Test Frank Worrell Trophy Third Test (D/N) West Indies v Australia July 12-16 0400hrs 13/7 @ Sabina Park, Jamaica

[Cold Sober]

In all fairness to the Windies, every top 6 Test batsmen would have struggled putting a bat to Starc in those conditions.
He was bowling 140k off breaks.

 

[Cmarsh]

He'll play Melbourne at least. There won't be too much resting in the Ashes players have a long break leading in

What break leading in? There are six t20 and ODI series to be played before the first Ashes test.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

What break leading in? There are six t20 and ODI series to be played before the first Ashes test.

Half the bowlers if not all won't play. Many aren't playing the next lot. They are getting plenty of rest leading in. None of the bowlers will be tired that's for sure.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Couldn’t believe my eyes when I woke up to the score.

 

[benbrown]

He'll play Melbourne at least. There won't be too much resting in the Ashes players have a long break leading in

Yep that’s the one he needs to play.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Yep that’s the one he needs to play.

More than likely plays that and even though they won't consider him for Sydney where starc has a terrible record from memory. He won't play Brisbane, Perth or Adelaide barring injury of course

 

[ams4crows]

Maybe Boland can stay in the team and be the opening batsman, has a solid defence probably get a better result than what Konstas got this series

 

[peternorth]

Did Konstas drop one or two? Either way it could have been worse ha ha

He misfielded a ball as well, and the commentators said "oh....." then it cut away. it did so because it was the highlights

 

[Chezz]

The home fans are a strange bunch in many respects.

I watch a series like that and my first thought is immediately - I mean obviously I’m shattered by the batting - but it is ‘f**ken hell, we REALLY have something here with the ball. Let’s find SOMETHING with the bat because we have a sniff of being able to compete.’

Bowlers are what make teams competitive. Not batsmen. We have bowlers. This entire series, dire as it has been, should be a catalyst not a death knell

This sort of stuff isn’t good for world cricket. I think this could have been an amazing series.

As an avid cricket follower, to me Nicholas Pooran is possibly the most gifted batsman in world cricket. And he’s played over 450 t20 matches, no tests and now internationally retired. This is just terrible for world cricket. Surely the ICC can cover some of these world class players salaries to play tests. It’s diabolical.

I rate the Guyanese pair of Rutherford and Hetmeyer really highly too. Particularly Hetmeyer can properly bat and was captain of the winning Windies U19 World Cup team years ago. Hes played over 250 t20s. Add these 3 into the lineup and that West Indies lineup is so much stronger it’s not funny.

The pitches were tough for batting but way too much favouritism in selections didn’t help either. McKenzie was great out here last year. Where were De Silva, Athenaze and even Sinclair who won out here last time?

T20 is a completely different game. But in my mind the West Indies best batsman (Pooran, Hetmeyer, Rutherford) would be good enough at test level, but unless the ICC starts paying some of these guys salary the best batters will just continue to gallavant with these T20 leagues and the game is much worse for it.

PhatBoy would you agree or would you say the ship has sailed with these guys?

 

[JackOutback]

I wasn't expecting there to be any cricket to watch when I woke up, but still...

 

[Young Redleg]

Does anyone else think that Starc is actually kinda underrated? 400+ test wickets and he seems to be critiqued more than praised.

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

I'm so pleased that shitty Test series is over. What a load of crap.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Does anyone else think that Starc is actually kinda underrated? 400+ test wickets and he seems to be critiqued more than praised.

Main criticism is he needs conditions to suit to perform.

400 is phenomenal though.

 

[Doss]

Joseph not getting MoS when he took 22 wickets at 14 in a three test series seems a bit silly. Guy was all over us all series, and as amazing as Starc’s finish was I don’t think it should have moved him past Joseph.

Obviously a small thing in the scheme of it all, but still.

 

[Westend]

15 minutes till stumps lol

 

[Westend]

Joseph not getting MoS when he took 22 wickets at 14 in a three test series seems a bit silly. Guy was all over us all series, and as amazing as Starc’s finish was I don’t think it should have moved him past Joseph.

Obviously a small thing in the scheme of it all, but still.

He also made some handy runs with the blade

 

[jb04]

He'll play Melbourne at least. There won't be too much resting in the Ashes players have a long break leading in

Ahh the Stuart MacGill treatment. Barring injury it may be the best he can hope for.

 

[davidgoes4wce]

Grade cricketers would have shown a fist to Starc and Boland with a new ball? Seen some bizarre takes on this board but geez...

The point I was trying to make was 1st grade batsman in Australia would have been more of a contest than what the West Indies top order dished out today. The Windies top order offered no resistance, no defensive technique in seeing off the new ball and were clearly a class below.

I haven't been following this whole test but it was virtually David v Goliath out there today.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Ahh the Stuart MacGill treatment. Barring injury it may be the best he can hope for.

Good to have 1 in reserve and he is that. Just unlucky, theres 3 of our all time best quicks ahead of him.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

The point I was trying to make was 1st grade batsman in Australia would have been more of a contest than what the West Indies top order dished out today. The Windies top order offered no resistance, no defensive technique in seeing off the new ball and were clearly a class below.

I haven't been following this whole test but it was virtually David v Goliath out there today.

Lets not pretend out top order was much better against theirs though. It was bad today but this series was just two elite bowling attacks and to mediocre to poor batting lineups. We just had Smith, Green and Carey to save our batting, and Head in one test. They had zilch.

 

[Doss]

He also made some handy runs with the blade

Yep. Better than most of their actual bats.

 

[jb04]

T20 is a completely different game. But in my mind the West Indies best batsman (Pooran, Hetmeyer, Rutherford) would be good enough at test level, but unless the ICC starts paying some of these guys salary the best batters will just continue to gallavant with these T20 leagues and the game is much worse for it.

If Chris Gayle debuted in the last decade or so there is an almost 0% chance he'd play 100 tests. He'd have played almost 1000 T20s though.

Likewise the trio you've mentioned, debuting around when Gayle did, could have had wonderful test careers.

 

[PhatBoy]

This sort of stuff isn’t good for world cricket. I think this could have been an amazing series.

As an avid cricket follower, to me Nicholas Pooran is possibly the most gifted batsman in world cricket. And he’s played over 450 t20 matches, no tests and now internationally retired. This is just terrible for world cricket. Surely the ICC can cover some of these world class players salaries to play tests. It’s diabolical.

I rate the Guyanese pair of Rutherford and Hetmeyer really highly too. Particularly Hetmeyer can properly bat and was captain of the winning Windies U19 World Cup team years ago. Hes played over 250 t20s. Add these 3 into the lineup and that West Indies lineup is so much stronger it’s not funny.

The pitches were tough for batting but way too much favouritism in selections didn’t help either. McKenzie was great out here last year. Where were De Silva, Athenaze and even Sinclair who won out here last time?

T20 is a completely different game. But in my mind the West Indies best batsman (Pooran, Hetmeyer, Rutherford) would be good enough at test level, but unless the ICC starts paying some of these guys salary the best batters will just continue to gallavant with these T20 leagues and the game is much worse for it.

PhatBoy would you agree or would you say the ship has sailed with these guys?

Definitely with Pooran. He’s never shown any interest in first class cricket. He’s obviously gifted there is absolutely no denying that but he hasn’t played a first class game in 5 years and only ever played 5 of them full stop.

Sherfane Rutherford can definitely bat and has an insane record in his brief ODI career. He hasn’t played any red back cricket for 6 years BUT he’s only 26 so it wouldn’t be too late if he could be lured into it. And he would most definitely be a much better batsman now than he was then.

Hetmeyer is still in the set up and played an ODI last month and played his last red ball cricket in 2022. He’s at least played some tests and showed glimpses in his career that he could handle it. Both the latter two undoubtedly have the natural talent to handle that standard. Whether they have the aptitude for it is another question; Hetmeyer vies with a not insignificant list of candidates for the title of dumbest WI batsmen this century.

These are the candidates I would like to think could improve that squad, aside from the latter two you mentioned:

Tevin Imlach - already in the squad and has tasted test cricket. Played a really crucial knock in our last win. Made a bucket of runs last home season.

JDS - experienced, made a bucket of runs last season.

Jewel Andrew - just turned 19, has smoked bowlers at every underage level tournament he’s played, has handled the transition to senior cricket, hit a century in his first season of first class cricket. Got fast tracked into the one day team. Hyper aggressive. Hit 480 at 40, strike rate of over 80 in his first full season of FC cricket.

Kavem Hodge: hit a century in England last year and played, along with Da Silva, the decisive innings in the Gabba test

Holder: I bang on about him a lot but the simple fact is he is experienced, has pedigree, has scored runs in a variety of conditions, has scored big, scores fast, can actually play spin (barely any other West Indies batsmen can) and he compliments the gun pace attack well

Matthew Forde: young all rounder who averaged 40 with the bat and mid 20s with the ball last season, his first.

Shakquere Paris - played two matches last season and barely got one off the square. Played all seven matches this season and hit a century and five 50s and averaged 45.

I would toss all of them into the mix. And err on the side of youth

 

[madjoe]

In all fairness to the Windies, every top 6 Test batsmen would have struggled putting a bat to Starc in those conditions.
He was bowling 140k off breaks.

Anderson didn't even watch the ball and king went a booming dive first nut lol would root get out that way or gill ? yeh na WI are terrible which we knew.

 

[jb04]

Does anyone else think that Starc is actually kinda underrated? 400+ test wickets and he seems to be critiqued more than praised.

I think so, for some bogus reason I still picture Starc as a leaky bowler who picks up early and late wickets. Entirely incorrect of course. It's been almost 9 years since Starc's test match bowling average has been above 30.

He's proven himself to be quite durable for a big quick which is also remarkable.