The Golden Isles - A Story

[Imager36]

I'm, sorry, the WICB, is going to release a statement about Nash after the end of this series, I hear



Same team again, and we bowl first again. Wallace and Martin took four between them and were economical to boot, showing why we play two spinners. Out of the seamers, Bravo took two wickets and went for 49, a good performance, and Sammy, although he did not take a wicket, only went for 38. Kelly, though, took only one wicket and went for 58, a below par performance by his so far high standards.

Coming out to bat, we knew that New Zealand were defending a below par total, and, whilst Gayle and Chanderpaul fell early, Flokes battled his way to 43. Sarwan fell for only one, but Barath and the Bravo brothers (mainly Darren) finished the game off easily.

[IrishBlue]

not sure who you have in your team, but i can highly recommend ryan hinds to bat at 8 in tests and either opening or 3 in ODIs, G. Wallace as your test spinner, he is a gun and Lendl Simmonds as your test keeper batting at 7 and opening with Gayle in ODIs

[Imager36]

Thanks for your help, IrishBlue. To answer your questions, I don't use Ryan Hinds as he haasn't spawned well on my game, and I'm happy to continue with the Martin-Wallace partnership in terms of spin bowling, as they have similar test and ODI averages, 24.48/23.23 and 24.16/22.25 respectively. I have never really thought about Simmonds either, although I prebably should have, as I do at times have opener crises. Regen Flokes is my w/k, and is progressing nicely.

[Imager36]

3 changes for the fourth ODI, Chanderpaul (rest), Sammy (form) and Martin out, Cooper (début), Roach (youth) and Tonge in for them. Ramnaresh Sarwan yet again is the captain and bats at 3 to avoid putting too much pressure on Cooper.



Not a brilliant match for the West Indies, so let's take you through some of the more important facts:-

Good News

• Kemar Roach taking 3 wickets
• Dwayne Bravo going at 4.6 an over with one wicket
• Chris Gayle scoring a beautiful half-century off 41 balls
• Adrian Barath's imperious 133*
• Kevon Cooper's first ODI catch
• Kevon Cooper's first 2 ODI boundaries

Bad News

• Gavin Tonge going at 9.2 an over
• Rich Kelly taking no wickets
• Letting New Zealand post 309
• Single figure scores for Flokes (run out), Sarwan and Darren Bravo
• Kevon Cooper ending on only 15

[CyberCricketer]

What year are you up to in that game?

Because the West Indies are already using Kemar Roach in real life, he was their best bowler in the three tests against Australia that just finished.

[Imager36]

I'll talk about Roach at the end of the match. No changes for this one from ODI 4.



Good News

• Kevon Cooper's 57
• Dwayne Bravo's 58
• Kelly's late resistance
• Wallace's 3-37 from 10 overs
• Rich Kelly's 1-27

Bad News

• Gayle, Barath and Bravo not making it out of single figures
• Kemar Roach's 0 wickets
• Posting a low total, which makes me consider my ODI squad options

And that match kind of sums up why there is still a large question mark over Roach's head. He's 23 now, and that makes him one of our youngest bowlers in contention, with Kev McClean, Pascal and Ridley (remember him?). The problem is in his inconsistency and weak test performances. Here are his stats for me so far.

Tests - 8 matches, 15 innings, 314 runs @ 34.89, 21 wickets @ 58.14
ODIs - 12 matches, 9 innings, 76 runs @ 12.67, 18 wickets @ 35.33

This means that he makes the ODI squads with relative ease, but the test squads are harder to reach for him.

[Imager36]

Mr.WICB, what is your test squad to play India?

C.Gayle (O)
D.Cruickshank (O)
S.Chanderpaul (BAT) (C)
R.Sarwan (BAT) (VC)
A.Barath (BAT)
D.Bravo (BAT)
M.Bascombe (BAT)
K.Cooper (BAT)
K.Powell (BAT)
I.Flokes (WK)
D.Bravo (ALL)
K.Stoute (ALL)
D.Sammy (ALL)
K.McClean (SEAM)
K.Roach (SEAM)
A.Martin (SPIN)
G.Wallace (SPIN)
V.Permaul (SPIN)

To clarify some of those inclusions -

Daron Cruickshank - Has performed well at first class level, and we felt we needed a second opener

Kieran Powell - No matter how awful his international record is, he has shown determination and proven to be the best young batsman at domestic level

Kevin Stoute - Back after a couple of years out of our sides, has shown he could prove to be a like-for-like replacement if anything should happen to Dwayne Bravo

Veerasammy Permaul - Made a good start to international cricket three years ago, but has time on his side over Wallace and Martin, who usurped him early.

Mr.WICB, I notice that you have rejected calls from some sectors for certain players, including Brendan Nash, how do you respond to these calls?

Many players have been called for recently. One of those was Brendan Nash. Nash is now 34, and as such we do not feel as if another member of the batting lineup in his 30s was desirable at this point. We feel that by including players such as Nash we would be holding back the development of talented young batsmen such as Adrian Barath, Darren Bravo, Kevon Cooper, Kieran Powell and Ian Flokes.

[CyberCricketer]

Affirmative on Nash. Just remember that occasionally it's better to have experience than youth, but I suppose that if every young player you select is one of the best at domestic level then they are quite experienced, just not internationally.

[Imager36]

Affirmative on Nash. Just remember that occasionally it's better to have experience than youth, but I suppose that if every young player you select is one of the best at domestic level then they are quite experienced, just not internationally.

Yeah. I felt that my batting lineup already had that experience in Gayle (33), Sarwan (32) and Chanderpaul (37), who are all a bit better than Nash. My two less experienced batsmen, Barath (22) and Darren Bravo (23) have 47 tests between them already.

[Imager36]

Before the first test, we were struck by an injury to gloveman Ian Flokes. As I don't do reserve keepers, the gloves have been given to Chris Gayle. Therefore, instead of Flokes, I have decided to play a second all rounder in Stoute. The team looks like this...

C.Gayle
D.Cruickshank
S.Chanderpaul
A.Barath
R.Sarwan
D.Bravo
D.Bravo
K.Stoute
D.Sammy
A.Martin
G.Wallace

[CyberCricketer]

Let me know how many byes that Gayle gives away.

I always include a second wicket-keeping option when I'm touring another country. Wicket-keeping openers like England's Simon Davies and Australia's Tim Paine are good choices, in my opinion, as they can be both a reserve opener and a reserve wicket-keeper.

[Imager36]

Let's forget that 1st test, shall we? I forgot to print screen the scorecard, and I'm just going to say that we lost by 7 wickets. I will also say that our second innings was dreadful (although Gayle did well) and that Stoute bowled well on his test return.

Second Test


The Indian batting was very solid, as it was in the first test, and only Wallace had any real success breaking it down at all. I was pleased with our batting performance overall, as Cruickshank possibly saved his career as he had failed twice in the first test (6 runs in total) but pulled a well crafted hundred out of the bag to restore confidence and anchor the innings (and seemingly, pull a man of the match award from somewhere). Chanderpaul and Stoute, as well as Darren Bravo, all registered half-centuries in the first innings. In the second innings, no-one batted especially well, but only Gayle and Stoute really failed to contribute.

[CyberCricketer]

Nice to see you picking this up again, it's a great story.

[ab5ides1]

hear, hear

[Imager36]

NEWSFLASH - For the third test, to try and make a difference, Permaul comes in for Martin, and McClean comes in for Sammy.

And it makes no difference...



I lost the toss (yet again) and had to bowl, on a very definitely batting-favoured pitch. That showed, as India yet again piled on the runs, leaving us with no real chance of a tied series. Permaul showed signs of promise, and Bravo bowled well.

Cruickshank fell early for 4 in our innings, but Ade Barath was exemplary coming in at 3. He only gave 4 chances apart from his wicket (all being played and misses) was in for 255 balls and got 18 boundary fours. Chanderpaul and Gayle both scored in the mid-30s, whilst Sarwan and Darren Bravo both got under 20. Stoute and Dwayne Bravo both scored half-centuries without going on with the tail and each other. Overall, a good innings.

In their second innings, we bowled far better, which was at least partially helped by the fact that the pitch had deteriorated somewhat. Permaul's 4/80 hopefully is a sign to come (he's only 23) and Stoute also bowled well. They seemed to declare slightly early bearing in mind the fact that they didn't need a win, but we still had relatively little chance of getting the total within the time.

I went for it, as I had to do, and the innings show that overall. Cruickshank, Barath and Chanderpaul (46, 60 and 40) all gave promising signs before being out, as did Dwayne Bravo (62) and McClean (40), but the chance was gone by then, and India win the 3 match test series 2-0. Now, onto the one-dayers, my more favoured form of the game.

Squad for one-dayers vs. India:-

C.Gayle
A.Barath
S.Chanderpaul (C)
R.Sarwan (VC)
Darren Bravo
K.Cooper
M.Bascombe
I.Flokes (K)
Dwayne Bravo
R.Kelly
D.Sammy
K.Roach
V.Permaul
G.Wallace
A.Martin

Because I'm not quite sure of my first ODI XI yet, it's lucky that we have a friendly (vs. Karnataka) in which I can experiment and see what happens. With Flokes able to come back into the team after the friendly, it gives me one extra slot in which to try batsmen. Here's the team -

C.Gayle (K)
R.Sarwan (C)
K.Cooper
D.Bravo
M.Bascombe
A.Barath
D.Sammy
R.Kelly
K.Roach
A.Martin
V.Permaul

And welcome to a new section for friendlies - Key Clashes to look out for

1 - Cooper vs Bravo vs Bascombe for 1 place - With Flokes and Chanderpaul set to come in, two of these men will have to drop out, and if any really impresses, the place is theirs. This is the main reason Barath is at 6 in the batting order.

2 - Sammy vs Kelly vs Roach for 2 places - With Dwayne Bravo already inked in, two more pace bowlers are needed, two of these three. Sammy or Kelly's batting may be needed to separate them.

3 - Martin vs Permaul for 1 place - With Wallace in form and Martin entirely out of it, Permaul has a good chance to make the first side as the second spinner. Good luck to them all.