mikesiva wrote:shankycricket wrote:sussexpob wrote:shankycricket wrote:bhaveshgor wrote: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)
He was very good from 2008 till mid 2012, hence those stats. How is that relevant here? Shows what you can twist to present things the way you want. The point is about his decline since. Anyone who has watched him bat in tests and ODIs in that time will tell you he's gone.
As for averaging 46 last year, again a case of presenting stats to depict an untrue picture. Now just to give some context, he played a grand total of THREE Tests last year (6 innings). The average is padded up by a 70 odd not out chasing a score of 120 in quick time vs NZ (T20 type scenario - if you watched that innings, it was a proper T20 innings) and a 65 in the first innings of the first Test where he looked like getting out almost each and every delivery to Southee but somehow managed not to get a nick before feasting on some short deliveries from Ish Sodhi to help himself to a fifty. He failed in the other 4 innings and looked clueless against swing. Anyone who actually WATCHED that series will argue that as a case against Gayle playing tests as opposed to a case for him. Before that, he missed the series in NZ through injury and failed in India and a bit before that, in Bangladesh. I don't understand how anyone who has watched him bat in Tests and ODIs post the 2012 World t20 triumph can argue that he is still fit to play anything more than 20 overs. But sure, you can pretend everything is rosy with those selective stats without any context.
Your obvious dislike of Gayle is clouding your judgment....
That's an interesting theory you have there. What evidence do you have to back up the assertion that shanky's judgement is being clouded? (I'm not referring to any like or dislike of Gayle, so you can forget dodging the issue by harping on that)
Can you demonstrate where shanky's observations about the number of tests played by Gayle in 2014 is incorrect and that shanky's remarks on how Gayle fared against Southee and swing bowling is off? A nice video link would go a long way to disproving shanky's and confirming that as you assert (without any basis whatsoever I suspect) shanky's judgement is being clouded.
Who would you choose to replace Gayle as opening partner with Kraigg Brathwaite?
Sounds like you would have Gayle play eternity, even after death......for whatever reason or reasons you may have.
The WI selectors tried Devon Smith, and that experiment failed. They then took a 21-year old Bajan who'd played in the middle order (Shai Hope), and foolishly converted him into an opener, and that failed.
So, if not Gayle, who's the next cab off the rank?
Well here's an idea...maybe they could pick another opener who made runs in the recently concluded PCL....maybe Theophile? Or is it not worth it to give him an run and rather work on turning Gayle into a vampire or zombie so they don't have to bother wasting other openers' time in trying to perform to make it onto the team?
An out of the box idea could also be to simply have Darren Bravo open since more often than not he has basically opened for the series anyway. Then Shai Hope can be slotted in down the order.
Posted: Mon May 04, 2015 12:25 pm