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***Official*** England in West Indies 2015
- Thread starter theegyptian
- Start date
Salamuddin
International Debutant
Well that was nice wasn't it?I find it interesting that all the talk here is about England's shortcomings where spin is concerned as if that's the only reason why they lost this test
. The fact is we had them in trouble several times during this series and contrived to let them off the hook. The one time we kept the pressure on they folded. And it's ironic how the English commentators kept saying how "fragile" our batting line-up was but if you look at the series in it's entirety we done just as well with the bat as England did and that's quite encouraging from our point of view considering England's top order are vastly more experienced than ours.
The win also gives us some satisfaction when you consider Colin Graves's disparaging comments beforehand and Otis Gibson grinning from ear to ear every time a windies wicket fell...TAKE THAT!!
Anyway now to the ratings..
Brathwaite= The boy has got a ton in his last four series and is just a top class talent. Yes he still needs to work on some things but if he's this good now one wonders what he'll be doing age 25?
Smith= Hopefully the last time he's seen in the great WI shirt...just not good enough.
Bravo= Was getting starts and not carrying on, probably due to not playing a lot of first class cricket in a while. But the more he batted the better he got and that last innings was just majestic...he really showed his class there.
Samuels= Another up and down series for Marlon..the salute to Stokes was simply legendary. He scored a good ton and his bowling in this test really gave us some control.
Chanderpaul= Has been a hero for us over the years but the end looks near
Blackwood= What a talent this young man is? Yes he can be rash sometimes but his positive approach at the crease is a joy to watch and he pretty much won us this game with his brilliant knock in the first innings..at 23 we'd like to think he will only get better and he's now part of the "three B's" aka Brathwaite, Bravo and Blackwood who will hopefully be the core of our top order for years to come.
Ramdin= His captaincy left a lot to be desired at times but scored a decent 50 and took some crucial catches in this win.
Holder= Another top talent...saved us with the bat in the first innings and was very good with the ball in this win.
Taylor= Sensational in this series..really bowled well.
Roach= Not fit...done well first game but the flat decks in the first two games took it's toll tbh..when on form he's still the best we have though.
Gabriel= Gabby has a habit of nicking vital wickets...really improving with each test he plays.
Benn= Absolute waste of space..hopefully that's him finished at this level
Bishoo= Done very well in the sole test he played though he did bowl too many 4 balls for my liking
Permaul= This lad is only 25 and was the best spinner in our first class competition...done very well in this game and i hope he keeps his spot now. Especially when he can also bat well down the order.
Hope= Tough test for the young man but he's not an opener. He was one of the best batsmen in our first class competition and done even better than Blackwood did in his breakout year with Jamaica a year ago so one would hope Shai takes this experience ad learns from it.
All in all i'm absolutely delighted with what i've seen here and the truth is even though the likes of Hendrix might believe we have a "mediocre side" the fact is we're in a rebuilding phase and half the side are 23 or under so we can only get better at the end of the day.
Clearly moving forward getting an competent opener alongside Kraigg and perhaps a spinning allrounder is needed .
I'd also like to add that there's even more talent to come aswell..Beaton, Pooran, Dowrich, Cornwall, Tage Chanderpaul to name a few...so the future could look very bright if we nurture these kids properly.
P.S. Oh and my good friend Marc7118 was always quick to remind me how WI hadn't won a test against a top side in a while so I'd like to dedicate that win to you buddy :cool:
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harsh.ag
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Yup. Taking it as an "attack on Yorkshire" as Boycott has is a breathtaking act of douchebaggery.
Scaly piscine
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Yes Stokes doesn't have much between his ears, but that goes for a lot of cricketers.
It doesn't stop him becoming a good+ Test cricketer. He'll develop cricketing intelligence. If you put Warne's 35 year old cricketing brain into his 25 year old body then he'd have been insane. I'm deliberately picking Warne to make it obvious to nitpick merchants that I'm not comparing their skills as they're totally different cricketers, other than they both do stupid things and have mercurial talent.
Stokes is currently limited by his cricket brain. Particularly in ODIs or T20s. If he can just get out there and bat, or bowl, then he'll perform pretty well. If he has to think about how to play and try something different then he'll struggle. Not because he can't do it because he doesn't know how to do it and he hasn't got the cricketing brain/experience to adequately compensate. He'll learn through his mistakes, others learn a lot faster but most don't have anywhere near his ability.
It doesn't stop him becoming a good+ Test cricketer. He'll develop cricketing intelligence. If you put Warne's 35 year old cricketing brain into his 25 year old body then he'd have been insane. I'm deliberately picking Warne to make it obvious to nitpick merchants that I'm not comparing their skills as they're totally different cricketers, other than they both do stupid things and have mercurial talent.
Stokes is currently limited by his cricket brain. Particularly in ODIs or T20s. If he can just get out there and bat, or bowl, then he'll perform pretty well. If he has to think about how to play and try something different then he'll struggle. Not because he can't do it because he doesn't know how to do it and he hasn't got the cricketing brain/experience to adequately compensate. He'll learn through his mistakes, others learn a lot faster but most don't have anywhere near his ability.
Furball
Evil Scotsman
Fair enough to try and belt a no ball out the ground.
vic_orthdox
Global Moderator
Scaly piscine
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Stokes would be somewhere between Warne and Warner, although that probably covers a lot of cricketers.
weldone
Hall of Fame Member
Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar
Pratters
Cricket, Lovely Cricket
I could have done with 4 or 5 tests, even though there were lots of drab sessions. Feels a bit incomplete. Like having half a meal and the dinner being over.
Beamer
International Vice-Captain
1st test is in Dominica which usually turns prodigiously and is fairly slow without being as bad as Grenada was.
2nd test is at Sabina Park which usually helps spinners and fast bowlers and is very up and down.
I don't think either test will be drawn and that's not just because we're playing Australia.
Shady Slim
International Coach
i'm happy that the windies were able to maintain composure for the small chase - it's often a small chase where teams can frick up