MEDIOCRE

The word : MEDIOCRE 

was pasted on the dressing room door during the first Test in Antigua as their new coach, Phil Simmons :

sought to focus the mind of his team.

It may not be remembered with quite the infamy of Tony Greig's "grovel" comment,

but Colin Graves' pre-series suggestion that West Indies were likely to represent "mediocre" opposition

seems sure to pass into cricketing folklore. 

Whatever Graves meant - and to be fair to the incoming chairman of the ECB, his off-the-cuff remarks were made in a local radio

interview that he cannot have thought would haunt him weeks later

- his words provided the perfect motivational tool for West Indies.

After the Antigua Test - a Test that restored belief in the dressing room as the side batted out the last day to salvage a draw -

the sign was torn down and thrown away.

As Phil Simmons, still bristling from the patronising comment, put it:

"Who is he ?

How much cricket as he played ?"

"Colin Graves' statement showed there was an underestimation of what we could do,"  ::LOL::

Simmons said following victory in Barbados.

"This is huge for us '

"I'll leave it for him to judge if we're mediocre. But as he walked out [of Kensington Oval]

I think he may have seen some signs with the word mediocre on them."  8)

A pic of Opiss and Graves on the Beach could be a Collector's Item 


see whom tan bettah !

did you see the look on OPiss face after the loss?  PRICELESS and even uglier!!  ::LOL:: ::LOL:: ::LOL::

Like we used to say ... back in de day ......... 'Ottiss would bruk de camera' 8)

Our batting was still mediocre in all three tests. In each test, only one batsman stood up. We had no major partnerships, and nobody aside from Blackwood (averaged 77 in the series) was consistent.

The bowling saved us. Probably due to the Ambrose effect.