Test South Africa vs WI - 2 Tests plus sundry white ball matches

May 5, 2016
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This HAS to be Chase’s last series.

The amount of pressure he’s heaped on his own team with the bat, and released for the opposition with the ball, is astronomical in the last two years.

Motie is not a world beater but he does a bit with the ball. Mayers as the bits and pieces, holder as the genuine all rounder, Bravo HAS to come back in if he’s serious about his first class cricket which he seems to be.

Bowling has been fine this series. 3 bad sessions and 2 mediocre ones I can handle. Some catastrophic ones with the bat I can’t.
 

Hyakutake

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The WI batting lineup is the worst in world cricket amongst the established nations and an embarassment to the proud history of West Indies cricket. There is not one test quality player there except Chanderpaul. The rest of them are 30 odd average strugglers and would not get a gig in any other lineup except Zim, Ire, AFG. Thats the stone cold bottom line.
 
May 5, 2016
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The WI batting lineup is the worst in world cricket amongst the established nations and an embarassment to the proud history of West Indies cricket. There is not one test quality player there except Chanderpaul. The rest of them are 30 odd average strugglers and would not get a gig in any other lineup except Zim, Ire, AFG. Thats the stone cold bottom line.

Well there is. Brathwaite isn’t a world beater but he’s test standard. You don’t hit a dozen test hundreds if you aren’t. Blackwood is ability wise. Chase should be locked away and have the key thrown in the Atlantic Ocean
 
May 5, 2016
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I’m actually happy to give Mayers an extended run. I don’t care if he fails regularly because I think there is enough there, plus his bowling, that it could be worth it.

Bonner if fit surely should be in consideration as he had amassed a good record before he got hit in Australia. Riefer has played one good innings this series but he’s not test class

Kraigg
Chanderpaul
Bravo
Bonner
Blackwood/Athanaze
De Silva
Holder
Mayers
Joseoh
Roach
Motie.

It’s really not THAT bad a side. It has talent and good bowling options.

It’s just so f***ing rudderless and high on the fumes of its own stupidity at the moment that it boggles the mind.

There is no reason that a half decent batting line up shouldn’t have either won a test or at the very least pushed it very very close this series
 

Trojan90

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Well there is. Brathwaite isn’t a world beater but he’s test standard. You don’t hit a dozen test hundreds if you aren’t. Blackwood is ability wise. Chase should be locked away and have the key thrown in the Atlantic Ocean
He’d probably slot into the Australian team tbh.
 

to1994

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This HAS to be Chase’s last series.

The amount of pressure he’s heaped on his own team with the bat, and released for the opposition with the ball, is astronomical in the last two years.

Motie is not a world beater but he does a bit with the ball. Mayers as the bits and pieces, holder as the genuine all rounder, Bravo HAS to come back in if he’s serious about his first class cricket which he seems to be.

Bowling has been fine this series. 3 bad sessions and 2 mediocre ones I can handle. Some catastrophic ones with the bat I can’t.

Was Bonner dropped or injured? If he was dropped it seems as strange as SA dropping Verreynne. Surely he has to come back after two batting collapses in a row.
 
May 5, 2016
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Isn't Lara there in a coaching role? Surely he should be passing on some good advice to the WI batsmen but he can't teach them his freakish talent.

Greatness doesn’t always translate to coaching ability and if someone wants to play a dumb shot they will.

I don’t think our approach to batting even before you get to technique is correct.

I don’t want us to go out and block everything, nor do I want us to attack everything but they seem to be our only two modes of play and unfortunately the two best players we have at mixing the two depending on the situation, bat at 7 and 8
 
May 5, 2016
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Was Bonner dropped or injured? If he was dropped it seems as strange as SA dropping Verreynne. Surely he has to come back after two batting collapses in a row.

I’m really not sure. Obviously I understand him missing the rest of the Australian series after that nasty hit on the lid but if he is fit surely he plays? Has an ordinary domestic record but has really been very solid in test cricket
 

Hyakutake

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I can't say I have ever seen a bowler take a wicket and then be carried off on a stretcher.

Closest I can remember was way back when in a WSC ODI in Australia with WI playing England, Michael Holding got Ian Botham C&B and tore his hamstring in the act of pushing off to take the catch. He was carried off the field by Ian Botham and one other from memery.
 

Hyakutake

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Well there is. Brathwaite isn’t a world beater but he’s test standard. You don’t hit a dozen test hundreds if you aren’t. Blackwood is ability wise. Chase should be locked away and have the key thrown in the Atlantic Ocean

Its a fine line but if you take out Braithwaites record against Bangladesh, Zim and AFG, it doesnt look great. Average down to just a tick over 30 and only 8 centuries.
 

Blue Arrow

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The WI batting lineup is the worst in world cricket amongst the established nations and an embarassment to the proud history of West Indies cricket. There is not one test quality player there except Chanderpaul. The rest of them are 30 odd average strugglers and would not get a gig in any other lineup except Zim, Ire, AFG. Thats the stone cold bottom line.
Bad age profile also. Most of their batsmen are 30 and should be established players by now.
 

Ischenko

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Seems to me a guy with an average of 45 in a top order utterly bereft of runs for 4 years whos runs almost always come under the pump stands up quite frequently. To do it without outlier scores to beef up the average suggests he actually stands up more than most
I’m late to this but anyone who doesn’t rate Bavuma doesn’t know cricket.
 
May 5, 2016
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I really like KB as a cricketer and I think he has a thankless job as captain, as Holder did before him.

But he has no ruthlessness at all as a captain and that manifests itself a lot with his bowling changes and his field placings.

Ok you’ve got Chase in your team because he can bat a bit and bowl a bit. But you have a team 5-120 and then Chase comes on and the field goes back, and he still leaks boundaries anyway: I genuinely feel his decision making is often based on ‘well this guy is in the side so we HAVE to bowl him.’

I’m late to this but anyone who doesn’t rate Bavuma doesn’t know cricket.

100 per cent. His record is mediocre. We all know it.
It’s very solid in the last four years. Everyone except one poster knows that.

His record of producing runs when his side is actually in real strife, is exceptional.
 
May 5, 2016
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I don’t believe in luck in cricket as such as it’s such a penetrative game that over time it all evens out, but * I’m starting to feel the cricket gods hate us more than other teams.

Wickets off no balls
Dismissals you couldn’t credit
Direct hit run outs
Chop ons
Caught down leg side
Unplayable balls (that admittedly we often make look more unplayable than they actually are)

When I watch footy be it NRL or AFL I’m more than open to how regularly my teams benefit from pure good fortune. So I like to think I’m pretty open to the idea that it all balances out but I don’t think the cricket gods smile on the WI a lot
 
May 5, 2016
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That was ****ed.

The most disappointing aspect as a Windies fan is this, as far as I’m concerned.

If we had have finished them off for, say, 150 yesterday, and left ourself 220 to get.

There would have been a clear plan with the bat. Dig in, try and polish off 50 in quick time - whatever.

Instead we had basically 2 days to score 400: never likely to happen I know.

But across the entirety of the top 6 there was no clear idea from anyone as to how we would approach it.

As I mentioned in a post earlier, there seems to be no give and take: it’s block everything, or throw the bat.
 
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