West Indies: Where to start...

Sorry I'm late to get on the topic but, busy weekend.

Well, that was rather cruel and unusual.  The pitch was lively enough for both sides, and on the third day you could see these terrifying longitudinal cracks in the pitch, like giant San Andreas fault lines.  The lack of Jerome Taylor beyond a nine-over contribution no doubt hurt as well.  But even those factors can't excuse a three-day slaughter. 

From what I could tell, the West Indies were simply in a ODI mindset.  As thrilling as the opening overs of the West Indies innings were, it wasn't test cricket and it wasn't being mindful of the pitch or the opposition.  With fifteen wickets falling on one day, they were certainly dismissed in an ODI fashion, and in doing so deprived me of my sunday afternoon viewing.

Chanderpaul probably stands out as the biggest disappointment.  Effectively the anchorman of the West Indies order, the calypso reply to Dravid, in the last outing with the Australians he batted an average of like five hours per innings.  A score of 2 & 2 makes it nearly impossible for the WI batting order to make the necessary chase.  Add into that the fact that Gayle and Chanderpaul racked up 3 of 4 referrals, all on exceptionally plumb decisions...

All in all, the Windies had two shining points, Adrian Barath's century performance, and Kemar Roach's bowling.  Both of these look like players who will go places if given the chance.

On the downside, the rest of their bowling was ho-hum, their star bowler couldn't bowl, their top order was brittle, their middle order was brittle, their lower order was brittle, their discipline with the referrals was lax and they simply couldn't perform on a lively pitch. 

Australia 480/8d
West Indies 228 & 187 (f/o)

West Indies Bowling

Well, good start for the West Indies bowlers, Roach's outswingers and Taylor's inswingers confounding and picking up the wicket of Watson for a duck.

Had a nice run spurt but it's looking like they've just pinned us down again... last three overs for one run.

Update 1:
Oh bloody hell, Punter.

And this is why Australia has to bat all the way down to 10th man.

And we're back

After a busy weekend, a little worse for wear from the company Christmas Party, and we're back again.

India and Sri Lanka batted themselves out to a dull and lifeless draw.
Sri Lanka proved they are too hyper-cautious to eke out wins.
Queensland vs West Indies, batted themselves out to a lifeless draw (curse that 4-day format!).

Seems the only actual victories allowed to take place these days are the Victorians over my Western Warriors!  Sad times...

Well, 2nd Test at Kanpur starts tomorrow, and the 1st Test between Australia and West Indies in three days time.  The first of these promises to be another close and hard fought match (to be inevitably be decided by if the pitch will allow a victory) and the second promises to be a rather one-sided and unpleasant (and don't just ask me; when Saint Lara the I say's they're in for a shellacking, that's a bad sign).  Ah, Test Cricket, what we live for.

Of course, Chris Gayle is back, which is great for the Windies (and many well wishes to Gayle's mother Heazlyn Gilroy!) and should make them a more competitive side.  Their baptism by fire in Australian conditions at Allan Border oval in Brisbane will have given them a heads up on how the pitches play here so playing the national team shouldn't throw up many shocks.  But it will still be an uphill battle; let's make no mistake, they were trending very badly for a loss if there had been a fifth day's play.  If I were to be a fool, I'd say 2-nil, Australia's way, in the series.  And if I were to bet on the India v Sri Lanka series, I'd say 1-nil, India's way.






Also, Glenn McGrath took 3/18.  I don't care what people say, to me the Human Metronome is the most terrifying bowler I can think of.  :)

Australian Squad for First Test announced

Batsmen

Ricky Ponting (capt)

Simon Katich

Michael Hussey

Michael Clarke

Marcus North

Brad Haddin (wk)

Bowlers

Mitchell Johnson

Nathan Hauritz

Peter Siddle

Ben Hilfenhaus

Shane Watson

Doug Bollinger

Only one change, Stuart Clark is out, Bollinger is in.  Which is a bit of a shame for Clark, who has been putting respectable performances but let’s be honest, after what Bollinger turned in on the 6^th ODI they were obligated to give him his second Test Cap.  Alas, Brett Lee is still out for the count with that elbow spur, but still having two proper quicks in the attack will be a treat. 

Hopefully Haddin can get his head around batting again, because his last few performances that I can see have been uniformly uninspiring.  The rest of the batting line-up should hold up though, with Ponting and Hussey back in form.

Dunno yet who is 12^th man but if I were to make stupid bets, I’d opt for Hilfenhaus or Siddle.

A lot of Pluck, but not much behind it

The West Indies are, yet again, staring up at a big hill to overcome if they are to make any progress in this series.  Their warm-up match against Queensland is looking very dicey at the moment, as Nick Kruger rather methodically grinds through the weakened West Indies attack.  (Edit: Although it looks like Roach is having a very good time with the ball and is keeping the run rate down low!)  The loss of Chris Gayle is going to hurt them further, unfortunately.

Would should all feel a pang of sympathy, though, for the young Trinidadian batsman Adrian Barath who had the terrible misfortune of having been near a sports journalist before his first real crack at the radically different Australian pitch conditions, who got him to speak about his confidence and eagerness to take on Australia.  A confidence which ended in 20 balls faced, 0 runs scored and being caught behind.  Experience is the key though, and if he can adapt to Indian pitch conditions when he played for T&T in the Champions League, he can adapt to Australian conditions no doubt.

My earliest cricketing memories are of watching a test match between Australia and the West Indies during a big family reunion, and I've always had a soft spot for that island and palm-trees shield on crimson. Tumult and crisis tend to bring opportunity so hopefully this series will bind and blood this inexperienced outfit and form the start of a new West Indian resurgence.

Also, I'm going to be able to get along to the Third Test at the WACA, and it would be great to see some competitive cricket there!

Update:

Queensland 113 runs up with six wickets in hand at stump.  This is going to be a tough tour for the Windies.