Test Frank Worrell Trophy Second Test West Indies v Australia July 3-7 2330hrs @ National Cricket Stadium, Grenada

[Moonwatcher]

Shamar Joseph just doesn't quit lol

 

[Moonwatcher]

And Lyon Seales the win

 

[Firewalker]

Surely one of the hardest ‘player of the match’ choices I can remember

Carey?

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Ok... bed time

 

[Ekomaira]

yeow

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Surely one of the hardest ‘player of the match’ choices I can remember

Carey?

Carey got the nod

 

[Cuzz09]

Australia win
England lose

all is right in the world

 

[Cuzz09]

so are we early leaders of the test championship or has that not started?

 

[sabso]

so are we early leaders of the test championship or has that not started?

Yep it’s started and you are

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/icc-world-test-championship-2025-2027-1472510/points-table-standings

 

[CrowBloke]

Help me out here how does Uzman keep getting a pass ? surely he needs to be replaced

+

I hate to break this to you…but the cupboard is bare, it’s why we hung on to Warner, it’s why we are hanging on to Ussie.

Yep.
Also, Khawaja has long record + Boys' Club retain factor.

 

[CrowBloke]

Don't mind giving Renshaw and McSweeney the opening slots v England.

left n right. attacking and can play defensive.

McSweeney --- not an opener, but yes to Renshaw (or Bancroft).

 

[BGman]

Baggy Green dominance. How sweet it is. Perfect start to the WTC boys!!

 

[CrowBloke]

Was there any doubt over smiths lbw? I seen it live and once more in replay I thought bat pad, I know I'm late in asking .
Any issue with it ? I'm not sooking just asking the many good cricket brains in here .

Good question. On review I didn't see Snicko being used at all.
Smith looked incredulous at the Umpire's decision because he moved forward and bent his knee more after being struck by the ball, so he thought not out because
--- he's Steve Smith, and
--- his pad finished up outside the line (but he was hit in line).

I thought it was out, but it doesn't matter. Look in the book; it says "Smith lbw etc".

 

[Cleavy]

+

Yep.
Also, Khawaja has long record + Boys' Club retain factor.

Media reckons we’re sticking with Khawaja for Ashes regardless of output in this series

 

[PhatBoy]

King is a find phat he looks good

Campbell hope have talent just need to get there heads right mental for them

King has talent and he is representative of what Sammy is trying to do - take players who, well, have natural ability and can play positively and put some pressure back on bowlers and get the scoreboard moving:

I do understand the logic in he’s tried. But the nett result across two tests so far has been the same result as it would have been if we had picked Kavem Hodge and Alick Athanaze and Mikyle Louis or given Kevlon Anderson a go. Or if they are going to go down the route of picking a dasher, pick Jewel Andrew. He’s 19. Throw him in and stick with him.

Perhaps the most disheartening thing is seeing players like Hope and Carty who are so effective in one day cricket look frozen. Obviously the two formats are very different and you don’t just automatically succeed at one because you’re good at the other but at the end of the day the ball is the same size and you still have to hit it and hope in particular is one of the best in the world at it, and Carty has made a great start to his career. The Aussies give you nothing but if you’ve been picked because you have a bit of additional leeway to attack or be creative, then do it: bat outside your crease, look to put some of the things into practice that have made your limited overs cricket so effective. Of course the conditions and the game situation will impact that I get it, but at the end of the day you’re walking out there to chase 270. What does that score remind you of boys?


Brathwaite has to go unfortunately it’s just getting untenable now.

 

[Cmarsh]

King has talent and he is representative of what Sammy is trying to do - take players who, well, have natural ability and can play positively and put some pressure back on bowlers and get the scoreboard moving:

I do understand the logic in he’s tried. But the nett result across two tests so far has been the same result as it would have been if we had picked Kavem Hodge and Alick Athanaze and Mikyle Louis or given Kevlon Anderson a go. Or if they are going to go down the route of picking a dasher, pick Jewel Andrew. He’s 19. Throw him in and stick with him.

Perhaps the most disheartening thing is seeing players like Hope and Carty who are so effective in one day cricket look frozen. Obviously the two formats are very different and you don’t just automatically succeed at one because you’re good at the other but at the end of the day the ball is the same size and you still have to hit it and hope in particular is one of the best in the world at it, and Carty has made a great start to his career. The Aussies give you nothing but if you’ve been picked because you have a bit of additional leeway to attack or be creative, then do it: bat outside your crease, look to put some of the things into practice that have made your limited overs cricket so effective. Of course the conditions and the game situation will impact that I get it, but at the end of the day you’re walking out there to chase 270. What does that score remind you of boys?


Brathwaite has to go unfortunately it’s just getting untenable now.

I wonder if Tagenarine Chanderpaul is worth another go?

 

[PhatBoy]

I wonder if Tagenarine Chanderpaul is worth another go?

he had a really bright start to his career and he does look like he’s got a lot of the tools but he faded quickly, and hardly played the home season, and didn’t make many runs when he did. Louis is in the squad and presumably would be the replacement if they drop Brathwaite.

It’s f**king frustrating given how much of a look-in the bowlers are giving the batsmen (for however long they have Shamar Joseph). You put that bowling attack on any deck with any life in it, or up and down bounce, and it will give your team a chance.

 

[sherb]

Brandon King now joins Joe Root, Babar Azam, Harry Brook, Jason Roy and KL Rahul in the highlight reel of Cummins off stump p**n.

That one to Brook was sublime, I'll never forget it.

 

[PhatBoy]

That one to Brook was sublime, I'll never forget it.

I know he would end up just taking more leg befores anyway because he’s that good a bowler, but he is one quick that I would just unequivocally be taking a guard to further across my stumps if I ever had the misfortune if facing him. He seems to get so many wickets straightening the ball past the outside edge that way and clipping the stumps. He does get the odd one back the other way (the one that would get the leg before or bowl you through the gate if your bat and pad aren’t tight) but as Kingy loves to say 400000 times a season on Fox Footy ‘don’t get beaten by what you know.’

Easier said than done of course when you’ve got an all-timer bowling at you and better batsmen than Brandon King have been done with the same ball but don’t give him a look at the stumps if you can avoid it - take that mode of dismissal out of play. If he can see off stump, he’s got bowled, leg before, or caught behind in play if you’re somehow good enough to nick it. Obviously batting coaches know a hell of a lot more than I do but I’d be trying to suggest getting a stump across and just bank on being able to get something on the ball if it cuts back a bit

 

[Rabish Binney]

he had a really bright start to his career and he does look like he’s got a lot of the tools but he faded quickly, and hardly played the home season, and didn’t make many runs when he did. Louis is in the squad and presumably would be the replacement if they drop Brathwaite.

It’s f**king frustrating given how much of a look-in the bowlers are giving the batsmen (for however long they have Shamar Joseph). You put that bowling attack on any deck with any life in it, or up and down bounce, and it will give your team a chance.

Why was that Phat? I reckon he could be anything.

What's the domestic comp in the WI like now? Decent standard?

 

[JHF1870]

Australia win
England lose

all is right in the world

Wasn't there a recent article about Australia being terrified to play England

 

[PhatBoy]

Why was that Phat? I reckon he could be anything.

What's the domestic comp in the WI like now? Decent standard?

It’s improved a bit - like it isn’t dire - but it’s clearly a rung down from the better ones which is pretty obvious when you watch their batsmen at test level.

Chanderpaul had a hand injury - split the webbing in his fingers. He played the domestic one days and got a number of starts but didn’t make any big scores, made some starts and a 70 in the handful of four day innings he played.

I must admit I don’t ’watch’ the domestic games so much as just follow them: you can watch them as they do broadcast them on the YouTube channel. I occasionally tune in when I don’t have work

My biggest observation would be few teams or grounds strike the balance between pace and spin from an attack perspective, so you get a lot of teams who have a couple of really good fast bowlers, then they have two specialist spinners, then offset that with bits and pieces seamers (Greaves types) and that’s the stock standard. It would be much better to see virtually all the teams, bar maybe Guyana which is a more traditional ‘spin friendly’ nation, have a 3-1 split and produce normal pitches.

I’ve liked the pitches so far albeit they’ve been a bit too inconsistent - I like that they’ve been challenging but I’d rather them not be as up-and-down. If they want to foster the natural strokeplay of the local players, it would be better to see pitches that have some sideways movement but have consistent pace and bounce.

More runs are being scored domestically but as I’ve posted here before that’s not going to be a great deal of use if you don’t start to reward the players scoring them.

Imlach, Anderson, Da Silva, Mohammad, Campbell.

Off the top of my head they were the 5 players who scored 3 centuries in the season just completed from 7 games.

Mohammad is too old, so fair enough.

Of the other 4, only Campbell is in the side and he’s 32(?) and has shown the least temperament for test cricket even if he does fit Sammy’s ethos.

Imlach and Anderson are in the squad so at least they are being thought about.

And I do kind of support the idea of an attacking philosophy. Get runs before they get you out. King may have a future doing that.

But we can’t just keep ‘hoping’ something will work and going back to failed players

 

[PhatBoy]

Wasn't there a recent article about Australia being terrified to play England

While I will defend and promote West Indies to the hilt, beating them through bowling well isn’t the triumph people might want it to be. It’s another excellent bowling effort but gee we were dire in the fourth innings

 

[jb04]

Australia win
England lose

all is right in the world

Love to see this continue for a while, through to early next year at least?

Pleased with the result, warts and all. We have some serious top order problems that won't fix themselves. Sadly I can see us meandering through our squad selection until 1) our bowlers start retiring, 2) we start getting bowled out consistently for <150 when Head/Carey/Slug have an off day, or 3) both.

 

[JHF1870]

While I will defend and promote West Indies to the hilt, beating them through bowling well isn’t the triumph people might want it to be. It’s another excellent bowling effort but gee we were dire in the fourth innings

Some tough conditions. I saw a wicket where the ball rose 4 to 5 inches off the bounce.