I’ve had my eye off the proverbial the last 24 hours, so am surprised and excited to see West Indies’ bowlers have rattled Sri Lanka’s top-order. As I write, they’re 109 for 6 and lead by a slender 94. Poor old Windies haven’t won at home since 2005 and since 2000 the locals have only celebrated seven victories.
Update: Samaraweera makes 125 and West Indies need 253 to win. Nuff bloody said.
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Well, I don’t think they’re doing themselves any favours with their selections. Two of their bowlers, Powell and Edwards, average over 40 with the ball, and take less than three wickets per match. Two of their batsmen, Samuels and Smith, average less than 30 with the bat. One of those bowlers needs replacing, and one of the batsmen needs replacing with a spinner. Collnis has already given up in disgust, so I guess they’d better try to get Collymore back (probably in place of Powell) and one of Jaggernaught or Benn in place of probably Samuels. There you have it- two fats strike bowlers, two medium-fast seamers (counting Bravo) and a specialist spinner, with Bravo stepping in to 6 and one less non-performing batsman filling space in the lineup.
And they won easily, in style, with Edwards removing five different top-order batsmen in the match, and Smith getting a crucial 47 and helping to guide them home with 14 not out.
And no, I won’t defend Samuels or Powell, who are both older and in my view poorer-performing than Edwards and Smith. Though Powell is a fine one-day bowler and should definitely remain in the ODI side.
I didn’t see *anyone* backing Windies at any point in this match other than myself (I read a lot of cricket journalism and a lot of blogs, and everyone I read, at just about every point in the match, thought WI were just about to bottle it, or find a way to lose). It’s times like that make me want to give up on the whole lot of you in frustration; everyone follows form and loves kicking the strugglers when they are down, but no one bothers taking off the lid to look at whether there is any quality underneath.
I personally gave them about a 50-50 chance in the second innings. The West Indies are my favourite team, and I’m delighted that they won. I just hope that the idiotic Windies selectors won’t take this victory as a vindication of their policies.
My team for the first Test against Australia:
1. Chris Gayle
2. Sewnarine Chattergoon (hopefully has the goods)
3. Ramnaresh Sarwan
4. Devon Smith
5. Shiv Chanderpaul
6. Dwayne Bravo
7. Denesh Ramdin
8. Sulieman Benn/Amit Jaggernaught
9. Jerome Taylor
10. Fidel Edwards
11. Corey Collymore
I hope Collymore’s match-fit, because not only is he more economical than Powell, he’s a greater wicket-taker too, and seems to be genuinely respected by the Australian side.
i quite like the team put forth by marcus… i don’t know too much about the spinners, or chattergoon, but the best part about the team is that there’s no marlon samuels there… i think it’s about time he was dropped… his performances (or the lack thereof), don’t seem to bother him – it’s best he be dropped…
any news on what happened to omari banks, or darren sammy? banks did well against the aussies last time around with the bat (in the famous record chase), and seemed capable enough with the ball, though he’s not such a big turner.. and sammy i thought was terrific in his debut test, and seems to be quite a handy bat as well… but with the three fast bowlers mentioned, plus bravo, i don’t think he would fit in…
and yeah, after india, its my favourite team as well…