Tresco goes to the Champions League

Money talks then, and who can disagree really
http://www.cricinfo.com/england/content/current/story/423839.html

Interestingly Matt Prior would rather have a rest
http://www.cricinfo.com/t20champions2009/content/current/story/423870.html

When does this circus start then? Can't wait...

Interesting.... I'm not sure it will be good for him but I wish him luck.

It starts in early October after the ICCCT. I am really looking forward to it as it's the first time T & T are playing in their own right, not as part of West Indies Cricket.

If they perform particularly well it may be the beginning of the end for West Indies cricket.

could individual islands survive as test teams? i doubt it. maybe in the 70s and 80s, but most of them would struggle to beat bangladesh now

unless the islands want to play against associate sides i dont see the windies breaking up

A full strength T & T team would thrash Bangladesh IMHO. No doubts. Most of our players are good against spin unlike the bunch of Barbados/Leeward/Windward Island players that played the recent test series. Our fast bowling stocks are not the best but we have Ravi Rampaul and Dwayne Bravo to fulfill that role. Our spin bowling stocks are excellent with Jaggernauth, Mohammed and countless young spinners dominating Under 19 cricket. We have the best youth system in the Caribbean, an efficient club cricket system that has overseas players and importantly a number of companies that sponsor Trinidadian events but refuse to get involved with the WICB (who can blame them..).

Jamaica have a huge amount of talent at their disposal but their cricket board isn't the greatest. They could beat Bangladesh as well IMHO.

Barbados, Guyana, Leeward Islands and Windward Islands are not realistic test nations at the moment, the standard isnt high enough. Barbados could be in the future, but not at the moment.

So T & T and Jamaica could make Test nations in the reasonably near future, but the other islands could not.

Is his wife travelling?

The whole family it seems, based in Dubai and flying in for games only.

hypocrite.

from the outside that seems like a very optimistic assessment of the islands. the full strength windies team has been quite firmly at the bottom of the table of the established teams for a while now. a T&T side, that may at best be half as strong as the full windies side, does not inspire much confidence of justifying full-test status. it would be murdered by one of the top sides. the basis for inclusion of new test sides should not be to see if they can merely try and compete with the likes of bangladesh and zimbabwe

or else a new tier can be made for bangles, zim and the islands. they can have a 2 year test cycle amongst each other following which the top team enters a 2 year cycle with the full test status teams on a strictly home basis. just an idea

Ash wrote:hypocrite.

He and Ponting could form a club. One's not right in the head, one's not full in the head, both of them are full of shit.

The One wrote:from the outside that seems like a very optimistic assessment of the islands. the full strength windies team has been quite firmly at the bottom of the table of the established teams for a while now. a T&T side, that may at best be half as strong as the full windies side, does not inspire much confidence of justifying full-test status. it would be murdered by one of the top sides. the basis for inclusion of new test sides should not be to see if they can merely try and compete with the likes of bangladesh and zimbabwe

or else a new tier can be made for bangles, zim and the islands. they can have a 2 year test cycle amongst each other following which the top team enters a 2 year cycle with the full test status teams on a strictly home basis. just an idea

I'd agree with that - there's no way any individual side would be as strong as the current (pre-fecked up version) Windies side.

Ash wrote:hypocrite.

Personally, I don't see how a two-week club tournament is tantamount to a two month plus Test series. Totally different scenarios.

If he survives the short tour and proves something to himself, it could work out well for the England test team.....who knows?

Batman wrote:If he survives the short tour and proves something to himself, it could work out well for the England test team.....who knows?

You can see the England management putting up with him taking his family with him and jetting in for each game?

Also, MT's heart doesn't seem to be in joining the international scene any more. So it's bit hypothetical in each direction.

It's absolutely immaterial :

Scenario 1: Do you want to be thrown into a long tour, possibly with people you don't feel comfortable with, having the world's media dissect your every move blah blah blah.

Scenario 2: Fancy a couple of weeks touring for the hit-and-giggles?

So far apart it may as well be a footie jolly to Spain.

Disappointing

i dont agree that its a totally different scenario. think what you will of them, but the champions league / the IPL etc are high profile tournaments that get coverage and media exposure. with tres' situation, he's bound to be a bit more in limelight.

also, if he'd played just odis, most tours would be over within a couple of weeks give or take.

money obviously talks but one does lose a bit of respect for his situation.

Dunno about the ethics, but he might still be in trouble, for all that he's flying from Dubai.

What's the family gonna do, put his head in a paper bag and hold his hand from the airport to the hotel to the grounds?

He'll becoming in from jolly old England where they still clap politely per stroke and give you space, to India where they'll be screaming their heads off and where personal space is what you create on Myspace.com.

furriner wrote:Dunno about the ethics, but he might still be in trouble, for all that he's flying from Dubai.

What's the family gonna do, put his head in a paper bag and hold his hand from the airport to the hotel to the grounds?

He'll becoming in from jolly old England where they still clap politely per stroke and give you space, to India where they'll be screaming their heads off and where personal space is what you create on Myspace.com.

- exactly. india is the last place i'd have expected him to go to. isn't that where his problems started?

Ash wrote:........
- exactly. india is the last place i'd have expected him to go to. isn't that where his problems started?

I remember likewise.

It's going to be a proper horror show - heat, dust, maniacs pressing faces to car windows, leering at buses, drivers intent on murder, fifty different types of random noises.

And that's just getting to the hotel and the stadia, never mind the games themselves.

Thicko's going to be found running through the streets buck nekkid, screaming his head off when he's not gibbering and drooling, you watch.

The One wrote:from the outside that seems like a very optimistic assessment of the islands. the full strength windies team has been quite firmly at the bottom of the table of the established teams for a while now. a T&T side, that may at best be half as strong as the full windies side, does not inspire much confidence of justifying full-test status. it would be murdered by one of the top sides. the basis for inclusion of new test sides should not be to see if they can merely try and compete with the likes of bangladesh and zimbabwe

or else a new tier can be made for bangles, zim and the islands. they can have a 2 year test cycle amongst each other following which the top team enters a 2 year cycle with the full test status teams on a strictly home basis. just an idea

Admittedly T & T would struggle against the top nations at first, but my optimism is based on 2 things:

1) The young players we have been producing over the last few years. Barath, Bravo brothers, Simmons, Rampaul etc. Basically interest in cricket in Trinidad has been at a massive high, all thanks to BCL. Matches at the QPO are always well attended. A WIPA event 2 weeks ago was completely sold out way in advance.

2) You would not believe how committed the players are when they play for T & T, Jamaica or Barbados. For the modern cricketer, playing for your country is a privilege, especially as the identity behind West Indies cricket is nowhere near as strong as it used to be. For example, I guarantee there would be no sulking and capitulation that there was on the recent 'tour of England that should never have happened' from a team representing their country.

Plus a West Indies side has so much politics and insularity surrounding it that you can never say a T&T/Jamaica team would be thrashed by a West Indies full strength side. Some of the sides that have been selected (particularly when Gayle went through his 'frenism' stage on the tour of Canada, NZ) would seriously struggle against a full strength T & T side.

Ash wrote:i dont agree that its a totally different scenario. think what you will of them, but the champions league / the IPL etc are high profile tournaments that get coverage and media exposure. with tres' situation, he's bound to be a bit more in limelight.

also, if he'd played just odis, most tours would be over within a couple of weeks give or take.

money obviously talks but one does lose a bit of respect for his situation.

I haven't fully been able to understand the ins and outs of his condition because he doesn't particularly disclose much. I'm quite astute at being able to pick off mental disorders, but his has baffled me - but I'd warrant that regardless of the profile of those hit-and-giggle tournaments it's a massively different situation. Just lobbing in the possibility that tournament A could take n amount of weeks is hardly what I'd call a good argument - 'a bit more limelight' isn't tantamount to playing for your country in any way, shape or form.

Well, you will know the rumours, Danny. Depression based on a severe domestic anxiety, and if so, perhaps intractable.

Yeah Pete, it's just not finite enough. Way too wishy washy IMO. If it weren't the ECB we'd have a better clue.

Well, there was a bit more in the rumour than disembodied wishy-washiness.