Yes I agree that Bravo should be doing for WI what Watson is doing for Australia but unfortunately he seems to be another one in the long list of WI wasted talents. The only thing Bravo and Watson have in common are injuries and that's about it. When Watson plays for the Aussies he steps up and performs well allot of the time while Bravo does it once a series.
I wouldn't call him a wasted talent yet. Since every year in IPL and various T20 tournaments he shines. It just a matter of him getting his batting back to the level it once was.
dare said:
I also agree that Sammy has limited talent but he makes up for it with the effort he puts in and his will to represent the West Indies.
At this moment there is no better option in the Caribbean for a captain then Sammy. Gayle isn't getting it back even if he comes back, Chanderpaul doesn't want it, Bravo doesn't play test cricket anymore for WI or at least hasn't in a while. When you look at the overall TestXI there isn't one player there that can take over as captain. Until a better option is available then Sammy should stay as captain. He plays all 3 formats of the game and in my opinion has done a good job leading the team. His own performance might not be the greatest or up to par but the players play hard for him and have done well under his leadership.
Actually the one players that could be a future captain if he continues to do well for WI is Kirk Edwards. He is the Barbados captain and has had a good start to his test career. He doesn't play One Day cricket for WI so he could be the test captain with Sammy being the T20/ODI captain or maybe someone else.
No doubt their is captaincy vacuum in the Windies team, but in a lot a way this was forced on the windies team, since Gayle was doing a very good job as skipper before this entire fiasco started. His average as skipper was 10 points higher than his career batting IIRC.
I also don't necessarily believe Sammy's captaincy is responsible for any good performance the team is doing right now. The team just have a talent nucleus of players in all departs, that were always bound to click as we have seen in the current series so far.
Ramdin is probably the best captain in the region, but he has to cement his place on batting form.
I agree if Gayle returns you can't give him the captaincy, because given the amount of T20 teams that will seek his services, one can't stop him from going.
This to me speaks to a bigger problem at the ICC level, they need to control the amount of T20 leagues around the world in the coming years. India bullies them too much and the IPL affects the west indies home season more than any other country. So essentially for as long as the IPL in existence WIndies at home will have to sacrifice their best players to the IPL - which is just plain wrong.
Spit captaincy is probably way forward for the windies.
Is it 100% clear C'Paul doesn't want it though?, since i see he has been captaining Guyana again in the regional competition again this year, something
he has not done in the recent past. By all reports i gather his captaincy has impressed.
He is the first name on the sheet in the test XI still, so maybe the windies could follow the suite of Pakistan with Misbah who has an old captain and just give him back the captaincy until a real creditable young option who can play in the test on merit (unlike Sammy) emerges in the coming years.
While in the ODIs/T20s make Ramdin captain.
dare said:
I have actually thought about the best WI T20 squad for a while now and we aren't that far of.
Gayle
Simmons+
Smith
Pollard
Sammuels
Russell
Dwayne Bravo
Darren Sammy*
Bishoo
Narine
Edwards/Rampaul/Santokie
Given the pitch conditions in Sri Lanka for the world cup, i think you would want a competent keeper instead of make shift option in Simmons.
Those pitches will turn and you don't want a part-time keeper dealing with the guile of Narine and Bishoo to be fair.
Otherwise yes, this is the best windies T20 team.
