2015-2016 West Indies Test Series

West Indies squad
Jason Holder (captain)
Kraigg Brathwaite (vice-captain)
Devendra Bishoo
Jermaine Blackwood
Carlos Brathwaite
Darren Bravo
Rajindra Chandrika
Shane Dowrich
Shannon Gabriel
Shai Hope
Denesh Ramdin
Kemar Roach
Marlon Samuels
Jerome Taylor
Jomel Warrican

A couple of familiar names, but what do we know about the rest?

Australia will look like world beaters, bar for rain no test will last to the fifth day, perhaps not even the fourth

JOMEL WARRICAN
The 23 year old has played one test and made an impression
Is a Left arm spinner
His debut and only Tert match game was against Sri Lanka in Peter Falk

TEST MATCH DEBUT
4/67[20]
1[12]
2/62[25]
20* [27]

FIRST CLASS
Has very impressive First Class bowling form in 18 matches
78/1398
17.92 average


AGAINST AUSTRALIA
Has played a game for the WI board v Australia in 2015
Bowled in one innings
Took 3/93 [41]
Took the wickets of Voges, Haddin and Nevill
Nathan Lyon took 2/87[28] + 0/38[12] in the same match

FINGER SPINNERS
Opposition finger spinners tend to struggle on Australian pitches
Right arm off spinners in particular
I cant recall too many left hand finger spinners excelling on our pitches
If Jomel Sarracan can average close to 35 per wicket, that would be a good pass mark

Love your work, Scrappy.

AUSTRALIAN SQUAD FIRST TEST

Burns
Coulter Nile
Hazelwood
Lyon
M Marsh
S Marsh
Nevill
Pattinson
Siddle
Smith
Voges
Warner


FAST BOWLERS
Coulter-Nile is an interesting selection , as has not played a Sheffield Shield match this season
The problem with the fast bowlers may be fitness
Starc out for the series injured
Siddle is reported to have back soreness
Pattinson injury prone
Couler-Nile injury prone
Mitchell Marsh injury prone
There is every chance the 12th man might have to field a fair bit

The talk is Josh Hazelwood will be rested at some stage in this series
If the other fast bowlers get injured, he might not be rested

I think a fit James Pattinson will be the star bowler this series
I consider him as good as Mitchell STARc

SERIES RESULT
Australia should win 3-0 barring bad weather

Surprised Coulter-Nile was picked ahead of Jackson Bird.

Coulter-Nile is a bloody ridiculous selection.

Why do they keep going back to the same players? The West Indies series is a perfect opportunity to blood some new talent and/or pick the form bowlers of the Sheffield Shield.

It has to be said, with the selection of Marsh and now Coulter-Nile, what is the point of displaying good form a Shield level? Clearly it matters very little.

Just shows you the parlous state of WI cricket when half a dozen of their best (and arguably walk up start) players prefer the $$ of BBL than represent their combined countries in Test Cricket.

Probably not dissimilar to how Kerry Packer's WSC got its toehold.

* Australia might have to let fans in for free to the Test series against the West Indies, because you would not pay to watch these Calypso batsmen.*

By
Ben Dorries

The CA XI had the top order out for less then 100 and dismissed the Windies for 243 and are 370 in reply at the moment. Doesn't look good for the tests when players who are shield left overs are giving the Windies a touch up.
Don't buy tickets for days 4 or 5 in any tests.

The tests are set to be fairly disappointing - however there will be a small part of me that will enjoy the fact the our counterparts in VIC & NSW, who think the cricket and sporting world revolves around them, end up with a couple of fizzers.

AUSTRALIAN ELEVEN V WEST INDIES
WI 243
AU 444
WI 210
AU 0/13

The Australian team mainly made up of young unknowns has comprehensively thrashed the West Indies
The WI top order lost 5/83 + 5/59
The WI tail wagged both innings
Jason Holder and Carlos Brathwaite put in good all round efforts

Hardly a confidence booster leading into the first test
Nor will they have confidence with their away form
In the last 20 years they have only beaten Bangladesh and Zimabawe in away games

Mark Waugh has stated he wants Peter Nevill to bat 6 Mitch Marsh to bat 7
Steve Smith wants Mitch Marsh to bat 6 and Peter Nevill to bat 7

Who should have the final say ?
The Selector or the cricket captain ?

I think this is a no brainer

ASHLEY MALLETT
132 wickets
3940 runs
29.84 average
75.68 strike rate
2.36 economy

TIM MAY
75 wickets
2606 runs
34.74 average
87.69 strike rate
2.37 economy


NATHAN LYON
172 wickets
5853 runs
34.02 average
64.70 strike rate
3.15 economy

All 3 have played for South Australia
All good off spinners
Lyon has the inferior economy rate
However Lyon has the superior strike rate

Different eras, different pitches , different players
I would think Mallett is perhaps the best bowler

I had never thought of Nathan Lyon as being a long term player for Australia
Now he is playing his 50th test match , which is quite an achievement for an Australian off spinner
He is definitely a world class bowler at present

DAY 1
Australia 3/438
Joe Burns 33
David Warner 64
Steve STARmith 10
Adam Voges 174 not out
Shaun Marsh 139 not out
A 317 unbroken partnership between the 2 sandgropers

Pressure could well be  on Steve Smith from here on :
When to declare this innings if not bowled out
Whether to enforce the follow on if he has that choice
Not for himself to fail again with the bat, if he bats again , particularly when some other lesser credentialed batsmen are boosting up their batting averages

I think when you score at a clip of 5 an over you earn yourself some browny points to the declaration timing conundrum.

It might once again come down to whether he will force the follow on or not. That seems to be out of favour at present. Are sides getting spooked about batting the 4th innings.

Chambo Off To Work We Go wrote:I think when you score at a clip of 5 an over you earn yourself some browny points to the declaration timing conundrum.

It might once again come down to whether he will force the follow on or not. That seems to be out of favour at present. Are sides getting spooked about batting the 4th innings.

Some captains or coaches might be reticent to enforce follow ons , fearing the wear and tear factor on the fast bowlers ?

Shaun Marsh's 182 against a second rate side should ensure he stays in the Australian side for another couple of years....

it looks like a men versus boys match & yet we're not THAT GOOD

Stumps
Day 2

AU 4/583 DEC
S Marsh 182
Voges 269*

WI 6/207
Bravo 94*
Roach 31 *

Pre 1960 series I reckon Don Bradman asked or approached Australia or both Australia and West Indies to play an attacking brand of cricket ?
This coming after some defensive cricket of the 1950s ?

Both sides did play enterprising cricket in 1960
That legacy has continued to this series
790 runs in only 2 days

Scrappy wrote:Stumps
Day 2

AU 4/583 DEC
S Marsh 182
Voges 269*

WI 6/207
Bravo 94*
Roach 31 *

Pre 1960 series I reckon Don Bradman asked or approached Australia or both Australia and West Indies to play an attacking brand of cricket ?
This coming after some defensive cricket of the 1950s  ?

Both sides did play enterprising cricket in 1960
That legacy has continued to this series
790 runs in only 2 days

According to Richie Benaud Bradman told the Aussies at the team meeting the night before the first test that the selectors would look kindly upon any player who played attacking cricket.
At tea on the last day Bradman asked Benaud whether they were going for a win or playing for a draw. Benaud said going for a win. Bradman said that he was pleased. Australia needed 120 runs in even time with only 4 wickets in hand at that stage
Allan McGillvray and Keith Miller didn't share Benaud's confidence. They left the ground at tea and caught an early flight home to Sydney. They didn't know that the match was a tie until they got home.

WI 453
132.... Sir Garfied Sobers [makes tons on several of my posts]
5/135.. Alan Davdison

AU 505
181..... Norman Oneil
4/140.. Wes HHHhHhHhHhhhhHhHhhHhHhHhhHall

WI 284
65... Sir Frank Worrell[the Frank Worrell AU V WI trophy named after him]
6/87..Alan Davidson

AU 232
80..... Alan Davidson [run out]
5/63... Wes HHhHhHHhHhHhHhHhall

Alan Davidson had a great game
5/135
44
6/87
80

Australia were 6/92 when Slasher Mckay was out
Richie Benaud and Alan Davidson got the score to 6/226
Australia lost 4/6 with 3 run outs
It must have been one of the most exciting sporting events in this country
It is thrilling just watching the highlights of this game

There is a lot of criticism of the 2015 West Indians
Sometimes the tide turns
Who knows in 10 years time West Indies might be too good for Australia

Reckon the Windies have thrown the towel in.
Follow on enforced (and rightfully so in my opinion). Pretty easy call I think.
4/25 in the second dig as at 11:25am.

You'd think all over by tea maybe.

VICTORIA X1 V WEST INDIES
Tour match
The Victorian team was more or less a second eleven

WI 8/303 DEC [90]
VI 3/169 [58]

This was a 2 day match , ending in a predictable draw

Jake Hancock made 80 not out for the Vics
During his innings he played a hook shot
The fielder at fine leg was the oblivious Jerome Taylor
Taylor was leaning on the fine leg fence, oblivious !
His West Indian team mates were yelling out to Taylor , but he was oblivious !
It is reported that had Taylor not been oblivious , it would have been a waist high catch
History will show Hancock got 4 runs for the shot

Perhaps the West Indian fast bowler will re-act to this and fire up for the Boxing Day Test
The WI team has copped a lot of flak so far on this tour
Time for them to respond, 0-1 down , with 2 tests left
Mathematically can still win the series , but not on form

AU 3/345
Stumps day one
MCG second test

Pre series a West Indian player suggested something like , that get Smith and Warner out , the rest or middle order were vulnerable

I will exclude Mitchell Marsh as a batsman as he is an allrounder
Here are the scores so far in the 2 innings Australia has had so far

BURNS 33
WARNER 64
SMITH 10
VOGES 269*
S MARSH 182

BURNS 128
WARNER 23
KHAWAJA 144
SMITH 32*
VOGES 10*

That means the only two top 5 batters who have not made tons are actually Smith and Warner
So much for that  West Indian prophecy !

Here is a quote from one of the WI players after day 1
" I think it was a decent day for us."
Im not sure I agree with a 3/345 scoreline

Australia heading to a 3-0 series win
Take the wins for now , the West Indies can again be a force in Test cricket