*Official* Australia in West Indies Thread

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Sarwan out to a ridiculously horrible stroke. Samuels just out.

222/5 (Lara 111*)

Bernard Jr. hits his first ball for 4.

 

[Anil]

Guess it will be a one man fight by Lara to delay what seems more or less inevitable now, yet another Aussie victory. Are any of the remaining players decent batsmen?

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Bernard Jr. out to a loose shot.

Baugh is a very talented bat, but this is way too much for him to do.

 

[Anil]

Bichel is on fire. 3-20 in 11. Hopefully we can see some fireworks from Lara before the end of the innings.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Bichel's bowling has not been threatening at all, but it's been some horrible strokeplay by the young players.

I'm extremely disappointed in Sarwan.

 

[Anil]

Bichel's bowling has not been threatening at all, but it's been some horrible strokeplay by the young players.

I'm extremely disappointed in Sarwan.

I'm obviously not watching the match live, but those figures seemed very impressive to me.......anyway....if the West Indian players are shooting themselves in the foot...Poor Lara, he seems to be in great form, and if any two of Sarwan, Samuels or Hinds had given him adequate support, I'm sure he would have made a real fight of it....

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Lara out for 122. Brilliant innings. He's in the best form I've ever seen him. He's scoring runs for fun.

Not hard to see why Murali said that Lara is the best batsman he ever bowled to, after seeing Lara's last 3 innings.

 

[Anil]

It's all over bar the shouting......

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Baugh out.

 

[Anil]

Not hard to see why Murali said that Lara is the best batsman he ever bowled to, after seeing Lara's last 3 innings.

Yeah, Tendulkar has been more consistent, but he really hasn't completely dominated a test series against a top cricketing nation like Lara has....

 

[krkode]

That was nearly a one man show from Lara. True grit. Hero.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Yeah, Tendulkar has been more consistent, but he really hasn't completely dominated a test series against a top cricketing nation like Lara has....

Also, Lara seems to be finding that consistency. Look at it - 23 (allegedly LBW :rolleyes: ), 110, 91, 122.

 

[Anil]

Also, Lara seems to be finding that consistency. Look at it - 23 (allegedly LBW :rolleyes: ), 110, 91, 122.

I didn't mean over a series, I meant career consistency. Over a series, he had even more fab aggregates during the last visit by Aus, the tour to SL, visit to Aus....

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

I didn't mean over a series, I meant career consistency. Over a series, he had even more fab aggregates during the last visit by Aus, the tour to SL, visit to Aus....

My point is that from watching Lara bat in this series he seems unstoppable. It seems as though the Aussies can't get him out. It looks as though he has 'arrived'. This may seem odd, considering he had 18 centuries and 375/501* behind him, but in this series he seems to have realized himself. The consistency may just come into his game from now on.

IMO Lara is in better form now than he was in 1999, when the Aussies last came. Feel free to disagree.

 

[Top_Cat]

Lara scores two centuries for the series and a 90, Ganga scores two hundreds and yet the WI STILL aren't even competitive, losing by 9 wickets and over 100 runs.

Looks like the nay-sayers amonst us were right about Lara batting like a millionare whist the rest of the team flounders. Can't say I'm shocked.

 

[Tim]

Well nobody can complain about Lara not leading from the front. You can't really blame Lara in the field either, the selectors made a giant mistake by only having 3 specialist bowlers & even though the pitch was a belter Lara can't do much about indisciplined bowlers bowling half-trackers.

The Windies team is in-experienced but the Australian bowling was somewhat nulified by the excellent batting conditions & if these guys have talent they should have relished in the conditions. This is where you can separate the men from the boys so to speak.

 

[Cloete]

yeah the WI bowling needs to pick up. they should try some new bowlers. i mean they've got nothing to lose now!!! Liam u know n e bowlers worthy of a place?

 

[Tim]

But that attack included probably their two best & most experienced bowlers in Drakes & Dillon aswell as Collins who I recall bowled quite well against NZ last year.

I seriously doubt they'll call up 3 or 4 quicks with limited experience because its not a good way to start your career against the Australian batsmen on pitches which are ideal for batting on.

What they need is for Dillon & Drakes to lead from the front & hope that Lawson returns, that might give them a chance in the final 2 tests.

 

[Cloete]

But that attack included probably their two best & most experienced bowlers in Drakes & Dillon aswell as Collins who I recall bowled quite well against NZ last year.

I seriously doubt they'll call up 3 or 4 quicks with limited experience because its not a good way to start your career against the Australian batsmen on pitches which are ideal for batting on.

What they need is for Dillon & Drakes to lead from the front & hope that Lawson returns, that might give them a chance in the final 2 tests.

no wat i meant was that they should call up 1 or 2 young quicks. keep drakes and dillon in there of course. but u never know... that's how they found samuels. by placing him into the team when they had the series over here in 2000. stranger things have happened

 

[Tim]

Well I think they have picked..umm i think his name is Tino Best.
Well they've got nothing to lose, maybe they should throw caution to the wind & open up with Best & Lawson & see what happens.