Third Test: West Indies v England, 1-5 May.

[shankycricket]

TBH Dan most people that follow cricket in england don't know that lol.

They all think the West indies lads would get into the team.
The only real player that would get into the team would be Gayle and he probably way past his best.

SlogGayle wouldn't. I hope not. Not unless Test cricket is reduced to 20 overs a side, played at the Chinnaswamy in Bangalore with at least 3 non-international bowlers in the opposition and Gayle being allowed to wear orange clothes alongwith a nice bear with Vijay Mallya at the end of every day. Need to give Shai Hope a run. If Simmons was available, I'd maybe consider him at 6 for Chanderpaul (Blackwood moving up of course) but he is hardly a proven Test performer. Shane Dowrich has done well in FC cricket. He'd definitely be a contender for the Aus series, should they (hopefully) move on from Shiv.

[sussexpob]

TBH Dan most people that follow cricket in england don't know that lol.

They all think the West indies lads would get into the team.
The only real player that would get into the team would be Gayle and he probably way past his best.

Gayle has averaged, at the lowest, 4 runs over his career average in 5 of the last 6 years he played, and would walk into this team if not for the IPL.

Sammy has a better, or within one run, of all the Windies bowlers fielded in this series, with the added bonus that he is probably the best batter.

Windies were not 100% strength

[shankycricket]

Wouldn't Chanders rather retire on the back of what feels like a famous win here than subjecting his fading reflexes to the 150 kph thunderbolts of Johnson and Starc?

[sussexpob]

TBH Dan most people that follow cricket in england don't know that lol.

They all think the West indies lads would get into the team.
The only real player that would get into the team would be Gayle and he probably way past his best.

SlogGayle wouldn't. I hope not. Not unless Test cricket is reduced to 20 overs a side, played at the Chinnaswamy in Bangalore with at least 3 non-international bowlers in the opposition and Gayle being allowed to wear orange clothes alongwith a nice bear with Vijay Mallya at the end of every day. Need to give Shai Hope a run. If Simmons was available, I'd maybe consider him at 6 for Chanderpaul (Blackwood moving up of course) but he is hardly a proven Test performer. Shane Dowrich has done well in FC cricket. He'd definitely be a contender for the Aus series, should they (hopefully) move on from Shiv.

Gayle is so utterly useless, since 2008, he averages over 50 in tests.....

Comparable to virtually every legend of the game...

Clearly a player a low ranked test team can afford to drop, and clearly a player incapable of FC and well past his best (he averaged 46 last year, approximately what Justin Langer managed through his career)

[dan08]

TBH Dan most people that follow cricket in england don't know that lol.

They all think the West indies lads would get into the team.
The only real player that would get into the team would be Gayle and he probably way past his best.

Gayle has averaged, at the lowest, 4 runs over his career average in 5 of the last 6 years he played, and would walk into this team if not for the IPL.

Sammy has a better, or within one run, of all the Windies bowlers fielded in this series, with the added bonus that he is probably the best batter.

Windies were not 100% strength

Sammy has retired. And i'd be shocked if Gayle plays another Test again.

[Dr Cricket]

Sammy would be interesting selection but not sure you can have both Holder and Sammy in the same team.
Edit sammy and simmions have retired from test cricket.

[dan08]

Sammy would be interesting selection but not sure you can have both Holder and Sammy in the same team.

Retired anyway.

[shankycricket]

TBH Dan most people that follow cricket in england don't know that lol.

They all think the West indies lads would get into the team.
The only real player that would get into the team would be Gayle and he probably way past his best.

Gayle has averaged, at the lowest, 4 runs over his career average in 5 of the last 6 years he played, and would walk into this team if not for the IPL.

Sammy has a better, or within one run, of all the Windies bowlers fielded in this series, with the added bonus that he is probably the best batter.

Windies were not 100% strength

Sammy has retired from Test cricket and surely you've gotta be kidding if you think he is a better bowler than any of the seamers they fielded this series regardless of what the stats say. He was only in the Test side because he was captain.

Gayle's recent Test record is actually a lot better than his woeful ODI record (save for the double hundred in the WC) but thats because he hasn't actually played much Tests in recent times. He was decent up and till mid 2012. He has hardly played much since but I remember him struggling in India in the Sachin farewell series and anyone who has watched him in ODIs over the last 2 years will tell you that his technique and defence is completely gone. He just bats one way these days. The default mode is to slog and if the slog is not there, he keeps the ball out. Thats not how you play test cricket.

I hope West Indies invest in this youth, with a bunch of players who actually want to play for WI.

[Dr Cricket]

plus Gayle back his gone, hard to see him survive more than 3 hours of batting.

[shankycricket]

Sammy would be interesting selection but not sure you can have both Holder and Sammy in the same team.
Edit sammy and simmions have retired from test cricket.

Interesting? He would be NOWHERE near the team. He retired not to focus on IPHell but because the writing was clearly on the wall that he'd be nowhere near the test side once he gave up captaincy. Holder's bowling is not quite the finished article yet and he'd arguably be more suited in a 5 man attack but he is far more of a pure bowler than Sammy ever was.

[Dr Cricket]

the old chucking Narine would have been interesting in this series.
He could have single handedly won WI the series.
PS I know he bad in test matches but got a feeling england would have chocked against him.

[sussexpob]

Gayle's recent Test record is actually a lot better than his woeful ODI record (save for the double hundred in the WC) but thats because he hasn't actually played much Tests in recent times.

34 tests....average of 51 since 2008... Tell me a test team in the history of the game that could drop a player on that form? Averaged 46 last year, can you tell me what you are basing him being "finished in tests" on?

Sammy has retired from Test cricket and surely you've gotta be kidding if you think he is a better bowler than any of the seamers they fielded this series regardless of what the stats say.

Maybe looking at a series in isolation and forgetting that these bowlers have been utter tripe in other series. You do seem to make judgement on the short term , Shanky.

[dan08]

It's not Gayle's ability that's the problem, it's mainly his fitness.

He can barely get through a whole ODI now and there's no way he can get through 5 days with all his injuries.

[Dr Cricket]

Sammy wouldn't make the team but if Holder got injured he would be the straight replacement for him.

Also if WI were playing an defensive team he would probably just get picked for his batting ability especially if Roach/Taylor and few others get injured.

Not sure the West indies selectors trust the other bowlers in the Carribean.

I know there one bowler Greyblazer likes but I don't know his name, he been heavily talked about but not yet got a game for the West indies.

[Dr Cricket]

It's not Gayle's ability that's the problem, it's mainly his fitness.

He can barely get through a whole ODI now and there's no way he can get through 5 days with all his injuries.

Yep no way he can survive test cricket and I think gayle himself knows that guessing he retiring from ODI/ Test anyway now.