***Official*** West Indies in Australia

[SquidAU]

Brett Lee has made the excellent decision to concentrate on line and length instead of bouncers and yorkers!

What? No more bouncers!

If this makes him a better bowler, I am all for it. It means we can have someone like Shaun Tait leaking the runs, instead of Lee AND Tait doing it!

 

[parttimer]

Maybe Hodge not being an opener had something to do with it?

If you can't face the new ball why should you be in the team. Let him prove himself

 

[tooextracool]

Yeah im very bias towards ricardo powell cause i love his game when on song like afridi im an avid supporter of both, i agree his bowling wouldnt be great and overall i agree with your sentiments completely.

how anyone can rate ricardo powell i'll never know. easily the worst player to play more than 100 ODIs. and i really wonder, how many times has ricardo powell been on song in his international career in any form of the game? sometime 6 years ago against india.

 

[tooextracool]

you sure Lawson has better control than Edwars i'm not so sure about that. While i know west indies might struggle if MacGill plays sine the majority of their batsman cant play quality spin well, their has been much speculation that the gabba will bring assistance the the seamers & thus Bracken could well & be a handful...

im not sure what you've seen off edwards. not only has he lacked control but he also lacks a cricketing brain, both of which are vital to be anywhere near a quality bowler.

 

[tooextracool]

Bracken's debut in Brisbane against India was terrible, considering he is considered a swing bowler. I know the pitch was flat, but he couldn't have asked for better conditions. It was overcast for all but the last day and a half and there was rain around everywhere. His wickets in the 2nd innings were lucky, and in the first he didn't threaten at all.

it was sunny for all of the last 2 days actually and that was when bracken did the bulk of his bowling.

 

[Nate]

Meh, I just hope he does well.

 

[tooextracool]

if it swings he might. if it doesnt he'll be slaughtered.

 

[marc71178]

Maybe Hodge not being an opener had something to do with it?

Now now, don't use logic Dasa!

 

[marc71178]

Brett Lee has made the excellent decision to concentrate on line and length instead of bouncers and yorkers!

What? No more bouncers!

If this makes him a better bowler, I am all for it. It means we can have someone like Shaun Tait leaking the runs, instead of Lee AND Tait doing it!

It'll be interesting to see if he can do it straight away or not - a pretty big change in focus!

 

[Linda]

North? Rogers? Please. Good players they are, Test number 4's overnight they aren't. Be realistic.

Not to mention Rogers is an opener...

 

[SquidAU]

It'll be interesting to see if he can do it straight away or not - a pretty big change in focus!

Well, we'll find out over the Aussie summer.......

He probably won't be able to help himself in the next 5 days.....

 

[age_master]

You can't turn openers into middle-order players. They tried the same with Greg Blewett and it didn't exactly work out for him. This whole 'they can bat anywhere' is rubbish; Justin Langer and David Boon were the only Australian players in many years who could bat opening or number 3. Even then, that's mainly because they didn't have to change their games very much. Batting Hussey or Jacques lower than 3 means they have to re-invent themselves as middle-order players when they're openers. Completeley different mindset and quite a few technical changes are required.

Bat players where they've played most of their career or pick someone else. It's not fair on them to do otherwise. Same with Watson; either he bats top 6 or shouldn't be picked.



North? Rogers? Please. Good players they are, Test number 4's overnight they aren't. Be realistic.

overnight? duh no, but over time, yes, Michael Clarke will improve over time though too?


as for Openers in the middle order, its a myth for mine. all in the mind. something that Hussey in particular would overcome fairly easily, hes a very versatile bat. Jaques iim sure ive seen bat at 3 and 4 before too.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

if it swings he might. if it doesnt he'll be slaughtered.

That's pretty much how Bracken usually is. You only have to look at his recent FC record to see that when he gets it right and has conditions in his favour he can be quite a devastating bowler, and when he doesn't he's at best average and sometimes very poor.

He averaged under 20 in the 2004/05 season, but if you take away his 7/4 and 6/39 in the swing friendly conditions he got at the SCG against SA and then in the final at the Gabba against Queensland, his record was rather average.

I don't think that necessarily makes him a crap bowler though, it just makes him relatively one-dimensional. If he can perform when conditions are decent for him enough and be at least economical when he's not taking wickets he could be a useful bowler. He's certainly the best outright swing bowler in Australia.

 

[shaka]

most people could probably predict that MacGill would be 12th man for the next test. However is he really an ideal 12th man, I doubt it as he is not the best fielder or better than average fielder.

 

[andyc]

most people could probably predict that MacGill would be 12th man for the next test. However is he really an ideal 12th man, I doubt it as he is not the best fielder or better than average fielder.

He's being released to play for NSW, I read.

 

[shaka]

Do you blame the decision? probably for the best.

 

[Burpey]

He's certainly the best outright swing bowler in Australia

That's why he should have gone to England.

My prediction for the first Test: Australia will slaughter the Windies bowlers, but the Windies batsmen will put up a very good fight against the likes of McGrath and Warne

 

[Nate]

It wasn`t swinging when he got his 5-for against SA last week. He used seam movement to get four of the wickets, one ball cut back so much it was unplayable.

But yes, Test matches are another game, SA is weak, blah! Even if it doesn`t swing, I don`t think he`ll get carted, as he`ll go for L&L for some result. Best of luck 12 Sep, Leftie, Nath man. And Bracken too.

 

[howardj]

The problem for Bracken is that he struggles where the conditions are not favourable. To that end, in Tests these days, pitches are often very flat and pretty good for batting.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

I think he can do well if he uses the seam like he did against SA.