West Indies in Zimbabwe/South Africa

[angryangy]

Bravi is strugling with a hamstring injury too, but im sure that he will play.

Chanderpaul should be bating at #3 instead of #5, he just runs out of good partners to bat alongside him when he is batting at #5, only batsman he has after him are Bravo and Ramdin and both have strugled with the bat.

BA Parchment, D Ganga, RS Morton, MN Samuels, S Chanderpaul, DJ Bravo, D Ramdin, DJG Sammy, JE Taylor, DBL Powell, FH Edwards

looks like that is the squad for West Indies, no Gayle but Parchment gets the call for his 1st test, Sammy back in for Lewis and Edwards will play so it will be interesting to see how fit he is.

Pollock in for Haris and Steyn will play i guess.

Yeah, I guess the prophecy held with Ganga, Morton and Parchment all tumbling, but then Chanderpaul and Samuels followed through as well. Still, a shambles of a top order often converts early wickets into unnecessary collapses.

Sammy has already been forced to show why he shouldn't have been dropped, but at least if he scores well here, they'll learn... let's hope. They've still made the mistake of leaving Sarwan to play for Guyana. Admittedly, it is easy to see why it would be considered a risk, he would have had no time to get used to conditions, but tough decisions have to be made in tough times.

The axe is long overdue here. Considering the youth stocks are on the up, the selectors should move to build some players from the ground up. Players that are talented enough from their early twenties are far and few between, but the quality of the young bowling attack show that the talent is there.

They fostered Fidel Edwards for a long time. He hasn't been the most productive, but recently his talent is starting to shine through. In truth, Sarwan has yet to show his best as well. I'd like to see them take a similar attitude to Kieron Pollard. It's no good saying he has to get experience when there are players in the side that are just wasting a perfect opportunity for a young player to get the best possible experience.

Also on the cards is Adrian Barath. At 17, Barath's two centuries for T&T are incredible and he is not only the youngest first class cricketer in the Caribbean since Sarwan, but surely the biggest batting talent since Sarwan as well.

Even in Australia, where the domestic competition is tight and getting into the national side is difficult, players like Clarke, Cullen, Tait, Johnson, Cosgrove and Pomersbach have all debuted for Australia in their early 20s.

The struggling Windies simply must pounce on a player like Barath.

 

[ivanvdm15]

well just look what happend when they brought Pollock back into the side

 

[Maxkarter]

I wou;d have loved to have seen the looks on all the Pollock bashers (about his age, and being over the hill) faces after today, fine its one innings so far, but thats enough to silence a few critics.

I didn't see Parchment bat, but that doesn't seem much of an impressive debut, nevermind the 'Chanderwall' that got broken and went for a duck today. Good bowling, even Steyn cashed in without being 100% again.

Smith has done well so far, he needs to kick on and get a 200 from here, Gibbs was slightly disappointing. Amla has probably secured his place in the team for another series today even though he's only scored a mere 50 but thats all you need for our selectors...

If SA loses the game from here, the whole team needs to be dropped

 

[Dare]

looks like we are back to the same old story. South Africa will probably wil this one by a innings and alot of runs. everyone has failed but in the most critical match for West Indies in a long time, Bravo not bowling himself shows me that the hamstring might be worse than it was said to be.

like angy said Sammy showed why he should be a permanent member of the 11. Ganga, Morton, Ramdin all failed to impress with the batt, they were all horrible in this series and Ramdin seriously needs to be worried for his spot. I guess the thinking about Ganga was that if D.Smith played good against Zimbabwe he would have been the opener but he failed miserabley so they had to call up Ganga.
Keiron Pollard will surely get a call to the squad in the future he just made a solid 80+ for T&T and with Sarwan back in the future things look a litle better. I agree with you angy get the youngsters in as sson as you can, I belive this coachng staff has what it takes to grrom youngster into good players.

btw even tho i hate that the Windies are getting crushed, good to see Pollock show Smith what he is all about.

 

[gary0808]

Terrific Day for the South Africans. I'm still not convinced about Pollock despite an admittedly old Pollock like performance. Anyone who watched todays play will know that the pitch was incredibly seam friendly and Pollock would love to take that pitch and take it around with him but we know that won't happen. I remember one delivery flying way outside off stump only to hit Ganga in the chest in the early proceedings.
I think when Pollock comes to England he will struggle coping with Pietersen and co because I think he has lost too much pace to be a genuine strike force against quality batsmen.
Smith's innings also commanded authority and took advantage of quite frankly rubbish West Indian bowling. Shots both side of the wicket with punishing blows. He certainly lived up to his reputation of one of the leading openers in the game.

 

[KBC]

Yeah!, And not only that, it's good to see the outfield's super lightning quick. The shot from gibbs which went for six was a shock. Just a touch of the bat and six!, The game's totally on SA's Bag now. If WI could manage to get their 2nd innings over 500(Not quite sure). But, if their batsmen can stand still, they can draw the match and tie the series. A Bit unlikely though. But, It's been a great batting pitch Since Tea Of the First day. Hopefully, SA will get on a vast score..

 

[ivanvdm15]

well i think Windies chances of getting a win now is pretty much impossible

 

[SciD]

well i think Windies chances of getting a win now is pretty much impossible

I think by tomorrow afternoon the match would be wrapped up by SA. The Wi are very much a side which plays when when it has confidence. Looking at 3 hundreds from SA side and taking just 4 wickets in process will mean they are not very confident and will crumble in batting as well. Anyways only Chanderpaul and Samuels look like spending any time at middle while others just go out there to have some fun.
Wonder what Gibbs might have been thinking about not being able to score when everyone who batted scored a half century. But also a question for SA team as to why McKenzie was dropped after only 1 innings?

 

[Animator!]

McKenzie torn his thigh muscle. He's out for a month or two.

 

[ivanvdm15]

very sad about the Pollock situation
but happy for De Villiers shows that he will bring many more in the future , and maybe this just might give him some confidence and he could convert that into some good form.

 

[Sureshot]

McKenzie torn his thigh muscle. He's out for a month or two.

What luck!

At least the WIndies batted the day out, get well and trully spanked today though.

120 overs....8 maidens!

Edwards - 23-0-129-0

Bowling is the biggest problem the West Indies face.

 

[Dare]

it doesnt help that he was not fit and same goes for Bravo who didnt bowl at all.

 

[King Pietersen]

Fidey bowled poorly from what i saw today, decent pace considering he was limping though. Those figures are shocking, even if injured, he was brilliant in England though, thought he was one of the only stand-out players for the West Indian side in the test series. They look to be well and truely out of this test, brilliant batting from Smith, De Villiers, Amla, Prince and Kallis, it's a really really solid batting line-up that SA have, very good team, as much as i hate to admit it .

 

[aussie1st]

SA took awhile to warm up 1 whole test but now they are rolling again and Windies have fallen away badly. The SR of some of the SA batters was awesome for a test match.

 

[jordox]

The Windies suck really bad. Take a look at their line up.. Only Gale (although his not playing) and Chanderpaul are the players that are threatening somewhat. All the others are total muppets.