Sri Lanka v West Indies, 2nd Test, P Sara Oval, 22-26 October, 2015

Good start for the West Indies, Sri Lanka have just lost Mathews and it's 59/4

Maybe the Windies won't be a walkover after all this summer.

JGK wrote:Maybe the Windies won't be a walkover after all this summer.

Hmmmm.....yes they will

Hmm, 6-not much. Decent by Windies but can they finish it off?

Womel Jerrican takes 4/67 on debut.

He's a slow left armer who had previously played 15 FC matches taking 66 wickets at 16.43.

heard part of a Garry Sobers speech this am

made me feel sad not just about WI cricket but sport in general..

He talked about how he and team mates simply played for the joy of the game....then noted his doubts whether any current player would hold a similar value.

Another gone for the Windies. Ugh, how poor.

Yeah h, heard the Sobers speech as well. He actually got a bit choked up at the lack of loyalty to the Windies Test cap.

Disappointingly unsurprising piss-weak batting effort by the Windies after a decent display in the field

Prasad had an average of 60+ after 10 or 11 tests... Really improved since then.

Terrible. Plumbing new depths.

For Sri Lanka, Silva got a golden globe in the first innings, and his partner Karunaratne has matched that in the second.

There have been a few king pairs in Test cricket, but have there been many such "shared king pairs" along these lines? (trivia question)

Didn't notice that. Just a quick statsguru glance and I can only see 2 previous instances
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63542.html
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63959.html

Is Kraigg Brathwaite the best off-spinner in world cricket?

Check his stats before today's 6/29.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/sri-lanka-v-west-indies-2015-16/content/current/player/348024.html

Good Lord, Brathwaite is carrying the Windies - with bat AND ball!!!!

Most teams you'd back to chase this target. But this is the Windies......

To be fair, though, it's not an easy pitch to bat on. 244 would be tough for most teams.

Stoopid Windies:

58.4
MDK Perera to Roach, 2 runs, OUT, a bit of drift, pushed wider outside off and Roach looks to drive. He gets a thick outside edge which flies towards third man. The batsmen want three and the throw is good. Full and just missing the stumps but Kusal whips off the bails in a flash. And Bishoo is well short of the crease. A needless waste of a wicket but that was excellent fielding. Terrific work from Kusal too, taking the throw on the half-volley and removes the stumps in one easy motion.
D Bishoo run out 0 (1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00

Deary me, what a bog ordinary effort by the Ganjas.

One good thing for West Indies is that Warrican seemed to have a clean action from what I saw, and he has barely played OD cricket of any form... basically the anti Narine.

I don't feel sad about West Indies cricket anymore. These days they make me angry that they don't even look like they're TRYING to sort their shit out. Their Board is a mess. Their team is a mess. They don't even seem to be trying to make some basic first steps to make things better. F*ck them.

horace wrote:heard part of a Garry Sobers speech this am

made me feel sad not just about WI cricket but sport in general..

He talked about how he and team mates simply played for the joy of the game....then noted his doubts whether any current player would hold a  similar value.

Well .... we'd better appreciate Watto while we can.

Henry wrote:I don't feel sad about West Indies cricket anymore. These days they make me angry that they don't even look like they're TRYING to sort their shit out. Their Board is a mess. Their team is a mess. They don't even seem to be trying to make some basic first steps to make things better. F*ck them.

I hear you - but we better hope that the WI fans haven't yet reached your level of despair otherwise WI could disappear and international cricket and particularly, test cricket, will be weakened substantially.

When I read articles by Tony Cozier, there is an element of resignation about them.

Of course, the ICC seems to be doing f*ck all. And then they've got this claim for losses from the BCCI hanging over their head, and also the prospect that India won't be touring there anytime soon. And the selectors are still not picking the best team available because they are bitter over the India tour pull-out.

It's all very bleak.

Rule No. 1 about Windies cricket: whatever they bowl the opposition out for, they will score 50 fewer.

Basil wrote:Rule No. 1 about Windies cricket: whatever they bowl the opposition out for, they will score 50 fewer.

...unless they're playing England.