West Indies in Bangladesh 2012

The first test between West Indies and Bangladesh is geting underway tomorrow.
Bangladesh are back in test action almost after a year, and for the series will give a chance to build on the recent good record, the win in the world T-20 was huge and before that they won the test, ODI and T-20I series against New Zealand.
For Bangladesh as usual a great deal will depend on Shakib Al Hasan. Tamim Iqbal and captain Mushfiqur Rahim are the other key players and I am looking forward to yourg Nasir Hosain's perforamcnes, hopefully the lad wil get a chance to bat up the order and captain should make more use of his bowling.
West Indies have picked a 15 member squad for their first engagement after becoming the World T-20 champions. They are playing 2 tests against Bangladesh. Guyana left -arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul (23), who led the A team against India early this year is the only new face in the squad. Adrian Barath is dropped, and there is a recall for Kirk Edwards who was dropped after his horrer show in England during the summer. Darren Bravo is back after missing the New Zealand series with injury. Fidel Edwards, who was dropped from the original squad was recalled following an injury to Kemar Roach.
Squad
Darren Sammy (capt), Denesh Ramdin (vice-capt), Tino Best, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Kirk Edwards, Assad Fudadin, Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, Veerasammy Permaul, Kieran Powell, Ravi Rampaul, Fidel Edwards, Marlon Samuels

Permaul has a good first class record and he bowled well in the A team matches this year, and has also contributed some useful lower order runs as well.
But I think the selectors have been harsh on Devendra Bishoo. He held his own against Pakistan and India last year, and was emerging into a quality attacking leggy. Leggies take a bit of time to get going, to mature and understand their bowling well. He could have been a perfect foil for Sunil Narine, particularly on the low and slow tracks of Bangladesh.

Think they've chopped and changed the spinners too much.

Bishoo looked good early on but quickly lost his form, but in slow conditions Shillingford was pretty good too, against Australia.

Narine should obviously play though, so I guess it was a case of choosing one of Bishoo, Shillingford and Permaul and they've gone purely on form.

I'm glad Kirk Edwards is still in there. The jury remains out but I think at this stage he offers more than Barath.

A shame that Fidel's form hasn't been good. I think he's a better bowler than Best (though the pair are quite similar), and WI need one more good quick to really have a potent bowling attack.

I don't think too many quicks are going to solve their problems any time soon, as there is only 1 opening. Roach has earned a place for himself, Narine has to be the led spinner. They go in with only 4 bowlers. In fact I can't see Ravi Rampaul who's movement with the new ball, or Tino Best who's pace could trouble Bangladesh playing if they go for a 2nd spinner.

If WI want to go from midfield where they are now, to competing with the top teams I think in the mid-term they need to go to a team more like this:

1 Gayle 2 A.N. Other opener 3 Samuels 4 Darren Bravo 5 Chanderpaul 6 A good 'keeper-batsman 7 Sammy 8 Roach 9 Shillingford/ Bishoo 10 Narine 11 Rampaul/ a good quick

Rampaul is effective in short bursts, but along with Sammy, he might be a player who needs to be moved aside from the Test team in the long-term to make them a stronger overall unit.

Currently the lack of good quicks aside from Roach and Rampaul means that the current balance can be justified - whatever ones views on Sammy, I think its hard to argue that Best/ F. Edwards/ Russell would offer enough, if anything, more to the team to justify disposing of the captain. Meanwhile, the lack of a good enough 'keeper to bat six ties them to four bowlers with a bit of Samuels/ Gayle.

They will be hoping, of course, that these missing parts come through to allow them to operate with a better balanced side.

Overall the issues aren't too deep. With Gayle, the improved Samuels (lets see if he can keep it up), Bravo, Chanderpaul, Narine and Roach they have the nucleus of a fine team and are probably only a couple of players away from having a good team. This is a far better situation from two years ago where it was hard to look beyond Chanderpaul for genuine quality.

Sammy at 7? and then a tail starting with Roach at 8? With no quality wicket keeper batsman available in the seen, that just isn't possible. At the moment they will have to go in with Deonarine at 6, Ramdin at 7 and Sammy at 8. Deonarine has the makings of a very handy parttime spinner, and if he could score some decent runs, he could be useful at 6.
Kieran Powell has some technical issues, but I think he has to get a decent run at the top along with Gayle.
Best was able to trouble the New Zealanders with his pace, and I believe he could be handy against Bangladesh as well with his extra yard of pace. But he doesn't look like a consistent wicket taker. Rampaul has been a bit up and down after his breakthrough test season last year. But with Sammy's place fixed, it is dificult to give openings to upcoming quicks like Shannon Gabriel or Jason Holder. When they have to consider playing 2 spinners, the balance issues resulted by a fixed place for the captain becomes all the more obvious.

That is sort of the point I'm making. Right now they can't do that, but in the mid-to-long term they need to. Roach, Narine, Rampaul can all bat pretty decently.

The thing with Best is that he has no other attributes other than running in fast and giving it his all. As with Shaun Tait that will sometimes be enough, but when things aren't going his way they become really messy and when your only in a 4 man attack that is a bit difficult.

With someone averaging just about 20 coming in at 7 if Sammy is to bat there, WI would need the types of Broad, Swann, Ashwin, and the likes to come in at 8 and 9. Guys like Roach who can stay around a bit and Narine and Rampaul who can slog a few runs from time to time won't fit the bill.
With Gayle back, a bit of the top order problems should be taken care of. Now its about the balance of the side. They have to find a quality number 6 batsman, could be of real help if that could be an all-rounder, a decent wicket keeper batsman, and 4 bowlers selected on merit. At the moment, Roach and Narine make the cut. Rampaul, Best, Edwards are all contenders, and Shillingford and Bishoo could be handy 2nd spinners.
Sammy, absence of a quality number 6 batsman/all-rounder and a decent keeper batsman are all uncomfortable realities we have to leave with. Perhaps Sammy could use a a bit of his brain when batting, he could try and add a few more tricks to his bowling, Perhaps Ramdin can take some confidence to his batting from his most recent test hundred against England and Deonarine can score runs to add strength to his case at 6 as his parttime bowling is impressive enough, and I would say he's more likely to take wickets than Gayle or Samuels could do.
The issues of debate would be Fudadin vs Deonarine, Rampaul/Best vs the 2nd spinner.
I am clear on the first, I would certainly start with Deonarine, I would like to try out a 2nd spinner, but Sammy as my opening bowler, I guess I have would rather have Deonarine, Gayle and Samuels sharing the 2nd spinner duties.

Well, good to see Permaul getting a chance but why were the two WI A quicks who did well in that A series (Johnson and Holder) not picked ahead of Tino?

Fidel vs Tino is a much of a muchness really. Neither are good enough.

Despite WI winning the World T20 under Sammy's captaincy, I really don't see him as a long term Test bowler, to be honest.

Personally would like :

Gayle
Powell
Bravo
Samuels
Chanderpaul (he is not too far from retirement though, ideally need to get Sarwan back into the side quickly)
Deonarine
Ramdin(wk)
Johnson
Rampaul
Roach
Narine

Permaul to replace Johnson if you need a 2nd spinner.

But with Sammy certain to play as captain, I'd bat him at 8 ahead of Johnson (who isn't even in the squad but he would be in mine). As msp said, Sammy as the 2nd seamer isn't a particularly exciting propsect. So with him in the side, I think you have to play 3 seamers (including him). I think Deo, Gayle and Samuels can do the 2nd spinners' duty quite decently.

Doesn't look like Sarwan will be a quick fix. The issues between him and the WICB lie far deeper than the ECB-Pietersen or WICB-Gayle issues were.

He has signed a two year contract at Leicestershire, and from interviews is just happy to be back playing.

On his form from Leics he deserves his place in the side again if things could be sorted though - for a while he was frankly woeful.

Who is the next big batting thing coming from the West Indies?
Chanderpaul doesn't seem too far away from retirement and it is not easy to replace a player like him. Even Gayle and Samuels are into their 30s. Even bringing Sarwan or Nash back won't solve all the issues, they are also passed 30.
There is Darren Bravo, and many former players rate Kieran Powell very high. The younger players would benefit from guidence from the likes of Chanderpaul and Gayle and perhaps even Sarwan. But who are the ones coming through?

Do they have anyone decent to keep wickets beyond Ramdin, Baugh and Devin Thomas? For me, none of them look convincing.

Darren Bravo should be a top player. I'm less sure about Powell - he may be good in time but to be frank right now he's at the stage of his career where if he was English or Australian he probably wouldn't even be playing regular FC cricket.

Beyond that not much coming through immediately, although that is probably partly down to their domestic cricket which is played predominantly on poor pitches, and features short seasons.

The pitches in Bangladesh usually offer some life for the spinner. West Indies have Narine in their ranks and Deonarine has emerged as more than a parttimer. Gayle and Samuels could be decent support acts. So will they go for the additional spinner? I would say they should play both Rampaul and Best, Tino's pace could be very handy against Bangladesh batsmen who are quite suspect against real pace.

I suspect they'll play Narine and then they have Samuels (part-timer who'll definitely play), Deonarine (part-timer who might play) and Gayle.

This is an odd series for WI. They last toured Bangladesh only a year ago, and I'm pretty certain they don't play any Tests for some time after this series.

lol pitches in bangldeash these days are raging turners. Pack the side with spin!

A raging turner any day, over those ridiculous flat roads. I am on the verge of declaring all batsmen my enemies!!!.

i agree mate, i love watching spin friendly games!

Good start for Bangladesh, there 21 year old debutant offy Sohag Gazi took 2 big wickets. Chris Gayle, after hitting the youngster for 2 6s got out in the same over caught at the long off boundary for 24. Then Gazi got Darren Bravo to play at a turning ball away from his body and was caught at point for 14. Kieran Powell is batting on 28 and Marlon Samuels has just joined him.

Interesting team selection from both sides. West Indies are playing 5 batsmen+ Ramdin at 6. That means Darren Sammy will be batting at 7. That also means that both Tino Best and Ravi Rampaul are playing along side the 2 spinners, Sunil Narine and virasamy Permaul.
Bangladesh, contrary to expectations, have opted to drop both Elias Sunny and Nazimuddin who played the last test, well a year ago. Junaid Siddique who has done well in the starting rounds of the National Cricket League this season has found his way back to the national side, and the youngster Sohag Gazi is making his debut. He can bat a bit as well, besides being the only noted offy in the land of left-arm spinners.

A big wicket on the stroke of lunch for Bangladesh, Marlon Samuels pulls one down to Sohag Gazi of the bowling of Shahadat Hosain. West Indies 106-3. Young Gazi has had a hand in all the 3 wickets so far.

Sohag Gazi at it again!. He has bowled Powell for 117. Ramdin has joined Chanderpaul. West Indies 243-4. A fine debut for Gazi so far.

Mushfiqur should make better use of Nasir Hossain the bowler. Young Nassir is a fine tallent with the bat, but his 2nd string could be real for Bangladesh, I remember him turning it big in a test match.
Seems the Bangladesh management are concerned about overbowling Shakib Al Hasan. Fair enough, but then they should promote the likes of Nassir, who could really develop his bowling.

West Indies 350-4. Chanderpaul is 121 not out and looking good for a lot more, and Denesh Ramdin has reached 43. After that encouraging first session, Bangladesh lost whatever edge that showed with the ball.

Anyone see Kieran Powell's innings? I think he's far from Test standard at this stage, but he now has two hundreds v NZ and Bang - has he improved his game or just had the fortune of opening against some average bowling?

no suprise to see windies dominate day 1, and its going to be a real toil for bangladesh in this short series!

Both teams are on the up in general, and both have a lack of Test cricket as an issue to deal with. But WI should be far too strong.

Shelsey, I know Powell struggled with the movement in England, but he has got pretty good timing and a lot of that was on display today. I watched only a bit of the match and followed the rest on cricinfo, but Powell's timing is a standout.
He's young, and has time on his side. There are not many other candidates who have put up their hand to be partnering Chris Gayle at the top. His game certainly need a great deal more of polishing, but at the moment he's doing a decent job, and we can hope he'll learn more on the job, although that's not the ideal way to do it.

Agree with that, msp.

A fair assessment. I did feel, however, not only in England but also when he played at home before that that were he English he would only now be on the fringes of a county team. Clearly he is having to learn on the job as you say, and the evidence of late is that he's doing that pretty well.

Shelsey93 wrote:Both teams are on the up in general, and both have a lack of Test cricket as an issue to deal with. But WI should be far too strong.

would love to know, how you think bangladesh are on the up?

IMO they are slipping back down again!

The efforts at the Asia Cup and in a couple of bilateral series after that were very good. They seem to better organised, and the key players are delivering more often.

Right now they still have major issues. Firstly, the board is clearly doing something wrong - in the last two years they've sacked Jamie Siddons, and had Stuart Law and Richard Pybus walk out on them after short stints. Secondly, their FC cricket is very weak (and poorly used by players who need to get better at the longer form). Thirdly, if anything they play less Tests than they did five years ago, and so can't get into any rhythm.

im sorry but the asia cup is most sides u-19's players and Bangladesh only side to play full strength side..

they were awful in ICC world t20, and werent brilliant in 2011 CWC..

and in tests they are dire!

In this match Gayle reportedly the first player ever to score a six off the first ball in a test match....

Corporalhumblebucket wrote:In this match Gayle reportedly the first player ever to score a six off the first ball in a test match....

he did back over the bowler's head, towards long-on!

West Indies 473-4. Denesh Ramdin has just reached his hundred. This is Ramdin's 2nd test hundred of the year. There is no intresting note accompanying it this time though!.

West Indies 515-4. Chanders is closing in on a double, just 3 runs short. Will West Indies declare soon? Or will they bat all the way to tea and beyond and give Bangladesh 10-15 overs today?

It seems Bangladesh imported the pitch from Pune

West Indies declared their innings closed at 527-4 with Shiv Narine Chanderpaul scoring 203 not out.
Bangladesh came out all guns blazing as usual, and the adventure has produced number of boundaries and 2 wickets already. Junaid Siddique got out for 7 and Shahriar Nafees went for 31. Tamim Iqbal has reached 57, lofting Sunil narine for back to back 6s in an over in the course of that knock. Bangladesh 100-2.

101-2 after, well 14 overs!!.

Ravi Rampaul the wicket taker for the West Indies.

Narine went for 17 in 2 overs, Best for 27 in 4 and captain Sammy went for 13 in his only over.

Narine has resorted to bowling flat, fast and short. It has kept Tamim quiet for an over and Narine managed a maiden. Tamim might get frustrated and play a shot too many to counter it, but I am not sure I like it from Narine, who has lots of variations to try rather than bowling like Harbhajan Singh.

Naeem Islam is batting ahead of Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim. So far he has played with a calm approach unlike Nafees, who was trying to match Tamim shot for shot.

Narine has managed another maiden, his 2nd successive one. But this one has been to Naeem Islam, and he continued to bowl rather flat.

Better from Narine, another maiden, but this time he was willing to throw it up and slowed down on the pace.

Interesting to hear Rohan Gavaskar on commentary.

West Indies get the big wicket, Tamim Iqbal gone for 72, its Darren Sammy with the wicket, nothing special with the ball, Tamim just hitting it straight to midwicket.
Bangladesh 119-3.

Shakib Al Hasan out in the middle. Shakib didn't have any success with the ball in the West Indies first innings, he has to really show with the bat to save his side here.

Shakib's test batting has become more consistent over the last couple of years, he really will have to hold things together for Bangladesh. Their first target should be 328, to avoid the follow on. Sammy has brought Tino back.