*Official* South Africa Tour of the West Indies, AUGUST 6th to 26th, 2024-- 2 TESTS & 3 T20Is

[TT Boy]

Sa are at the bottom because India, Australia, England steal all the fixtures .

They are also sending Mickey Mouse sides to NZ and arranging 2 test home series. Their current positioning is their own doing.

 

[Beamer]

Brathwaite quite content to block Maharaj, not even attempting to rotate strike or put pressure on the bowler.

I'm honestly so bored of this approach. It's just a matter of time until one keeps low or they make a mistake, unless you get Maharaj off this length.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

I'm honestly so bored of this approach. It's just a matter of time until one keeps low or they make a mistake, unless you get Maharaj off this length.

They’ve allowed Maharaj to send in 13 maidens. This approach is outdated.

 

[Hogey]

Unfortunately most of the attacking West Indian batsmen don't want to play test cricket. So you're left with the likes of Braithwaite blocking out maiden after maiden.

 

[Beamer]

Unfortunately most of the attacking West Indian batsmen don't want to play test cricket. So you're left with the likes of Braithwaite blocking out maiden after maiden.

As a brand it's pretty toxic. I pretty much only enjoy it when we bowl nowadays and I'm.an absolute diehard fan. Can't complain at the low crowds when a) there is zero marketing in T & T b) they would be paying to watch this style of batting.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Unfortunately most of the attacking West Indian batsmen don't want to play test cricket. So you're left with the likes of Braithwaite blocking out maiden after maiden.

Good observation. You can’t call yourself a quality batter if you are running away from the hardest test. Our batters, I think, makes an initial splash…then gets noticed by the $$$ money men. Gets offered insane offers, and then disappears. It’s the mantra from way back.

Money talks, and bull$hit walks

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

As a brand it's pretty toxic. I pretty much only enjoy it when we bowl nowadays and I'm.an absolute diehard fan. Can't complain at the low crowds when a) there is zero marketing in T & T b) they would be paying to watch this style of batting.

TT is heavily on the white ball thing. The majority of them grew up with the Bravos and the Pollards. If I was a PR person (& if I had money to spend ) for an ad agency, I’d stick Jayden Seales’s face on majority of billboards in the Twin Island republic.

In Guyana, there’s a billboard with Shamar Joseph and his exploits in test cricket in Berbice.

It goes to show, you put it on at the pinnacle of cricket; you’d get noticed and be a role model for many young ones.

 

[Beamer]

TT is heavily on the white ball thing. The majority of them grew up with the Bravos and the Pollards. If I was a PR person (& if I had money to spend ) for an ad agency, I’d stick Jayden Seales’s face on majority of billboards in the Twin Island republic.

In Guyana, there’s a billboard with Shamar Joseph and his exploits in test cricket in Berbice.

It goes to show, you put it on at the pinnacle of cricket; you’d get noticed and be a role model for many young ones.

I honestly think attendance would go up if we had batsmen people actually look forward to watching, at least in the evening sessions and on the weekend.

Who in this XI would you see hit a signature shot and think it worth the entrance fee? Athanaze can sometimes play like that, but not consistently. I'm not paying 50 USD to watch Kraigg tickle it down the leg side for 2.

Even the previous generation of Shiv, Gayle, Sarwan and Samuels you'd happily pay to watch. Shiv for his occasional and unexpectedly glorious coverdrives or savage pulls, Gayle for his unprecedented destructiveness and Sarwan and Samuels for pure elegance and class.

I am struggling to justify the time I have to invest to watch this lot bat, if I'm truly honest. I cannot blame any West Indian for only tuning in when Shamar and Seales are bowling.

 

[WpGuy]

They are also sending Mickey Mouse sides to NZ and arranging 2 test home series. Their current positioning is their own doing.

Sa t20 league and ICC chooses tests and schedules imagine if sa could choose.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

I honestly think attendance would go up if we had batsmen people actually look forward to watching, at least in the evening sessions and on the weekend.

Who in this XI would you see hit a signature shot and think it worth the entrance fee? Athanaze can sometimes play like that, but not consistently. I'm not paying 50 USD to watch Kraigg tickle it down the leg side for 2.

Even the previous generation of Shiv, Gayle, Sarwan and Samuels you'd happily pay to watch. Shiv for his occasional and unexpectedly glorious coverdrives or savage pulls, Gayle for his unprecedented destructiveness and Sarwan and Samuels for pure elegance and class.

I am struggling to justify the time I have to invest to watch this lot bat, if I'm truly honest. I cannot blame any West Indian for only tuning in when Shamar and Seales are bowling.

They were showing a stat early in the day today. Mikyle Lewis scored 32 of his 33 runs on the front foot.

Now let me address the plight of our batsmen not having the mettle to battle, and when I say battle I don’t mean block block block. There is no generational talent in this team with regards to batting. They will always regress to their average. I may sound harsh here, but I don’t give a ****.

There was a shift in the paradigm somewhere around Allen Stanford. Trinidad was the bastion of below FC excellence. Some of my fellow club members were recruited to play in these leagues (red ball). This created a void of mediocre batsmen in my country because all the best went to Trinidad…and I may say that at that time Champions League came and the rest was history.

The decline also can be attributed to not having a proper sponsor to provide the funds to host the 4-day game. FC cricket back in the day included cricket being played in all the territories for that season. Now, it’s just a single country (or two if we are lucky)

This setting doesn’t build champions any and which way we turn and twist this…

We deserve better. We have a rich cricketing history and the bigger people are suffocating us with schupidness!!!

 

[Beamer]

They were showing a stat early in the day today. Mikyle Lewis scored 32 of his 33 runs on the front foot.

Now let me address the plight of our batsmen not having the mettle to battle, and when I say battle I don’t mean block block block. There is no generational talent in this team with regards to batting. They will always regress to their average. I may sound harsh here, but I don’t give a ****.

There was a shift in the paradigm somewhere around Allen Stanford. Trinidad was the bastion of below FC excellence. Some of my fellow club members were recruited to play in these leagues (red ball). This created a void of mediocre batsmen in my country because all the best went to Trinidad…and I may say that at that time Champions League came and the rest was history.

The decline also can be attributed to not having a proper sponsor to provide the funds to host the 4-day game. FC cricket back in the day included cricket being played in all the territories for that season. Now, it’s just a single country (or two if we are lucky)

This setting doesn’t build champions any and which way we turn and twist this…

We deserve better. We have a rich cricketing history and the bigger people are suffocating us with schupidness!!!

Couldn't agree more. None of these batsmen are special. It's so depressing.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Couldn't agree more. None of these batsmen are special. It's so depressing.

The last batsman I had high hopes for coming into our test team was Shimron Hetmyer. But, looking back at things and seeing how his situation was handled, it’s depressing.

His personal life was seeping into his professional life and then we have quite a few episodes of soap opera.

Any other country with that talent would have nurtured him.

Now he’s a plying his trade exclusively in the white ball format. A shame.

 

[Kenneth Viljoen]

Judging by the way West Indies have batted, they are happy for a draw which makes Conrad's conservative selections look even more ridiculous now.

 

[Himannv]

Sa are at the bottom because India, Australia, England steal all the fixtures .

The SA board are absolutely the worst this year in terms of setting up International fixtures for their team. Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan have been far better at this despite their other problems. If you want fixtures there are options available for tours to be set up even now, but they preferred to focus on T20s this year because...

Other boards are just doing it right.

 

[StephenZA]

The SA board are absolutely the worst this year in terms of setting up International fixtures for their team. Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan have been far better at this despite their other problems. If you want fixtures there are options available for tours to be set up even now, but they preferred to focus on T20s this year because...

Other boards are just doing it right.

They doing it because of years of extreme financial mismanagement without increasing the game or the infrastructure or fixing the demographics issue.

So the short term financial solution is the SA20 and not scheduling expensive international tests but trying to make money on T20 internationals. Thus slowly destroying the long term prospects of the game in SA.

 

[Bahseph]

Really needed a second spinner here. Unfortunately we don't even have a part timer who is on a Duminy level either.

 

[Prince EWS]

Really needed a second spinner here. Unfortunately we don't even have a part timer who is on a Duminy level either.

Duminy was genuinely a batting all rounder IMO. Had a great action for an offie. It's a high bar.

Markram and Stubbs are... yeah, a very big drop, though.

 

[SeamUp]

I honestly think attendance would go up if we had batsmen people actually look forward to watching, at least in the evening sessions and on the weekend.

Who in this XI would you see hit a signature shot and think it worth the entrance fee? Athanaze can sometimes play like that, but not consistently. I'm not paying 50 USD to watch Kraigg tickle it down the leg side for 2.

Even the previous generation of Shiv, Gayle, Sarwan and Samuels you'd happily pay to watch. Shiv for his occasional and unexpectedly glorious coverdrives or savage pulls, Gayle for his unprecedented destructiveness and Sarwan and Samuels for pure elegance and class.

I am struggling to justify the time I have to invest to watch this lot bat, if I'm truly honest. I cannot blame any West Indian for only tuning in when Shamar and Seales are bowling.

That's the problem isn't it?

You want a positive attacking brand of batsmanship but being able to balance risk & execution seems to have got tougher. Only the very best batsman find that balance. Is there not a place still in test cricket for the guy who has to work for his runs and can get them consistently or more than most even if not entertaining or aesthetically pleasing.

It's one of the interesting debates in the game for me right now & where test cricket is going.

 

[Prince EWS]

You can't pick the side based on expected attendance numbers. That sets a horrible precedent.

 

[WpGuy]

That's the problem isn't it?

You want a positive attacking brand of batsmanship but being able to balance risk & execution seems to have got tougher. Only the very best batsman find that balance. Is there not a place still in test cricket for the guy who has to work for his runs and can get them consistently or more than most even if not entertaining or aesthetically pleasing.

It's one of the interesting debates in the game for me right now & where test cricket is going.

I prefer the grind batting mixed with a few hitters as all teams always had and good contest between bat and ball weather a seekers wicket or spinners, we already have 50 overs t20 and the 100, to slog.