*Official* Sri Lanka’s Tour of the West Indies-2021- All Format

[TT Boy]

Mayers is underused with the ball when there are 4 other seamers on the pitch. Bravo in at 4 for Joseph for me

Not sure weakening the bowling is what the Windies need to do. Cornwall is still new, unproven and averages 70+ with the ball when you exclude Bangladesh and Afghanistan. If Joseph is axed, it should be a bowler coming in. You can give Gabriel a reprieve. He averages 25 at home with the ball, well under 30 for the past 20+ test matches and showed up everywhere for the Windies.

 

[JOJOXI]

Not sure weakening the bowling is what the Windies need to do. Cornwall is still new, unproven and averages 70+ with the ball when you exclude Bangladesh and Afghanistan. If Joseph is axed, it should be a bowler coming in. You can give Gabriel a reprieve. He averages 25 at home with the ball, well under 30 for the past 20+ test matches and showed up everywhere for the Windies.

Cornwall (who has no Test batting of note until this Test), Roach, C Holder (Presuming he would be the bowler coming in for Joseph) and Gabriel looks a really long tail, especially when you consider the openers are there primarily due to a lack of viable alternatives and Holder is batting 2 places higher than usual at 6. I also do think Cornwall has shown promise at home - liked his bowling in the home Test v India and this is his 2nd home test - bowling at his home ground should certainly help too. Holder and Roach had decent games with Mayers having got crucial breakthroughs in the last Test and a good domestic bowling record it would surprise me slightly if West Indies decided to play 4 seamers plus Mayers again, especially if part of that move was to get rid of the best batsman of the 8-11. I admire the positivity of the 4 seamers (and an actual spinner) approach but I do also question slightly whether the 4th seamer would bring more than Mayers with a slightly heavier bowling workload plus an extra batsman. Longer term I think its perhaps more viable - if Hope can find form to be a half-decent opener in Tests and Brathwaite can stick around and average say 35 off 100 balls and Holder with a run of games flourishes at 6 suddenly the batting looks a lot stronger.

I'd expect they will line up something like this: Brathwaite, Campbell, Bonner, Bravo, Mayers, Blackwood, da Silva (wk), Holder, Cornwall, Roach, Gabriel/C Holder.

I think with Joseph's batting if West Indies do go with 4 seamers the bowler who is most under threat is actually probably Gabriel. Whilst I am cetrtainly shifting towards adding an extra batsman I think the pitch should probably dictate that as well. I actually thought the surface had more in it then it seemed to when SL were piling on the runs - the fact Sri Lanka got only 3 wickets on the final day suggests the WI bowlers perhaps look a tad better on reflection but given I think the team will go with Joseph if they are playing 5 specialist bowlers unless the pitch is expected to turn into a bit of a bowlers graveyard its better picking your 4 best bowlers then picking either a super long tail or Joseph as a 5th bowler when I think the upside of an extra batsman is much more - Blackwood able to move down to 6 too where he has so much more success.

 

[JOJOXI]

I do think the selection of the side over the next year or so is a tough job. Blackwood done well at 6, moved up to 5 - will he find success there remains to be seen - he hasn't until now in his career but he seems an improved player so maybe a case of giving him more time there although you also risk ruining an improving player if for whatever reason they can't crack it at #5. What happens with JDS - I think moving him up the order isn't the answer but if you are the selectors what do you do - you've got this batsman with solid technique do you risk a successful keeper-batsman at 7 to answer the opener question - especially if Hope doesn't make a claim domestically for the opener slot. Its easy to say no (something I'd also say) but if , its hardly like Dowrich was failing with the bat down the order and his keeping wasn't a big factor in WI losing games I don't think.

How do you manage the bowlers, 4 specialist seamers allows you to always be trialling one of Joseph/C Holder (and likes of Seales in medium term) but it also weakens the batting massively whilst gaps in the batting remain. Playing with 3 seamers plus Mayers solves the batting issue somewhat but probably excarcebates the issue of giving new bowlers experience - its fine to say groom C Holder/Seales to be the leader of the attack in the future but if that sees just an even worse run of results in the short-term - captain/coach are under pressure. How do you manage short-term interests vs longer-term planning - this is probably the biggest series West Indies go into as favourites for a while - is this the time for experimentation? At the same time, you don't want to throw them in v Australia at the MCG and crush their career before its started and if you don't give them games at some point, Roach (who has had shoulder surgery), Gabriel (who has consistently had little injuries) both turn 33 this year - at some point in the not too distant future they will both retire and you don't want the seamers just behind them to have had little to no International experience.

Throw in the usual should players make an effort to play 4 day cricket before being considered for Test selection or do you pick on talent in shorter formats and I do think selecting the XIs for upcoming Tests is a tough ask

 

[JOJOXI]

Probably a less talked about aspect of longer series for bigger Test nations is the impact that can have on selection. If its a 4 Test match series, win the first 2 and you can rotate a bit for the last 2. Admittedly, West Indies wouldn't be 2-0 up in many 4 Test series anyway but even if Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan tour for a 3/4 match series it gives more reason to rotate. The impact of possible fatigue is greater for a long series and there is more of an argument to select a younger, upcoming bowler solely on the present if you want to avoid a first choice bowler in their 30s playing 3 Tests in 3 weeks or 4 Tests in 4 weeks. Would like to see more county deals for the bowlers - mostly Chemar Holder right now, maybe Cornwall too - ideally the batsman too but I think not many of the current batsman would interest the counties as a first-choice option.

 

[Migara]

The issue with SL bowling is all bowlers is of similar pace. Chameera clearly lacks fitness for test cricket, as he couldn't string a 140k+ over on the trot. Replacements are as worse as they come. Nuwan Pradeep is one of the best in seaming conditions but cannot last five days. Asitha Fernando is pacy, but not pacy enough with that short stature to make a challenge. Best may be to go with an additional spinner, who will at least keep things tight. Chandimal was poor, so he can be rested, and Shanaka can come in.

Thirimanne, Karunarathne, BOP, Nissanka, DDS, Dikwella, Shanaka, Hasaranga, T Bag, V. Fernando, Embuldeniya would be my 11.

 

[WICFan]

The way the pitch behaved and the short gap in between tests I'd bring Chase in for Gabriel. Lengthens the batting order and means Roach, Joseph and Holder could bowl shorter spells while Chase can roll through a few overs and has a habit of taking a wicket when they need it.

 

[Beamer]

I have a feeling they will bring in Warrican for Alzarri if they think the pitch is going to be that slow again.

 

[Shady Slim]

great stuff there from bonner and mayers proving yet again that they've got the guts you need to succeed as a test bats. i know the pitch and the lankan attack weren't doing much but a full day five to face out is never an easy feat, and they just held their nerve superbly.

re cornwall as someone mentioned his average is 70+ when you take out afghanistan and bangladesh, but also, if you take out bangladesh in bangladesh you are really goofying up the stats lol. it's not as if he's a big mean seamer who feasted on bangladesh on joburg pitches. if you take out cornwall taking down bangladesh in bangladesh then @Flem274* and i are legally allowed to ignore all of james anderson's results in england when doing an analysis tbh

 

[Prince EWS]

Chandimal was poor, so he can be rested, and Shanaka can come in.

D R O P P E D
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[Magrat Garlick]

great stuff there from bonner and mayers proving yet again that they've got the guts you need to succeed as a test bats. i know the pitch and the lankan attack weren't doing much but a full day five to face out is never an easy feat, and they just held their nerve superbly.

this kinda plays down the lankan attack imo - much more disciplined effort than eg in South Africa three months ago. Also the pitch had flattened out but towards the end of the day there was quite a bit of movement on offer.

still all credit to Bonner, a really good story there

 

[Migara]

D R O P P E D
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Chandimal is too good a player to be dropped. Having said that he may hit a ridiculous hundred in the next game, or graft and bore us to death.

 

[Tom Flint]

W

great stuff there from bonner and mayers proving yet again that they've got the guts you need to succeed as a test bats. i know the pitch and the lankan attack weren't doing much but a full day five to face out is never an easy feat, and they just held their nerve superbly.

re cornwall as someone mentioned his average is 70+ when you take out afghanistan and bangladesh, but also, if you take out bangladesh in bangladesh you are really goofying up the stats lol. it's not as if he's a big mean seamer who feasted on bangladesh on joburg pitches. if you take out cornwall taking down bangladesh in bangladesh then @Flem274* and i are legally allowed to ignore all of james anderson's results in england when doing an analysis tbh

Which parts of the days play did you watch? I was only able to tune in every ball after work an hour before tea and the ball was doing allsorts and that was when Fernando and Chameera were on. Lakmal bowled most of his overs early in the day and went at 1 an over. Bonner looked class with holder at the end those last 20 overs could have been a nightmare with a soft middle order

 

[GotSpin]

Mayers is underused with the ball when there are 4 other seamers on the pitch. Bravo in at 4 for Joseph for me

He has that useful little outswingers doesn't he

great stuff there from bonner and mayers proving yet again that they've got the guts you need to succeed as a test bats. i know the pitch and the lankan attack weren't doing much but a full day five to face out is never an easy feat, and they just held their nerve superbly.

re cornwall as someone mentioned his average is 70+ when you take out afghanistan and bangladesh, but also, if you take out bangladesh in bangladesh you are really goofying up the stats lol. it's not as if he's a big mean seamer who feasted on bangladesh on joburg pitches. if you take out cornwall taking down bangladesh in bangladesh then @Flem274* and i are legally allowed to ignore all of james anderson's results in england when doing an analysis tbh

i honestly thought there was a bit happening
Could have easily fallen apart

 

[Shady Slim]

oh yeah it's not like the lankan attack were totally impotent, and definitely around the time they uprooted blackwood they were threatening to run through them quite possibly

i think it's totally not unfair though to say the lankan attack weren't threatening for parts of the day though, which doesn't take anything away from their efforts, nor those of mayers, bonner, and holder as a) it's hard to stay aces high for an entire fifth day and b) the reserve and stoicity of the windies batting was a large part of why it was so

 

[Migara]

Lankan attack lacked an important cog from last time around. We were without Lahiru Kumara. he was the one who intimidated WIndies batters last time, and likes of Joseph, Cornwall etc, would have a tough time against him. Even Braithwaite, Blackwood and Holder struggled against him last time. Kumara has become bit slower since then, but still would have been the quickest bowler in the match.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

So Windies have announced an unchanged squad for the next game tomorrow.

Who deserves dropping? Campbell, but who opens the batting? Bravo?
Gabriel might not get rested and he’s gonna bruk down early on in the back( my version of break a leg) z

 

[Tom Flint]

It surely has to be Gabriel or Joseph out and bravo in

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Same teams.
It looks like.

We’re batting first

 

[Woodster]

No changes made to the XI of either side, which surprises me.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Kraigg wanted to bat first; Dimuth wanted to bowl first...both got what they wanted...

why a toss then? Lol