**Official** West Indian Domestic Season 2014

[Dan]

Has Pooran been getting a gig?

 

[WindieWeathers]

Has Pooran been getting a gig?

Nah hasn't played yet Dan!!..one of the lads i mentioned above (Katwaroo) who was also a WI u19 player himself has been doing really well in Ramdin's absence!!..so it's been tough for young Pooran to get a game...i suspect he'll feature heavily in the CPL and the Nagico one day comp though!!..and hopefully there will be a pathway into first cloass cricket for him by the time the next season starts in November!!..word is our cricket is likely to be moving away from the "country" stuff and encouraging players to move around the Caribbean so that all the good players can play instead of sitting on the bench.

 

[Hurricane]

.it's gonna be home and away fixtures now and the season will last for 5 months!!..so in essence our game will be in line with most of our rivals around the world which is fantastic to see.

good news

 

[Beamer]

The best thing about this season so far for me has been that far more runs have been scored. Some pitches have still been a bit poor and the standard of batsmanship has not been that great but it is at least good to see some batsmen making a case for themselves.

The most interesting battle is for the reserve batting position in the Test team IMHO. With Deo really messing up his opportunity in India and New Zealand, the space is wide open. I was really hoping Jonathan Carter would make a case for himself as he is a fantastic batsman to watch and has so much talent but he has been very disappointing.

In today's cricket both Kieron Pollard and Leon Johnson have made brilliant centuries with their team right up against it. Pollard now averages just under 40 in FC cricket, not bad for someone who many people think is a Limited Overs specialist. Johnson has underachieved in his career so far (only averages 30 in FC cricket) but over the last 2 years he has been looking very good and is definitely in the running for the position. Sunil Ambris has made a brilliant start to his FC career, scoring tons and 50's in very difficult circumstances and against the better attacks in the region. It's incredibly early, but if he scores a couple more tons before the season ends who knows? Our selectors have been awfully uninspiring with their selections over the last year or so but the NZ tour might have given them the kick they needed to do something drastic. Jason Mohammed has also scored a lot of runs so far but I think he is seen as a bit of a domestic bully.

I'd love to see the following team take on New Zealand in the 1st Test of our season:

Gayle
Braithwaite (Kraigg)
Edwards
Bravo (Darren)
Shiv
Samuels
Ramdin (wk & captain)
Braithwaite (Carlos)
Narine
Roach
Permaul/Taylor

 

[Hurricane]

Gayle
Braithwaite (Kraigg)
Edwards
Bravo (Darren)
Shiv
Samuels
Ramdin (wk & captain)
Braithwaite (Carlos)
Narine
Roach
Permaul/Taylor

no holder or rampaul? injured?

 

[Beamer]

no holder or rampaul? injured?

Rampaul isn't seen as fit enough for 4 day cricket by the selectors and hasn't really played any of that format for a while. Also, I have defended him for a long time because he is such a good bowler but his belly is now getting to indefensible proportions.

Jason Holder is a good shout and he may well play ahead of Braithwaite, though they are similar bowlers and Braithwaite is a yard quicker. Calos has also scored a lot of runs this year hence why I gave him the nod. I really wouldn't complain if they picked Holder instead.

 

[Prince EWS]

The best thing about this season so far for me has been that far more runs have been scored. Some pitches have still been a bit poor and the standard of batsmanship has not been that great but it is at least good to see some batsmen making a case for themselves.

The most interesting battle is for the reserve batting position in the Test team IMHO. With Deo really messing up his opportunity in India and New Zealand, the space is wide open. I was really hoping Jonathan Carter would make a case for himself as he is a fantastic batsman to watch and has so much talent but he has been very disappointing.

In today's cricket both Kieron Pollard and Leon Johnson have made brilliant centuries with their team right up against it. Pollard now averages just under 40 in FC cricket, not bad for someone who many people think is a Limited Overs specialist. Johnson has underachieved in his career so far (only averages 30 in FC cricket) but over the last 2 years he has been looking very good and is definitely in the running for the position. Sunil Ambris has made a brilliant start to his FC career, scoring tons and 50's in very difficult circumstances and against the better attacks in the region. It's incredibly early, but if he scores a couple more tons before the season ends who knows? Our selectors have been awfully uninspiring with their selections over the last year or so but the NZ tour might have given them the kick they needed to do something drastic. Jason Mohammed has also scored a lot of runs so far but I think he is seen as a bit of a domestic bully.

I'd love to see the following team take on New Zealand in the 1st Test of our season:

Gayle
Braithwaite (Kraigg)
Edwards
Bravo (Darren)
Shiv
Samuels
Ramdin (wk & captain)
Braithwaite (Carlos)
Narine
Roach
Permaul/Taylor

I like this team. I think the selectors will probably be keen to leave Darren Bravo at three though which probably means Kirk Edwards either opening or not playing. If he does open I'd quite like to see Gayle move down to six rather than Brathwaite getting dropped for someone like Johnson, but that's pretty unlikely to happen as well and we may see Dwayne Bravo given the captaincy anyway, which would see him take that spot.

I've always been more of a Miller fan than a Permaul fan but Miller has been pretty terrible this season so it'd be hard to justify making that change right now. Shillingford's played the last couple of games; is he allowed to play international cricket again yet? I'd have him in as a walk up start if so.

 

[Hogey]

Bishoo with 15 wickets v T&T. In the shakeup for the 1st test?

 

[Beamer]

Bishoo with 15 wickets v T&T. In the shakeup for the 1st test?

Hmm interesting one that. He is one of my favourite bowlers and was really ripping the ball past the right handers and into the left handers pads (I watched the match online). He still bowls too many short balls which will be seized upon at international level but I'd be inclined to consider giving him a go in support of Narine.

Having watched a fair bit of the last two matches involving T & T (with short glimpses at the other matches in between rain breaks), I've been struck by a few things:

- The standard of batting is still too low and a lot of over aggressive shots are played when the scoring rate is restricted. This is a huge problem with our young batsmen.
- The umpiring was diabolical and spinners were given wickets almost everytime they hit the pads. This is an enormous problem and needs sorting as they can destroy careers with umpiring of that standard.
- The quality of spin bowling in the Caribbean is very high. Yes, they are aided hugely by bad batting, trigger happy umpiring and some pitches that assist them but at different times I saw Bishoo, Nurse, Benn, Jaggernauth, Miller, Jacobs and Austin ripping it past the bat. We are blessed with very good spinners and should start to build our senior teams around them.
- It is very hard to judge fast bowlers because they are only given a few overs before the spinners come on and get all the wickets. In particular, the Bajans Carlos Braithwaite and Jason Holder have looked seriously good but only get 4 over spells with the new ball.

FYI, Barbados won the league stage as T & T's match was rained off on the final day. Justice really, as Barbados were the most complete side with good batting performances and contributions from pacers and spinners alike. Kraigg Braithwaite and Kirk Edwards have been very effective with the bat which is a good sign for the test team.

 

[Dan]

Hmm interesting one that. He is one of my favourite bowlers and was really ripping the ball past the right handers and into the left handers pads (I watched the match online). He still bowls too many short balls which will be seized upon at international level but I'd be inclined to consider giving him a go in support of Narine.

I'd take him ahead of Permaul irrespective, but Bishoo over Shillingford? AFAIC Shillingford is the #1 spinner, Narine his support in Tests.

 

[Dan]

Gayle/Brathwaite
Powell
Bravo
Samuels
Chanderpaul
Pollard
Ramdin *+
Holder
Shillingford
Narine
Roach

?

 

[Hurricane]

Hmm interesting one that. He is one of my favourite bowlers and was really ripping the ball past the right handers and into the left handers pads (I watched the match online). He still bowls too many short balls which will be seized upon at international level but I'd be inclined to consider giving him a go in support of Narine.

Having watched a fair bit of the last two matches involving T & T (with short glimpses at the other matches in between rain breaks), I've been struck by a few things:

- The standard of batting is still too low and a lot of over aggressive shots are played when the scoring rate is restricted. This is a huge problem with our young batsmen.
- The umpiring was diabolical and spinners were given wickets almost everytime they hit the pads. This is an enormous problem and needs sorting as they can destroy careers with umpiring of that standard.
- The quality of spin bowling in the Caribbean is very high. Yes, they are aided hugely by bad batting, trigger happy umpiring and some pitches that assist them but at different times I saw Bishoo, Nurse, Benn, Jaggernauth, Miller, Jacobs and Austin ripping it past the bat. We are blessed with very good spinners and should start to build our senior teams around them.
- It is very hard to judge fast bowlers because they are only given a few overs before the spinners come on and get all the wickets. In particular, the Bajans Carlos Braithwaite and Jason Holder have looked seriously good but only get 4 over spells with the new ball.

FYI, Barbados won the league stage as T & T's match was rained off on the final day. Justice really, as Barbados were the most complete side with good batting performances and contributions from pacers and spinners alike. Kraigg Braithwaite and Kirk Edwards have been very effective with the bat which is a good sign for the test team.

Your young batsman won't develop playing on bunsens either (if i am reading your post correctly that they take turn). Batsman develop on batting friendly pitches. primarily as it rewards playing in the V with a straight bat. Tell WW to have a word with the powers that be to get the pitches sorted out.

 

[Beamer]

Your young batsman won't develop playing on bunsens either (if i am reading your post correctly that they take turn). Batsman develop on batting friendly pitches. primarily as it rewards playing in the V with a straight bat. Tell WW to have a word with the powers that be to get the pitches sorted out.

Yep they have been taking turn, particularly in T & T and Guyana. The Sabina Park pitch was pretty good this year and the Kensington Oval pitch was pretty batsman friendly. There was even a very fast pitch with lots of bounce for the quicks in St Vincent, which was good to see. Overall, the pitches have been slightly better than last year (which were almost all raging turners) but there is still a lot of work to be done throughout the region.

WW, you have been asked..sort it out please!

 

[Beamer]

The semi finals started today. I'm watching Barbados versus Jamaica at the Oval, the other semi is T & T versus the Windwards. You can watch Semi Final 1 here, and Semi final 2 here.

It has been a familiar tale so far, with lots of batsmen getting starts only to be dismissed by the spinners. Having said that, Jonathan Carter just got out to the most flukey/stupendous catch I have ever seen by a short leg fielder. It was a full blooded sweep which went straight into short legs hands (Nkrumah Bonner). Carter had looked all class until that point, which has unfortunately been the story of his season.

Miller reminds me so much of Shakib as a left hand spinner, they are so similar in both quality and method. Most of his deliveries come into the right handers with the angle and threaten the inside edge and the pads. But every now and then he gets one to spin away sharply and beat or catch the outside edge. Really good stuff.

 

[Beamer]

Right, so I tune in especially to watch the youngster John Campbell bat. He was really solid against Edwards, Cummins, Braithwaite, Benn and Nurse yesterday and I was really hoping to see more of him. So after 15 minutes of play he tries to sweep a Benn delivery that was a fair way outside off stump, but misses and gets hit on the pad (naturally way outside the line). But that idiot umpire Peter Nero sends him on his way.

Seriously, umpiring like that can destroy a young guys career. So frustrating.