The up'n'coming

[Loony BoB]

Which side do you think has the most potential given the age of the players? After watching the Windies in the last two one dayers, you could just see the raw potential in the young guys over there, and it made me wonder which sides boast the most young players, and how many are more in the middle/end of their development stages. Keep in mind I'm only talking about domestics, I'm talking strictly the players who have already started their international career, and the amount of them within each team.

 

[age_master]

yeah i haven't seen as much of the Wi youngsters as i would have liked, saw a bit during the WC and from that and all other reports they have a great deal of potential.

as for Australia there is really only Clarke and Watson who are young and have played international cricket, both have alot of potential though.

 

[Langeveldt]

South Africa in my opinion...

You only have to look at Graeme Smith as a 23 year old who is fast becoming a world class performer to realize the potential..
There are a number of excellent young players around.. JP Duminy who i believe is still at Western Province, Andrew Puttick the left hander too....
I particularly like the look of Vaughan Van Jaarsveld and Divan Van Wyk who played in the U19 world cup.. They need some big runs to back up the talent.. I netted against Keagan Africa who was pretty scary from 22 yards three years ago!
Thami Tsolekile impressed me when he played with the touring South Africans last year as a wicket keeper.. And in the bowling department, Monde Zondeki and Mfuneko Ngam have already given the international community a few glimpses of promise... Things look good..

Two main challenges are producing a good spinner (no Robbie Peterson DOESNT count!) and beating the Aussies... I think the side put themselves under TOO much pressure to do this though, which has been a failing...

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Which side do you think has the most potential given the age of the players? After watching the Windies in the last two one dayers, you could just see the raw potential in the young guys over there, and it made me wonder which sides boast the most young players, and how many are more in the middle/end of their development stages. Keep in mind I'm only talking about domestics, I'm talking strictly the players who have already started their international career, and the amount of them within each team.

Zimbabwe clearly have the youngest team in world cricket right now, but the West Indies is in firm second.

There is a lot of talent in the West Indies and, although the results aren't amazing over the last few years, there is potential for a flip by 2007. The most encouraging thing to see recently has been the emergence of bowling talent. In the last year and a half, names such as Edwards, Lawson, Best, the new Collins and Rampaul have all found some recognition at the world level and they're all definite talents. Considering that players like Dillon and Collymore are on the sidelines at the moment, I think that West Indies have a bowling attack worth whispering about and could soon have one worth talking about.

 

[Tony Blade]

Taufeeq Umar, Imran Farhat, Mohd. Sami, Asim Kamal, Umar Gul, Yassir Hameed

 

[Langeveldt]

I was tempted to say the Pakistanis have the most potential...

But then again they always seem to have the most young potential, and it gets snuffed out by shocking management or some means or other....

 

[marc71178]

That England bowling attack in the Tests has the potential to play together for a long time - I believe they're all around 24-25?

 

[Langeveldt]

Yep. Very young attack...
Time will tell RE the fitness of the attack and their ability to penetrate more classy sides.. Couldnt really fault the effort in the WI though...

 

[marc71178]

And you have to remember that that West Indian batting line up is actually quite strong in theory.

 

[Langeveldt]

I thought that myself after i posted that... They didnt act very classy, the pitches had more life than I thought they would.. maybe thats what surprised them...

 

[Craig]

That England bowling attack in the Tests has the potential to play together for a long time - I believe they're all around 24-25?

Hoggard would be the oldest at around 27.

 

[Andre]

Hoggard would be the oldest at around 27.

No, Giles is. Unless we are speaking of only pacers of course.

 

[Craig]

Of the pacers yes.

Giles is, my error.

 

[SJS]

India has a lot of youngsters
Irfan(19), Patel (19), Balaji(22), Yuvraj(22), Kaif(23).

Thats a very young lot considering that they are established already. There are lots of others in-the-waiting.

 

[V Reddy]

India has Balaji, Pathan , Salvi , Munaf Patel and with Zaheer, Nehra and Agarkar aged around 25-27 in the bowling dept. In batting Yuvraj, Kaif, Sehwag , Gambhir, Rayudu, Mane, Badani, etc,. all aged below 25 and Patel and Kartik both aged below 20 in the wkt keeping dept.

 

[bhooth nath]

i would go with india having the most potential. players like pathan aged 19 have already made their mark in fast bowling. also balaji, nehra, munaf, salvi, etc. are still young and below 25. players like zaheer, bhandari and agarkar are also below 30.

in batting, sehwag, yuvraj, kaif, mongia are all below 25. add to that badani, sriram and mongia, below 30. also the young crop with rayudu, uthappa, dhawan, raina, yv rao, yg rao, gambhir, chopra are all under 23 and waiting to get their places in this crowded indian batting line-up.

in wicket-keeping, all 3 keepers in contention, patel, ratra and kartik are below 22 and one of these 3 will become an all-time great keeper and my money will be on kartik out of the 3.

 

[Craig]

i would go with india having the most potential. players like pathan aged 19 have already made their mark in fast bowling.

That is a big statement to make.

 

[twctopcat]

i would go with india having the most potential. players like pathan aged 19 have already made their mark in fast bowling.

I would have to agree as well with this. In the test series vs Pakistan i thought Pathan bowled impeccably, giving nothing away to the batting team and being penetrative and very intelligent with the ball as well. And all the more impressive was this happened against Pakistan, possibly the biggest stage there is for an indian player. However more realistically the bigger test will come against the aussies later this year, then we can see how far he has come.

 

[tooextracool]

There is a lot of talent in the West Indies and, although the results aren't amazing over the last few years, there is potential for a flip by 2007. The most encouraging thing to see recently has been the emergence of bowling talent. In the last year and a half, names such as Edwards, Lawson, Best, the new Collins and Rampaul have all found some recognition at the world level and they're all definite talents. Considering that players like Dillon and Collymore are on the sidelines at the moment, I think that West Indies have a bowling attack worth whispering about and could soon have one worth talking about.

yes they do have a very talented young crop of fast bowlers-best,lawson,edwards and collins make a very formidable attack. but is there any young talented batsmen coming up?devon smith is decent but i dont think he will be the saviour of WI cricket and the only really talented batsman for the future is samuels and even he has spent half his career injured.

 

[tooextracool]

And you have to remember that that West Indian batting line up is actually quite strong in theory.

i find it quite hard to believe how this WI test batting line up happens to be so strong. theres one great batsman,one quality batsman and one who has the talent but had barely shown much improvement in quite a while. nay the rest have very poor technique (except perhaps devon smith) with no real temperament IMO