West Indies tour of Australia 2024 (2 Tests, 3 ODIs, 3 T20Is)

[pillowprocter]

@asprin can you check the poll to see who voted 1-1 tied?

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Going through the highlights of the last two days of this game... a few things that caught my eye.

• This really may be one of those games that almost everyone is satisfied with. Marnus continues getting exposed, Head finally gets on the wrong side of luck, the Smudge experiment as an opener is a success (and he gets to boost his fourth innings record that some hold against him in the ATG discussions) and Green makes some handy runs at four despite looking shaky initially to continue annoying the Aussie boomers. On the West Indian side of things... their "second XI" yet again secures a famous away victory and they've unearthed an absolute gem in Shamar. McKenzie looks promising as predicted and Roach finally gets one victory he can savour in a country that has been ill suited to his efforts till now.
  
  
• Really love how direct Shamar's bowling was. I hope it doesn't get coached out of him and he doesn't go astray like Gabriel with inaccuracy problems down the line. I also hope he continues to play more tests for this side and that he gets enough support financially and otherwise to make that true. As I did say before, this side isn't far off from becoming a competitive outfit in most conditions with a few additions that can slowly build a strong home record. Much will depend on the management of their own board and off-field reasons unfortunately but I still hold out hope, few sides can evoke the passion from their own region and neutrals like a West Indian side.
  
  
• Australia's batting has to be examined even if Smudge came through in the end and there's arguably a case to be made for rotating their bowlers more often. Marnus has had a lean year and if it is a case of him reverting to the mean of being a mid 40s averaging batter at best then it may be a worry if others don't step up. This side also needs to start looking at long-term replacements for some of these blokes across the XI, they'll be good for now but you can't deal with a transition period where you have to suddenly replace almost all of them. McSweeney has been the name on everyone's lips after his BBL season but he's also had a very impressive Shield so far... they'll have to look into seeing if he can make that step up. I don't see any other names that can come in and change the side (apart from the already tried names like Renshaw, Bancroft, Handscomb etc) in the next year or two unless they're willing to take the risk with a wildcard like Davies or McGurk. Maybe it's also time to give Hardie a go... almost every potential problem that may arise could be resolved by them ocassionally handing out debuts or the odd game to someone who isn't a regular with either bat or ball.

Excited about the prospect of Joseph, Joseph, Seales and Roach in England. Potential to be the best bowling line up since the 90s. Although it'll probably be flat decks instead of something spicy for the bowlers with Roston Chase at 8.

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

Knew before anyone thought this was possible.

 

[Jay OTT]

Making my first post on PC in ages because there's something about Australia's 2nd innings that I feel needs more attention.

From the point when Starc joined Smith at the crease with Australia 6 down, it took 73 deliveries for the West Indies to take the next 3 wickets. Out of these, Smith faced just 31 (42.5%) of them, and no serious effort was being made to farm the strike until the 10th wicket stand. Even if we include said stand, Smith still faced fewer deliveries (43) than the entire Australian tail (48) during this crucial period.

As amazing as Shamar Joseph bowled to bring a historic victory to the Windies, it seems to me that Australia also defeated themselves by not allowing the last established batsman to soak up the bulk of Shamar's deliveries and outlast his spell. Smith was instead left stranded on the verge of making a century and winning the match for Australia, and even if farming the strike is easier said than done I think it's fair to question why he and his various partners did not attempt to do so a lot sooner.

 

[Bevab]

Making my first post on PC in ages because there's something about Australia's 2nd innings that I feel needs more attention.

From the point when Starc joined Smith at the crease with Australia 6 down, it took 73 deliveries for the West Indies to take the next 3 wickets. Out of these, Smith faced just 31 (42.5%) of them, and no serious effort was being made to farm the strike until the 10th wicket stand. Even if we include said stand, Smith still faced fewer deliveries (43) than the entire Australian tail (48) during this crucial period.

As amazing as Shamar Joseph bowled to bring a historic victory to the Windies, it seems to me that Australia also defeated themselves by not allowing the last established batsman to soak up the bulk of Shamar's deliveries and outlast his spell. Smith was instead left stranded on the verge of making a century and winning the match for Australia, and even if farming the strike is easier said than done I think it's fair to question why he and his various partners did not attempt to do so a lot sooner.

I originally wondered if you were deriving the wrong conclusion from those numbers but comparing it to the two big fourth innings individual heists with the tail... Smudge's attempt does stand out odd. I think they were confident in Starc and Cummins ability to play the man since Cummins did make a fifty in the first innings and Starc managed to fend off close to forty deliveries in the first test. Lyon could have been safeguarded in a better manner though. Wonder if he was thinking of Edgbaston... another thought I've heard is that Smudge could have tried to slog against Shamar all by himself whilst leaving the tail exposed to the bowler at the other end since Alzarri wasn't threatening at that point (at least he wasn't from the few deliveries I caught towards the end of the game).

 

[icyman]

Decent win for the WI- but they need to sustain this momentum going forth. Hopefully, they don't lose their good players to T20 leagues now. Else, we will all be celebrating the next WI test win after 10 odd years....

 

[Bevab]

Decent win for the WI- but they need to sustain this momentum going forth. Hopefully, they don't lose their good players to T20 leagues now. Else, we will all be celebrating the next WI test win after 10 odd years....

Holder and one of Hope/King would be the only ones missing that would make it into their test XI. It’s a myth that West Indies are losing valuable test players to T20 leagues these days.

Agree with you on the other point, it’s important to not let this win mask the bigger issues and this is a great opportunity to work on them.

 

[Aislabie]

I'm really excited to see whether Captain Smudge chooses to make himself an ODI opener as well

 

[angloindian]

Making my first post on PC in ages because there's something about Australia's 2nd innings that I feel needs more attention.

From the point when Starc joined Smith at the crease with Australia 6 down, it took 73 deliveries for the West Indies to take the next 3 wickets. Out of these, Smith faced just 31 (42.5%) of them, and no serious effort was being made to farm the strike until the 10th wicket stand. Even if we include said stand, Smith still faced fewer deliveries (43) than the entire Australian tail (48) during this crucial period.

As amazing as Shamar Joseph bowled to bring a historic victory to the Windies, it seems to me that Australia also defeated themselves by not allowing the last established batsman to soak up the bulk of Shamar's deliveries and outlast his spell. Smith was instead left stranded on the verge of making a century and winning the match for Australia, and even if farming the strike is easier said than done I think it's fair to question why he and his various partners did not attempt to do so a lot sooner.

This was brought up on comms and you are absolutely correct. Smith absolutely shows why he isn't quite Kohli tier, he looked a bit clueless during parts of that chase.

 

[icyman]

I'm really excited to see whether Captain Smudge chooses to make himself an ODI opener as well

He's got only 2 more years in color remaining. Expect the unexpected...

 

[Bevab]

This was brought up on comms and you are absolutely correct. Smith absolutely shows why he isn't quite Kohli tier, he looked a bit clueless during parts of that chase.

 

[icyman]

Australia thrash the Windies by 8 wickets in yet another one-sided match. Never seen the MCG so bare for ODIs in Australia. Another reason why the CA needs to bring back the much coveted tri-series. Imagine Pak-WI-Aus in a tri-nation on the beautiful Aussie grounds.

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Never seen the MCG so bare for ODIs in Australia.

You must've missed the empty stadiums they played England in last year

 

[icyman]

You must've missed the empty stadiums they played England in last year

Yup, didn't follow that one ..

 

[Umair7]

Jake Fraser-McGurk (The Windies Killer)