**Official** West Indies in England 2012

[TT Boy]

Maybe Finn will be able to get Chanderpaul out. He hasn't faced Finn before.

Need a Special K bowler. According to Vic Marks article in the Guardian, Kallis, Kaneria and Kumble have dismissed Shiv the most times in test cricket.

 

[Jono]

Agree with TT. Was about to come here and say that Sammy is adding more to the team than Fidel. Can't drop him.

 

[TT Boy]

Social seems to be getting a lot of bites recently.

Anyway, an interesting match despite the horrible pitch. Kemar Roach may be very good indeed on a surface that isn't a pudding. Yet so will Broad, outstanding performance from him here, really.

I normally like Nasser, but I couldn't believe how much smoke him, and some others, were blowing up Fidel Edwards' arse.

And they can't be judging Fidel through performances against England. Edwards in 16 tests averages over 45 against England, close to 50 in England. Might get a bye if he was bowling very quick and hurrying up the batsman but Roach was quicker and infinitely more threatening throughout this test.
He is 30 and played 54 test matches and averages close to 40, do the Windies want him to be worse than Mohammed Sami?

 

[WindieWeathers]

Have a nice life wondering then.

Well i don't think i'll have to for too long!!.. Gayle is back, Rampaul is back, Jerome Taylor is training again and Narine will be back from the IPL soon!! .

 

[Flem274*]

Sammy is at absolute worst the third best seamer in the Windies. People only want him dropped because he's slow and West Indians are meant to bowl fast or not at all. Fidel has nothing on him.

Fidel is frustrating bowler. Every time I see him he looks like he is about to turn the corner and he plainly has some assets, but he never clicks two games or series in a row.

Rampaul, Roach, Sammy, Spinner with Gayle as the fifth bowler is my pick.

 

[Flem274*]

Well i don't think i'll have to for too long!!.. Gayle is back, Rampaul is back, Jerome Taylor is training again and Narine will be back from the IPL soon!! .

I'm starting to doubt Jerome Taylor will play test cricket again. He's been on the recovery wagon how long now?

It's a shame.

 

[WindieWeathers]

Agree with TT. Was about to come here and say that Sammy is adding more to the team than Fidel. Can't drop him.

Sammy is being dropped for Rampaul and Fidel for Shilly!!.. at the end of the day Sammy is meant to be a BOWLER, and quite frankly he's not cutting it at test level.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Sammy is still better value to the team right now than Peter or Fidel, so should play until the Windies have a 3rd quick of reputable quality. Samuels, Ramdin and then Rampaul at 8, that’s pretty iffy. Dwayne Bravo would be a nice number 8, not good enough for top six, probably too good for 8 but batting average is closer to Broad than it is of a test batsman.

Bravo would be a good number 7 if fit and committed.

Surely Andre Russell would be a better option than Sammy too, similar bat but a much more dangerous bowler. It isn't as though there aren't options for WI. Trouble is would the team be as committed under someone else as they have been of late.

 

[WindieWeathers]

I'm starting to doubt Jerome Taylor will play test cricket again. He's been on the recovery wagon how long now?

It's a shame.

Yeah i'd say it's 50-50, the latest is he's training hard with one of his cricket coaches back in Jamaica in order to get fit for the domestic one day competition later this year, i think he's been a massive loss to us because he does everything Sammy does only ten times better, still only 27 though and if he can be managed right this time then i'm confident he can come back for us.

 

[Jono]

Sammy is being dropped for Rampaul and Fidel for Shilly!!.. at the end of the day Sammy is meant to be a BOWLER, and quite frankly he's not cutting it at test level.

Well if the other players adding less value than Sammy are dropped, then yes, I have no issue with Sammy being dropped.

 

[WindieWeathers]

Bravo would be a good number 7 if fit and committed.

Surely Andre Russell would be a better option than Sammy too, similar bat but a much more dangerous bowler. It isn't as though there aren't options for WI. Trouble is would the team be as committed under someone else as they have been of late.

If you're not winning games does it really matter who the leader is? imo we need the best eleven on the park to have the best chance of winning, and the best elevel simply does include Sammy.

Andre is a good call but his bowling of late (apart from a few good spells vs aus) has left a lot to be desired, the one we're all waiting on is Jason Holder to be honest, many believe he could be the next Ambrose and he's rated much higher than Gabriel, he's in the A-team right now that's gonna play three four day games vs India-A in the next month or so so if he does well his name is gonna be in the frame, he's also handy with the bat too.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

Where's the Sammy love? The guy is a solid all-round player, the WI need more like him. Who gives a **** if he can't bowl a bouncer and hit the sight-screen on the full.

 

[WindieWeathers]

Well if the other players adding less value than Sammy are dropped, then yes, I have no issue with Sammy being dropped.

Powell will be dropped for Gayle, so who else should be dropped? i don't see anyone, Kirk Edwards has had a tough time in England but he still averages in the 40s so he deserves a chance, other than that no-one else is gonna be dropped.

 

[Jono]

No I am agreeing with you. If Fidel and Powel go out as well as Sammy, fair deal.

 

[BackFootPunch]

Edwards (c)

Are you sure Edwards is the best man to lead, given he scored just 1 run in the first Test? (To be fair he got sold down the river in the 2nd dig)

I think part of why I feel Sammy is actually the best guy to captain is because if/when he gets the sack you're not exactly getting rid of a potentially world-class player. If he performs and the team performs then great, no need to change anything. If, however, he sucks then he's pretty expendable. The team is undeniably improving at the moment, whether that has anything to do with Sammy is hard to know. But there's no point getting rid of him when replacing his captaincy means putting an unnecessary burden on a young guy and there isn't an obviously superior all-rounder available. What happens if you give Edwards the job and his runs dry up? There goes your most impressive young player after Bravo.

Roach, Rampaul, Sammy, Shillingford is a pretty decent attack I reckon. Playing Gabriel or Edwards wouldn't add a whole lot.

 

[roseboy64]

I'm starting to doubt Jerome Taylor will play test cricket again. He's been on the recovery wagon how long now?

It's a shame.

From what I've pieced together he pretty much was happy with the Stanford money and didn't really feel like playing cricket again. Plus he lives on the western side of the island and had his rehab sessions in the east. The current head coach was his coach in high school and lives near him and it's he who Jerome is working with now. Seems there's some effort now from him to get back to the game.

 

[roseboy64]

Tino Best drafted into the squad. Clearly an injury to one of the bowlers.

 

[vic_orthdox]

I don't think Gabriel was that good that you'd have him in the team in front of Sammy. Was pretty uninspiring.

EDIT: not that there's "nothing" to work with, but give him a taste, maybe a few ODIs, and see if there's some further improvement. He's not ready yet, IMO.

 

[TT Boy]

Tino Best drafted into the squad. Clearly an injury to one of the bowlers.

If anyone says Sammy should be dropped when the Windies are drafting in guys like this needs to button up,

 

[TT Boy]

Powell will be dropped for Gayle, so who else should be dropped? i don't see anyone, Kirk Edwards has had a tough time in England but he still averages in the 40s so he deserves a chance, other than that no-one else is gonna be dropped.

And he averaged in the 50s before the 1st test and it’s likely to be sub 40 if he plays to type in the second. He isn’t a number three and looks technically very short and even when amassing runs against India and Bangladesh looked pretty limited. Reminds me a bit of Runako Morton actually.