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

[SillyCowCorner1]

Shamar! Yeah boy!

 

[StephenZA]

SA should have played the extra batsmen...

 

[CartyDurham]

And another one goes .

anyone remember when England used to collapse in the Windies and the crowd sang “London Bridge is falling down ?

don’t know if the saffers have an equivalent

 

[Nintendo]

Stubbs has not looked like a test #3 so far, but he's survived.

 

[Beamer]

Stubbs has not looked like a test #3 so far, but he's survived.

At this stage he looks like the perfect guy to come in and dominate at 5 or 6 to me. He has been very lucky so far. But as you said, he is still there and that is what matters.

 

[Chin Music]

Can only make runs against Bangladesh.

I was thinking of him more for his bowling. I see Holder as a bit of a spare part these days. Surely those who coin it in at least 3 tournaments especially if at least one of those are IPL or BBL must have enough dough to consider a bit of time playing international cricket. I take the point that many players from non 'big 3' countries are hardly earning a fortune playing international cricket, but the other side of the coin (if you pardon the pun) is that they must surely be minted enough not to need to go on the franchise treadmill after a couple of big paydays there.

 

[Prince EWS]

And another one goes .

anyone remember when England used to collapse in the Windies and the crowd sang “London Bridge is falling down ?

don’t know if the saffers have an equivalent

East London Museum is falling down?

 

[Prince EWS]

At this stage he looks like the perfect guy to come in and dominate at 5 or 6 to me. He has been very lucky so far. But as you said, he is still there and that is what matters.

Yeah I think he's gonna be a good Test player but the batting order isn't right tbh.

 

[CartyDurham]

Imagine if there were no franchises or t20 etc leagues

what sort of team could the West Indies field ?

 

[Beamer]

I was thinking of him more for his bowling. I see Holder as a bit of a spare part these days. Surely those who coin it in at least 3 tournaments especially if at least one of those are IPL or BBL must have enough dough to consider a bit of time playing international cricket. I take the point that many players from non 'big 3' countries are hardly earning a fortune playing international cricket, but the other side of the coin (if you pardon the pun) is that they must surely be minted enough not to need to go on the franchise treadmill after a couple of big paydays there.

I'm still hoping that is what will encourage Pooran to play tests, but it will require some flexibility from our selectors and they have never demonstrated the ability to think outside of the box.

 

[Kenneth Viljoen]

This is excellent bowling from the Windies ..
We need to counter punch

 

[Prince EWS]

Imagine if there were no franchises or t20 etc leagues

what sort of team could the West Indies field ?

It's harder to guess than we think because we don't really know how good these blokes would be if they actually dedicated their careers to Tests. Very talented players with good domestic careers fail in Tests all the time, especially batsmen.

But yeah their most talented cricketers mostly aren't playing.

 

[Stefan9]

West Indies have been excellent but SA have also not done anything to try and disrupt them. Dug a big hole for ourselves.

 

[Beamer]

West Indies have been excellent but SA have also not done anything to try and disrupt them. Dug a big hole for ourselves.

Ironically that is exactly what we did wrong in our first innings against Maharaj. Way too passive.

 

[Bahseph]

I know we question Holder's place in the team but I am quietly pleased that he wants to keep playing Tests. Endears him to me.

 

[Beamer]

Speed guns in the Caribbean are consistently slower than almost anywhere else. I know this because it records slow speeds for overseas bowlers also. There is no way this is 135kph. In England this would be 140kph plus.

 

[Prince EWS]

I know we question Holder's place in the team but I am quietly pleased that he wants to keep playing Tests. Endears him to me.

It's always been his best format.

I think a big part of the problem is that the West Indies have had a much better bowling line-up than batting lineup lately, so he's been encouraged to focus more on developing his batting and less on bowling even though he he'd basically be Chris Woakes for any other side.

But yeah great that he still actually wants to do it, either way.

 

[Tom Flint]

Why is holders place in the team getting questioned? Okay he may be too high up the order at no 6 but he still makes plenty of decent contributions. He's a great no 8. He would be in my England xi.

 

[Prince EWS]

Why is holders place in the team getting questioned? Okay he may be too high up the order at no 6 but he still makes plenty of decent contributions. He's a great no 8. He would be in my England xi.

Bowling has declined (as I think they planned/prepared for) without the equivalent increase in batting output they hoped for.

If he's batting 7-8 where he should be then he's competing against other bowlers, not sure if he comes off looking good against them anymore.

Ideally he wouldn't have been pushed into becoming a batting all rounder and could have just focused on bowling while making a few runs in cameos. But that's not what happened and his bowling has suffered.

 

[Beamer]

Bowling has declined (as I think they planned/prepared for) without the equivalent increase in batting output they hoped for.

If he's batting 7-8 where he should be then he's competing against other bowlers, not sure if he comes off looking good against them anymore.

Ideally he wouldn't have been pushed into becoming a batting all rounder and could have just focused on bowling while making a few runs in cameos. But that's not what happened and his bowling has suffered.

He also started prioritising white ball bowling. If you look at the decline in his bowling stats, they coincide exactly with his taking up of T20 contracts.