WI Domestic Season

Seventh round done and dusted and we see the Leewards making another strong showing. They passed 300 for the second time this season and drew their match with the Windwards. Except for the Jamaica v Trinidad match, all the matches featured scores of 250 or more runs in at least one innings. The Leewards/Windwards card featured both teams passing 300 runs and the Barbados/Guyana match featured 3 innings of 250+ (274 and 320/4d by Barbados and 252/7 by Guyana). This round has been FAR, FAR better than the corresponding round last season and excepting for Round 4 from last season and Round 6 from this season it has been better than all the previous rounds this season and the first 8 rounds of last season in terms of the average number of runs per innings. In terms of the absolute number and percentage of 250+ innings this round is also better than any other round from this season and last season save for the final two rounds of last season. This encouraging as is the fact that for two consecutive rounds the average number of runs per innings has been 240 or more. And had the Barbados/Leewards game from Round 5 not ended with Barbados needing to score just 1 run in their second innings to win, then the average number of runs per innings would have run like this for Rounds 4-7: 238, 244, 242, 244. That is also very encouraging as last season the teams did not begin consistently scoring over 235 runs per innings on average until Round 9:

2015/16 PCL season:

Round-----Total scores of 250 or more-----Total Innings-----% of 250+ scores-----Total Runs-----Runs/innings-----Highest score-----300+ scores-----400+ scores

1-----3-----11-----27.27%-----2190-----199.09-----373-----3-----0

2-----4-----11-----36.36%-----2518-----228.90-----419/9d-----1-----1

3-----4-----12-----33.33%-----2039-----169.92-----337-----1-----0

BREAK

4-----3-----11-----27.27%-----2619-----238.09-----475-----1-----1

BREAK

5-----4-----11-----36.36%-----2443-----222.09-----368-----3-----0

BREAK

6-----4-----11-----36.36%-----2662-----242-----450/5d-----1-----1

7-----5-----11-----45.45%-----2687-----244.27-----389-----3-----0

I've read recently where the WICB might attempt to start the double round robin first class season in May come next season. I think this would be a major mistake given the weather concerns (hurricane season/rainy season is June to November) but I suppose if it doesn't work out they can revert to a November to March/April format (honestly I think it would be better to attempt 2-day and maybe 3-day cricket at the intra-territorial level during May to November across the West Indies - shorter matches means less chance of rain affecting a result and makes it easier to schedule in reserve weekends for matches in case of rain).

The eighth round is done and dusted and it had a number of low scores. Only 3 scores of 250+: 287 by the Leeward Islands, 406/9 by Trinidad and Tobago, and 339 by Guyana. The 400+ innings by Trinidad was probably the only thing keeping the average of the innings at over 200 runs. A disappointing round in terms of performances.

2015/16 PCL season:

Round-----Total scores of 250 or more-----Total Innings-----% of 250+ scores-----Total Runs-----Runs/innings-----Highest score-----300+ scores-----400+ scores

1-----3-----11-----27.27%-----2190-----199.09-----373-----3-----0

2-----4-----11-----36.36%-----2518-----228.90-----419/9d-----1-----1

3-----4-----12-----33.33%-----2039-----169.92-----337-----1-----0

BREAK

4-----3-----11-----27.27%-----2619-----238.09-----475-----1-----1

BREAK

5-----4-----11-----36.36%-----2443-----222.09-----368-----3-----0

BREAK

6-----4-----11-----36.36%-----2662-----242-----450/5d-----1-----1

7-----5-----11-----45.45%-----2687-----244.27-----389-----3-----0

8-----3-----12-----25%-----2453-----204.41-----406/9-----1-----1

The ninth round is concluded and it was an interesting round. Only 4 scores of 250 runs or more, but each of those innings were fairly big: 445 by Jamaica, 430 by the Leewards (who were threatening Guyana with an innings defeat at one point), 396 by Barbados and 350 by the Windwards Those massive first innings scores (or second innings in the case of the Windwards) helped keep the average runs per innings rather high at 268 (Trinidad scoring 240 in their second innings also helped). Overall the round was mixed in terms of performances, especially when compared to last season. Last season saw 7 scores of 250 runs or more (accounting for nearly 60% of all the innings). This season saw only 4 such scores accounting for just over 36% of the innings. The big scores helped to ensure that the average runs per innings in this year's 9th round was even higher than last year's own (268 v 255) but it is still disappointing that more 250+ scores weren't spread out across the total number of innings. The highest score in the 9th round last season was also higher than for this year's ninth round (480 last season v 445 this season). In a rather interesting development for this round the teams that batted second were all forced to follow on as they made scores in reply ranging from 190 to 233. This round was also just 4 runs short in the Barbados innings of seeing 3 scores of 400 or more in a single round for the first time across the the two seasons of the PCL format thus far.

2015/16 PCL season:

Round-----Total scores of 250 or more-----Total Innings-----% of 250+ scores-----Total Runs-----Runs/innings-----Highest score-----300+ scores-----400+ scores

1-----3-----11-----27.27%-----2190-----199.09-----373-----3-----0

2-----4-----11-----36.36%-----2518-----228.90-----419/9d-----1-----1

3-----4-----12-----33.33%-----2039-----169.92-----337-----1-----0

BREAK

4-----3-----11-----27.27%-----2619-----238.09-----475-----1-----1

BREAK

5-----4-----11-----36.36%-----2443-----222.09-----368-----3-----0

BREAK

6-----4-----11-----36.36%-----2662-----242-----450/5d-----1-----1

7-----5-----11-----45.45%-----2687-----244.27-----389-----3-----0

8-----3-----12-----25%-----2453-----204.41-----406/9-----1-----1

BREAK

9-----4-----11-----36.36%-----2949-----268.09-----445-----2-----2

The tenth and final round is concluded and it was a relatively disappointing round. Only 3 scores of 250 runs or more, but as with Round 9 each of those innings were fairly big: 420 by Guyana, 436 by Barbados and 289 by the the Windwards. The overall average number of runs per innings was around 247. That's not bad and encouraging given the results for Rounds 4-7 and Round 9.

It would have been more encouraging if Round 10 had mirrored last season's results with an average higher than the previous Round (Round 9), but this season saw 5 rounds with averages of 235+ runs per innings versus only 3 rounds last season with averages over 235+ runs per innings.

The overall average runs per innings for 2014/15 was 218.35. For 2015/16 it was 225.55 (about 1,017 more runs were also scored this season than last season). It is clearly only very marginal improvement but if next season the overall average is higher still then it might be an indication that things are going in the right direction with the professional set up.

The Guyana Jaguars came out on tops as the winners (retaining their title from last year). Both Guyana and Barbados were clearly better than the other teams this season and the next nearest challengers (Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago) were rarely in serious contention for the title. Only Barbados were and in the end they fell 7 points short (by contrast Jamaica were 64 points short of Guyana at the end of the season).

2015/16 PCL season:

Round-----Total scores of 250 or more-----Total Innings-----% of 250+ scores-----Total Runs-----Runs/innings-----Highest score-----300+ scores-----400+ scores

1-----3-----11-----27.27%-----2190-----199.09-----373-----3-----0

2-----4-----11-----36.36%-----2518-----228.90-----419/9d-----1-----1

3-----4-----12-----33.33%-----2039-----169.92-----337-----1-----0

BREAK

4-----3-----11-----27.27%-----2619-----238.09-----475-----1-----1

BREAK

5-----4-----11-----36.36%-----2443-----222.09-----368-----3-----0

BREAK

6-----4-----11-----36.36%-----2662-----242-----450/5d-----1-----1

7-----5-----11-----45.45%-----2687-----244.27-----389-----3-----0

8-----3-----12-----25%-----2453-----204.41-----406/9-----1-----1

BREAK

9-----4-----11-----36.36%-----2949-----268.09-----445-----2-----2

10-----3-----10-----30%-----2476-----247.6-----436-----0-----2

aydee wrote:Interesting stuff.

I really like the concept of the PCL. This step seemed essential for WI cricket, and if it was not possible without the national team players' wage cuts, then I fully support the board over Sammy et al on that particular issue.

Yes, on that I agree.

I'm elated about the West Indies' men and women gaining the World T20 titles (especially in the face of so many writing the West Indies off as crappy - I'm not sure why some people seem intent on disparaging any team ever, whether by calling them minnows or crap...I think it reflects poorly on the person saying it). And yes, Sammy and the other do have legitimate grievances with the manner in which the board handles affairs (the board is often high-handed and arrogant) but compromise requires both sides to give something up. That is not something the players are used to since Ramnarine used to be able to get things to go 100% the players way in disputes with the board as a result of an MOU that was heavily skewed in favour of the Players' Association at the time. What was nice about the way the men's team went about their dispute with the board this time was that they didn't withdraw their services as in the past. Instead they did what I think they should have been doing all along - play on, play hard, play well and freaking WIN to give themselves a strong negotiating hand. In the past Ramnarine would encourage striking but that produced a negative feedback loop since the frequent strikes would discourage fans from watching the West Indian players and thus decrease the revenue of the board and thereby decreasing the earning capacity of the very board that the players wanted more money from. And it is not like cricket is some kind of essential service like garbage collection, the police or firefighters. With essential services, the general population will be clamouring for their return. With cricket the general population will simply decide to focus on entertaining themselves in other ways. So the players were shooting the board and themselves in the foot with the strikes. Had they instead focused on winning they would have brought in more money and kept the public interested and on the side of the players and then just sued the board if resolution was not forthcoming.

Having become so used to having their cake and eating it, for many players they now seem unable to come back to the reality that it cannot always be so. This is even reflected in their demands to negotiate separately from the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA). This is very comical because the Board was sued by Ramnarine (successfully) for attempting to do just that in the past when Ramnarine was head of WIPA. So according to the courts, the WICB cannot negotiate with the players entirely separate from the WIPA. The players back then backed Ramnarine on the issue. Now they have been wanting the board to do exactly that which they successfully sued the board for trying to do in the first place. The irony. Luckily for them Cameron has invited them to dicussions in June (but WIPA will be in attendance, so I think it can be fudged that they aren't negotiating separately).

What the board seems to be pushing for now is for the various global T20 players to commit to playing domestic cricket in the West Indies as well. I see nothing wrong with that and indeed, Cameron in an interview recently said part of the motivation behind it was to have those players impart the skills and experience they pick up around the world on the other local players. So in that sense Cameron has a very good point - if players are going to play in the domestic T20 competitions in South Africa, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan/UAE, England and Australia then that doesn't leave any time really for them to play domestic cricket in the West Indies. After all for those competitions this is what the general schedule looks like:

- November to mid December: Ram Slam in South Africa; BPL in Bangladesh

- mid December to end of January: BBL in Australia

- basically all of February: PSL in Pakistan/UAE

- start of April to end of May (some of the best time to play international cricket in the West Indies by the way): IPL in India (and the WICB has now been unofficially avoiding scheduling international matches in April/May now)

- mid May to end of August: Natwest T20 Blast in England

- June to July: CPL in the West Indies

out of interest and for completeness, the Sri Lankan T20 competition is from the end of December to the end of January, the New Zealander competition is from November to December and Zimbabwe's is in February.

So in theory with the PCL covering the Regional Four Day competition (from start of November to end of March with a break in January for the Nagico Super50) and the Nagico Super50 (basically all of January) it is quite possible for the elite players to miss the entire 50 overs competition and most of the the 4-day competition due to commitments in South Africa, Bangladesh, Australia and Pakistan/UAE.

I have no issue with players wanting to maximize their earnings, but surely they could come to some agreement that they would play at least one (or better yet at least two) matches in the List A competition and in the First Class competition for the year. After all these same players make themselves available for the CPL in June and July (granted most of them are actually free at that time since only Darren Sammy and Chris Gayle play in the English competition I believe; but even so Sammy and Gayle are available for the CPL and then go to the Natwest T20 Blast).

How hard would it be to play say one round of four day cricket in November (we had 3 rounds in November) and then go about your business in South Africa and Bangladesh and then Australia before returning home to play two List A matches in January (say January 7 and 9) before going back to Australia for the BBL and then when the PSL is finished at the end of February coming home again to play in the final two rounds of first class cricket in March before heading to India for the IPL? Even if you skip the November round of first-class cricket it should still be possible to devote say 5 days in January as well as 2-3 weeks in March for domestic cricket in the West Indies.

And presto! All those players would become eligible for selection in all formats and also eligible for retainers (if they so choose). But the players need to be honest with themselves, the fans and the board about what they want. They can't claim to want to play test cricket but then the ONLY first-class cricket they plan to play is test cricket. It's not supposed to work like that and it will cause up and coming players to question why the can't do like Gayle or Bravo and just get selected for the Test team while only playing Twenty20 cricket around the world. In any case as I pointed out earlier a lack of first-class cricket experience has shown up in the way Bravo played in his last few first-class matches (he was by no means dazzling and certainly didn't warrant test selection ahead of some others based on stats alone). Perhaps though if he attempted to transfer his more recent skills of mixing up the speed of his deliveries to both the List A and FC domestic cricket in the West Indies he might get better returns and become a sure pick for the Test and ODI squads.

The board has many other things it needs to do (establish a longer women's competition and encourage each territorial board to set up school cricket competition for girls and club/league competitions for women outside of the school system for instance) but there some things it has gotten right so far even if the execution could have been better...and in light of the above I have to wonder if the Board's plans to shift the PCL to a start time in May might not be an attempt to further appease the elite players by scheduling the competition so it doesn't clash with the Twenty20 competitions around the world (except for England's).

I don't think that would be the right move on account of the fact that the players need to recognize that there needs to be a balance. Shifting our own domestic competition to a time of unfavourable weather just so the players can play in every possible match in the rest of the world is...well..stupid. What if at some point the English clubs begin drafting many of the West Indians? That will only really leave the months of March, September and October as being free for the West Indies to schedule not only their domestic competition but their international fixtures. That's ridiculous. Other players from other countries strike the balance between overseas commitments and domestic and international commitments and it should be no different for the West Indian players.

Am a bit late in starting this, but the third season of the Professional Cricket League (PCL) has started in the West Indies and four rounds have been completed.

The teams are now supposed to have been professional outfits for just over 2 years now. This is now the first time the teams are going to be playing after what is supposed to have been a year as a professional outfit (with year round training etc). We shall see what kind of an impact this has had on the performances.

The fourth round is completed and despite some poor innings the overall average per innings is higher now as a result of the few good innings being really good innings (261/7d and 296 by Barbados Pride and 475 by Guyana Jaguars):

2016/17 PCL season:

Round-----Total scores of 250 or more-----Total Innings-----% of 250+ scores-----Total Runs-----Runs/innings-----Highest score-----300+ scores-----400+ scores

1-----3-----12-----25%-----2699-----224.92-----377-----1-----0

2-----3-----12-----25%-----2461-----205.08-----372/6-----2-----0

3-----2-----7-----28.57%-----1397-----199.57-----287/8-----0-----0

BREAK

4-----7-----12-----58.33%-----2873-----239.42-----333/8d-----3-----0

So far we've had a mixed bag of results. The number of 300+ and 400+ scores has more or less remained the same as past seasons and actually been a bit more disappointing as this is the first season of the professional set up where four rounds have been completed and no team made 400 runs in an innings. On the other hand, Round 4 was very, very encouraging as it was the first time since the ninth round of the 2014/15 season (when the 4 day tournament was played as the PCL for the first time) that we have seen over 50% of the innings having scores of 250 runs or more. At no point in the last season did we see this and only in the penultimate and ultimate rounds of the 2014/15 season did we see this.

Also, encouragingly the proportion of innings featuring 250 or more runs seems to be on the uptick from season to season:

Round------2014/15------2015/16------2016/17

1------20%------27.27%------25%

2------10%------36.36%------25%

3------25%------33.33%------28.57%

4------36.36%------27.27%------58.33%

The 2015/16 season had teams more consistently putting up 250+ scores in around a third of the innings, however this season has seen teams putting up 250+ scores in no fewer than a quarter of the innings and well over half of the innings in this just completed round.

The average number of runs per innings has followed a generally similar pattern from season to season - it starts off in the low 200s for the first two rounds and then dips into the 160-190 range for the third round before shooting up to the 235-245 range for the fourth round. That said each subsequent season seems to have seen some improvement in this statistic in some way over the past 3 years.

In terms of team performances, the Leeward Islands started off with a bang this year. Once regional powerhouses (in the 1980s when combined with the Windwards as the Combined Islands; and producing the likes of Andy Roberts, Curtly Ambrose, Richie Richardson and Viv Richards), in the 2000s they slumped to being the weakest team in the first-class system. This season though they started off by drawing with Barbados (producing a first innings knock of 377, the highest of Round 1) and then beating Guyana (breaking a record for the highest fourth innings chase in regional first class cricket by getting 372/6).

Guyana started off strongly but were beaten by the Leewards and had a fairly weak batting performance in the third round. They put up a stronger showing in the fourth round, but have still to recapture that all-conquering display from the first two seasons.

Barbados have been consistent with some very decent batting performances and a very strong innings of 317/2d in their match against Trinidad in the second round.

Windwards have been noticeably weaker than in the previous two seasons when they were often the third or fourth strongest team. They were beaten by Trinidad and Jamaica before putting on a really strong show in the fourth round.

Jamaica have made only one score over 250; a 314 run score in their match against Trinidad in the fourth round. Excepting for that solitary score, all of Jamaica's other batting innings have produced completed scores only ranging from 147 to 229. Despite that though Jamaica currently lead the points table on 46.8 points (with 2 wins; against Trinidad and the Windwards), followed by Guyana on 44; Barbados on 43.2; the Leewards on 36.6 and then the Windwards on 35.2 and Trinidad on 32.4. Jamaica's pole position is due to some very, very good bowling (the match against the Windwards produced a win out of nowhere when Windwards should have won it) and a good batting display against what may in fact be the weakest team in the tournament this season: Trinidad

Trinidad have been perhaps the weakest team this season. They started off with a strong win in a low scoring game against the Windwards, before being utterly crushed in the second round by Barbados (scores and result: Barbados 242 and 317/2d beat Trinidad & Tobago 168 and 99 by 292 runs). They put on their strongest batting of the tournament in a drawn match in the third round (287/8) against the Leewards (rain and a wet outfield ended the Trini innings on that score and washed out the rest of the match). They then lost to Jamaica by a healthy 132 runs in the fourth round with some low scores of 205 and 206 by Trinidad. Why have Trinidad been so weak? Well a number of what many would consider their best players seem to have no interest in playing for Trinidad except when it suits them: Dwyane Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Evin Lewis, Nicholas Pooran, Lendl Simmons, Kevon Cooper, Sunil Narine, and Rayad Emrit have all been playing in the Bangladesh Premier League (a T20 competition). Dwayne Bravo and Pollard retired from first-class cricket to focus almost entirely on T20 and Lendl Simmons hasn't seemed interested in first-class cricket . The others have still played first-class cricket occasionally but it seems this season a lot of them have preferred to chase the T20 money. Other teams have had what are supposedly their best players also playing T20 in Bangladesh, but not as much as 8 players at a time - Barbados has seen 3 (including Dwayne Smith who no longer features in the selectors plans anyway), Jamaica and the Windwards have seen 4 each. At this point the TTCB is likely going to have to rebuild the first-class team around players who are not the T20 stars if they want to have a consistent first-class team. This might well be the time and the tournament to do it.

So the second round is almost concluded and the scoring has been even better than in the first round and much improved from the second round of the 2014/15 season.

We saw the first instance of a team surpassing 400 runs this season (Guyana) and two scores which were just short of the 250 mark (T&T making 246 and Barbados making 243/5d in their second innings) and one score which was just short of the 300 run mark (Windwards 299 when following on). So even though the stats will read as their being only 1 score of 300 and 1 score of 400 and a total of 4 scores of 250 or more, this round was only 12 runs short of having 2 scores of 300, 1 score of 400 and a total of 6 scores of 250 or more (54% of the innings).

Thus far the stats for the 2015/16 PCL season are:

Round-----Total scores of 250 or more-----Total Innings-----% of 250+ scores-----Total Runs-----Runs/innings-----Highest score-----300+ scores-----400+ scores

1-----3-----11-----27.27%-----2190-----199.09-----373-----3-----0

2-----4-----11-----36.36%-----2518-----228.90-----419/9d-----1-----1 (completed with T&T Red Force drawing the match after making 182/4 in pursuit of 298)

Overall while disappointingly the proportion of 250+ scores is still around a third of the innings thus far, encouragingly this is happening from the start of the first two rounds rather than by round 4 as happened last season. If the teams begin to start scoring better by round 4-6 as happened last season then the overall season average for 250+ run scores as a percentage of total innings should be improved upon last season, and perhaps by next season or the season after that we can look forward to more improvements (barring any disruptions).

Train Driver wrote:Funny old goings on in Roseau as Leeward Islands declare their 1st innings at 24-7, Windward Islands 104-5 at the close with only 43 overs bowled in the day

Quite. The WICB is going to investigate the pitch.

Apparently this was the first match on the ground following the devastation of Hurricane Erika back in September. Don't know if that had anything to do with it, but if so it would have been prudent for the Windwards board to at least have had a practice match on the ground to see how it would play.

The third round is now done and dusted and the average runs per innings has dropped quite a bit for this round, mainly due to that match in Roseau:

2015/16 PCL season:

Round-----Total scores of 250 or more-----Total Innings-----% of 250+ scores-----Total Runs-----Runs/innings-----Highest score-----300+ scores-----400+ scores

1-----3-----11-----27.27%-----2190-----199.09-----373-----3-----0

2-----4-----11-----36.36%-----2518-----228.90-----419/9d-----1-----1

3-----4-----12-----33.33%-----2039-----169.92-----337-----1-----0

Guyana continues to dominate so far. In three matches they have scored first innings totals of 362, 419/9d and 337. Their only blemish has been a second innings score of 95 all out in the very first match against the Windwards (they won that match by 104 runs anyway). As would be expected from such a dominant performance they have quite a bit of daylight between themselves and the other teams in the points table with Guyana on 53 points, the Leewards at the bottom with 7 points and all the rest in the middle on 21 to 34 points.

The mainstay of Guyana's batting has been Vishaul Singh. He debuted in 2009 for first-class cricket but only got his maiden ton in December 2014. When he has gotten tons though he has scored reasonably big: 141 (maiden ton), 150 and 121. Not 100 flat and out. For the rest of the 2014/2015 season following his maiden ton in December 2014 his scores were: 6, 14, 23, 22*, 60, 14, 5, 57, 52, 41* and 22 (average: 35). His overall average in 2014/2015 was 39.91.

For this season he has had scores of 48, 24, 151 and 120 with an average of 85.75. It's very early days yet, but he does look promising and if he maintains that kind of average it would not surprise me if he makes it into the West Indies A team and maybe the West Indies senior team.

The fourth round is completed and despite some poor innings the overall average per innings is higher now as a result of the few good innings being really good innings (261/7d and 296 by Barbados Pride and 475 by Guyana Jaguars):

2015/16 PCL season:

Round-----Total scores of 250 or more-----Total Innings-----% of 250+ scores-----Total Runs-----Runs/innings-----Highest score-----300+ scores-----400+ scores

1-----3-----11-----27.27%-----2190-----199.09-----373-----3-----0

2-----4-----11-----36.36%-----2518-----228.90-----419/9d-----1-----1

3-----4-----12-----33.33%-----2039-----169.92-----337-----1-----0

BREAK

4-----3-----11-----27.27%-----2619-----238.09-----475-----1-----1

jaybro wrote:Hunter please fill me what's going with the Windies ??? Surely there are better batsman around in the Caribbean .....

Yes and no.

Yes there are better options....

...but no, there are no better options currently available (Gayle isn't available, Sarwan doesn't seem to be into it anymore as he has twice withdrawn from representing first-class teams in domestic cricket, Chanderpaul retired, Dwayne Bravo basically retired in 2010 - see below)...

Chandrika and Hope have only 1 first class century each ( I think ) and they're the options to open the batting ???

Chandrika is a opening bat for Guyana, Hope does not open for Barbados. I'm not sure why they kept trying to shoe-horn Hope in as an opener. In my opinion if they were to drop say Roach and Gabriel and bring in Carlos Brathwaite and put Hope in at No. 6, then the bowling will be weakened somewhat (but not that significantly), while the batting would be strengthened and Hope would have more of an opportunity to play in the middle order which is where he produced the results that got him picked in the first place.......

Heck they could even keep one out of Roach and Gabriel, drop Chandrika and put in Carlos Brathwaite as an opener and slot Hope in the middle order and it might be better (Carlos seems like he might do better at the role than either Hope or Chandrika given his batting in the tour matches so far).

I know Chris Gayle, Pollard and Dwayne Bravo are unavailable but apart from Gayle the other two arnt exactly test specialists are they ??

Gayle's availability has been touch and go for many reasons for a long time. He's a very good batsman, but between injuries and sometimes his focus being elsewhere, his availability hasn't been anywhere near as consistent as that of opening batsmen for other teams. Nowadays it is such that people don't even seem to expect him to be there.

Dwayne Bravo isn't a test specialist, nor is he even really a first class specialist. I would never call for him to be a part of any test team of any nation because to be frank, his attitude to the long-form game is dismal. Bravo will wax on about selection injustices and at times proclaim he would like to play test cricket, but then he is constantly unavailable for first-class cricket which means there is no basis on which to judge his first-class form. His last first-class match was on March 23, 2013 (T&T v Combined Colleges and Campuses) and before that 2012/2013 season and the previous season (2011/2012), the last time he had played non-test, domestic first-class cricket was in the 2007/2008 domestic season (March 7, 2008 - T&T v Windward Islands). So he has a four year gap between playing a few domestic first-class matches and then having been selected for T&T squad in the Professional Cricket League in the 2014/2015 season announced his withdrawal from the squad and unavailability for first-class cricket in February 2015 without having played in a single match. His "retirement" from test cricket in January 2015 merely formalizes what had been the case since his last test match in December 2010 against Sri Lanka.

Pollard has been more available for first-class cricket, having played in 8 of the 9 seasons since 2007. I think Pollard at least should have been given a stint on the West Indies A team between 2010 and 2015. He may have surprised people. But in any case he has taken an "indefinite break" from first-class cricket since his last first-class match in March 2015 (for T&T against the Windward Islands)

What's happened to Barath, Kieran Powell etc ???

Barath asked for time off from the game in December 2014: http://www.stabroeknews.com/2014/sports ... y-cricket/

Kieran Powell took time off for personal reasons in June 2014 and after that it seems there was some issues which developed concerning his return (with disputed accounts surrounding whether he was to return to the team straightaway or to play in the domestic competition first, etc) and then he went to Sri Lanka to play club cricket for a bit.

Note: Edited to include mention of Bravo's stint in the 2011/12 season

The fifth round is completed and despite some mediocre innings the overall average per innings is better than for the corresponding round last season, again as a result of the few good innings being really good innings (382 by Trinidad Red Force, 368 by Barbados Pride, 282 by Guyana Jaguars and 306 by Windwards Volcanoes):

2015/16 PCL season:

Round-----Total scores of 250 or more-----Total Innings-----% of 250+ scores-----Total Runs-----Runs/innings-----Highest score-----300+ scores-----400+ scores

1-----3-----11-----27.27%-----2190-----199.09-----373-----3-----0

2-----4-----11-----36.36%-----2518-----228.90-----419/9d-----1-----1

3-----4-----12-----33.33%-----2039-----169.92-----337-----1-----0

BREAK

4-----3-----11-----27.27%-----2619-----238.09-----475-----1-----1

BREAK

5-----4-----11-----36.36%-----2443-----222.09-----368-----3-----0

What is interesting is that for this round, the Barbados v Leewards game saw Barbados batting again needing to score 1 run (which they did) in order to win (scores Barbados Pride 368 and 1/0 beat Leewards Hurricanes 170 and 198). Had the Leewards only scored 197 batting again, then Barbados would have won by an innings and one run and the stats for the round would have looked like this:

5-----4-----10-----40.00%-----2441-----244.10-----368-----3-----0

Comparing this season to last season, the teams have scored 962 more runs cumulatively between Rounds 1 and 5 and racked up 9 scores of 300+ runs and 2 scores of 400+ runs versus 7 300+ scores in 2014/2015 and 3 400+ scores in 2014/2015. In no round thus far has there been an instance where at least one team hasn't scored 300 runs or more in an innings and twice this season we saw 3 scores of 300+ runs in a round. The average runs/innings of all 5 rounds to date is around 210 versus 204 for 2014/2015 and this I think best reflects what has happened so far: (very) marginal improvement.

jaybro wrote:Thanks for the insight Hunter as many cricket fans over the world will agree it's very sad to see the Windies in such dire straights I never got to see the golden era play but have always enjoyed watching them and their style ......

Yes it is sad, but it isn't unexpected. At least not on my part. West Indies went through a very damaging period in the 2000s and 15-20 years of damage will not be undone overnight. And during that time, hidings should be expected. WI may even be irreparably damaged in the test arena. Even so attempts have to be made to try to fix the problems where they have been identified (and to identify problems which haven't even been recognized).

For my part I'm more hopeful that like Bangladesh, WI will now stick with a young core/crop of players and invest in them. I was far too tired of the drama that the likes of Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Pollard, Dwayne Smith and Sarwan constantly brought (which earned them and others the monikers of "prima donnas" by some West Indians). If I wanted to watch a soap opera I knew the appropriate channels to watch and TENSports was not one of them. Sure that set of players performed better than this current crop, but in end they still lost often and lost badly (a fact which many seem to forget either willfully or as a result of merely looking at the "flair" of these players - thanks, but no thanks...I would rather have boring and sedate players that work hard like Kraigg Brathwaite and Shiv over flashy but lazy players who give you glimpses of brilliance amidst long stretches of mediocrity; ideally it would be great to have flash, brilliant players that work hard and produce results but most of the former set definitely do NOT fall into that category).

This set may lose more badly, but perhaps like the Bangladeshis they will improve if given the time and invested in. The former crop were far too old and stuck in their ways to improve significantly. They could still push out perhaps another 5-10 years worth of playing time, but really, what is point in sticking with them for so long when they don't have the heart for it themselves (most were quite willing to abandon test cricket for various T20 leagues and didn't seem to recognize that one could have a balance) and when realistically the results were only going to be the same? Results may be worse now in terms of the margins and manner of defeat, but the results are still defeats and at least now there is potential for results in the future to be more draws and even victories. Expecting that overnight though is to set yourself up for disappointment, as even the Australians didn't magically turn things around overnight in the 1980s.

jaybro wrote:Thanks for the insight Hunter as many cricket fans over the world will agree it's very sad to see the Windies in such dire straights I never got to see the golden era play but have always enjoyed watching them and their style ......

So remember what I said about Dwayne Bravo and his patchy commitment to first class cricket leading up to test hiatus and eventual retirement?

Dwayne Bravo isn't a test specialist, nor is he even really a first class specialist. I would never call for him to be a part of any test team of any nation because to be frank, his attitude to the long-form game is dismal. Bravo will wax on about selection injustices and at times proclaim he would like to play test cricket, but then he is constantly unavailable for first-class cricket which means there is no basis on which to judge his first-class form. His last first-class match was on March 23, 2013 (T&T v Combined Colleges and Campuses) and before that 2012/2013 season and the previous season (2011/2012), the last time he had played non-test, domestic first-class cricket was in the 2007/2008 domestic season (March 7, 2008 - T&T v Windward Islands). So he has a four year gap between playing a few domestic first-class matches and then having been selected for T&T squad in the Professional Cricket League in the 2014/2015 season announced his withdrawal from the squad and unavailability for first-class cricket in February 2015 without having played in a single match. His "retirement" from test cricket in January 2015 merely formalizes what had been the case since his last test match in December 2010 against Sri Lanka.

Now square his playing career of playing NO domestic first class cricket at all between March 2008 and February 2012 (and his last first class match of any kind being December 2010) with these recent statements:

http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2015-12- ... -selectors

Bravo blasts poor treatment by selectors

...but says he’s still committed to Windies

Published:

Thursday, December 17, 2015

MELBOURNE, Australia—All-rounder Dwayne Bravo says he is still committed to playing for West Indies but was forced to quit Test cricket because of the poor treatment meted out to him by selectors.

Speaking ahead of his campaign in the Big Bash League for Melbourne Renegades, Bravo told media here that with little interest coming from selectors he had turned his attention to the lucrative Twenty20 leagues across the globe.

“Until earlier this year I was still interested to play Test cricket but I have yet to hear anything from any selector, what their plans are for me, what my position is,” Bravo lamented.

“I just decided it’s time to move on with my life and try to channel my energy in different places.

I would have loved the opportunity to play Test cricket again but since being dropped back in 2010 I never got the chance and I just decided to call it a day.”

He continued: “I’m not shutting down my opportunities to represent the West Indies, I still 100 per cent want to play for the West Indies in One-Day internationals and T20s.”

The 32-year-old played the last of his 40 Tests five years ago after scoring 2200 runs at an average of 31 and taking 86 wickets at an average of nearly 40. Following this protracted absence from the side, Bravo announced his retirement from the longer format in January this year.

He was appointed One-Day captain in 2013 but axed a year and a half later after he helped lead the players fight against the West Indies Cricket Board and the West Indies Players Association, which resulted in the controversial abandoned tour of India.

Bravo said many West Indies players felt more respected outside of the Caribbean, and this was behind their decision to ply their trade in tournaments like the Big Bash.

“I get frustrated at times, not only for myself but for all the other cricketers, Chris Gayle, Darren Sammy, Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, we all want to represent West Indies,” Bravo said.

“But sometimes the way we have been treated over the years … why should we actually fight with West Indies’ cricket where the rest of the world opens their arms for us? “Yes they pay us well but at the same time we never feel disrespect in any way when we play for those teams around the world. We feel love.

We feel well-respected. Do we get that type of treatment back in the region? No we don’t.” The T&T-born player has continued to feature in the West Indies T20 squad, however, and was part of the Sammy led squad which lost 2-1 to Sri Lanka in a three-match series last month.

However, with the ICC T20 World Cup slated to bowl off in March next year, Bravo said he was taking nothing for granted about his selection.

“I would love to think that I would be good enough and have done enough to get selected for the T20 World Cup but I’m not saying anything. I don’t know,” he mused. (CMC)

Bravo has it backwards. It was he who showed little interest in first class cricket after March 2008 and turned his attention to various T20 leagues across the globe, and only afterwards did the selectors stop picking him (after December 2010) for test cricket. He is either quite naive or taking his audience for fools if he seriously believes selectors can really be expected to show interest in selecting a guy for test cricket when that fella hasn't played any first-class cricket whatsoever in almost 2 years (and just what kind of message would that be sending to other, younger players who are being encouraged to participate in the first-class competition if a player gets selected continually for test cricket on the basis of his limited overs form?). Even Gayle went through a similar period (last domestic first class before December 2010 being Jamaica v Windward Islands in March 2008 after which he played tests for two years before not featuring again in any first class cricket until 2012), but at least Gayle had the sense to play at least ONE domestic first class match (Jamaica v Windward Islands in February 2012 where he scored 165 in the second innings) before getting selected again for test cricket in July 2012 and played in the domestic league again in 2013 before his latest hiatus starting in late 2014 due to injury.

Bravo meanwhile did also play in the 2011/12 season like Gayle. He played a solitary match (against Combined Campuses and Colleges - which was often considered a Barbados "A" team) where he scored 11 & 13 and took 2/38 (with 4 no balls) in 12 overs in the first innings (he was the most expensive bowler and the least economical) and 0/17 (with 1 wide and 2 no balls) in 5 overs in the second innings (he was the second least economical bowler after the much younger and less experienced Yanick Cariah; no other bowler save Cariah had an economy rate of over 2.6). Now while Trinidad & Tobago did win that match and Bravo certainly contributed, his individual contribution wasn't anything to write home about (unlike Gayle's 165 in the second innings) as his batting returns were poor (Pollard scored 60 in the first innings and Ramdin scored 40 in the second innings and even Jason Mohammed was consistently better scoring 20 & 31) and his bowling returns were likewise nothing to get very excited about (especially given his experience).

He then didn't play any more first-class matches until March 2013 (against Guyana and then Combined Colleges and Campuses). In the victory against Guyana he scored a duck and T&T declared before he could bat in the second innings; his bowling returns were better than in 2012 with 2/37 (including 1 wide) off 12 overs (he was more economical than Gabriel and Jaggernauth) and 2/49 (with 1 wide and 4 no balls) off 13.4 overs (he was more economical than Gabriel). Those kind of bowling returns though, while good were not particularly outstanding. In the victory against Combined Campuses and Colleges he scored 60 in the first innings and T&T won long before he could bat in the second innings. In the first innings though Jason Mohammed scored 138, Pollard scored 45, Katwaroo scored 50 and Cariah scored 43* , so while his score was good, it was good among a number of other pretty decent or very good scores. He also did not bowl in either innings. And he was the captain. So it wasn't like someone denied him the opportunity to bowl.

Overall his return to first-class cricket in 3 matches between 2012 and 2013 saw him score 84 runs over 4 innings (avg: 21) and take 6/141 off 42.4 overs (avg: 23.5, econ rate: 3.30; strike rate: 7.11) with 3 wides and 10 no balls.

He was clearly not as good a first-class player as he used to be and I doubt he would be any better now.

He would make an excellent politician though given how easily he seems to spin things.