**** Ramdin is da Man ****

Ramdin large and in charge.

But Shiv nah stay wid he

Now Ramdin refuse to stay wid Taylor - a man who have a century against New Zealand

Sammmyyyy relaxing in de Welsh hills.

that was a jackass thing for Ramdin to do.  there was no logic to it. 

as the captain he must be exemplary to the end doing the right thing.  he cant lose patience and slog

Shhhhh. Don't say that.

Men wid long knives coming for you.

De man name Ramdin - so he get a free pass.

I agree it was an unnecessary shot but he had batted so well up to that point, I had backed him to clear the ball.


However the fact is in both innings the top 6, more or less, failed miserably bar Shiv and Gayle.


I thought Ramdin skippered well, he showed resolve and confidence with the bat and despite his second innings dismissal, never seemed to give his wicket away.


I think when the majority of your top 6 batsmen fail in both innings, you are going to be in some sort of pressured problem.


I do not think either of the Kiwi spinners are exceptional so it perplexes me why Windian batsmen seem to struggle against spin when that is all they face...


Southee was excellent and with Gibson a bowling coach not sure your bowlers are capable of reversing the ball.


Like India, win toss, bat first, a battle of attrition and build a big score.


Personally in the absence of Narine, I would keep the same team for the QPO bar Samuels.


I would bring in Brathwaite to open and place Powell at 6.


This batting team should not just be about Shiv.

You hve the give the youngsters a chance.

Gayle was an abject failure for most of his100 tests and then came good. Samuels has always been piss poor. The chap looked an abject dunce.

The dismissals, of all you propose to drop, were soft but give them this series. I would not have chosen Powell to begin with but if you show faith in him then stick with him for this series. He did fight very well in the first innings.

My test team for QPO will be

1.    Brathwaite
2.    Gayle
3.    Lil Bravo
4.    Edwards
5.    The Master
6.    Deonarine
7.    Ramdin
8.    Holder
9.    Shillingford
10.  Benn
11.  Taylor

I am no great Deonarine fan as I think he did well and then let himself down in NZ but I will put that down to turmoil in the camp. He is  good bat and can nich a wicket or two with his tight off pin.

Personally I would have Bishoo in for Shilly but I think Shilly has done just enough to retain his spot altough he looks ordinary without the Doosra in his armoury. After my trip to Bangldesh for the T20, I saw Bishoo bowl really well andhe is no mug with the bat. Fact is Bishoo was over bowled. That said I do not think he is in the equation for now. 

A close examination of the current state of first class cricket in the Caribbean will show where most of the problems lie.

It seems that most batsmen get out to poor shots and bowlers pick up a lot of cheap wickets.

Look how long Shiv batted in the first innings - he is very good but his feats are made to look extraordinary because everyone around him is so poor.

I have long said that Hunte, Hilaire and Sammy as bad as they were were not the real problem with WI cricket. Now that they are all gone, who is left to go - Gibson can go but it will make no real difference to WI performance.

WI in the last couple of years have had chances to win tests and their batting has let them down. I shudder to think of what will happen later this year in South Africa - might as well make them 3 day tests.

You do know that Deonarine was dropped from the Guyana team during the recent 4day competition?

I have no doubt that he would make an ideal 5th bowler in the Caribbean but there is nothing in his batting to indicate that he will do any better than the rest.