Darren Ganga

[Aurelius]

First of all, I'm Australian, not West Indian.

Secondly, if it isn't Bravo, then who is the best young allrounder in the world? Not Pathan. His bowling figures are massively inflated against the likes of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Not Maharoof. He's a total non-performer at Test level. Not Broad. He's only played one Test so far, and only a handful of ODIs. And certainly not Watson, who's constantly injured and seriously overestimates his capabilities as a bowler.

So what's Bravo's case? He's scored centuries against South Africa and Australia- pretty tough opposition. He's taken 5-fers against Australia and England- again, pretty good opposition. As a batsman, he's one of the most reliable number 6's in the world, scoring consistently in his last two series in England and in South Africa. As a bowler, he knows his capabilities- he doesn't try to bowl too fast, but he's developed into a good medium-fast bowler with a good slower ball, who's pretty accurate as well. In his last series in South Africa, he took eight wickets from three matches (despite only bowling in two) with an economy of under 3. Against a batting lineup which includes Smith, Gibbs and De Villiers, that's some pretty impressive stuff. In addition to this, he's a seriously good fielder, and the vice-captain to boot (although that could change when Sarwan comes back).

One more thing. It's true that I haven't been a member of this forum for as long as most others, but I'm pretty sure that blatant sarcasm isn't really in its spirit.

[jrwb]

"One more thing. It's true that I haven't been a member of this forum for as long as most others, but I'm pretty sure that blatant sarcasm isn't really in its spirit."

Before I say anything, kindly restrict your comments to cricket, my sarcasm is merely intended as a joke; and in keeping with the spirit of these forums, no personal insult was intended or indeed given.

With regard to Shane Watson and that er...Bravo - note that they are aged 27 and 25 respectively (i.e. they will reach those ages this year), so I would hardly call them young in modern sporting terms.

The age of 21 or 22 would be called young - but remember that Mushtaq Mohammed wasn't yet 16 when he first played for Pakistan...

[Aurelius]

Before I say anything, kindly restrict your comments to cricket, my sarcasm is merely intended as a joke; and in keeping with the spirit of these forums, no personal insult was intended or indeed given.

Yeah, you're right, that was an over-reaction on my part. I apologise.

With regard to Shane Watson and that er...Bravo - note that they are aged 27 and 25 respectively (i.e. they will reach those ages this year), so I would hardly call them young in modern sporting terms.

Hey, they're both older than I am! I guess I meant "young" in the experience sense. Bravo, Pathan, Watson and the rest have only played a limited number of games, so while I wouldn't necessarily call them inexperienced, I do regard them as being in the early stages of their careers. IMO, Bravo has the most potential to build on his ability.

[jrwb]

Granted that Aurelius is absolutely correct, Dwayne Bravo's test match stastistics are noticeably superior to those of Shane Watson.

I have a bad habit - at least some would consider it so - whenever I mention a player's perfomance, I usually never consider his one-day or 20-20 ability.

For me test match cricket is, as the name suggests, the test, the real examination...

[Aurelius]

Absolutely, Test cricket is the ultimate. But I think that if a bowler, for example, is able to go at 6 runs or under in T20, then that speaks volumes about his ability.

[jrwb]

Valid point. I have to profess my ignorance of one-day cricket in many regards.

What annoys me most about one-day cricket is the point when the game becomes critical, and the fast bowlers start bowling full-tosses one behind the other, and the batsmen start swinging wildly at everything, and skill and good sense get thrown to the wind - a lot of fun for the crowd, but to me a reduction of the dignity of cricket to something like a drunken orgy...