West Indies Team Discussion

Holder's horrendous captaincy? The hell? He's a good captain, a bit defensive at times but I have survived through worse.

Right now I wouldn't touch Hope with a 10 foot pole.

Blackwood is suited to limited overs, I'd give him a game. Everyone forgets that Narine actually still plays the 50 over game too.

I'd not back Russel in ODIs right now. Too injury prone. You won't get 10 overs of quality from him anymore.

Keemo Paul is a guy I think can become a good ODI all rounder.

Pretty sure Holder has never won an ODI series as the captain for West Indies. The closest I can remember them pushing a team was the crazy home series versus England where Gayle went ballistic. For all the excellent work he has done off the field and in the whites, he never was a good ODI captain who was too defensive and 'stale' for a lack of better words (granted, he never did have the best of squads but his own captaincy was not helping the team either).

I don't rate Blackwood that highly in limited overs cricket, seems to be an Asghar Afghan/Sarfaraz Ahmed type of player who thrives on the generally aggressive fields in tests to score quickly but struggle in the shorter formats to score as quickly.

Narine's last List A game was in 2018 and last ODI in 2016 but even current Narine with plenty of tweaks to his action would be their best spinner if he could bowl all ten overs. Agree on Russell, which is why I wish Pollard was more of an all-rounder than he is now. Still believe you could get five good overs out of him assuming he is fit and his unique skillset down at seven could be very handy in a modern ODI chase or in setting a mammoth total. I do believe in Paul being a better batsman than what the stats show (I see him as a long term replacement for Holder in LO cricket at the least). He could have a serious shot at the role if he were to add an extra gear of aggression.
 
Narine missed the 2019 Super50 tournament because he was working on his action and he didn't feel 100% comfortable with it yet to declare himself available to play. I think he's a much better bowler than to just be labelled as a T20 specialist.

Pollard should be bowling more both in T20s and ODIs to be honest. I think he's a better bowler than his stats show.

Glad to see that you also support Keemo Paul. I do think in the next few years, with added work to both batting and bowling, he can be someone to look forward to seeing.

I have to concede your point about Holder. In ODI cricket he still deserves to be in the team as a pure bowler though. I really was thinking about his Test captaincy when I made that comment, and that's not really in question at the moment.

I still think that we have so many prospects. But that's all they are right now...prospects. But without the proper training and structure, they will go nowhere. And I want these guys to go places. You can see that they enjoy their cricket, but it's not just about that, they've got to be continually improving also.

During the England series at a rain delay, they had a session with the commentators where they were looking at videos of kids playing in their backyards etc. I can't recall exactly who they were, there were three of them. Nass Hussain might have been one. Maybe Strauss. Dunno for sure. Oh, Mike Atherton was one too. But that's beside the point. The point is that one of the guys said that kids these days, they want to both bat and bowl and expect to be good at both, but what parents and coaches have to realise is that if they are better in one particular area of the game, encourage that. You don't want to encourage a kid to be a bits-and-pieces all rounder when they could have truly been a top class batsman or a quality bowler. For some reason that stuck with me.

Now, I'm not saying encourage bowlers to be bunnies. But if you're a bowler, then your role in the team is to bowl, restrict scoring, get wickets and that's that. Any runs you score should be a bonus. I find that too many young players these days want to be all rounders instead of focusing on what their primary skill is.

EDIT: See, when you're already a batsman, you might have to turn your arm over once every 5 matches. You're not a bad bowler, but you're not top class. Remember that Kraigg Brathwaite has a 6-for against Sri Lanka and Ramnaresh Sarwan took two wickets on either side of lunch the first time he bowled in a Test. Shiv Chanderpaul originally began his career as a batting spin all-rounder. But these guys, and many others, are there to bat. On the other side of the spectrum, you have a guy like Jason Gillespie with a Test double hundred. Jerome Taylor has a Test ton. Shane Warne, poor guy, never did get to three figures but he knew which end of the bat to hold. But they were in the team to bowl, and damn did they do that job well.

I remember in the early days, before the CPL was the CPL and after it was the Stanford League. It was the generic Caribbean T20 tournament. Sir Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh were on commentary with Barry Wilkinson. Curtly said something like if he were playing today, he would be considered a pinch hitter, because he would swing at anything in his area. Walsh said, oh please, you were just as bad a batsman as me. The stats guy did his magic, and it turns out that Walsh actually has hit more sixes than Ambrose in international cricket. But they were in the team to bowl, and damn hell they bowled.
 
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I've been at it for hours now, and I can't pick a non-crap Test team for the West Indies. I can't even put together a well thought out post before I give up because I'm in a sea of specialist batsmen who average 31. It's really quite sad.

For the sake of it though, here's a potential Test team that almost certainly wouldn't work.

:wi: :bat: Kraigg Brathwaite - He's been crap for about two years, but there's nobody to replace him.
:wi: :bat: Brandon King - Average stats, but unlike most Windies prospects, Brandon King passes the eye test.
:wi: :bat: Nicholas Pooran - No first-class experience, one match in six years, but absolute talent to burn. Worth the gamble.
:wi: :bat: Jermaine Blackwood - Blackwood's career suggests he'll regress to a 30-average mean. But he's done really well since he came back into the side.
:wi: :ar: Roston Chase - Generally delivers at clutch moments.
:wi: :wk: Shai Hope - Hope has a high ceiling as a batsman, even if he's not shown it yet. Also a great gloveman.
:wi: :ar: Jason Holder - Concerningly, Holder has been one of the Windies' best batsmen as well as an excellent swing bowler.
:wi: :ar: Rahkeem Cornwall - Cornwall is large, but so is his impact as a spin bowler.
:wi: :bwl: Keemo Paul - An excellent domestic bowler who has performed well whenever he's had the opportunity.
:wi: :bwl: Kemar Roach - One of the world's leading seam bowlers.
:wi: :bwl: Shannon Gabriel - Bowls absolute gas.

Reserves
:wi: :bat: Shimron Hetmyer - Hetmyer doesn't have the temperament for Test cricket at all, but he does definitely have the talent.
:wi: :bat: Jonathan Carter - Okay so his stats are bang average. But he's good aesthetically?
:wi: :wk: Jahmar Hamilton - I think he's a pretty good gloveman. If there are better options, just put them in this place.
:wi: :ar: Carlos Brathwaite - Despite looking like quite an average player, he's someone who has proven to have the temperament and thoughtfulness for Test cricket.
:wi: :bwl: Akeal Hosein - A very capable left-arm spinner. Quite a defensive bowler, but he'd do an adequate job as a spinner and lower-order batsman.
:wi: :bwl: Alzarri Joseph - A skilled seam bowler, somebody capable of stepping in for Paul or Roach if needed.
:wi: :bwl: Oshane Thomas - He's capable of bowling outright pace; that pretty much makes him a Shannon Gabriel replacement.
 
Braithwaite - You're right, there's nobody to replace him.

King - Not ready for Test match cricket yet. I'd rather see someone like Shayne Mosely before him. Now, he'll make a good opener one day, but not just yet.

Pooran - Again, not ready for the highest level. Limited overs, he's a shoo-in at international level for sure. But I'd play him in a few more A team matches. In a year or two, he'll be ready. I wouldn't gamble on him just yet.

Blackwood - Can't deny that he's shown some fight since his return to the team. I'd push him up the order rather than seeing him languish at 6 despite being the team's best batsman.

Chase - Either he bats or he bowls. He shouldn't be doing both. He's a good batsman, but I think focusing on bowling is taking a lot out of him.

Hope - An excellent player, but badly in need of form. He's the sort of player where if you pick him, you have to make him take the gloves, because he's not really going to contribute to the team otherwise.

Holder - Just barely managed to save himself with his half century, but as of late his captaincy has been questionable. A better bowler than he is a batsman, his height makes him difficult to play off of a good length.

Cornwall - I've liked the guy for years now, and I want to see him get more opportunities at the highest level. For a big guy, he's not a bad fielder close in. He's got great hands and can get himself into position quickly.

Paul - You can probably swap him for Joseph without noticing much. Joseph is the better bowler, while Paul is the better batsman. He seems to be a feature of the limited overs team, but he won't look out of place in a Test match.

Roach - Agreed with you, he's one of the world's best seam bowlers. When I met him when he debuted during Bangladesh's tour of the West Indies, he was a 17/18 year old with raw pace. Time has edged a lot of that pace away, but he's worked on his movement through the air and off of the pitch. His ability to immediately go around the wicket to left handers is impressive, and he's probably our only bowler who can threaten left handers first up.

Gabriel - A genuine quick of the old-school variety. He knows his role and does it well. Is he underbowled? Yes, very much so.

Hetmeyer - Meh. A limited overs player. Can't quite see him stepping up to Test cricket and being consistent.

Carter - Not a bad player. But he's distinctly average.

Hamilton - He's played a Test and wasn't bad with the gloves, but he's more of a future player than a current one.

Braithwaite - I always thought he had the potential to be a decent Test player. His knowledge of a match situation is good.

Hosein - Love this guy. But the role he plays in a team might not be cut out for Test cricket.

Joseph - He's a workhorse for sure. Bowls without getting the rewards due to him. Hardly ever shows emotion on the field. I really like this guy.

Thomas - Has pace. But like Gabriel, he has a big problem with no balls. Perhaps even more than Gabriel.

That's my analysis of your squad, @Aislabie . Now onto my own selections.

Da Silva - Had an average game with the gloves. Not quite ready for Test cricket yet, but will be one for the future, perhaps as a specialist batsman.

Brooks - I don't think you can drop the guy, he didn't do all that badly. If it was between him and Bravo, I'd quicker drop Bravo.

Dowrich - He's the most consistent gloveman we have at present, limited overs or Tests. And he can bat.

Bonner - I've been begging to see this guy get a Test debut for a long time now. I think he's a good all-round spin option. Better than Chase, at least.

Pollard - Huh? Him in a Test selection?! The guy does have a few first class centuries to his credit, and even though he hasn't played in whites for years, he's actually a pretty good long format batsman.

C Holder - Bowled admirably without his fielders backing him up. I don't want to see him dropped when Roach returns from bereavement. It's going to come down to him and Joseph, and I can't tell you one way or the other who I'd drop.
 
What I will say, though, is a massive kudos to the Windies for being the first team to tour during this pandemic. And apart from one major breach, they have done quite well with the "bubbles" and all that. England and South Africa had to cancel an entire series because of...issues...so for us to tour while being physically and definitely mentally restricted, we've done well. Artificial crowd noises in the England series to fans in the NZ series, we're damn lucky as supporters and fans to see international cricket being played.

The cricket was good guys, you didn't play that well most times, but the fact is that you guys played. Major props on that.
 
I might have some strong opinions about the players, but the fact remains that despite the losses, despite us not being strong, despite everything...this is still my team.. I will support them now and forevermore. David Rudder, the Trinidad calypso singer who created our team anthem...he couldn't have sang it any better. The small part of the song that plays before every match doesn't even begin to capture what the entire song is about.

West Indies I hate you. But I love you more.

Rally round the West Indies. Now and forevermore.

 
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What the actual fearsome tweak...
I feel it is a good move. Brathwaite definitely looks their best Test player as far as the intent thing is concerned. I feel he is the right man to lead the West Indies in this format. It also relieves Holder from the unnecessary burden of Captaincy and would help him bring out the best in him.

@qpeedore would be keen on hearing your views on this.
 
@NilayShah60

It's not a bad thing on the selectors' part to keep Brathwaite on as captain. He is captain of the Barbados regional team in the FC competition and has been so for years. He's also coming off of the successful tour of Bangladesh, where he made some excellent decisions in the field with respect to bowling changes and field placements. He performed adequately with the bat, nothing spectacular though. Holder et al opted out of the tour, nothing (particularly) wrong with that, but it would really have been unfair to demote Brathwaite back down to vice-captain upon Holder's return after the sort of leadership he displayed in what was not an easy tour by any means. And that's one of the things - at the time you'd have to say that Bangladesh and a full-strength West Indies team were about evenly matched. Remove some key players and be forced to debut guys who were on the fringes for some time and you'd tip the scales in Bangladesh's favour by some way. We weren't exactly as far down as underdogs in that series, but after the ODIs were over, very few people were expecting us to win. A solid showing is all we could have hoped for. Remember in the first Test, they scored something over 400 in their first innings before we just about managed to avoid the follow-on target. The pressure was definitely on Brathwaite from the very start. And to his credit, neither he nor the team buckled under the pressure.

He has the experience and the support of the players. The bulk of this team were under him in Bangladesh and therefore know his captaincy style, especially those who either debuted or were still new at Test level. It was never going to be easy for them to learn how to play under a different player, no matter what anyone says about professionals knowing how to cope with anything that comes their way, etc. Yes Brathwaite, at the time, was thought to just be a placeholder captain until Holder was available again, but the performances in Bangladesh showed that Brathwaite offers something that was missing from our cricket. Whatever that something is...I have no idea, but whatever it is, it works.

Plus, Holder and Brathwaite go back a long way. Brathwaite was Holder's vice-captain for a long time before Roston Chase took over that spot. They both play for Barbados (where Brathwaite captains Holder when the latter isn't somewhere playing franchise cricket). They both came up through age-group cricket pretty much together. So it's not really like there's any animosity, at least on the surface.

As far as Holder goes, it's not easy being captain, legitimately opting out of a tour, and then you're no longer captain. However, it might not be a bad thing. Holder's captaincy has, to me, become reactive rather than proactive. I've often seem an unwillingness to try different things from him. Too many times there's a sense of waiting for the opposition to make a mistake rather than him actively probing and searching for wickets. Now whenever he went on the attack, it was genuinely something good to see, but it didn't happen often enough for me. That's not the same Holder I remembered when he was fresh into his captaincy career. (Just an example, in the last New Zealand tour, how the hell did he not bowl Shannon Gabriel more? Williamson was being Williamson, but come on...)

I wouldn't say the captaincy put extra pressure on Holder in a negative way. If anything, the spotlight being on him gave him the impetus to perform. When he took up the captaincy role, many fans would still remember Darren Sammy, who for much of his captaincy career had a lot of concerns aimed at his selection (sometimes unfairly). It all boiled down to one thing - the only reason Sammy even had a spot on the team was because he was the captain. Holder wouldn't have wanted those same concerns surrounding him, and he's pretty much done more than enough to keep them away.

His main role should primarily be as a first-change bowler, something he's done consistently to good effect. His bowling average is somewhere around 27, can't recall offhand how many wickets he has, but it's definitely over 100. That's an excellent average for a strike bowler, moreso for a first-change like he is. And I think that he has it in him to get that down closer to 25. He has the height that gets him good bounce, he's always pretty accurate, and he can move the ball. One of the things about being a bowling captain is that you have a tendency to either under- or over-bowl yourself, and both things have happened to him in the past, so being able to not worry about that is a plus.

As for his batting, he's always been handy. Despite a double and a couple other centuries, I wouldn't call him an outright batsman yet. He can be, though, I think he averages about 30 with the bat and can better that. Looking at his likely batting position, he's probably going to be partnering guys like da Silva and Blackwood. Two very good batsmen and who he'll have to be adaptable with. For Blackwood, a naturally aggressive batsman, Holder will have to hold his end and just work the field. For da Silva, more of a grafter who plays time, he has to be the one who does much of the scoring. Then he potentially has Alzarri, who is becoming a handy batsman in his own right, and then the rest of the tail. There were questions around his batting position in the past, where a lot of analysts and commentators thought he was batting too low. With this potential team though, 7 is probably right where he should be. Maybe...maybe he can come in ahead of da Silva, but I wouldn't count on it.

The rest of the team, they pretty much picked themselves except for one glaring act of stupidity. John Campbell's name is still on the team sheet. Huh? Then again, we've been over this issue and it's probably pretty much for lack of other options. Shouldn't be that way for too much longer though. Shai Hope is red hot, at least in the shorter format. And he definitely wants to get his name back into the mix for Test cricket again. So hopefully later on in the year we'll see Hope playing in whites again. Good to see Bravo back in the team, but his spot in the playing XI is by no means sure, and in fact, if it was my decision, I'd not play him in the first Test. He has form from the Super50 and the ODIs behind him, but I'd leave him for the second game. Whoever doesn't perform in the first one, then he swaps for them. Unless...hmm...unless you bench Campbell and open with Bravo? There's an option, not a bad one either. A number 3 is essentially a third opener, and often is out there before the shine is gone. It's something to think about, at least.

The limited-overs pitches were good for batting, but the Test pitch is supposed to have more grass on it for the seamers. (Remember: the entire tour takes place in one country due to Covid, and the Coolidge ground, formerly the Stanford Ground, isn't Test match standard...so the Sir Viv stadium hosted the final two ODIs and will host both Tests. This is after hosting half of the Super50 tournament. This ground has pretty much been in use since January, and it has held up extremely well. The nostalgia in me really would have loved to have seen the old Antigua Recreation Ground host a game, but last I heard, it's not exactly fit for...pretty much anything at this time.) Wouldn't need the two spinners, so between Cornwall and Worrican, one will probably sit out. Probably Cornwall, since they enjoy dropping him after an excellent performance in the subcontinent. In fact, they wouldn't have played either spinner if Chase had made the squad. The fact that two specialist spinners are in the team means that they're looking to play at least one. That's good, because while Bonner and Brathwaite can bowl, two of them don't add up to one proper spinner.

They'll likely play the four seamers. If they do decide for three seamers and the two spinners, then Joseph sits out. But I don't see that happening. It's even less likely that they'll do three seamers, one spinner, and the extra batsman, in which case Bravo plays and Joseph and Cornwall go out. I think they'll go with the four seamers and one spinner, one batsman and one spinner miss out.

We actually have competition for the middle order. Interesting. Roston Chase, Chamarh Brooks, Shimron Hetmeyer, those names spring to mind. Good. Competition for places will only bring out the best in everyone. Guys who aren't selected will push for selection, and guys in the team will play to remain there.

One omission that has me slightly concerned is Shane Dowrich. Unlike the others, who opted out of Bangladesh due to fatigue over Covid-related restrictions, it was reported that he opted out due to personal reasons. He did have a finger injury during the New Zealand tour, but that should have long since healed. Haven't heard a thing about him since. I don't like that at all. Hopefully he just needs some time away from everything and he'll return before long. But the gloves are on good hands at the moment, so da Silva has the chance to make his spot as permanent as possible.
 
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@NilayShah60

It's not a bad thing on the selectors' part to keep Brathwaite on as captain. He is captain of the Barbados regional team in the FC competition and has been so for years. He's also coming off of the successful tour of Bangladesh, where he made some excellent decisions in the field with respect to bowling changes and field placements. He performed adequately with the bat, nothing spectacular though. Holder et al opted out of the tour, nothing (particularly) wrong with that, but it would really have been unfair to demote Brathwaite back down to vice-captain upon Holder's return after the sort of leadership he displayed in what was not an easy tour by any means. And that's one of the things - at the time you'd have to say that Bangladesh and a full-strength West Indies team were about evenly matched. Remove some key players and be forced to debut guys who were on the fringes for some time and you'd tip the scales in Bangladesh's favour by some way. We weren't exactly as far down as underdogs in that series, but after the ODIs were over, very few people were expecting us to win. A solid showing is all we could have hoped for. Remember in the first Test, they scored something over 400 in their first innings before we just about managed to avoid the follow-on target. The pressure was definitely on Brathwaite from the very start. And to his credit, neither he nor the team buckled under the pressure.

He has the experience and the support of the players. The bulk of this team were under him in Bangladesh and therefore know his captaincy style, especially those who either debuted or were still new at Test level. It was never going to be easy for them to learn how to play under a different player, no matter what anyone says about professionals knowing how to cope with anything that comes their way, etc. Yes Brathwaite, at the time, was thought to just be a placeholder captain until Holder was available again, but the performances in Bangladesh showed that Brathwaite offers something that was missing from our cricket. Whatever that something is...I have no idea, but whatever it is, it works.

Plus, Holder and Brathwaite go back a long way. Brathwaite was Holder's vice-captain for a long time before Roston Chase took over that spot. They both play for Barbados (where Brathwaite captains Holder when the latter isn't somewhere playing franchise cricket). They both came up through age-group cricket pretty much together. So it's not really like there's any animosity, at least on the surface.

As far as Holder goes, it's not easy being captain, legitimately opting out of a tour, and then you're no longer captain. However, it might not be a bad thing. Holder's captaincy has, to me, become reactive rather than proactive. I've often seem an unwillingness to try different things from him. Too many times there's a sense of waiting for the opposition to make a mistake rather than him actively probing and searching for wickets. Now whenever he went on the attack, it was genuinely something good to see, but it didn't happen often enough for me. That's not the same Holder I remembered when he was fresh into his captaincy career. (Just an example, in the last New Zealand tour, how the hell did he not bowl Shannon Gabriel more? Williamson was being Williamson, but come on...)

I wouldn't say the captaincy put extra pressure on Holder in a negative way. If anything, the spotlight being on him gave him the impetus to perform. When he took up the captaincy role, many fans would still remember Darren Sammy, who for much of his captaincy career had a lot of concerns aimed at his selection (sometimes unfairly). It all boiled down to one thing - the only reason Sammy even had a spot on the team was because he was the captain. Holder wouldn't have wanted those same concerns surrounding him, and he's pretty much done more than enough to keep them away.

His main role should primarily be as a first-change bowler, something he's done consistently to good effect. His bowling average is somewhere around 27, can't recall offhand how many wickets he has, but it's definitely over 100. That's an excellent average for a strike bowler, moreso for a first-change like he is. And I think that he has it in him to get that down closer to 25. He has the height that gets him good bounce, he's always pretty accurate, and he can move the ball. One of the things about being a bowling captain is that you have a tendency to either under- or over-bowl yourself, and both things have happened to him in the past, so being able to not worry about that is a plus.

As for his batting, he's always been handy. Despite a double and a couple other centuries, I wouldn't call him an outright batsman yet. He can be, though, I think he averages about 30 with the bat and can better that. Looking at his likely batting position, he's probably going to be partnering guys like da Silva and Blackwood. Two very good batsmen and who he'll have to be adaptable with. For Blackwood, a naturally aggressive batsman, Holder will have to hold his end and just work the field. For da Silva, more of a grafter who plays time, he has to be the one who does much of the scoring. Then he potentially has Alzarri, who is becoming a handy batsman in his own right, and then the rest of the tail. There were questions around his batting position in the past, where a lot of analysts and commentators thought he was batting too low. With this potential team though, 7 is probably right where he should be. Maybe...maybe he can come in ahead of da Silva, but I wouldn't count on it.

The rest of the team, they pretty much picked themselves except for one glaring act of stupidity. John Campbell's name is still on the team sheet. Huh? Then again, we've been over this issue and it's probably pretty much for lack of other options. Shouldn't be that way for too much longer though. Shai Hope is red hot, at least in the shorter format. And he definitely wants to get his name back into the mix for Test cricket again. So hopefully later on in the year we'll see Hope playing in whites again. Good to see Bravo back in the team, but his spot in the playing XI is by no means sure, and in fact, if it was my decision, I'd not play him in the first Test. He has form from the Super50 and the ODIs behind him, but I'd leave him for the second game. Whoever doesn't perform in the first one, then he swaps for them. Unless...hmm...unless you bench Campbell and open with Bravo? There's an option, not a bad one either. A number 3 is essentially a third opener, and often is out there before the shine is gone. It's something to think about, at least.

The limited-overs pitches were good for batting, but the Test pitch is supposed to have more grass on it for the seamers. (Remember: the entire tour takes place in one country due to Covid, and the Coolidge ground, formerly the Stanford Ground, isn't Test match standard...so the Sir Viv stadium hosted the final two ODIs and will host both Tests. This is after hosting half of the Super50 tournament. This ground has pretty much been in use since January, and it has held up extremely well. The nostalgia in me really would have loved to have seen the old Antigua Recreation Ground host a game, but last I heard, it's not exactly fit for...pretty much anything at this time.) Wouldn't need the two spinners, so between Cornwall and Worrican, one will probably sit out. Probably Cornwall, since they enjoy dropping him after an excellent performance in the subcontinent. In fact, they wouldn't have played either spinner if Chase had made the squad. The fact that two specialist spinners are in the team means that they're looking to play at least one. That's good, because while Bonner and Brathwaite can bowl, two of them don't add up to one proper spinner.

They'll likely play the four seamers. If they do decide for three seamers and the two spinners, then Joseph sits out. But I don't see that happening. It's even less likely that they'll do three seamers, one spinner, and the extra batsman, in which case Bravo plays and Joseph and Cornwall go out. I think they'll go with the four seamers and one spinner, one batsman and one spinner miss out.

We actually have competition for the middle order. Interesting. Roston Chase, Chamarh Brooks, Shimron Hetmeyer, those names spring to mind. Good. Competition for places will only bring out the best in everyone. Guys who aren't selected will push for selection, and guys in the team will play to remain there.

One omission that has me slightly concerned is Shane Dowrich. Unlike the others, who opted out of Bangladesh due to fatigue over Covid-related restrictions, it was reported that he opted out due to personal reasons. He did have a finger injury during the New Zealand tour, but that should have long since healed. Haven't heard a thing about him since. I don't like that at all. Hopefully he just needs some time away from everything and he'll return before long. But the gloves are on good hands at the moment, so da Silva has the chance to make his spot as permanent as possible.
Why not play both Da Silva and Dowrich, theyre both better as a pure batsman when compared to most of those guys.
 
West Indies Test team looking competitive again for the first time in years. Dwayne Bravo and Shai Hope looked brilliant yesterday for the Presidents X1 against Sri Lanka and are in form. shame Hope is not in the Test squad at the moment, he has found some form and hopefully it can translate into the Test Team.
 
West Indies Test team looking competitive again for the first time in years. Dwayne Bravo and Shai Hope looked brilliant yesterday for the Presidents X1 against Sri Lanka and are in form. shame Hope is not in the Test squad at the moment, he has found some form and hopefully it can translate into the Test Team.
Would be cool to see Dwayne Bravo figure in tests again, thought he had retired from tests a decade ago!
 
Would be cool to see Dwayne Bravo figure in tests again, thought he had retired from tests a decade ago!

I actually meant Darren Bravo, though he and hope were out early today. Darren Bravo has a lot of talent and seems to have ditched trying to play like his hero Lara, he used to look just like him at the crease. Dwayne Bravo has retired from tests, he wasnt that good, but a terrific T20 player!
 
I actually meant Darren Bravo, though he and hope were out early today. Darren Bravo has a lot of talent and seems to have ditched trying to play like his hero Lara, he used to look just like him at the crease. Dwayne Bravo has retired from tests, he wasnt that good, but a terrific T20 player!
Darren Bravo has been handled badly by the WI management in the past, he should have been one of the top ranking bat in the world today but poor managment derailed his career.
 
Darren Bravo has been handled badly by the WI management in the past, he should have been one of the top ranking bat in the world today but poor managment derailed his career.
Some of it is his fault too. But I'm glad to see him get runs. Hope continues his good form, if he can keep it up then a recall isn't far away. Roston Chase bowled superbly, but his main role in the team, when he does return, should be as a batsman who can bowl a bit rather than the main spin option.
 

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