West Indies In Australia

Roach isn't a surprise pick JP, anyone sending down deliveries at 94 MPH will get a look in.  Even guys back here who criticise the guys for accepting to play when the bigger boys were on strike, they all had Roach in their squad to go Australia.

I saw Nikita Miller bowl in the Champions Trophy and he did very well against us. Hes a better bowler then Benn in my opinion, he should be here.

Hopefully we wont lose to many more players in the India ODIs and wont have to field an Australia B team!

I picked Mendis and Saqqi

With Fidel Edwards missing, we have lost a vital part of the line up.  I don't care how good the Aussies are against pace, he would have intimidated them, especially Hughes - Edwards is a typical Windies fast bowler, a barrage of short stuff would have been directed at his body.  Roach doesn't bowl short to often, he tries to keep it fuller so we've lost that bit of hostility.

Raj, Miller is a very tidy bowler but won't spin it on decent tracks.  He bowls a touch slower than Benn which gives him a bit of an advantage.   Miller bowls an outside off stump line, which is wrong - any quality player of spin will even go back to length balls and cut/late cut them.  Saw Symonds took advantage of him like that once!  He bowled White with a beauty in the CT, pitched between middle and off and hit off stump, that's the line he has to bowl, make them play with fear of getting lbw or bowl if they make an error - that's why Warnie was so good, you had to play.

They are not a united team. It doesn't help that they've had all these disputes ,  on top of the fact that the team all comes from different nations.

No opposition has won in Brisbane for a long time Sledger. If Lee is fit I wouldn't risk not picking him for Brisbane - he's got a great record with bat and ball there. Johnson took a 5-for in Australia's last test their too.

3-0 it will be then Sledge - all teams simply gets rolled over at the Gabba!  I'm looking forward to Roach hospitalising somebody though he he.  Taylor will take care of Ponting!

Taylor is top notch - when he finds his length and that natural away swing to right handers he's a match for most batsmen.  Just a little more consistency is required for him to be rated with the best out there.
            No doubt , there's talent in that touring side , they just have to apply themselves and believe they can compete.

That article highlights why West Indian cricket is in disarray. Written in 2005 , when the team were shambolic , clears up the mystery of their continued poor performances. That the senior players treated their sponsors with such disdain and their youngsters in the same light does them little credit.  It's a good thing that Lara has gone , but I fear the cancer still lives.  Very sad.


Edited by Sledger - 06 November 2009 at 1:26pm

Windies players are probably making close to what the Aussie players are. I'd say WI are in the top 3 best paid from their board/team sponsors (excluding individual sponsorship, IPL deals, etc).

I agree completely SW. I can't imagine the selectors picking Clark , not after the Oval Test.  Johnson is a certainty, he likes the Gabba (his old home ground) and his record in Australia is excellent. He definitely likes the Kookaburra ball as they use in Aust, SA, etc compared to the Dukes as used in England.
          Hilfenhaus is not a particularly good one day bowler and I don't think that willl go against him for selection at the Gabba. He's been very consistent since his debut in test cricket in SA. While Siddle if fit would pip out Lee if he's fit as well. I can't see Australia going with Lee, Johnson, Siddle - that's 3 blokes who can reach 150kph. I'd like to see at least one fast-medium or medium-fast bowler for variety. Hilfenhaus can reach 148kph as I have seen in some games, but in tests he generally keeps it around the 138-142kph mark.
I actually think Clark would be the most successful bowler. We just need to look at how he destroyed England on these Aussie wickets in 06/07 and definitely his ability to extract bounce out of no where, his nagging line/length and the fact that he's not express plays in his favour.
One thing that the selectors MUST do is pick Hauritz. There is talk that they will go with 4 quicks. This would probably still work against a side like WI which is fairly weak at times, but I hate picking 4 quicks. I guess it would mean Lee, Siddle, Hilfenhaus, Johnson in that case.

Exactly what I said, Clark would be the most successful and consistent. I like Hilfenhaus as an opening bowler and Siddle has a lot of aggression and hostility about his bowling. While Johnson has a tendency to get the best batsmen out. So who is the 4th bowler, Hauritz or Clark or Lee or Bollinger? Wow, big dilemma, but at least there is depth.
     Is Watson going to play? Will Hughes open again? If Watson maintains his role as opener perhaps he will be regarded as the 4th seamer and Hauritz can play. It will be interesting to see how the selectors go.

Yeah, it will be interesting indeed.  Watson can play as 4th seamer and play Hauritz.  If Watson plays, you reckon it will be as an opening, seeing Katich, Ponting, Clarke, North and with Hussey's recent form in India, he should be considered as a starter for the first test!  Poor form of Hussey or the same from Watson is the only how I see Hughes back in the side.  Aussies will be quite keen to get 4 bowlers at all time (excluding Watson).  I like the Aussies style, they won't play 3 fast bowlers + Watson and say North is there, so they have 5 bowlers, unlike the Windies for instance.  They'll go in with 4 specialist bowlers for sure.

North seems pretty ok to me, gives the ball a bit of flight, definitely not a bad bowler and has batted quite well so far.  Ship over some of those 3rd stringers to the Windies man, they're being wasted up there.