About nine more matches than he really should have played, to be frank. 24 innings as an opener and only 2 fifties to his name, and not very big fifties at that. His standard deviation would be interesting to calculate too. Lemme see if I can remember my Form 5 Maths (or was it Form 6?)...
*does maths*
Yeah, I know there's calculators online. Sometimes it's more fun to do it yourself.
I won't bore anyone with the details really, but it's pretty much just as I thought. He can't even be consistent with his average of 24.66 (21.58 since SD doesn't consider not outs), he's all over the place. I've always said I prefer consistency over hit-or-miss, and if he'd been around 25 an innings consistently then it still wouldn't be ideal, but it would have been better than the result I got (+/-18point42andsome, for the curious).
But, as
@Aislabie mentioned, who else do we have? Shai Hope can open, but by God the man needs form. Our regional 50-over competition has just started, and he isn't even named in any of the squads. I know it's just limited overs, but still...weird. Technically, barring exceptional circumstances or your last name is Gayle or Pollard, you need to play the local competition in order to be eligible to play for the Windies in that format over the next year. The 4-day tournament
should start afterward, let's see if he features in that.
Still, there are a few players to look out for in the tournament.
The squads, for anyone interested. The matches should be live on YouTube via the Windies Cricket channel also.
Back to the opener conundrum. Should we start sending a certain son of the most-capped WI player on some A tours? Potential oozing out of his pores, but not a lot of exposure to international cricket. Let's just be happy he doesn't take the front-on stance of his father. It might be better to push him sooner rather than later, he's already been around for some years.
It might be something like what we often do in Drafts, push a regular number three up to open just because there's nobody else. That's why I said we could potentially push Brooks up to open when he returns to the team. And there really isn't anyone else, is there? Sunil Ambris? Don't make me laugh. We literally have nobody good as a specialist opener except for Brathwaite (pronounced "Braffit").
Right, other random talking points...
- Now look, every credit to Bonner and Mayers, but Mominul really didn't do the best job of captaincy, did he? And Mushy didn't exactly come forward to help him out much either. That's about the only reason Mushfiqur stays in the team, to be honest. He isn't keeping, Das is quite adequate at that job and he's a better batsman. But Mushfiqur's experience was much needed with both Tamim and Shakib off the field. You've got the opposition chasing a big score. An opposition who, in all honesty, if not outplayed...were definitely on the back foot for the better part of four days. Two debutants in the middle at the start of the fifth day. Attack the hell out of them, that should have been the plan. I'd have liked to see 4 men around the bat at all times. Slip, leg slip, silly point, short leg. Will the bowlers go for a few? Of course, but will chances happen? Damn right. Sometimes you need to get hit for a few to get a wicket. That's what Mushfiqur should have been saying to Mominul.
- That being said, I'm not sure the spinners really bowled attacking lines. Or even bowled to the fields set for them. And Bonner and Mayers seemed like they were batting on a net pitch in any case.
- I'm not a big fan of the way that the DRS is being used as a strategic option rather than a way to get rid of howlers. That was the original intent of the thing, but all too often you see the bowling team hesitating to use it because they just aren't sure and they only have a limited number of reviews. Mominul didn't use it twice for decisions that would have been out. Once for each batsman. Now there are ways to game the system and keep reviews even if they go against you, but it depends on the whole "umpire's call" scenario. I once did a mini-analysis on that, I should probably have a look into that again. Since I'm in my maths mood, I might just do it tonight. Dunno, .
- When I was relatively awake for when the two batsmen came out after tea, I chuckled a little. Why? Because they're showing the two batsmen heading out to the middle, a shot of their backs as they walk. The numbers on Bonner's shirt are so faded compared to Mayers. I kept thinking of how many times he was twelfth man and how many hours he spent in the field as a substitute. I thought to myself, "Yeah, it's finally your time in the playing XI, dude. Go brave." He went a bit too brave and lost his wicket shortly thereafter, but he won't be a twelfth for some time to come. Let's fade them numbers some more.
- Some of my friends (in the real world) asked me how come it was only Moseley who got the whole "cap presentation" ceremony when there were three debutants. Well, Mayers and Bonner have already represented the region in limited overs capacity. This was Moseley's first official international appearance. Hence the ceremony for him alone.
- The West Indies has been the team who has toured the most during the pandemic. After this series, it's going to be a massive relief for everyone involved to finally be back at home when this series is up. It can't be easy moving from bio-security to bio-security. We've won all of two Tests along the way as a touring team. We played the first international series with restrictions in place. Every single player deserves to be lauded, even those who opted out of this particular tour but played in the previous ones.
- A special commendation to Ian Bishop, who has been a part of more bio-secure bubbles than almost anyone related to cricket in the past year. That's dedication. Kinda helps that he's always booked to commentate whenever something special happens with the Windies. Best commentator in the region by far at present. Tries very hard to be unbiased, and it works, but still always manages to put out his passion for our cricket. (Funny aside, I think Danny Morrison during the CPL once mentioned something like, "And now we'll go to probably the tallest post-match ceremony ever, Ian Bishop is with our captains." Those captains? Six foot seven Jason Holder and six foot five Kieron Pollard, being interviewed by six foot five Bishop.)
Right, that might be enough of my randomness for one night. I'll go research on that DRS thing now.
