anything else and his technique is absolutely appaling. IMO he'll really struggle in genuine english conditions.

 

[anzac]

for sheer consistency in picking youngsters I'd go with PAK, closely followed by IND.......

all nations seem to go thru a faze of having a crop of youngsters coming thru, but the sub-continent produce them on a level of consistency unmatched by anyone.........

even the NZ side was one of the youngest when the likes of McMillan, Vettori, Tuffey, Oram & Vincent were making their starts.........even now they are still early - mid 20's.........balanced with the likes of Richardson, Fleming, Astle & Cairns who are post 30........



just thought I'd better add this footnote - while PAK gets my vote re youngsters with potential, they also get my vote for unrealised potential, due to factors such as selectors, administrators etc as mentioned earlier........

 

[marc71178]

i dont rate gayle very highly either, if i were a selector i would have dropped him from the test side long ago.

So how many runs will he have to make before you rate him then Richard?

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

yes they do have a very talented young crop of fast bowlers-best,lawson,edwards and collins make a very formidable attack. but is there any young talented batsmen coming up?devon smith is decent but i dont think he will be the saviour of WI cricket and the only really talented batsman for the future is samuels and even he has spent half his career injured.

Agreed. After all, the West Indies just chanced their way into the U19 WC final. Names such as Dwayne Bravo, Sylvester Joseph and Donavan Pagon can be disregarded much in the way Deonarine, Kanhai, Babwah and Imran Jan should be.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

i find it quite hard to believe how this WI test batting line up happens to be so strong. theres one great batsman,one quality batsman and one who has the talent but had barely shown much improvement in quite a while. nay the rest have very poor technique (except perhaps devon smith) with no real temperament IMO

No improvement? Is it just chance that Sarwan scored 3 centuries against Australia and South Africa? Also the fact that all 3 were under pressure?

 

[Langeveldt]

i find it quite hard to believe how this WI test batting line up happens to be so strong. theres one great batsman,one quality batsman and one who has the talent but had barely shown much improvement in quite a while. nay the rest have very poor technique (except perhaps devon smith) with no real temperament IMO

But historically the West Indies have never been ones for textbook technique... It didnt seem to do them any harm 15 years ago... Ganga is the only batsmen I enjoy watching from a technique point of view..

Gayle, Sarwan, Lara, Chanderpaul, Jacobs is a very strong base for a lineup if you look at the stats... But they are not firing as a unit at all..

 

[pakster]

I'd have to go with the windies and pak, both have quite a few young players in their side at the moment are performing 'ok' with the youngsters at the helm.
WI and PAK were also the 2 finalists in the recently contested u19 wc, both teams seemed to have their fair share of talent at that level, with the likes of tariq mahmood and mansoor amjad impressing for pak.
Both these countries have an uncanny ability of producing fantastic talent out of the blue, although the talent is always nurtured as it should be!
I think from 2008 onwards, pak and wi will be the big players in international cricket.
Also england have a decent crop of young players comming through...expect a very different cricket hierachy in about 5 years!!

 

[masterblaster]

Indian talent is everywhere.

Irfan, Balaji, Salvi, Munaf are just the young fast bowlers who are still making their mark in World Cricket.

Then with Rayadu, Dhawan, Raina, Mane, Gambhir, Yuvraj, Kaif, Badani are all very good batsmen all under 24. With Yuvraj, Badani and Kaif already established players in the Senior team.

With the gloves there is Parthiv Patel, Dinesh Karthik, Ajay Ratra, Thilak Naidu.

All rounders include Ramesh Powar, Reetinder Sodhi

Spinners include Sarandeep Singh, Amit Mishra

So India is pretty well equipped for the future.

 

[marc71178]

Until they actually show they can do it at the highest level that is all speculation though.

They may be good, but they equally may be complete flops.

 

[Linda]

Indian talent is everywhere...

I thought we were talking about International youngsters. If we were talking about up and coming youngsters not in the team, every country probably has a crop of their own.
The problem is, like Marc said, how can you really know if they will be good until they've played world class cricket?

 

[tooextracool]

Agreed. After all, the West Indies just chanced their way into the U19 WC final. Names such as Dwayne Bravo, Sylvester Joseph and Donavan Pagon can be disregarded much in the way Deonarine, Kanhai, Babwah and Imran Jan should be.

perhaps those are talented players...im dont follow WI domestic cricket but surely from what ive seen of their batsmen at the international level i havent been too impressed.

 

[tooextracool]

No improvement? Is it just chance that Sarwan scored 3 centuries against Australia and South Africa? Also the fact that all 3 were under pressure?

i didnt see too much improvement in the recent series against england. yes those 3 innings were all under pressure, but they were also on some on flat tracks. After his 105 against australia last year i thought that it was time for ramnaresh sarwan's career to really kick off and that just hasnt happened....yet

 

[tooextracool]

But historically the West Indies have never been ones for textbook technique... It didnt seem to do them any harm 15 years ago...

absolutely, but none of them had such an appaling technique as gayle,w.hinds and r.hinds. gayle it seems has no temperament whatsoever either,he is a version of flintoff without the technique.

 

[Loony BoB]

I agree that we should only go with international players when we judge up-and-coming sides with potential. Bravo, if you haven't noticed, is a young player on the international Windies side, mind you. Gayle has a career averages of 39.82 (ODI's) and 34.99 (tests), I don't really see how you can say his technique isn't working for him - unless you think he should be averaging 50/50 instead of 40/35. Which, once you come down to it, is saying that he has even more potential than the rest of us realise. If he was using a significantly better technique, after all, should his average not go up significantly?

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

perhaps those are talented players...im dont follow WI domestic cricket but surely from what ive seen of their batsmen at the international level i havent been too impressed.

You can't base that on one series though.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

absolutely, but none of them had such an appaling technique as gayle,w.hinds and r.hinds.

Ok that is ridiculous! Ryan Hinds does not have anywhere near appalling technique. He plays straight and has very solid defence. If that's no good technique, then Daren Ganga has appalling technique too.

 

[Loony BoB]

I guess it all comes down to how much time they spend bowling/batting, and how you choose to spot potential... some people can show their potential in one series, some can show their potential in a match, some only show their potential after a bunch of series'. However, those that show it in a match more often than not need to be coached into consistently showing that they can reach their potential, unlike the odd one-hit-wonder the cricket world knows all too well of.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

But historically the West Indies have never been ones for textbook technique... It didnt seem to do them any harm 15 years ago... Ganga is the only batsmen I enjoy watching from a technique point of view..

Gayle, Sarwan, Lara, Chanderpaul, Jacobs is a very strong base for a lineup if you look at the stats... But they are not firing as a unit at all..

Very good post. The problem with West Indies cricket is just that - they don't play as a unit. After all, a team of eleven good players will always beat a group of eleven exceptional players.