Windies Team Discussion, and Other Related Things Thread

[Beamer]

Get cottrell in for McCoy

McCoy is our best T20 seamer when fit, he's absolutely gun IMHO.

 

[Beamer]

So the Under 19 World Cup is finished for us now. We finished 11th. Definitely not our best ever Under 19 cohort but there were some significant mitigating factors including 4 of our better players not being available due to COVID and us being stuck in the group of death. Without a couple of dropped catches against Sri Lanka we might have made it to the quarter finals. But we then went and spoilt that with a brainless batting display against the UAE spinners (who in fairness were very impressive).

Still, thanks to Cricket West Indies upping it's game on the tech front, I have managed to watch more of this group than any others via live streams. So I can make fairly well informed assessments on a few of them.

Firstly, the Under 19 team management are not immune to crazy selection calls. They dropped their third best batter Anderson Amurdan (a guy who made the most runs at trials) at the last minute for Shaq Parris. Having watched both of them, I'm still not sure why.

The Positives:

Ackeem Auguste played one innings before getting COVID, a wonderful 50 against Australia when all the others struggled to time the ball. He is the most naturally gifted of this group, lets hope he learns to consistently construct an innings rather than play the shot or cameo of the day.

Teddy Bishop has been the most consistent batsman across all the trials, Youth ODI's and World Cup, scoring 2 hundreds. After all those matches he averages 46 with a strike rate in the mid 80's. Both he and Auguste are in the Windward Islands FC squad and I can't wait to see how they do.

Kevin Wickham came in as a COVID replacement, having missed most of the trials with injury. In 4 innings he averaged 80, scoring one hundred and 2 50's. He's a tall, elegant middle order batsman and just looked like he knew how to score runs. He has been scoring in Barbados senior club cricket since he was 16, so I hope he gets some FC exposure soon.

Matthew Nandu didn't have the World Cup we thought he would, but you could see during the England tour and the 128 versus PNG that he is like a mini Shiv. Definitely something to work with.

Isaiah Thorne did not take many wickets but if you watched him you would see a big, tall 17 year old already bowling up to the mid 80mph range and swinging the ball prodigiously both ways when he gets it right. He has a lot to work with but for now is a bit wild.

Shiva Shankar and Johann Layne are decent new ball swing bowlers of no great pace but good skill and accuracy. Layne is also a freakishly big hitter, like a young Pollard.

The negatives:

Rivaldo Clarke and Givonte Depeiza were two of the standouts from the trials, scoring lots of runs quickly. But both struggled at Youth ODI level. Clarke played a really good knock against Sri Lanka, but that's about it. Givonte has barely scored a run. I also thought our spinners Mahase and Amory looked ordinary compared to some of the other teams, although in fariness Amory missed quite a few matches with COVID. McKenney Clarke also looked good in the trials, bowling quickly and accurately, but was very inconsistent in the matches that followed.

I guess overall it's a slightly odd feeling because 11th is disappointing but I have a feeling quite a few of this batch might eventually make decent FC and even international players, which I guess is the whole point of the process!

 

[WICFan]

Trinidad and Tobago Squad announced.

Imran Khan (captain), Joshua Da Silva (vice-captain), Jeremy Solozano, Keagan Simmons, Jyd Goolie, Jason Mohammed, Yannic Cariah, Khary Pierre, Terrance Hinds, Anderson Phillip, Jayden Seales, Isaiah Rajah, Kirstan Kallicharan, Bryan Charles, Shannon Gabriel.

 

[Beamer]

It's just a shame that the opportunities get less and less after around the ages of 13 to 15," Bethell says.

https://t.co/uPjHJ02ON9

Heart with West Indies, head with England basically. It's what I expected .

We have to fill that gap and have some sort of competition for the under 23s so they can actually play cricket and feel they have a chance to progress. You can't blame someone like Bethell for making that decision, it was definitely in his best interest.

 

[WICFan]

It's just a shame that the opportunities get less and less after around the ages of 13 to 15," Bethell says.

https://t.co/uPjHJ02ON9

Heart with West Indies, head with England basically. It's what I expected .

We have to fill that gap and have some sort of competition for the under 23s so they can actually play cricket and feel they have a chance to progress. You can't blame someone like Bethell for making that decision, it was definitely in his best interest.

Yeah, would like to see more involvement at that level, the retainer process at domestic level could be reviewed, 90 professional contracts being given out for very little return. Get some of these younger lads on programmes/deals and into the domestic structure.

 

[Beamer]

Our ODI batting really stinks. There are three batsmen occupying key positions in this team who really shouldn;t be there (King, Brooks, Bravo).

Before the pandemic ODI's were actually our best format. We were building some momentum because we had 3 batsmen woth outstanding records in Hope, Pooran and Hety. Hope and Pooran are on a run of slightly poor form and Hety keeps eating rotis. We need to get the band back together:

Evin Lewis
Shai Hope (wk)
Shimron Hetmeyer
Jason Holder
Nicholas Pooran
Kieron Pollard
Fabian Allen
Odean Smith
Akheil Hossein
Alzarri Joseph
Kemar Roach/Obed McCoy/Hayden Walsh Jr

THat is a much better side tbh and should be competitive. We need to get back to that asap.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Our ODI batting really stinks. There are three batsmen occupying key positions in this team who really shouldn;t be there (King, Brooks, Bravo).

Before the pandemic ODI's were actually our best format. We were building some momentum because we had 3 batsmen woth outstanding records in Hope, Pooran and Hety. Hope and Pooran are on a run of slightly poor form and Hety keeps eating rotis. We need to get the band back together:

Evin Lewis
Shai Hope (wk)
Shimron Hetmeyer
Jason Holder
Nicholas Pooran
Kieron Pollard
Fabian Allen
Odean Smith
Akheil Hossein
Alzarri Joseph
Kemar Roach/Obed McCoy/Hayden Walsh Jr

THat is a much better side tbh and should be competitive. We need to get back to that asap.

Our team should have guys playing all the formats.
All of the top teams in the world have test players playing in the limited teams.
Look at how many guys in the Australia T20 wc winning team are part of the test team.

 

[WICFan]

Lewis and Hetmyer returning with the addition of Powell or Mayers would hopefully improve the ODI side.

Also, I'd probably let Roach concentrate on the longer format.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

For me, the ideal ODI lineup is as follows:

1. Evin Lewis
2. Kyle Mayers
3. Shai Hope
4. Shimron Hetmyer
5. Rovman Powell
6. Nicholas Pooran
7. Jason Holder
8. Romario Shepherd
9. Fabien Allen/Alzarri
10. Odean Smith/Jayden Seales
11. Akeal Hosein/Gudakesh Motie/Hayden Walsh Jr.

A good mixture of pace-spin.

Pollard is done.

 

[Beamer]

One excellent piece of news that came in during the Antigua test was the re-establishment of a High Performance Centre, now to be called the Emerging Players Centre and to be hosted in Antigua instead of Barbados.

The first intake for the CWI Emerging Players Academy will start in July 2022 and run for a year. Up to thirty (30) players will be selected from both the Men’s and Women’s talent pool, aged between 19 and 25. The aim is to bridge the gap after the West Indies Under-19 level and assist their progression into one of the six Territorial Board Franchise squads, with the intention that they will graduate to earn one of the fifteen (15) retainer contracts available in each team.

This is an essential move so that the most can be made of the likes of Alick Athanaze, Kirstan Kallicharan, Teddy Bishop, Ackeem Auguste and Isaiah Thorne. I hope it solves the problem of us competing at Under 19 level and then losing a whole bunch of players who don;t even get the opportunity to play FC cricket.

 

[WICFan]

Yes, a good move.

i'd like to see the addition of an HPC/Emerging players side in both domestic competitions, they could use the two draft slots to be filled by more experienced players to guide them along and coaching staff like Shiv and Ambrose.

 

[Beamer]

Yes, a good move.

i'd like to see the addition of an HPC/Emerging players side in both domestic competitions, they could use the two draft slots to be filled by more experienced players to guide them along and coaching staff like Shiv and Ambrose.

I'm all for that. You could draft in the likes of Devon Smith and Jason Mohammed, experienced pros near the end but who would add valuable experience and knowhow to the academy players.

 

[Tom Flint]

I'm all for that. You could draft in the likes of Devon Smith and Jason Mohammed, experienced pros near the end but who would add valuable experience and knowhow to the academy players.

Devon Smith is just getting started

 

[WICFan]

Cricket West Indies (CWI) has named 16 players for a white ball camp to be held at the Coolidge Cricket Ground from Thursday, March 31 to Wednesday, April 13.

Head Coach, Phil Simmons outlined that the camp will focus on improving skill sets as the West Indies look ahead to two major global events over the next two years – the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia later this year and the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup to be played in India.

List - Nkrumah Bonner, Darren Bravo, Shamarh Brooks, Keacy Carty, Roston Chase, Justin Greaves, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Shai Hope, Brandon King, Kjorn Ottley, Keemo Paul, Anderson Phillip, Raymon Reifer, Nial Smith, Devon Thomas, Nyeem Young.

Obviously some of the players involved in the white ball format are on IPL duty but a bit of a head scratcher with some of the names mentioned.

 

[trundler]

An England series is always cause for optimism in the Caribbean. WI need to unearth one decent middle order batsman and hope Bonner continues to be test standard. They have the makings of a very good team now.

 

[GotSpin]

An England series is always cause for optimism in the Caribbean. WI need to unearth one decent middle order batsman and hope Bonner continues to be test standard. They have the makings of a very good team now.

WI can't compete until they find another opener and a consistent middle order bat - Both averaging at least in the forties. That hasn't happened for a very long time

 

[Beamer]

WI can't compete until they find another opener and a consistent middle order bat - Both averaging at least in the forties. That hasn't happened for a very long time

Yep agreed. I also think the spin option is up for debate, I'd like to see someone who genuinely spins the ball.

 

[Beamer]

Obviously some of the players involved in the white ball format are on IPL duty but a bit of a head scratcher with some of the names mentioned.

Yeah that is a weird training group. It's neither a group of youngsters to look at nor players on the cusp of selection. Also, there are no spinners other than Chase. Odd.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Yeah that is a weird training group. It's neither a group of youngsters to look at nor players on the cusp of selection. Also, there are no spinners other than Chase. Odd.

I think it’s high time they open a spin academy

Either in Guyana or Trinidad

 

[Beamer]

I think it’s high time they open a spin academy

Either in Guyana or Trinidad

Hopefully at a minimum a few spinners, especially wrist spinners, will be included at the new academy.