Dwayne Bravo retires from Test Cricket

Walking out on a tour is, NORMALLY, awful and unrecommended!

However when a team does it for an issue that has plagued that team ad infinitum,  there comes a time enough is enough.

Also the events leading up to the actual walk out showed the WICB and Cameron to be flippant and careless in their behaviour.

Do not forget the players, all the players, were duped and were almost being forced to accept lesser conditions.

Those experts in the media, including Holding, showed full support.

I suppose they were emulating Lloyd of the 70s when he walked out of the Australian home series....

[quote author=Mail link=topic=95472.msg615982#msg615982 date=1422826569]

However when a team does it for an issue that has plagued that team ad infinitum,  there comes a time enough is enough.
[/quote]

LOSERS : is the real ad infititum !


Enough is Enough : DROP them ALL .......

If anyone follows the timeline of events leading up to the walk out, a greater understanding will be arrived at if you are open to be objective?

[quote author=Mail link=topic=95472.msg615991#msg615991 date=1422829478]
If anyone follows the timeline of events leading up to the walk out, a greater understanding will be arrived at if you are open to be objective?
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My last post on this thread .... don't have the energy.  I think some people see things their own way and label others to justify their own way of thinking.

Don't understand why anyone is upset at Bravo retiring and claiming that he was victimized.  Didn't Bravo some time ago publicly state that his priorities were firstly T/20 (namely IPL), second T&T cricket followed by Windies cricket ??!!

Re the player contract issue ... lemme reiterate what I said at the time.  They were ALL to blame .. the players led by Bravo & Pollard, WICB (Cameron) and WIPA (Hinds) and the latter two should've resigned immediately !!

The only thing that has changed in more than a decade in the WICB is the ever growing incompetence and bacchanal and that is why I no longer care about Windies cricket.  It's done !!! 

[size=14px][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][/color][/size][left][size=14px][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)] As the debate continues over the omission of Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard from the West Indies World Cup squad in Australia and New Zealand, the Express today publishes a letter to the Editor which makes a case for on cricketing grounds, the two players should have been included in the squad.[/color][/size][/left][/color][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][/color][left][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][size=14px] [/size][/color][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][/left][/color][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][/size][/color][left][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][size=14px]Dear Editor, [/size][/color][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][/left][/color][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][/size][/color][left][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][size=14px]Please allow me to comment on the omission of Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard from the West Indies squad for the World Cup beginning in Australia and New Zealand later this month. Chief selector Clive Lloyd should be ashamed of himself to claim that he has the best interests of the region at heart and pick a side to represent us in this showpiece event that excludes both Bravo and Pollard. The quality of both these players in this format is beyond dispute and I contend that Bravo has claims to being considered the most complete allrounder in West Indies cricket since Gary Sobers and Bernard Julien. So where is the fairness in WI cricket?[/size][/color][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][/left][/color][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][/size][/color][left][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][size=14px]Much has been made recently on social and in conventional media of Pollard’s and Bravo’s last 15 or 16 innings.  That commentary, in my view, is quite misleading and I feel compelled to respond with some statistics that paint a more accurate picture of the reality. [/size][/color][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][/left][/color][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][/size][/color][left][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][size=14px]Those who seek to justify the omission of the pair have generally omitted, conveniently or perhaps intentionally, both their bowling averages and the fact that both are undoubtedly among the better fieldsmen in world cricket today. But current figures show that Pollard is the only West Indian batsman who has scored three centuries in the One-Day game batting at number six.  He is also a destructive match winner who has scored over 2000 runs and a highly proficient medium pace bowler with 44 wickets to his name. Incidentally, as a far as I am aware, he is the only player who has made four centuries in the regional four-day game but has never been called up for Test duty.[/size][/color][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][/left][/color][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][/size][/color][left][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][size=14px]And there are players called up to play in Tests for the West Indies without ever having  made a century in the four-day regional tournament.  [/size][/color][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][/left][/color][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][/size][/color][left][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][size=14px]Bravo has played 164 matches, capturing 199 wickets at an average of 29.51.  Among present-day players, he is the leading wicket-taker for the WI in ODIs and on the all-time list lies third behind the now retired Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose, the two most successful fast bowlers in Tests matches and ODIs in the history of West Indies cricket. [/size][/color][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][/left][/color][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][/size][/color][left][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][size=14px]Walsh has played 205 ODIs, 41 more than Bravo and has taken 227 wickets, a mere 28 more than Bravo, at an average of 30.47.  The records show that Ambrose played 176 ODIs, 12 more than Bravo, and took 225 wickets, only 26 more than Bravo, at an average of 24.12. Dares Mr Lloyd tell us that Bravo’s bowling figures are not on par with or, in some respects, better than Walsh’s and Ambrose’s?  [/size][/color][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][/left][/color][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][/size][/color][left][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][size=14px]In addition, Carlos Braithwaite, who was on the team for South Africa and has been retained for the World Cup, played four matches in South Africa. In his four innings, he averaged 6.75, scoring a grand total of 27 runs. Selected mainly for his bowling,  he got exactly no wickets.  Another fast bowler, Sheldon Cottrell, played two matches and got two wickets at an average of 53 runs per wicket. We shall spare him—and us all—the embarrassment of mentioning his batting. [/size][/color][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][/left][/color][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][/size][/color][left][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][size=14px]The now prematurely retired Bravo boasts ten fifties and two centuries in his 164 matches, amassing 2,968 runs at an average of  25.36. I dare Mr Lloyd to tell us that new skipper Jason Holder, former skipper Darren Sammy, the Smiths, Dwayne and Devon, Leon Johnson, Jonathan Carter, Andre Fletcher, Kemar Roach, Jerome Taylor, Sulieman Benn, Walsh, Ambrose, Brathwaite or Cottrell have done or will do better than that with the bat.  [/size][/color][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][/left][/color][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][/size][/color][left][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][size=14px]Unreasonably dropped from the Test team in 2010 at the age of 27, Bravo has played 40 Tests, scoring ,200 runs with three centuries and 13 fifties to his name (ave. 31.42.) He has also got 86 wickets.  Compare Australia’s Shane Watson who has played 56 games, 16 more than Bravo, amassing 3646 runs, with four centuries and 74 wickets (ave. 35.74.) Watson is still representing his country, one of the best teams in the world currently, while Bravo cannot earn a place on the team which is at its weakest level in history and is now rated eighth of the ten Test-playing nations.  [/size][/color][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][/left][/color][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][/size][/color][left][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][size=14px]Is it the players we need to dispose of or other persons who are destroying our game? Recall Chris Gayle’s disgust at the performance of the WICB and its selectors in South Africa? Remember when Tony Cozier boycotted an entire Test match over the exclusion of the now forgotten and then eminently forgettable Anderson Cummings from the West Indies side?[/size][/color][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][/left][/color][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][/size][/color][left][color=rgb(51, 51, 51)][size=14px]If Tony could boycott, who is we ? Or do we really believe that the WI can field its best ODI or T-20 team without Bravo and Pollard?
trinidadexpress
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I wonder if the insular once can comprehend the cricketing argument.


Also in 2014 Bravo averaged 40+ with the bat.


If Lloyd is consistent in the application of his so called criteria many would not be in the team...


I have heard it said several times, 'The numbers do not lie'!


Samuels averages 33!


Of active players, only Shiv averages above 40!


So one might argue standards are low and of all the low calibre players, Bravo and Pollard are amongst the best!


If you refute this then provide  a comparative against other players in the WC squad!


Also if current form has a place in the selection criteria, then also do the comparison.


Narsing averages 26 and recalled although a tad overweight!


For me it is not teh people in question rather Lloyd's inconsistency!

If Cameron did not make that stupid promise of no victimization, I am sure you guys would realize that Dropped those 2 for disciplinary reasons.

Because he is a member of the board of course, he has had to cover for Cameron.

But After Lloyd, Ambrose & Richie spent 4 hours talking to them to No pull out of teh tour, what would you do in Lloyd's shoes? Lloyd is known as a strict disciplinarian

He saw the lack of leadership skills in these 2 guys and he acted on it. 

Would you want a team lead reporting to you who shows contempt for your advice and caution?

Ok that is fine so say so and not use statistics as that argument rules out the entire team/ squad!

those two players couldnt change the fortunes with what i am seeing

[quote author=Mail? link=topic=95472.msg619765#msg619765 date=1424257636]
We will never know.

However the key point, for me, is the instability caused by the 'timing' of the change in Captaincy.

Can anyone really say, based on what they have seen, Holder has really shown genuine leadership and tactical abilities?

Sammy is really Captaining this team and not this young man who has a long way to go in honing his skills.

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There was a need for change and I'm hoping that Holder will come good eventually BUT I think the timing was wrong ....Selectors seemed to justify throwing young Holder in the deep end by having Sammy in the team to mentor him for now.

Still this young fellah appears to be up the creek without a paddle and that is due to the team he has to work with !!  Captaincy a huge burden on the biggest cricket world stage. 

From Sammy's latest comments I suspect Jason Holder does not have the support of the rest of the team except for Sammy ....