India v West Indies, ICCCT, Johannesburg, Sep 30

Well played India and especially Virat Kohli who I was very impressed with when I saw him in the last Under 19 World Cup.

He needs to learn how to hit the gaps and manoeuvre the strike rather than the block or bash approach he currently has but when he does learn look out World!

As for Windies, Kemar Roach was incredibly exciting, Gavin Tonge was solid and Nikitta Miller should be ahead of Suliemann Benn. None of the batsman performed though and they were clearly not good enough for this level of cricket.

Kohli's a talent, but the technique need serious tightening up if he's to really succeed at the international level.

Not that it counts for anything, but did anyone else think that Kumar who took the c &b to finish off the Windies' innings did not have the ball under control?

I heard an interview with Ritchie Richardson last night and while he was scathing about the board's role in this impasse ( he thinks they have been shyte for years) he also thinks the players aren't blameless. He's not super confident about a resolution before the tour of Australia so he's hoping that the youngsters selected perform well and gain experience.

WIFAN wrote:Btw it's been a poor innings by Kartik who has played and missed at about 20 balls of his 65 so far.

Surely not the answer as an Indian opening batsman?

He has always been like this.

Almost all his big innings have been constructed like this.

Only one person rates him and thats India's chief of selectors. Thats enough though.

Red wrote:I heard an interview with Ritchie Richardson last night and while he was scathing about the board's role in this impasse ( he thinks they have been shyte for years) he also thinks the players aren't blameless. He's not super confident about a resolution before the tour of Australia so he's hoping that the youngsters selected perform well and gain experience.

The players are certainly not blameless and I would change a lot of things they do. For example, the WIPA delights in sarcastic press releases castigating the WICB which hardly help the peace process. Having said that, the blame ratio is probably 80:20 as the WICB is an abomination of an organisation.

CARICOM have got both sides to agree on a timetable and framework for an agreement so I am pretty confident a full strength team will tour Australia, with one or two of the scabs rewarded for their loyalty.

I hope they're the best scabs.

And Gayle and the boys will need some match practice.

Red wrote:I hope they're the best scabs.

And Gayle and the boys will need some match practice.

They have one 3 day FC match against Queensland to prepare for the first test. Just before the tour starts they will be playing our List A tournament as well so preparation will not be ideal. My predicted squad to tour Australia, baring in mind that I have no idea who will be captain (hopefully Dwayne Bravo though)...

Opening Batsmen

Gayle
Barath
Morton - back up

Middle Order Batsmen

Sarwan
Chanderpaul
Nash
Dowlin - back up

All Rounders

Bravo
Sammy - back up

Wicket Keeper

Ramdin

Fast Bowlers

Taylor
Edwards
Roach
Tonge - back up
Rampaul - back up

Spin Bowler

Nikita Miller

Notes:

- Dowlin, Sammy, Tonge and Miller will be rewarded for being the best performing scabs. Personally, I would prefer Bravo Jr or Deonarine instead of Dowlin but we all know they will reward some of the scabs. I would have picked Miller ahead of Benn even before the strike.

- Morton is there as the reserve opener if young Barath really struggles or Gayle gets injured. He can also double up as a middle order bat if he scores heavily in the warm up match or there is an injury.