**Official** West Indies in South Africa Thread

[Langeveldt]

Its cold, dark and wet here and I cant wait to sit in front of the fire and watch Polly and the lads get stuck into the West Indies..

Like the last few times, Lara is the key man, and I think he will do well, but will a one man band win test matches for the West Indies?

I think South Africa will win 3-1... I don't think it will be the rout that it was last time around...

 

[Craig]

And the series starts in 15 days time as well. We always get coverage of South African cricket so I can wait.

I have a funny feeling Greame Smith will be licking his lips at the West Indies inexperienced bowling line-up.

And in this series ex-captain Gary Kirsten will play his 100th Test if picked (unless he is injuried or surprisingly retires).

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

I have a feeling that Lara will lift his game against South Africa.

I'm very excited about the series for several reasons:

1/ Lara is still in form and having a huge calender year. He's also on the verge of becoming leading West Indian Test century-maker.

2/ I've only seen Graeme Smith bat once - 33 (?) v Sri Lanka in the WC.

3/ Fidel Edwards and Jerome Taylor will be fit again.

A couple of things to keep in mind...

1/ Jacobs has managed to lift his game against the tougher teams (ie Australia and South Africa) so far in his career and he will be a crucial player for us.

2/ Chanderpaul is still in excellent form, but he keeps getting bad decisions.

3/ Omari Banks has excellent technique and plays straight most of the time. As such, I think he will do well (defensively at least) against Pollock, who bowls so straight.

4/ Hinds will likely falter due to lack of foot movement. Gayle too has this problem, but his height and reach helps make up for it.

5/ Collymore is very much capable of swinging the ball and with his accuracy, he could do some things in South Africa.

Some food for thought.

 

[Craig]

And Vasbert Drakes who has played for a number of years with Border, so he would IMO have some sort of an advantage to the West Indies.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

I'd forgotten about that. That's very true and will be very much a factor.

 

[Craig]

Will there be/or in your opinion any changes to the squad to SA?

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

I'm holding out hope that Rampaul gets a ticket home and Daren Powell or Ian Bradshaw gets a call (or maybe Dave Mohammed ) but I think that that is unlikely. The squad will very likely remain the same.

Still waiting for my call though.

 

[Salamuddin]

South africa start favourites but the West Indian batsmen would definitely fancy their chances against a rather predictable South African attack.

 

[Craig]

Kallis, Ntini and Pollock would be most likely to challenge the WI batsmen.

Adams if picked would probably be spanked by Lara, Ganga, Sarwan, and Chanderpaul.

 

[Mister Wright]

I hope the West Indies absolutely flog the South African's and put the extremely over-rated Graham Smith back in his place.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

That would be Graeme.

 

[marc71178]

I have a funny feeling Greame Smith will be licking his lips at the West Indies inexperienced bowling line-up.

If they were watching this summer, then they'll have worked him out.

Pity it took England 2 games to do that, but once they did, he was shown to not be as great as some people thought.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Even in thos 2 big knocks, he was lucky.

In the 1st test, on one of the few occasions Ashley Giles has bowled well, he was very unlucky and could have had him out several times.

In the 2nd test, remember Hussain dropping him whe he was on something like 8? It was a simple chance, too, that he would have taken 99 times out of 100

 

[Mister Wright]

And the series starts in 15 days time as well. We always get coverage of South African cricket so I can wait.

I have a funny feeling Greame Smith will be licking his lips at the West Indies inexperienced bowling line-up.

And in this series ex-captain Gary Kirsten will play his 100th Test if picked (unless he is injuried or surprisingly retires).

If you have the opinion that Hayden is a flat-track bully. Graeme Smith is the biggest exponent of this factor. Against good bowling he is crap!

 

[marc71178]

In the 1st test, on one of the few occasions Ashley Giles has bowled well, he was very unlucky and could have had him out several times.

One of the few in England I assume you mean?

 

[Tom Halsey]

Yes. To be fair, he did bowl well on the Pakistan tour in 2000/01

 

[marc71178]

And in SL.

Also, reports suggest he was very much on song yesterday.

Could it just be that he isn't as bad a bowler as a lot of people would like to make out?

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Could it just be that he isn't as bad a bowler as a lot of people would like to make out?

Perhaps. Could it also be that he's neither South African nor West Indian?

 

[Langeveldt]

If you have the opinion that Hayden is a flat-track bully. Graeme Smith is the biggest exponent of this factor. Against good bowling he is crap!

So you are therefore saying that England's bowling is rubbish? He only plundered two double centuries against them this summer...

I think a lot of people would beg to differ about that...

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

So you are therefore saying that England's bowling is rubbish? He only plundered two double centuries against them this summer...

I think a lot of people would beg to differ about that...

From the reports I've heard and read, the English bowling wasn't exactly top class.