Your West Indian line-up

[Aurelius]

Given West Indies' struggles in recent years, it's interesting to see what the ideal West Indian line-up would be if we were the selectors. I'll just get the ball rolling:

1. Chris Gayle (vc)
2. Wavell Hinds
3. Ramnaresh Sarwan (c)
4. Shiv Chanderpaul
5. Marlon Samuels
6. Dwayne Bravo
7. Denesh Ramdin (wk)
8. Dave Mohamed/Omari Banks
9. Corey Collymore
10. Pedro Collins
11. Fidel Edwards.

Hope to hear from the other armchair critics soon.

[Ninjaman]

Not bad but I would consider Taylor ahead of Edwards.

Either way, not a line up that fills anyone with hope.

[greg]

I like Lawson and Taylor out of the current crop of West Indies quicks,add a fit Bravo to that and you have the makings of a decent bowling attack.The spin options aren't great but nobody has really been given a run to claim the spot,they seem to get 3 or 4 games and then go for someone else if it hasn't worked.

I think you only need one of Collins or Collymore to be the senior pro and help the youngser players on.

As for the batting that line up looks as good on paper as any that have been played in recent times.

[Ninjaman]

greg, I assume you mean Jermaine Lawson.

If so, Lawson pelts

Consign him to the dustbin, unfortunately.

Could not even make the 33 man training squad for Jamaica.

[Aurelius]

Well, I picked Edwards over Taylor based on the form he displayed in England in their most recent Test series. Of course, form is temporary, so I suppose Edwards and Taylor are really interchangeable.

I'm sorry to hear about Lawson- based on his record and what little I've seen of him, he seemed to be one of the few West Indian bowlers with the ability to bowl out sides consistently.

I think ideally you should play both Collins and Collymore. Both of them are wicket-takers, and they're more likely than the others to keep it tight. Besides, having a left-armer in the side adds a bit of variety, and I think Collymore ought ot be an automatic selection anyhow.

And I think that if you do nothing else, you should always play a spinner. As Greg says, the spin options aren't great, but they'll never develop into anything if they don't get played. Besides, both Banks and Mohamed are genuine No. 8 options.

As an alternative to the batting lineup, Wavell Hinds could drop to 5 and Devon Smith be brought in to open (Ganga hasn't done enough IMO).

Well, that's my hundred up.

[engssmoothcriminal]

Well for me the big challenge that faces new coach Dyson is how to get the best out of one of his (precious few) potentially world class players Chris Gayle. The transformation in Gayle's on field attitude when he was given the extra responsibility of the captaincy for a few one day games last summer was remarkable and given Sarwan hardly inspires in the role I'd gamble and give Gayle the role full time. He also simply isn't an opening batsmen and should have been dropped down to 4 when Lara retired where he'd be safely away from new ball bowlers who have his number when conditions aren't ridiculously tilted in his favour. Admittedly that does leave you with two underwhelming openers Devon Smith and Wavell Hinds but at least on paper there is a middle order (Sarwan, Gayle, Chanderpaul and Bravo) that commands some respect.

The bowling resources are pretty dismal but Sammy looks to have the making a decent enough 3rd seamer (plus a useful number 8/9 bat) and Edwards for all his many faults does give the attack some pace and aggression that does bring some balance and variety to a fairly one dimensional attack as does Pedro Collins who should supplant Collymore (whose attitude and fielding are not remotely international standard) as the sides experienced seamer. I'm not a Dave Mohammed fan but the West Indies simply have to have a frontline spinner in their side and at least Mohammed would add some zest to the lower order batting. Taylor's a good prospect but he's not there yet and in an ideal world he would have a couple of seasons of county cricket to hone his bowling before his next international outing. Sadly not going to happen.

So my side would be;
Hinds
Smith
Sarwan
Gayle (capt)
Chanderpaul
Bravo
Ramdin (wk)
Mohammed
Sammy
Collins
Edward

[Ninjaman]

Long time though, Hinds and Collins will be kolpakking it for Derbyshire and thus will be unavailable.

I really can't settle on an XI but would definitely play Amit Jaggernauth as our frontline spinner.

[Aurelius]

I don't know, Gayle's done a pretty good job as an opener over the years, averaging over 40 in that position.

Yes, Sammy should come into the reckoning, but the selectors have to be careful not to bank too heavily on one series. I hope for the sake of West Indies cricket that Sammy doesn't fizzle out.

Collymore may not be a great fielder or bat, but I think he is the only West Indies bowler who's likely to keep it tight- as big a problem for the team as taking wickets.

And now that I come to think of it, I think Runako Morton should also be considered. He seems to have the right stuff for ODIs at least- all they need to do is rein in his attitude problem.

[engssmoothcriminal]

Originally Posted by Aurelius

I don't know, Gayle's done a pretty good job as an opener over the years, averaging over 40 in that position.

On the surface an average of around 38 isn't terrible (particularly in such a poor side) but precious few of them have been actually relevant to the match situation. If you want a guy to smack a quickfire 80 when the game is long gone then Gayle's your man but when the pressures on he gives it away time and again and a return of only 7 hundreds from about 70 tests is just unacceptable for a batsmen of his natural talent. Aside from his technical deficiency's against the new ball my main problem with Gayle batting at the top of the order is he's the guy who sets the tone for the entire West Indies innings and when he lazily wafts at a wide one after a bright and breezy 20 his laissez-faire approach to batting tends to rub off on his younger teammates. For me the only time he bats with anything like the appropriate level of discipline is in ODI's when he has the model professional Chanderpaul alongside him at the top of the order something that a demotion to 4 would hopefully replicate.

Collymore may not be a great fielder or bat, but I think he is the only West Indies bowler who's likely to keep it tight- as big a problem for the team as taking wickets.

Hmm I do take your point but his unwillingness to even attempt to improve in those areas speaks volumes for me and his bowling for someone supposed to be leading the attack this summer was pretty dire. He still consistently bowls a good couple of feet too short (unforgivable for someone of his pace) and in the crunch sessions of the England tour he disappeared completely. Personally I'd rather build my team around younger less talented individuals willing to learn rather than an old head who seems to have comfortably settled for mediocrity. May be asking a lot of him but Sammy definitely has the potential to fill Collymore's line and length workhorse role and his attitude plus all round game is in a different league.

(Though I should probably admit that a dismal stint at Edgebaston a few years back has probably unfairly soured my perception of Collymore)

[Aurelius]

My team for the first Test against Australia:

1. Chris Gayle (c)
2. Sewnarine Chattergoon
3. Ramnaresh Sarwan
4. Devon Smith
5. Shiv Chanderpaul
6. Dwayne Bravo
7. Denesh Ramdin (w)
8. Sulieman Benn/Amit Jaggernaught
9. Jerome Taylor
10. Fidel Edwards
11. Corey Collymore

which actually has a bettet look to it than the orginal one from last October. As Greg said, one of the spinners really needs to be given a decent run, and I think the bowling attack looks okay on paper.