***Official*** West Indies tour of Australia, Jan–Feb 2024

[Beamer]

I reckon Greaves could be a better pick for the ODI side. His List A batting record is much better, particularly the last season or two where he gunned it despite not bowling (I think he just wasn't fit to bowl?)

Completely agree r.e Greaves. He'll open the batting in the ODIs. I think he has a reasonable chance of doing well, but he's not quite good enough for tests.

 

[Prince EWS]

I dont want Jason Holder back..he sucks.... Future is Joseph/Joseph/Seales/and a 4th bowler TBD...Batting wise Shai Hope needs to be included he is obviously the best batsman in the islands....no idea why he wasnt playing in Australia.. Tejnarine is pretty bad as well and Braithwaite is quite terrible too

Fouth bowler should be Motie or Sinclair.

I don't mind the idea of moving on from Holder being picked as a specialist bowler at full strength - Roach is still better and the three you named have more upside - but he's still the best allrounder available IMO, unless you want to either give Sinclair nosebleeds at 7 or see a lot more of Brathwaite's straight breaks.

 

[Beamer]

I dont want Jason Holder back..he sucks.... Future is Joseph/Joseph/Seales/and a 4th bowler TBD...Batting wise Shai Hope needs to be included he is obviously the best batsman in the islands....no idea why he wasnt playing in Australia.. Tejnarine is pretty bad as well and Braithwaite is quite terrible too

There is no alternative to Kraigg or Tage at the moment, it's as simple as that. Let's hope someone pops up during the 4 day tournament, but opening against the dukes ball in the Caribbean is very difficult.

Shai has a terrible record, the only way I can see him coming back in tests is if he has a great red ball season or if he is willing to keep wicket abd therefore replace JDS.

Holder has been disappointing since early 2023, no doubt, but saying he sucks when he has the record he does is harsh.

 

[Beamer]

Fouth bowler should be Motie or Sinclair.

I don't mind the idea of moving on from Holder being picked as a specialist bowler at full strength - Roach is still better and the three you named have more upside - but he's still the best allrounder available IMO, unless you want to either give Sinclair nosebleeds at 7 or see a lot more of Brathwaite's straight breaks.

Tbf Athanaze is a very decent part time offie, about the same standard as Travis Head.

 

[Prince EWS]

Tbf Athanaze is a very decent part time offie, about the same standard as Travis Head.

If Motie was playing ahead of Sinclair then six specialist bats with Athanaze bowling some offies could work, but given the poor standard of batting depth your sixth batsmen would probably barely be an upgrade on Holder's batting anyway.

 

[Beamer]

If Motie was playing ahead of Sinclair then six specialist bats with Athanaze bowling some offies could work, but given the poor standard of batting depth your sixth batsmen would probably barely be an upgrade on Holder's batting anyway.

If they decided to finally pick Brandon King, he'd be an upgrade at 5 or 6. Otherwise agreed!

 

[TheJediBrah]

Kraigg and Tage are still the 2 best bats from what I've seen. They just had bad series opening the batting against quality bowling. Can't forget that batting got a lot easier against the older ball in these games (for any bowler not named Shamar)

 

[Qlder]

Quote from McDonald

Cameron Green won't be shifted from the No.4 position in the Australian batting order with the spot to make his own, says Andrew McDonald.

It must be great to have a locked in #4 position despite having only a 21.33 average this summer. I expect him to bat 4 in the ODI's now

 

[Gob]

Quote from McDonald

Cameron Green won't be shifted from the No.4 position in the Australian batting order with the spot to make his own, says Andrew McDonald.

It must be great to have a locked in #4 position despite having only a 21.33 average this summer. I expect him to bat 4 in the ODI's now

He looked good for a bit

 

[Gob]

As Burgey pointed out earlier, if Smith doesn't take the single there they probably bowl 2 bouncers at him and Haze has 6 balls to face next over

If I'm being harsh I would say that Smith maybe should have gone for a few more boundaries than he did at the end and tried to finish it quicker, or even worked some more 2s which were on offer

I'm pretty sure he was going for it next over tbh. He probably worked it out that it would be easier to take down Joseph of the Alzari variety than Shamar. Would have pulled it off too as this was the most fluent I've seen him play since Oval in the ashes

Also don't think it's prudent to try and run tight 2s with Haze.

 

[TheJediBrah]

He looked good for a bit

looked good for like 3 overs, rest of the time looked god awful

I'm on the fence about him, I like the all-round package he brings to the table but he's clearly not up to the job they've given him at the moment and hasn't been made to work for it. No. 4 should be one of the best players in your XI, atm he's comfortably the worst of the top 7. Doesn't add up

 

[Silver Silva]

Cameron Green vs Steve Waugh comparison after 26 Tests :

Steve Waugh first 26 Tests :
23 years old
41 innings - 1099 test runs @ 30.53
40 test wickets @ 39.33

Cam Green career so far :
24 years old
39 innings - 1139 test runs @ 32.54
32 wickets @35.96

Very interesting..

 

[Nintendo]

looked good for like 3 overs, rest of the time looked god awful

I'm on the fence about him, I like the all-round package he brings to the table but he's clearly not up to the job they've given him at the moment and hasn't been made to work for it. No. 4 should be one of the best players in your XI, atm he's comfortably the worst of the top 7. Doesn't add up

Did you watch him bat? He looked fine outside of that spell under lights with the pink ball in the second test (where he looked dreadful). He got a good ball in the 1st test and didn't commit to a drive in the 1st innings of the second test. It's not like he was playing and missing at every 3rd ball in those innings. The way he was leaving at the gabba in the 1st innings did worry me, felt like he was leaving on length like he was at the WACCA.

 

[trundler]

@trundler

Sucks to suck.

 

[honestbharani]

Cameron Green vs Steve Waugh comparison after 26 Tests :

Steve Waugh first 26 Tests :
23 years old
41 innings - 1099 test runs @ 30.53
40 test wickets @ 39.33

Cam Green career so far :
24 years old
39 innings - 1139 test runs @ 32.54
32 wickets @35.96

Very interesting..

I called it a couple of weeks back in the thread specifically about Green. Expect him to be more Steve Waugh than Kallis/Watson in terms of bowling lesser. But you never know, maybe he will evolve into more of a bowling AR.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Did you watch him bat? He looked fine outside of that spell under lights with the pink ball in the second test (where he looked dreadful). He got a good ball in the 1st test and didn't commit to a drive in the 1st innings of the second test. It's not like he was playing and missing at every 3rd ball in those innings. The way he was leaving at the gabba in the 1st innings did worry me, felt like he was leaving on length like he was at the WACCA.

Yeah I watched every ball, he was atrocious. Incredibly lucky to have lasted to the close of play, let alone as long as he did the next day. You're being way too soft on him.

If I'm looking very hard for positives, he started looking good towards the end of yesterday's knock but then got out. And it's a concern that it took him that long.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Pakistan must be kicking themselves even more now you'd have to think. They had a serious chance to do something historic against this Australia side just like WI have but completely **** all over themselves at crucial moments.

 

[GotSpin]

Yeah I watched every ball, he was atrocious. Incredibly lucky to have lasted to the close of play, let alone as long as he did the next day. You're being way too soft on him.

If I'm looking very hard for positives, he started looking good towards the end of yesterday's knock but then got out. And it's a concern that it took him that long.

Marnus is way more of a concern IMO and a big part of our struggles right now

 

[Victor Ian]

Marnus is way more of a concern IMO and a big part of our struggles right now

I think what he stole from Smith when Smith got donked has finally worn off. One can only hope that Smith gets it back.

 

[GotSpin]

I think what he stole from Smith when Smith got donked has finally worn off. One can only hope that Smith gets it back.

Smith looked great last night and the only batting positive from the summer really

I feel like we’re kinda stuck with Marsh right now too which is an issue