Decent session for the English Bats men

Cricket has long been a passion of mine and i can assure you this west indies team is only as good as any in the second division of the english county championship. This is latterly as a consequence of all the main west indies players opting to play 20/20 cricket all over the world. They do this because west indian cricket is in a desperate state. Their test cricketers get paid a pittance. As one who grew up watching garner, holding, ambrose, richards and lara etc i can assure you this team (and the west indies teams of the last decade) is a sorry state of affairs.

 

*smiles* sure, that's it, of course, hope you enjoy the rest of your day on sky sports, I'm going to go back to earning my wage and running a company. Enjoy ;-)

 

Excellent, the BBS's first pink ball popcorn party.

 

I'm not old enough to have seen Holding etc but it doesn't take a genius to work out that this Windies attack is bang average at best. Not one world class bowler between them and there's a stark contrast between them and the Saffers who've just gone home.

 

Hemsworth Tyke suggesting somebody lives in a fantasy world.

Stop the world, I want to get off

 

Just a taster as to what WI bowlers (and others ) were like pre-Sky

 

Any half decent West Indies player now just chases the t20 cash. No loyalty to their country at all.

 

Hemmsy, baby. Do you think if the West Indie players that have elected to only play the more lucrative T20 matches made themselves available for the Test team, the selectors would have chosen THIS bowling attack?

The answer is no. Which it why this is probably their third or at a push second choice attack...

 

I think who you would play in place of them is irrelevant. This attack is one paced, can't keep a consistent line and is giving away boundaries for fun. It's average.

It's also the one that's playing so that's the one you comment on.

Invite questions about alternatives by all means but it doesn't take away from the fact it's average in both a historical, West Indies context and as a modern bowling attack.

 

And Phil, the fact that the wi board have a ridiculous selection policy which means their best players will never be selected does not mean it shouldn't be suggested that they'd be a better side with them.

Gayle, pollard, Bravo et al would and should walk into this team. But they choose to pay them poorly - and refuse to select them when they look to earn a living by other means.

I think the ICC should have a long look at whether they deserve to maintain test status much longer.

Holder aside, he's a tryer if nowt else, I don't think any of this eleven would be in their actual best eleven.

But you keep bleating on about selection policy like you're the only one to have watched a cricket game.

I'll tell you this much, in 2004 I went to the test match at the Queens Park Oval, Trinidad. The match before at Kingston, Harmison had taken 7/12 and we tore them a new arsehole this match too, in fact all series (until a certain B C Lara decided to score a few in the fourth test. 400 actually).

That side were destroyed by England home and away that year. But they were a much, much better side. Gayle, sarwan in the batting lineup before you mention Lara. Chanderpaul not in the side. Ridley Jacobs consistently getting runs as the keeper. Decent bowling lineup of collymore, best, Edwards and collins.

Speaking to locals, hotel staff, taxi drivers, the bloke selling coconuts at the side of the savannah. They were all in despair at how bad they were - then. I remember them saying that the upcoming (at the time, it was years ago now) World Cup would be the ruin of West Indies cricket, that the money would filter out of the game and that in ten years they'd struggle to pick a team - at the time they assumed their best talent would all come to England for money and repatriate, like Devon Malcolm or Gladstone small. As it is a larger gravy train came along in global t20 - but the players wouldn't go, not all of them in any case, if the West Indies board knew their arse from their elbow and paid the players a proper test match fee.

Skint they claim? I can assure you that 'officials' at the top of the tree are still doing very nicely out of the west indies team, yet the players get a county second eleven equivalent salary.

If you think this West Indies side should be playing test cricket you are, as you are on so much, misguided. I'm sure Michael Holding on your precious Sky Sports will have plenty to say about the state of West Indies cricket.

 

Interesting really from you. Maybe you want to check what the players get as basic retainers. 100/140k us from what I read. Pakistan players at Cat A status which apparently there are 5 including the captain thats playing for YCCC at the moment 500,000 RS. 4 players in cat 345,000.

And the sky line was from Nass, lets comcentrate of the players that are here.

 

The only day I could make it was day 4, so I'm hoping for either some surprisingly good WI batting or quite a lot of rain over the next couple of days!

 

Couple of points:

First, the WI stars are playing T20 for financial reasons. If that £100k/£140k was A better financial incentives they get from T20, then they would be playing today, wouldn't they? That is why he was blaming the WI cricket board for the awful state of their team.

Second, don't take everything the Sky pundits say as gospel. I heard Nasser say that, and my immediate reaction was "Bull ****". He was simply selling the game to his viewers. Sky are hardly going to admit the upcoming match/series is going to be a one sided hammering that Is a foregone conclusion are they?

 

Brilliant 100 for the Captain. Never looked confident for me. Lots of annoyed looks at the toe of the bat.

 

England from what I see are the highest paid players in the world by the boards. 700k for the test players and 190ish k for the odi/t20 players (you can be both) but that doesn't match what Stokes gets in the IPL alone

 

Probably the weakest West Indian attack I have seen in 40 years of watcing cricket

 

If you get chance have a look on youtube of the 1984 "blackwash" bowling attack.

Then let me know how fearsome this current WI bowling attack is.

Geoffrey's granny would score runs against these.

 

Never mind a W.Indies bowling attack, I can't remember a Test playing nation have a fast bowling attack as toothless at this one. Even the front line bowlers are sending trundlers down that look like medium pacers compared the what the international standard is these days...

 

The Cookie monster gobbles up number 31. Long since it was a English man that Alistair had his thoughts on. He must be looking at the great Sachins numbers and thinking, maybe just maybe.

 

Anyone?