***Official*** West Indies in Australia 2015/16

[Compton]

Have there been many three test series where one side has declared more of their wickets than had their batsman dismissed?

 

[Hurricane]

Or they mentally check out early and fold hard and fast. Or they party the new year in style and have no energy left for cricket. #lowexpectations

Bravo scored a double against us. He is a quality. I think if he decided to actually be assed and not sit there smirking while his team mates ineptly get out then we could see a better game.

Lets hope that Windies bat first, it is what is best for the game.

 

[Shady Slim]

i see you have smith in your overrated xi, excellent.

but more on topic i feel for jason holder so much, he gives it all but gets very little back for the most part: it was very good to see resistance offered by someone like carlos brathwaite last test.

here's what i figure.

get rid of the players like samuels who go out with a crappy attitude and replace them with youngsters who want to play test. samuels is only going to get like twenty runs then be a liability in the field anyway so if the same twenty runs are coming from someone who genuinely wants to be there and will give their all it's a lot better for the dressing room and for the team in general.

 

[Hurricane]

i see you have smith in your overrated xi, excellent.

but more on topic i feel for jason holder so much, he gives it all but gets very little back for the most part: it was very good to see resistance offered by someone like carlos brathwaite last test.

here's what i figure.

get rid of the players like samuels who go out with a crappy attitude and replace them with youngsters who want to play test. samuels is only going to get like twenty runs then be a liability in the field anyway so if the same twenty runs are coming from someone who genuinely wants to be there and will give their all it's a lot better for the dressing room and for the team in general.

Samuels looked cooked when he played against us 2 years ago I think. Smacks of being picked for his name cachet.

 

[Hurricane]

i see you have smith in your overrated xi, excellent.

.

The XI has been updated for 2016

 

[Dan]

Dowrich really needs to be picked. Genuinely looked Test-class by WI standards when he debuted; he's got way more upside than a non-bowling Samuels.

 

[Flem274*]

west indies love dropping anyone unfashionable. kirk edwards, leon johnson, dowrich, some bloke called chanderpaul...

 

[Gnske]

In that case they've let Chandrika and Hope slip through the cracks. Johnson probably hasn't got enough attention being the other unwarranted casualty of the SA tour, decent start to his Test career, did rather decently in SA and gets thrown into the trash.

Just weird.

 

[aussie tragic]

How different would this series be if Gayle, Bravo, Simmons and Russell where playing...shame they're not

 

[Prince EWS]

Probably not that much different tbh.

 

[marc71178]

Not a lot different IMO. As with a lot of players, they seem to get better when they're not in the team.

 

[Daemon]

Always lol when Russell's name is brought up when talking about WI players that should be in the Test team.

 

[morgieb]

How different would this series be if Gayle, Bravo, Simmons and Russell where playing...shame they're not

Gayle is the only one that would make much difference AFAIC. And he's not really fit enough for Test cricket.

 

[Tangles]

Bravo scored a double against us. He is a quality. I think if he decided to actually be assed and not sit there smirking while his team mates ineptly get out then we could see a better game.

Lets hope that Windies bat first, it is what is best for the game.

Bravo needs company to bat long. Just seems like Holder needs to bat higher up the order given what's in front of him. A bit of a shame the captain and 1st change bowler has to prop up the batting also. But being at 7 the innings is frequently wrecked by the time he arrives.

I agree with Samuels needing to get punted. Offers so little to the team.

 

[Shady Slim]

The XI has been updated for 2016

aw that's a shame

i like it when i'm not the only anti-smith person around

 

[Tangles]

Was looking forward to watching tonight but I just realized this doesn't start till Sunday. What dill schedules a Sunday starting Test ffs. That's terrible because on day 2 most people are back at work. Probably be a decent crowd but yuk.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Was looking forward to watching tonight but I just realized this doesn't start till Sunday. What dill schedules a Sunday starting Test ffs. That's terrible because on day 2 most people are back at work. Probably be a decent crowd but yuk.

It's because of New Years

 

[Tangles]

I was all excited and had the fridge stocked the noticed the date and noooooooo...

 

[JBMAC]

Don,t worry. It will be rained out

 

[Dan]

IMO this is the XI that the West Indies should be building towards in the mid-term:

1. Brathwaite
2. Johnson
3. Bravo
4. Hope
5. Blackwood
6. Dowrich +
7. Holder *
8. Brathwaite
9. Taylor
10. Bishoo
11. Gabriel

If you're going to play Holder at 7, you need a 'keeper who is a competent #6. Ramdin a competent #6 is not, at least not consistently. Dowrich has something about him; I'd rather not chuck the gloves his way but hey, team balance. Plus Ramdin's never struck me as a guy who really gives a **** about WI cricket, so he can get in the bin.

Brathwaite-the-bowler looks like he actually cares, so he retains his spot. Gabriel still hangs around because pace and Roach needs to piss off and re-learn how to bowl. If you pick Gabriel as a shock weapon who'll bowl a lot of ****, but bowl the odd unplayable pearler and average ~35, you'll be doing well from him. And probably better than any other option out there; if Carlos is anything to go by, dropping Gabriel would result in another tall 130km/h trundler playing and the attack gets too same-y.