Australia versus West Indies

Australia is going to destroy the windies. windies are a degrading team and the australians, well, they're also degrading but they are still good and mentally strong.

lets see if the windies can even beat queensland.

Mental Disintegration heh - the Aussies will be mentally and physically destroyed come the Test series - the Australian population will initially be dumbfounded by the initial shock then will come the criticism - with Lillee and Chappell (Ian) leading the charge - the cornerstone that the builders rejected will become the chief cornerstone! 

MARK MY WORDS - AUSTRALIA ARE IN FOR THE SHOCK OF THEIR LIVES - WEST INDIES FANS WILL BE ESTACTIC AFTER THIS SERIES IS OVER              

Nice response to the Queensland total of 323 by the Windies. ***le making a half century and Dwayne Smith a superb 100* with 18 4's. Marlon Samuels is with him now , leaving Lara to bat at number 5 - just wonder if that'll be his test position...

Kasparowitz and Watson are both wicketless , Kasper surely now won't be brought back into the test match squad for the entire series.

West Indies 207-2

it doesn't even matter if i was wrong about the windies degrading because even if they do improve, they will still not be even close to the class of the ausies.

i know the ausies are aging but they still have the essential players and will have them for maybe a year or 2.

Langer has been ruled out of the Test, so Mike Hussey finally makes his debut; likely teams:

AUS: Hayden, Hussey, Ponting, Clarke, Katich, Gilchrist, Watson, Warne, Lee, McGrath, Bracken/MacGill

WIN: G4yle, Devon Smith, Sarwan, Lara, Chanderpaul, Samuels, Bravo, Ramdin, Lawson, Best/Edwards, Collymore/Powell

Originally posted by Sledger Originally posted by saadadvanced7 windies are a degrading team Wrong again Saad !! The Windies aren't strong , but they are improving! A number of decent youngsters coming through and there's still Lara , Sarwan , G-ayle and Chanderpaul. Watch Bravo and Powell - two exciting kids.....if only they had a skipper !!

Ahh sledger you are a man after my own heart m8,I hope and think you might agree with me here m8,The current Windies team would be a lot healthier and even back to its best (potentially) if only they would alter the captain,i have watched chandrapaul and he really is not a very inspiring captain,he sets his fields always negative,he is not like every,and i mean every other test or odi captain in he seems to bat so slowly and is in no hurry to post a winning score ,it seems to me he is first playing for a draw,then if possible a win ,but draw and prevent a loss comes first.This is out of step with all others who are moving the game along at 4 and 5 an over and we ,the specators are better for it,the windies are and always were brialliant to watch,they need tp put back an attcking captain ASAP.I may be wrong but to me he is not the bloke they need right now.i would like to see ***le,even lara,or countless others ahead of him.
You are also right in that they are not a dud side they have plenty of promising players and in my view are only a good bowler and captian away from competing with the best.

I hope they get back to best as there was none better to watch in the 80s when windies were the kings ,home and away,The players they had during that period would be the equall of any if not better than any team has produced before or after. The one dream match up i am so sorry never happened was the Proteas V the windies,when the Prot were undisputed world best team,the windies were just comming through and we were all robbed of 2 of the most brilliant teams going head to head,what a game that would have made for huh????

NAMEJP why dont the site let me post C GA YLE FROM WINDIES NAME?

Edited by One Hammer

I agree that Shiv should go Hammer , but I think Lara would be a backward step - he certainly is a fantastic player , but just an average captain. My choice is Sarwan , good cricket brain , popular with the troops and a fine bat. He's an attacking player and I think he'll bring that to the fore as a captain too.

On the TV front , yes , in SA we get every international cricket match live - our sports channel has 9 different portals. This month we're receiving , India/Sri Lanka , Aus/WI , Pakistan/England , SA/NZ and a partridge in a peartree!! You need a satellite dish , of course , but it only costs about $70 (aussie) per month!

Dunno what the costs are in Oz , I know we're a LOT cheaper than satellite in UK.

Hussey has his first Test run, after 13 balls. Australia making a comfortable start, 9/0 off of 4.5 overs.

Tea on day 1 and Ponting is 107* , Gilchrist 44* , Australia 215-4 after a pathetically slow 49 overs!

Chanderpaul could well get a suspension if they don't crack on after tea - somehow I don't see that happening!

I did comment that if Chanderpaul won the toss and elected to bowl , they'd get slaughtered - and I stand by that. The decision to bowl smacked of fear , and Australians have a great sense of smell!

After 95-1 at lunch , Collymore bowled a brilliant spell and picked up three quick wickets. Hayden (37) was unlucky , given lbw to one he was well forward to and looked high. Clarke (5) got a snorter , a beautiful legcutter that was taken by a confident Denesh Ramdin (good prospect this lad , very neat behind the stumps and only 20). Simon Katich played an awful shot , playing across the line far too early and went for a duck.

So the decision to bowl looked pretty good at this time , Aussie 111-4 ( or 4-111 if you're down under!! )

Then Gilchrist came in and Chanderpaul..........did nothing!! No field changes , no change in attack from the bowlers....did they learn nothing from the Ashes?

Anyway , he was allowed to settle and looks dangerous now. Ponting is playing his usually flamboyant knock , but is still falling away to off , trying to whip through midwicket , but no-one has exploited this weakness. He's been squared up a few times , but got away with it.

The body language of the West Indians reminds me of so many English sides of days gone by - getting the Aussies in trouble and never really believing they'll run through them.

   I foresee a big total and a demoralised West Indies being rolled over pretty quickly.

   If Chanderpaul does get a suspension , maybe that won't be such a bad thing!

Edited by Sledger

Because of the dreadful overrate G-ayle has been brought into the attck. He's sent down 9 innocuous overs without success for 22 runs.

Shane Watson took 16 balls to get off the mark - a very unAustralian trait!

Ponting now on 126 , Watson 8


Australia 242-5 after 61.

Still 29 overs to be bowled and little time to do it. The stupid ICC ruling that only 30 minutes are allowed past the regulation finishing time is cheating the paying public. Overs not bowled by that time are lost forever - how can that be right??

Wrong recman - the West Indian side of the late 70's early 80's bowled only 11 overs an hour - but they didn't use slow bowlers at all !! (Harper doesn't count!) That was an exceptional side and if they'd bowled their overs quicker the games would've lasted 2.5 days !!


Now compare that with today's effort (now that's an oxymoron!!) - the overrate is where it is because your captain is deliberately slowing the game down!

It's negative cricket by the most negative captain in the world at the moment! It'll come back to bite him on the bum too - he will be suspended and the Windies will lose....

How chickenhearted to bowl first on that track!! They are just hoping to get through without a hiding - that's Chanderpaul at his glorious best!

Well all that negative cricket worked !! Like a 2nd rate tennis player , Chanderpaul waits for the unforced error - and Ponting obliged!!

A half volley on middle stump is clipped to midwicket and he's gone for a fine 149.

Australia 295-7 and Lee joins Warne (10)

A minimum of 15 overs to be bowled in 37 minutes....

I think Sledger is being extremely harsh on Chanderpaul. The man does not deserve such abrasive criticism. Remember that he has the impossible task of captaining a side that has gone from bad to worse to atrocious in 10 years.

I rate Chanderpaul as a player, maybe not a great captain, but give him a break. Has anybody in the last 12 years been anything BUT  negative captain in Australia? Watch Vaughan play defensive fields next summer when Australia are 400-4...

the negative side is that out of the 8 matches played under chanderpauls captaincy, windies have only won 1 and that is not impressive at all. but it is not completely his fault, if his side doesn't perform above the standards of the other side, then they will lose. that is exactly the problem, lara is the backbone of the team, if he doesn't perform the whole team just goes dead.

Edited by saadadvanced7

lee hits a 6 of powell so hard that the ball is lost and the umpires have to replace it. what a shot that was from lee. looks like lee is going for a half century.