Messages

61

Cricket Anyone / Re: WI Test Team of the future

« on: June 14, 2007, 07:02:10 AM »

I would bat Chanderpaul at 4 because he keeps running out of partners and therefore cannot maximise his run scoring potential. Now that Lara is gone we need someone to come in and take the responsibliity to make big hundreds from number 4. I think Chanderpaul is capable of doing this. I know Chanderpaul has better stats at 5 but i feel it is now best for the team for him to bat at 4 especially post Lara. My top 6 would be

Ganga
Devon Smith
Sarwan
Chanderpaul
Gayle
Bravo

Gayle has proven he cannot open in test matches when there is the slightest bit of movement or uneven bounce in the pitch. If you look at the innings which he makes his runs in it is on flat tracks. He is a flat track bully and unfortunately not all pitches are flat. I think everyone involved needs to swallow their pride and admit his technique is not adequate to open in tests and he should drop down to 5. Ganga has had a couple of bad tests and everyone is complaning about his technique when Ganga's technique is actually one of the best going around- ask Lara. Gayle's technique has never been up to scratch for an opening test batsman.

62

Cricket Anyone / Re: Chanderpaul should be up their with the best

« on: June 14, 2007, 04:44:53 AM »

Chanderpaul is a world class player and has long been underrated. Just because he is not a flamboyant batsman it does not make him selfish.

63

Cricket Anyone / Re: How to win the last test

« on: June 13, 2007, 12:13:38 PM »

If and when Hoggard bowls his 'patty cake stuff' against us lets see how he does.

Collymore sets batsmen up by bowling 4/5 outswingers then an inswinger or vice versa. Its takes class to be able to do this. Bravo cannot do Collymore's job as a bowler. Its like England saying drop Hoggard and let Collingwood bowl his overs. Its ridiculous. Collymore is not ranked number 9 in the world rankings for no reason. We complaining about not being able to take 20 wickets and you want to drop our best bowler with the most wickets?

The strike bowlers should be complementing Collymore not replacing him. You need a balanced attack.

64

Cricket Anyone / Re: Aleem Dar

« on: June 10, 2007, 02:57:14 PM »

Hawk eye said it was clipping the outside of off stump, but to me it looked like it was hitting middle and off stump. The ball definatelty was coming in toward the stumps with the arm but hawkeye had the ball straightening to run on and clip off stump which was just not the case. In my opinion it was hitting some part of middle stump and was a good decision from Dar.

Remember as Michael Holding once said if hawks had eyes like hawk eye they would starve to death and i have to agree with him. Some of these other commentators just rely on hawk eye to tell them where the ball is going without using their own eyes.

Hawk eye is shit. You guys watch that ball and tell me which direction you think that ball is travelling just before it hits the pad. That ball could not be missing off stump with the direction the ball was travelling.

Im gonna stick up for the umpires on this occasion because watching this game live this has been the best day of umpiring standards i have seen in a very long time. I thought Dar and Bowden today- 4th day- were excellent in all of their calls.

65

Cricket Anyone / Re: England have broken the rules...they should now forfeit the test match

« on: June 08, 2007, 02:51:41 PM »

I have been told for this breach of rules the official punishments is that all bowlers caught practicing bowling on the square during the interval should have been banned from bowling for the first 30 minutes of the next session. Obviously the rules are completely disregarded when it comes to certain teams.

They said common sense had prevailed and England were just told to get off the square with no punishment. But this is not common sense to me. Common sense would be to follow the rules and give them a 30 minute ban from bowling. This is not common sense this is favouritism yet again.

66

Cricket Anyone / See what i mean about Aleem Dar and Simon Taufel

« on: June 07, 2007, 02:13:22 PM »

A couple of weeks ago i said the only two umpires i have confidence in are Taufel and Dar. Dar has proved today why i said this. He is not fraid to give the traditional white mans countries (England) + big money countries (India) out when they play West Indies. The Strauss and Collingwood lbw shouts would not have been given out had Dar not been umpiring for them. Only Taufel may have given them out other than Dar. If Dar was not umpiring England would probably been 350/4 at the end of the day instead of 280/7. This is the difference that umpires favouritism makes.

This is why i cannot wait for the tv appeals system to come in, but i have a feeling the ICC will scrap it when they realise they will not be able to control the results of certain matches when certain teams are playing.

67

Cricket Anyone / Re: Rubbish team selection once more from west indies...

« on: June 07, 2007, 02:05:45 PM »

I hope you all realise now that Collymore is still our best bowler.

68

Cricket Anyone / Re: West Indies vs England - 2nd Test at Headingley

« on: May 28, 2007, 12:08:03 PM »

Yep, Savannah Boy, Rauf is a damn tief. Ever since Lara grabbed the ball off him in that controversial Dhoni incident in the Test against India when Ganga claimed the catch off Mohammed, Rauf has been tiefing us out.

This 2nd Test has proved beyond any reasonable doubt if there was any before that Rauf is a damn tief when it comes to West Indies. West Indies should refuse to have him umpiring their games like Pakistan did with Daryl Hair.

69

Cricket Anyone / Re: Sarwan says Team will Remain Unchanged.. No Spinners...

« on: May 22, 2007, 11:13:04 AM »

There are no spinners in the squad for him to bring in.

The question is whether in the selection meeting before the tour is whether he pushed for a spinner or not. If he didnt then you can say hes not a good captain yet, but we dont know. Maybe he asked the selectors and the selectors said no?

actually breds, i have seen teams fly in a player for a tour before, west indies i believe has done this before, they should do it this time around..unless they want another 500 runs and a declaration again..

God is de BOSS...

I know this can happen- they did it with Collymore on the tour on England in 2004 after stupidly not naming him in the initial squad. The point i was making is that even if Sarwan wanted a spinner in the squad initially or even now, his opinion probably has no weight because there are i think 3 other selectors to over rule him, so Sarwan's hands are tied if he does want a spinner.

70

Cricket Anyone / Re: Panesar Magic As I Predicted....

« on: May 22, 2007, 08:50:30 AM »

Also to answer Remies point, I still dont like to use these "conspiracy theories" as an excuse for our defeats over the years. Last year I seem to remember Rudi Koertzen turned down appeal after appeal from England against...I think it was Sri Lanka. Or maybe the umpires are just biased against us or maybe that rudi koertzen is a shit umpire...or both.

And to Savannah boys point u r right, it was poor technique of playing spin bowling that cost us those 5 lbws.

Its not an excuse for our defeats. We have been a poor team for the last 10 years yes. But i call a spade a spade. If i see something unjust happening i will say it. It is naive to think that all umpires find it the same to give a West Indian out than an Australian or English. It is far easier to give a West Indian out than an Australian or English because of all the media and high power figures from these countries in the ICC. These umpires want to stay in the elite panel so any favour of decisions on the whole will go to the Australians and English when West Indies are playing them. There may be the odd decision that doesnt follow this theory but on the whole i believe its true. Im not talking about Asian countries versus them, im talking about West Indies versus them.

Hopefully when the tv appeals come into play West Indies will be intelligent enough to use these properly and then we will not have to worry about any umpiring biases. I know that over the last 5 years when West Indies play a traditional white mans country i always hope that Aleem Dar and Simon Taufel are the umpires because they are the only 2 who call it straight down the line with hardly any bias. All the other umpires are shit and bias for and against certain teams because they are not good enough to make correct calls.

taufel and bowden..... dar has given some horrendous decisions b4 breds, i cant support him atall after seeing many times he has robbed the west indies.. bowden is a little more just, but we need more umpires like taufel...

God is de BOSS...

When Dar first started he was really good, but yes in recent times he has made a few shockers but he still gives the decisions based on what he sees on the pitch rather than reputations and countries. And therefore if an umpire goes on that basis i can accept it when he gives a bad decision like the Tait-Chanderpaul decision. It was wrong but umpires make mistakes. As long as they have good intentions i can accept them.

I dont trust Bowden at all. Next time he does a West Indies versus Australia, South Africa or England take a closer look at Bowden's decisions. He acts like hes friendly and a joker to all the players but every decision thats close he would give in favour of Australia, South Africa and England. If we are playing Pakistan or another Asian country then we would get more equal decisions. But its not just Bowden. Its Koertzen, Harper, Benson, Jerling, previously Sheperd and even some Asian umpires like Rauf getting in on the act to improve their status in the panel.

I cannot wait for the tv appeals system to come in and stop this trend.

71

Cricket Anyone / Re: Sarwan says Team will Remain Unchanged.. No Spinners...

« on: May 22, 2007, 01:28:45 AM »

There are no spinners in the squad for him to bring in.

The question is whether in the selection meeting before the tour is whether he pushed for a spinner or not. If he didnt then you can say hes not a good captain yet, but we dont know. Maybe he asked the selectors and the selectors said no?

72

Cricket Anyone / Re: Panesar Magic As I Predicted....

« on: May 22, 2007, 01:25:18 AM »

Also to answer Remies point, I still dont like to use these "conspiracy theories" as an excuse for our defeats over the years. Last year I seem to remember Rudi Koertzen turned down appeal after appeal from England against...I think it was Sri Lanka. Or maybe the umpires are just biased against us or maybe that rudi koertzen is a shit umpire...or both.

And to Savannah boys point u r right, it was poor technique of playing spin bowling that cost us those 5 lbws.

Its not an excuse for our defeats. We have been a poor team for the last 10 years yes. But i call a spade a spade. If i see something unjust happening i will say it. It is naive to think that all umpires find it the same to give a West Indian out than an Australian or English. It is far easier to give a West Indian out than an Australian or English because of all the media and high power figures from these countries in the ICC. These umpires want to stay in the elite panel so any favour of decisions on the whole will go to the Australians and English when West Indies are playing them. There may be the odd decision that doesnt follow this theory but on the whole i believe its true. Im not talking about Asian countries versus them, im talking about West Indies versus them.

Hopefully when the tv appeals come into play West Indies will be intelligent enough to use these properly and then we will not have to worry about any umpiring biases. I know that over the last 5 years when West Indies play a traditional white mans country i always hope that Aleem Dar and Simon Taufel are the umpires because they are the only 2 who call it straight down the line with hardly any bias. All the other umpires are shit and bias for and against certain teams because they are not good enough to make correct calls.

73

Cricket Anyone / Re: Panesar Magic As I Predicted....

« on: May 21, 2007, 02:31:07 PM »

What happened was that Ganga, Sarwan, Morton, Collymore all played for turn that just wasnt there for the lbws and Devon Smith the same for the bowled. The good thing is that it can be easily corrected by just using the bat and not padding up to straight balls! I dont expect to see these guys getting dismissed the same way again, and hopefully they will learn. Maybe they listened to all the hype about Panesar and thought he would have turned more. But the good thing is we have got a draw and in the next games they should be clued up.

Panesar cannot spin the ball both ways. The balls for the lbws for right handers were just arm balls as Savannah Boy said and just went on with the arm, they didnt spin. But they were all lbw.

When the tv appeals system comes in (which will be experimented in the 20/20 World Cup in October i believe) a lot more of these lbw shouts will be given out. A lot of batsmen have got away with murder over the years.

Dont kill me, but i have seen Chris Gayle have a number of lbws turned down against left handers like Graham Thorpe when they were plumb when he goes around the wicket, left handers play for the turn- there is none, and are hit in line. I feel the umpires just feel its easier to give West Indians out than to give a traditional white mans country batsmen out- and i am no racist- i just telling the truth. But Rauf was still correct to give Panesar those 5 lbws.

74

Cricket Anyone / Re: England v West Indies, 1st Test, Lord's

« on: May 20, 2007, 03:49:10 AM »

Its true that anybody who bowls the doosra chucks it, but that it because finger spinners bowl the doosra and it is said to be impossible to bowl the one that goes the other way from finger spin without chucking it. I remember about 5 years ago when i was beginning to understand the game fully Michael Holding told me that any finger spinner that gets the ball to go the other way chucks it, and it turns out it was no lie.

On the other hand wrist spinners that bowl the googly do not chuck it when they get the ball to turn the other way because wrist spinners are able bowl the googly legitimately. These are the guys like Warne, MacGill, Hogg, Kaneria and yes ... Dave Mohammed. We have one and we not using him even with our weak bowling attack!

Obviously Mohammed is not in the same league as Warne etc, but i can see similarities between Mohammed and Hogg. Hogg started off with just the raw talent to spin the ball both ways but lacked some control and its only really in the last few years he has come of age now he has been given the chance and the backing of selectors and team mates. It would be nice to see Mohammed given some backing and support over a long period rather than being brushed aside after one match spells just because he doesnt take 5 wickets in the one off match he gets.

75

Cricket Anyone / Re: England v West Indies, 1st Test, Lord's

« on: May 19, 2007, 01:47:23 PM »

I gotta give credit where credit is due and say Bravo and Ramdin batted superbly to send the win further away from England's hands. Chanders also did very well, but i especially like the way Bravo came in and took the initiative away from England. Its a nice change to see us not collapsing when we reach 5 wickets down.

The real test for our batting post Lara will be when we face teams like Sri Lanka, Australia and India who have mystery spinners whos doosras are hard to pick but for now i am happy to enjoy what i have seen today- some real fight as well as quality in the batting. I hope it can continue for the rest of the series.

The bowling looked really bad. However Taylor and Collymore i feel wil get better the more they bowl as they have been short of real overs in the middle. Powell looked good at the start but i still dont like the fact he has a tendency to bowl a short wide one every over to relieve the pressure. Although most of our bowlers do that not just Powell.

Mohammed not being in the team let alone the squad was ridiculous and goes without saying. Hopefully whoever does select the team will see what has happened on days 1 and 2 and also in the last 10 years of test cricket and for the sake of West Indies cricket pick the man. England on the whole will not be able to pick his googly- only Pietersen will but the rest will be clueless as they have proved on numerous occasions agianst wrist spin. Anytime you are playing England, South Africa, New Zealand and possibly Australia you should always play a wrist spinner because they find them hard to pick. We have one that has killed the domestic scene. What more can he do?

76

Cricket Anyone / Re: Taylor to Glamorgan

« on: May 05, 2007, 02:05:18 PM »

Great news. Hopefully we can get back our relationships with English counties.

77

Cricket Anyone / Re: West Indies Squad Announced...

« on: May 03, 2007, 10:01:37 AM »

But maybe we should be thankful that Mohammed has not been called up for Kevin Pietersen and co. would have probably blazed him into retirement.

ouch. well, kp on his game is frightening for any bowler.

Flintoff, Collingwood, Strauss, etc will be laughing. All they have to face is straight pace bowling and a bit of part time slow bowling. No mystery spin is perfect for England which makes it all the more ridiculous Mohammed is not in the squad.

78

Cricket Anyone / Re: Reflections on the squad for the england tour

« on: May 03, 2007, 09:58:50 AM »

Mohammed is not a token spinner mate, maybe he might not be able to cut it an international level but how do you know for sure?

Because Mohammed does not take 5 wickets in his one off games the selectors are saying he is not up to international standard just like that with no fair chance?

What does anyone know about Mohammed at international level?

All i know is that Mohammed can turn the ball both ways with wrist spin which is hard to pick- ask Yuvraj Singh and Inzaman Ul Haq. And he has excellent control at first class level as his recent big consistent wicket hauls suggest. Why not give him a run. What do we have to lose?

79

Cricket Anyone / Re: West Indies Squad Announced...

« on: May 02, 2007, 03:34:01 PM »

This treatment of Mohammed is ridiculous.

For the World Cup squad the selectors were sort of sticking with the successful ODI side from the two previous Champions Trophy relative successes so i could sort of understand their thinking. Obviously with hindsight Mohammed should have been in the World Cup squad.

But for the selectors to leave him out of our test squad altogether is nonsensical.

80

Cricket Anyone / SARWAN IS THE NEW CAPTAIN

« on: April 29, 2007, 03:46:34 PM »

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/westindies/content/current/story/292515.html

Sarwan has been placed on performance targets which means it should not be long before Ganga or Joseph get the captaincy.

With West Indies cricket in the state it is in at the moment, i think it is grossly unfair to put performance targets on the new captain, even though i feel Ganga is the best suited for the job. It is gonna take time to rebuild this team whoever is captain.

81

Cricket Anyone / Re: Barbados have no shame

« on: April 29, 2007, 04:06:41 AM »

The laughing stock of the world will be the match officials and the ICC not Barbados. Crowe, Koertzen, Dar and Bucknor did not seem to understand that once the team batting second- Sri Lanka had played 20 overs that constitutes a match so the game was over once Sri Lanka took the bad light. Australia should have been declared the winners at that point after 33 overs of the Sri Lankan innings.

In these World Cup ODI day games even if there were floodlights at the ground you would not be allowed to use them anyway because the ICC have it in their rules. This farce would have happened anywhere in the world not just in Barbados when the officials continue show that they blatently do not know how to apply the rules of cricket.

I was at the ICC Champions Trophy Final in England in 2004 at the Oval and West Indies won the game in near darkness- but that was their choice- no fault of the umpires on that occasion. The rules on artificial lights would have been the same as in this world cup- no atificial lights to be used. The umpires offer the light to the batsmen, if the batsmen want to go off they go off, if they want to stay on they stay on.

What the umpires did yesterday was the biggest mess up ever. Sri Lanka were offered the light- they took it and were ready to go off having effectively conceded the world cup to Australia at that point, then the umpires called them back to play in darkness because the umpires thought they would have to come back tommorow even though 20 overs had already been bowled. The match officials are the ones that are the laughing stock of the world.

However, i feel this final was the farce that this World cup deserved- for mainly the ICC administrators and to a lesser extent the administrators of West Indian cricket.

82

Cricket Anyone / Re: Sir Viv backs Sarwan for West Indies captaincy

« on: April 27, 2007, 10:30:08 AM »

Although i beleive Ganga is the better suited to be captain i now hope Sarwan gets it.

Why? Because all this nonsense about Sarwan being able to command respect of the younger players, and Sarwan having been groomed for job will all be put to bed if we go on a very long losing streak with him as captain.

If Sarwan fails as captain then Ganga can take over then in 1 or 2 years maximum.

If Ganga takes over now there will be too much pressure on him, because if we lose games because of the lack of the quality and dedication in the team, people will be banging on about how Sarwan should be captain, and Ganga will not get a fair chance as captain.

I can just see everyone in the media and in the current team getting the knifes out for Ganga if he gets the captaincy before Sarwan. They will all start moaning that Sarwan had been groomed and commands the respect of the other players. The job will be made impossible for Ganga at this stage.

83

Cricket Anyone / Re: MUST READ: Angus Fraser article on Brian Lara

« on: April 26, 2007, 01:52:53 PM »

I think the universal consensus is that Lara wasn't the greatest captain and its the one flaw in his legacy.

However, given what he has had to work with, the big issue is that blame isn't being evenly allocated to the players, the board and all the stakeholders that have our cricket in the sorry state as it is.

Whatever the case, the captaincy thing should in no way infringe on his dues as one of, if not the greatest batsman that ever lived. We should be lauding him and showering the accolades, because the best batsman of our generation has left us.

It is shameful that he has to leave in such acrimonious circumstances.

Dont worry man, anyone that knows anything about cricket knows that Lara was the greatest batsman of his era, and some of us like me believe he was the greatest ever. No one can ever take that away from him. Lara will go down in history forever as one of the true greats of cricket no matter what is now written, spoke or thought of him. Lara is there.

84

Cricket Anyone / Re: Something tells me Gayle could be made West Indies captain

« on: April 26, 2007, 01:35:24 PM »

well if is pm we getting the story by then pm meh nah

if you not charging then can you pm me as well please   

85

Cricket Anyone / Re: MUST READ: Angus Fraser article on Brian Lara

« on: April 26, 2007, 10:36:57 AM »

Its funny how its alright for Angus Fraser to call him a poor captain and people dont mind.

This is a great article and on the whole sums up everything i feel about Lara- Lara being the greatest batsmen of the modern game, a poor captain, the 153 not out being the best innings ever played and finally i am saddened that i will never get to watch him bat again for West Indies.

Cricket will not be the same without him.

Brian, thanks for the memories.

 

86

Cricket Anyone / Re: Forgetful Cricket Scribes... Excellent Read.... By Tony Fraser

« on: April 26, 2007, 03:08:39 AM »

What is written is mostly true and it is a good article. He is echoing most of what we have written on the site recently. What i would like to know is what solutions he has to restructure West Indies cricket.

Although i agree with most of what is written I disagree with what he says about not borrowing solutions from Australia. I believe borrowing solutions within reason from Australia can only be good- i.e. the academy, fitness methods, etc.

87

Cricket Anyone / Re: Some great news if its true

« on: April 24, 2007, 10:21:04 AM »

Remie..How come yuh miss this post? 

http://www.socawarriors.net/forum/index.php?topic=27068.0

I saw it, but i wanted to start a new positive topic, focusing just on the academy. 

88

Cricket Anyone / Some great news if its true

« on: April 24, 2007, 05:33:05 AM »

"The West Indies Cricket Board [WICB] has accepted with regret the resignation of coach, Bennett King," said a WICB statement. "Mr King, in his resignation, offered to remain in office until May 31 to facilitate the establishment of the regional cricket academy. Mr King was responsible for establishing and managing the Australian academy and developed the basic plan for a WICB academy structure.

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/westindies/content/current/story/291972.html

Finally an academy may get put in place. If this really happens then it will be one of the best things to ever happen to West Indian cricket. But i am sceptical- is this just too good to be true?

89

Cricket Anyone / Re: SOME REFLECTIONS BEFORE WE SAY GOODBYE TO THE MASTER!!!

« on: April 21, 2007, 03:13:44 PM »

Of the top of my head the 153 not out is possibly the best innings i have ever seen, and cemented his place as the greatest batsmen i have ever seen.

I didnt like his leadership but the captaincy of the West Indies over the last decade has been an impossible job anyway. You will see in the next few years that no one currently will be able to lead this West Indies team to success.

Yes Lara was not a success as a captain but he was damn well the finest batsmen of at least the last decade and in my opinion ever. I will remember him for that.

90

Cricket Anyone / Re: Lara retires from ALL International Cricket

« on: April 20, 2007, 04:11:50 AM »

Brian Lara is one of the greatest players the game has ever seen.

In my opinion, all things considered, now is the right time to go.

I would have liked him to carry on in Tests but given that a new captain had to be put in place, because Lara was not a good leader, for both forms of the game- was Lara prepared to 'lower' himself to play under a captain like Sarwan or Ganga in Tests?

And how many more years did he have in him at the age of 38. Maybe its best that he has bowed out whilst he is still one of the greatest batsmen in the history of the game. Like RRamdin said a few days ago- he has gone out leaving us still wanting more- and i dont think this is such a bad thing.

Even if Lara played on until he was 40 he would prolong a few test match defeats to the 4th day instead of the 3rd but this is no benefit for me.

We need to hit the bottom of the pile in Test cricket and then maybe the administrators of West Indies cricket might finally put some proper systems in place that will improve our cricket in the long run. Now that Lara is gone we will reach the bottom of pile sooner which may be a blessing in disguise.