Every pundit, fan and player expects England to defeat them without too much trouble. And I also expect England to trounce the guys all the way back to the sunny Caribbean. But only a handful of years ago it was so different...
In 1984 a West Indies team led by Clive Lloyd visited England to play five test matches and three ODI's.
The Windies won 2-1 in the ODI series, victories at Old Trafford and Lords were enough to see WI through.
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| Don't Mess With These Guys |
And then along came the tests. Andy Lloyd made his test debut for England. It didn't last long. Half an hour in, Marshall stormed in and bowled a bouncer which hit him on the ol' noggin. He spent several days in hospital and never played another test.
This set the tone for the series and West Indies white-washed Blighty on their own turf. 5-0. Viv Richards was outstanding. Every Windies player was outstanding. Blighty were humiliated.
How times have changed.
The glory days of the 70's and 80's and to some degree, 90's are over for the guys from the Caribbean. The lad that is Brian Lara came in the 90's and early 00's has now been and gone like our dreams of playing some cricket at the start of the cricket season in England. And they have now slipped to 7th in the ICC test rankings (8th if you count Zimbabwe)
They now rely on Chanderpaul to score their runs. And he does most of the time. He is a brilliant batsman and West Indies only major threat. Kiemar Roach is also a good bowler. But I don't expect him to drill through the England batting line up because simply, he isn't that good.
Darren Sammy is their skipper. He's no Clive Lloyd. He is a good captain in an average team. Lloyd was a great captain in a great team.
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| The Current WI Skipper |
Chris Gayle is also a brilliant player. He fell out with the WI cricket board and he hasn't played for a long time in international cricket. However, in the last week, he has made himself available for selection . But because of IPL 'commitments' he can't play in the test series. Which is a great shame because he could have made the Windies batting line up more competitive. I really do hope he plays in the short ODI series though. I can't think of anyone (apart from knobs) who wouldn't want to see the big huggable bear playing cricket on English soil.
Barath, Brathwaite and Powell are their three opening batsman. There nothing to shout about. In the recent series against the Aussies there only achievement was making sure the middle order got a bat.
I like Fiedel Edwards, he's one of their strike force bowlers and he seems to have a pretty cool personality from what you can see on your TV screen. Shame he isn't actually that good. His bowling average of just over 37 tells you that he isnt Glenn McgGrath.
Barath, Brathwaite and Powell are their three opening batsman. There nothing to shout about. In the recent series against the Aussies there only achievement was making sure the middle order got a bat.
I like Fiedel Edwards, he's one of their strike force bowlers and he seems to have a pretty cool personality from what you can see on your TV screen. Shame he isn't actually that good. His bowling average of just over 37 tells you that he isnt Glenn McgGrath.
The rest of the side are under-achievers, plenty of talent, not enough to show for it. But they don't appear to have the stomach for the fight that is needed to cut it at the top of international cricket if they are to step up the world rankings.
Prediction - England win without doubt. Don't stick a bet on it though. I havn't checked but I'm pretty sure the odds would be absolutely terrible.
This series is a bit of a warm up for South Africa. So watch it, think about it and enjoy your prawn sandwiches, stereotypical English cricket fans.
Cheers
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