Bravo is the allrounder WI need right now

Bravo is the allrounder WI need right now. He can bat anywhere in the top 6 and can easily bowl 5-6 over spells at 80mph. With four quality bowlers in Roach, Rampaul, Taylor and Shillingford, WI's attack is well balanced.

Of the other seam-bowling allrounders in the Caribbean that I know of, only Smith, Simmons and Pollard are capable of batting the top 6 but the problem is that they are military medium pacers at best. If they could swing the ball, at least like Shane Watson, and up their pace to about 77-80 mph they could be useful 5th. But since Bravo has been obviously given the nod, a 2nd spinner in the form of a batting allrounder is needed. Samuels and Deonarine spring to mind being able to bat in the top 6 but their problem is that they rarely fulfill their main role as batsmen.

XI for NZ Series (if everyone is fit in time):

1)Gayle 2)Powell 3)Bravo 4)Samuels 5)Chanderpaul 6)Bravo 7)Ramdin 8)Taylor 9)Rampaul 10)Shillingford 11)Roach

On West Indian pitches you need at least two spinners, even 3 with Bravo and another to fill the seam role.


I would dispense with Samuels and opt for someone else.

Bravo bowls some absolute crap at times. I would put him down as WI 5th bowler with the hope that he can give 10 to 15 overs at less at 2.5 or less.

I don't hope why folks are still going with Shillingford - he pelts and will probably be reported again.

"MPH" doesn't matter much. But I'd say among these players, Bravo is possibly the more "threatening" one, relatively speaking.

Yeah Samuels is meh - I don't know if Deo is a good replacement though. But he's not a shabby part timer at all, I'd rate him better than a part timer - and is capable of turning the ball (more than Samuels, who chucks it big time and when he doesn't is largely ineffective).

Yeah and sometimes no too.Bravo seams it brilliantly sometimes and sometimes like shit.WI would need 2 seamers and 2 spinners with Bravo filling the fifth bowlers slot.The others could chip in with some overs of spin if needed.Narine can do a better job taking shillingford out of the X1