Official West Indies Thread

[madjoe]

This is why test cricket is almost dead and buried it’s a very inexperienced team coming to a place that’s extremely difficult to win at. Aside from India no one else in recent times has even made the test series here competitive and it’s losing people’s interest big time.

how is WI picking a young team a sign test cricket is dead lol ? they could of picked the one day team that played last night but they have all failed at test level so they are rebuilding and trying new talent.

 

[PhatBoy]

I actually agree with the post above, whatever side we put on the park it’s likely going to lead to a defeat and a pretty convincing one unless it was to include Bravo and all those ‘when they’re at their best’ players like Mayers and Blackwood Gabriel and Chase actually AT their best.

So given that we’ve just been to SA and played some decent ‘A’ team cricket and had a win, some of our young guys did ok in the games against Ireland’s academy etc, I’m ok with picking a really young squad: it is easy to say they might get wrecked playing against a team like Australia in their backyard but it might be the making of them too. Personally I can’t wait to see what Athanaze can do on some pitches with pace in them

 

[Nicho50]

I’m a fan of the West Indies and in a way it’s good they are blooding young players but honestly test cricket is dying. There’s no real excitement about a lot of test series these days outside of the Ashes and vs India.

20/20 franchise will rule the cricket world sooner rather than later if it already isn’t.

 

[Greenstar5]

Are we at a point where the WI give away Test Cricket and just focus on white ball?

 

[PhatBoy]

Are we at a point where the WI give away Test Cricket and just focus on white ball?

Not really sure why they would do that when there is no real historical reason to suggest it. Their current malaise is no different to dozens of other historical trends that you could associate to virtually every nation that has played the game beyond Australia and to an extent SA really.

This isn’t bias talking, it’s reality:

At the moment in the West Indies over a 3-4 test home series I would expect us to take at least a game of every team in the world except India and Australia.
I think aside from the fact that they seem to love finding a way to lose to us England would beat us in a series but we would pinch a test because we love playing them and their style is high risk.
SA are all over the shop.
NZ are on a downward slide.
Pakistan are very evenly matched with us in recent years and so are Sri Lanka
We have had Bangladesh’s measure home and abroad
We beat Afghanistan away and we beat Zimbabwe away.

Giving up test cricket is a ludicrous suggestion

 

[Gough]

A little on the Windies newbies.

AUS v WI: Who Are The Seven Uncapped West Indies Players For Their Test Tour To Australia?

West Indies named seven uncapped players in their 15-man squad for the upcoming two-match Test series in Australia.

wisden.com

 

[akkaps]

Chucking this news in here, hope the WI thread also includes the CPL

Jamaica Tallawahs to be replaced in CPL by Antigua-based franchise

Tallawahs' franchise owner says "there was no way to operate the team sustainably"

www.espncricinfo.com

 

[Soups]

A little on the Windies newbies.

AUS v WI: Who Are The Seven Uncapped West Indies Players For Their Test Tour To Australia?

West Indies named seven uncapped players in their 15-man squad for the upcoming two-match Test series in Australia.

wisden.com

Gee reading that, sounds like it’s going to be very grim. No one averages above 30 with the bat.

 

[philreich]

Have England claimed a moral victory over the WI side as yet?

Is Piers Morgan anywhere to be seen (he wouldn't be happy seeing Arsenal also went down to Aston Villa on the weekend). No doubt Nasser Hussain has put the series defeat down to fatigue?

Great to see.......

At least England has a nice easy Test series in India coming up .

 

[Cleavy]

Jamaica Tallawahs to be replaced in CPL by Antigua-based franchise

Tallawahs' franchise owner says "there was no way to operate the team sustainably"

www.espncricinfo.com

no more Jamaica Tallawahs

 

[Gough]

Good long piece on Wes Hall.

Wes Hall: ‘I’m a West Indian, man. I’m a West Indian. To the bone’

The fastest bowler of his day, Hall was the shimmering spearhead of the first truly great West Indies team. But that’s not the half of it

www.theguardian.com

 

[PhatBoy]

Look to this thread for all your grovelling posts after we destroy Australia 2-0 inside 6 days over the next few weeks

 

[dogs105]

Can't wait for this series!

 

[corbies]

If Kevam Hodge gets selected for the Test (which looks likely) alongside Athanaze, it will be the first time that 2 Dominicans have played Test cricket together. There had only been 5 Dominicans play Test cricket before Athanaze debuted a few months ago.

This is a nation with a population of 70k whose best finish in an Olympic event is 12th and who has won 1 bronze medal at a Commonwealth Games. Having 2 Test cricketers at the same time would be right up there as their biggest sporting achievement.

 

[PhatBoy]

Really interesting article from Firdose with some telling comments from Johnny Grave: very well thought out from the Windies chair.

India, Australia and England boards should do more for Test cricket - Johnny Grave

India, Australia and England boards should do more for Test cricket - Johnny Grave

Cricket West Indies chief says the revenue-share model is "completely broken"

www.espncricinfo.com

India, Australia and England boards should do more for Test cricket - Johnny Grave

 

[dogs105]

Can't wait for this series. Loved 1984/85 and 1988/89 series.

1992/93 was amazing - Waugh putting his hand up to bat 3, Langer being sconed in Adelaide, Maysie and McDermott, Curtly 7-1

 

[PhatBoy]

Interesting…

Keeper-batsman Jewel Andrew. Not long turned 17 and already has a List A appearance for Barbados.
He’s representing the under 19 team at the World Cup.
He’s just bought up his century off 70 balls, with his team at 5-70 chasing 290 against SA.

Still need 89 with 4 wickets in hand and 20 overs remaining

 

[PhatBoy]

Jewel Andrew on 52 unbeaten at a run a ball again when his side were in a bit of strife chasing 210 against Scotland, looks like it will get us over the line 5-down.

This is one to work on.

Kid that did well with the ball too, Isai Thorne, has had a couple of tastes at first class level and done very well. There’s a pulse.

 

[PhatBoy]

Win for WI over England in the U19 WC - SA will now play Scotland where a win will leave all three of them on 2 wins and 1 loss with net run rate determining who goes through. Fingers crossed we’ve done enough to qualify.
Stiff sh*t to England.

 

[Cmarsh]

That win was incredible. Remember the name Shamar Joseph. Superhuman performance 7/68.

 

[Retzlaff]

This should augur well for the West Indies next test series in 2028

 

[010203]

PhatBoy

 

[PhatBoy]

PhatBoy

Actually teared up myself watching these.
These two guys in particular exude for different reasons an incredible amount of cool: Lara often was accused of not caring enough because he was selfish etc while Hooper was accused of just not caring in general so seeing how much they care and how much this means to them at the most fundamental emotional level just melts me to my core and I ******* love it.

 

[Cmarsh]

PhatBoy

That's good stuff by Gilly embracing Lara like the way he did. Really genuine.

 

[Jamurp]

So happy for you Phatboy! So much to take away from this series and that win, contributions from a number of players too which is massive.

We just don’t lose tests in Australia often at all, and we were outplayed, enjoy it!