I watched a little bit of the PM XIs game just concluded and it has given the West Indies an opportunity to acclimatise themselves to Aussie conditions with a good hit out with both bat and ball.
My initial impressions are that they have the ability to give Australia a bit of cheek in the upcoming series. Their bowling attack with Roach, Joseph, Seales and Holder could give the Aussie batsmen a bit of a hard time, particularly in Perth. Their weakness is their batting which could be ruthlessly exposed by Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins. In the PM’s game, only Chanderpaul and Brathwaite showed any inclination to hang around for long and the team will be relying heavily on them to blunt the new ball and protect the middle order. They really need to put 300 on the board in their first innings to pressure Australia. Cant see that happening really given the quality of the Australian attack.
The negative for Australia of course is the publicity involving Langer. I am perplexed as to why he is still banging on about his dismissal in the media and the timing of his latest outburst.. Yes it was an abysmal piece of management by CA and he was shafted but people have to move on eventually and it appears JL hasn’t.
I guess your last sentence or 2 mikeh, sums up why the players wanted JL moved on for McDonald…no different to Taylor et al wanting Simpson out for Swampy Marsh…younger and more relatable to the players…pretty sure Simpson moved on with the minimum of fuss.
The WI will compete for periods, but lack the quality and discipline to defeat Australia…complacency and arrogance will be Aust biggest enemy…both with bat n ball…hopefully the Perth fans come to watch, if they stick their heels in over the JL saga, then more fool them, as it will only mean future tests at Optus might be few and far between and only for the likes of WI, Bangladesh, SL etc…
He has done nowt wrong. There are a long list of sagas which could prompt me to avoid Australia-- treatment of Bromley, brayshaw, Invers, garth, geoff marsh, kim hughes, keith slater, Simpson coming and going, people have long memories–.
This Gabba pitch should be challenging first up you would think?
Oh wait its being played in Perth???
I thought Cricket Australia used the excuse over the last few covid infected years of not starting the summer with the 1st Test in Perth was because we apparemtly always start in Brisbane???
Lol surely not just more bullshit rhetoric coming out of that insipid organisation!
Think the organisers where terrified the Windies would bat first.And it would be a 3 day test.
That’s nothing like the deck’s we had in the T20 WC..Looked like the McG day 1.Hope the sun bake quickens the wicket up.
Fans where not happy with the Woke start to the test.Players on the left knee with right fist in the air..Was booed by all there.
Only 11,000 there Ark.
Last year when Cummins broke CA’s COVID-19 protocols.And missed the Adelaide test.He chartered a 16’seat aeroplane as the only passenger.And flew back to Sydney.Hes a Woke when it’s suits him to be so.
Nice to see the WI showing some backbone with the bat. If we get them out the captain should consider enforcing the follow-on, otherwise making becomes a wee bit pointless.
AR guys from our vintage will always compare the WI to that all conquering juggernaut of the late 70s, 80s & early 90s WI sides who would quite often have 10 or 11 absolute greats of the game take the field each Test- Greenidge, Haynes, Richards, Richardson, Lloyd, Gomes, Dujon, Marshall, Roberts, Holding, Garner, Croft etc and later Lara, Walsh, Ambrose, Bishop etc.
This current side has absolutely nowhere near that quality of stock but they are young and having a crack and thats all you can ask from them.
BH: correct mate, highlighting your point perfectly is that, Braithwaite is one of the few batsmen in test history whom has ‘carried his bat’ in both innings.
AR as we know the WI are outclassed in ability in Test Cricket these days against the likes of Australia but it was good to see they fought it out to the end.
Captain Kraigg Brathwaite with a nice double with the bat (64 & 110) whilst Alzari Joseph looks a talent with both the ball and as a late order bat.
For us Marnus must love coming to Perth Stadium with an unbelievable double (204 & 104*) to go with his previous scores here of 143 & 57. Smith also with a handy knock of 200* & a 20*, Head with 99 and a 2/25 with the ball and also Gary The Goat who also must love coming here with 6/128 in the fourth innings and 2/61 in the first.
Cummins is likely to be missing from the Day/Night Pink Ball Adelaide Test starting on Thursday with Boland his likely replacement you would think after his heroics here last Summer against the Poms.
The WINDIES were competitive right through the game and will fight hard again in Adelaide. I am looking forward to watching how the Australian top order go on a more spicy pitch. They basically filled their boots in Perth but there are greater challenges on the horizon, particularly if you look at the potent 4 prong South African attack they will be facing soon.
Great to see Lance Morris get selected in the squad, maybe with an eye to the Ashes tour next year? I am wondering about Jhye Richardson’s situation at the moment. I know he has had a series of injuries and he hasn’t played much shield cricket recently but 12 months ago he took a 5 for in a test in Adelaide and his career has stalled since then. Hopefully he can get back out on the park for the Scorchers at least
Think WI might get blown away here, hoping not though. Obviously Boland was next off the list to replace Cummins, but geez wouldn’t be exciting to see Morris get a game…tad too adventurous for Bailey et al me thinks…
Windies have holes in there middle order batting.And need red ball spinners,there white ball spinners arnt test standard.A Dwane Bravo type all-rounders would be handy atm.
Great test debut for Chandapaul JnR.Two scores in the high 40’s as an opener.Againt a very good Aussie fast bowling attack.Hes also staying on and playing BBL for the Hobart Hurricanes.Hope for the Windies he’s as good as Shiv was.
David Warner has given up on his bid to get his lifetime leadership ban lifted. It appears that the review panel were going to dredge up all the sordid details of the Sandpaper gate incident again and re examine all the circumstances around that whereas Warners and CA’s belief was that it was looking at Warners actions since the incident and how he has tried to make up for his transgression.
I think that its probably a moot point as Warner is close to the end of his career but I would have thought that the job of the review panel would be to assess his attempts to make up for his mistakes rather than hit him over the head with them again.
Sort of like a Parole board putting a prisoner on trial again for his original crime rather than assessing his behaviour in prison to see if he deserves to be released.
Looks like Boland in for Cummins and Neser in for Hazlewood are the changes from the 1st Test side.
Will be interesting to see if Cummins misses a sizeable chunk of the 3 Test SA series straight after the WI tour as quad injuries can linger for a while and especially with Cummins coming back out in to the field in Perth last week when not needed and having to chase a few to the boundary.
already a series of the walking wounded by the look - not only two out of Australia’s line-up but there are three out of the West Indies side from the Perth Test
I think the selectors missed a valuable opportunity to see what damage Lance Morris can inflict before the SA series starts but that’s just my opinion , so much for leading the wicket takers this year it seems
in regard to David Warner and that business - it probably is due time for the ban to be removed , enough time has elapsed and given that Smith is again captaining and it’s not like Warner is the next candidate
It’s worthwhile pointing out that the likes of Michael Atherton, Waqar Younis, Rahul Dravid and Faf du Plessis all were done for ball- tampering and yet still captained their countries , two of those men have gone on to be coaches of national sides
