*Official* South Africa in West Indies

[WindieWeathers]

You did beat England, unfortunately the following series in England saw you whitewashed 2-0 in England.

I agree that sides such as New Zealand, Pakistan, WI and Bangladesh all share very similar inconsistency problems, and I fully accept WI are not on their own in this regard, far from it. Although you must agree that it will take some time to turn these fortunes around, especially if poor fitness continues. It's tough to turn one Test win in 18 months into consistent victories. Patience and one step at a time. If they manage to draw this series with SA, it will be a fantastic outcome, although very surprising.

I actually thought WI were heading in the right direction around two years ago, but they have continued to stutter, for many reasons and not all cricketing ones.

If we had played NZ, Pak and Bang (with our strongest side) instead of playing England, Australia and South Africa in the last 18 months i'm sure we may have won more than one test, but we've had to deal with the big guns who as everyone knows are tough to beat, it's even tougher when you can't put out your best team, we might not be beating the top teams right now but we are the last team out of Nz, Wi, Sl, Pak and Bang to beat any of England, Aus, India or South Africa, so that's something we can look to for inspiration.

On the fitness side i'm sure Gibbo will take care of that, he's made noises about it so it's an issue he's looking at, plus he'll be adding to his coaching staff after this last Test.

 

[Howsie]

How was it an "attack" though? i said "instead of running down our lot maybe he should focus on his own teams youngsters"!!.. that's not an "attack", an attack is belittling the FC stats of Brathwaite imo!!, but funny enough no-one had a problem with that!! .

Why would they? I brought up the stats of a teenage batsmen who has done very little of note in FC cricket so far in his short career as to why he shouldn't be playing test cricket yet, how is that an attack on Brathwaite?

 

[GotSpin]

Slightly different question, but how long is Gibbos contract for? He really does seem to be bringing in some positive changes.

 

[Howsie]

And on another note Andre Russell has apparently taken six wickets against Ireland today and also scored 63 runs to save our innings beforehand, my word i really think we have another star in the making man!! , he's tall and fast and i wonder whether we should call him up for this last Test? he's been getting 4 and 5fers all over the place lately and is good enough with the bat to bat in the top six.

Really? His career to date states otherwise.

 

[Woodster]

If we had played NZ, Pak and Bang (with our strongest side) instead of playing England, Australia and South Africa in the last 18 months i'm sure we may have won more than one test, but we've had to deal with the big guns who as everyone knows are tough to beat, it's even tougher when you can't put out your best team, we might not be beating the top teams right now but we are the last team out of Nz, Wi, Sl, Pak and Bang to beat any of England, Aus, India or South Africa, so that's something we can look to for inspiration.

On the fitness side i'm sure Gibbo will take care of that, he's made noises about it so it's an issue he's looking at, plus he'll be adding to his coaching staff after this last Test.

Yes I appreciate it is difficult to beat the more major players in the cricketing world. Personally I think WI, NZ and Pakistan are all similar in that they show glimpses of real quality but fail to hit those heights anywhere near consistently enough. Sri Lanka I think are a step ahead of those sides, they have in Sangakkara and Jayawardene consistent batsmen capable of ensuring their side get runs on the board, throw in Samaraweera, Dilshan and the emerging Mathews and you have a platform to build a decent, hard to beat side.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Really? His career to date states otherwise.

We have to allow for a measure of over-reaction at times.

 

[roseboy64]

Too much. None of Braithwaite, Holder, Gabriel, Bravo and Russel are ready for Test cricket at this stage. Bravo is the closest and a good next FC season and I'll think him ready.

 

[WindieWeathers]

Why would they? I brought up the stats of a teenage batsmen who has done very little of note in FC cricket so far in his short career as to why he shouldn't be playing test cricket yet, how is that an attack on Brathwaite?

So your sly comment about his performance in England wasn't a dig at the lad? nah of course it wasn't!! .

 

[WindieWeathers]

Really? His career to date states otherwise.

Oh so you've seen him play then? 108 against Ireland for Jamaica, another 64 against the same side yesterday, he's a kid who's come of age over night not just with the ball but with the bat too,

 

[WindieWeathers]

Yes I appreciate it is difficult to beat the more major players in the cricketing world. Personally I think WI, NZ and Pakistan are all similar in that they show glimpses of real quality but fail to hit those heights anywhere near consistently enough. Sri Lanka I think are a step ahead of those sides, they have in Sangakkara and Jayawardene consistent batsmen capable of ensuring their side get runs on the board, throw in Samaraweera, Dilshan and the emerging Mathews and you have a platform to build a decent, hard to beat side.

SL are indeed a very decent side but that didn't stop them getting murdered by India recently!! , so like i said all sides apart from Eng, Ind, South A and Aus have found things hard, of course SL at home are very tough but they need to start playing more top sides so everyone can see exactly how good they are right now.

 

[WindieWeathers]

Too much. None of Braithwaite, Holder, Gabriel, Bravo and Russel are ready for Test cricket at this stage. Bravo is the closest and a good next FC season and I'll think him ready.

And who said Gabriel and Holder were ready? just in case you didn't know the A-team is designed to give players international experience and to see if they can make the next step up, Russell has been a revelation for the A-team lately so to suggest "he isn't ready" is extremely naive imo.

 

[marc71178]

As is suggesting he is ready for full internationals...

 

[WindieWeathers]

As is suggesting he is ready for full internationals...

Yeah, just like a 17 year old Mohammed Aamer "wasn't ready" either i guess!! .

 

[WindieWeathers]

Slightly different question, but how long is Gibbos contract for? He really does seem to be bringing in some positive changes.

His contract is for three years G-S and he has complete control of things apparently, he's played a major role in putting top people incharge of the Academy and he's talking about putting together a top class coaching unit after this Test, another thing he's talked about is bringing in a psychologist to deal with the mental side of the game too,

I like what he's doing behind the scenes but as we all know it's a results business so i'd hope to see more improvements on the playing side when we go to Sri-lanka later this year!!.

 

[Furball]

So your sly comment about his performance in England wasn't a dig at the lad? nah of course it wasn't!! .

Whether it was or not, it doesn't give you the right to start slating the talent produced by other countries.

Disagree with him if you want, but if you keep turning threads into "my team is better than yours" post wars then action will be taken.

 

[WindieWeathers]

Whether it was or not, it doesn't give you the right to start slating the talent produced by other countries.

Disagree with him if you want, but if you keep turning threads into "my team is better than yours" post wars then action will be taken.

As i said though i didn't "slate" anyone i merely said he should focus on his teams youngsters instead of knocking ours.

And also i don't understand the "whether it was or not" comment, are you saying it doesn't matter if others are in the wrong? if so that doesn't sound fair to me. .

 

[Furball]

As i said though i didn't "slate" anyone i merely said he should focus on his teams youngsters instead of knocking ours.

And also i don't understand the "whether it was or not" comment, are you saying it doesn't matter if others are in the wrong? if so that doesn't sound fair to me. .

Which had absolutely nothing to do with the thread, so don't do it.

The "whether or not" comment was because I can't read Woodster's mind, I don't know whether he was having a dig, although having read what he said I think what he's said is fair enough. Regardless, derailing a thread about the West Indies by talking down youngsters from New Zealand or wherever isn't on.

 

[Johnners]

That's the problem Windie, it's not a "my team is better than your team" debate, and that is not the idea of the forum. In a thread about SA vs WI, NZ youngsters have no relevance whatsoever, and it looks extremely poor and silly on your part to try and bring that up the moment people start disagreeing with you. If you're going to big up the WI youngsters, and people disagree with you, they're well within their rights to do so in the context of this thread.

 

[WindieWeathers]

That's the problem Windie, it's not a "my team is better than your team" debate, and that is not the idea of the forum. In a thread about SA vs WI, NZ youngsters have no relevance whatsoever, and it looks extremely poor and silly on your part to try and bring that up the moment people start disagreeing with you. If you're going to big up the WI youngsters, and people disagree with you, they're well within their rights to do so in the context of this thread.

Fair enough, i still maintain though that i didn't slate anyone as some people have suggested.

 

[WindieWeathers]

Which had absolutely nothing to do with the thread, so don't do it.

The "whether or not" comment was because I can't read Woodster's mind, I don't know whether he was having a dig, although having read what he said I think what he's said is fair enough. Regardless, derailing a thread about the West Indies by talking down youngsters from New Zealand or wherever isn't on.

That's kind of moving the goalposts a little GF!! , because my only problem is people accusing me of "slating" others when that wasn't the case, and i'm not sure i'd describe telling someone to focus on their own players instead of knocking a kid who was being debated on this thread as "derailing" things but i guess we all have our own opinions, i'll take your point on board though.