Australia v West Indies, 2nd Test, Adelaide, Dec 4-8

Ashes. Talk about them. Turn your ear trumpet up!

Invader Zim wrote:We don't talk about the Ashes...

The saying 'it's only the West Indies' seems to have disappeared from use on the forum too...

That was an awesome test from start to finish. Great effort from the West Indies but they just couldn't finish the Aussies off. I thought Benn was a bit disappointing considering the conditions he had at his disposal and he bowled far too quickly, but I won't be too harsh on him as his first innings effort was heroic.

Hopefully that will shut the Aussie press up for a few days at least. I think we may well have won that test if we had Edwards and Taylor at our disposal to accompany Roach but it was not to be.

I'm looking forward to the WACA already, it should be fun now we appear to be playing close to our potential.

DJ_Smerk wrote:Zim, you talk about about curry like it's some repulsive dish.

Have you ever tried a curry in Australia? They haven't a clue.

Invader Zim wrote:We didn't play all that well, but basically controlled the match...not that bad a sign.

I really really really hope that was a wind up by Zim. If it was, it was very successful

Incidentally I am struggling to think of a better spell of bowling than Roach's that resulted in no wickets. Haddin looked absolutely clueless and Clarke wasn't that much better.

WIFAN wrote:That was an awesome test from start to finish. Great effort from the West Indies but they just couldn't finish the Aussies off. I thought Benn was a bit disappointing considering the conditions he had at his disposal and he bowled far too quickly, but I won't be too harsh on him as his first innings effort was heroic.

Hopefully that will shut the Aussie press up for a few days at least. I think we may well have won that test if we had Edwards and Taylor at our disposal to accompany Roach but it was not to be.

I'm looking forward to the WACA already, it should be fun now we appear to be playing close to our potential.

There's always hope. I wouldn't have thought the new look WI would be up to it yet. The new faces seem to have brought some freshness to the team as a whole. Well done WI. Good to see you're on your way up again. The next test should be a win.

mirchy wrote:

WIFAN wrote:That was an awesome test from start to finish. Great effort from the West Indies but they just couldn't finish the Aussies off. I thought Benn was a bit disappointing considering the conditions he had at his disposal and he bowled far too quickly, but I won't be too harsh on him as his first innings effort was heroic.

Hopefully that will shut the Aussie press up for a few days at least. I think we may well have won that test if we had Edwards and Taylor at our disposal to accompany Roach but it was not to be.

I'm looking forward to the WACA already, it should be fun now we appear to be playing close to our potential.

There's always hope. I wouldn't have thought the new look WI would be up to it yet. The new faces seem to have brought some freshness to the team as a whole. Well done WI. Good to see you're on your way up again. The next test should be a win.

We can only hope. The problem is the injuries to Taylor and Edwards have left our bowling attack short of it's best which is going to make getting 20 wickets extremely difficult unless Perth has a bit in it for Roach.

For now I will settle for the same sort of fight, commitment and discipline that was shown in this test.

Ignoring the unwanted 2 test series in England earlier this year, and of course the player's strike, and the Windies have been slowly improving for 2 years now, imo. Don't forget that they gave the Aussies a pretty good fight in the Caribbean in April/May of last year, and before that they took a test off South Africa in their own backyard.

That's the thing though, they've got three quality batsmen, one potentially quality batsman, three good bowlers (when fit) as well as a decent all-rounder and a good keeper. There just aren't as many holes as there used to be...

WIFAN wrote:That was an awesome test from start to finish. Great effort from the West Indies but they just couldn't finish the Aussies off. I thought Benn was a bit disappointing considering the conditions he had at his disposal and he bowled far too quickly, but I won't be too harsh on him as his first innings effort was heroic.

Hopefully that will shut the Aussie press up for a few days at least. I think we may well have won that test if we had Edwards and Taylor at our disposal to accompany Roach but it was not to be.

I'm looking forward to the WACA already, it should be fun now we appear to be playing close to our potential.

Then you would have probably missed out on the 84 runs that Sammy and Rampaul got in the first innings

Rampaul looks a damn handy batsman in the Mitchell Johnson mould. His bowling in general this series hasn't been that bad either, but he tends to have small patches where he bowls absolutely terribly in amongst good, consistent spells.

Henry wrote:Ignoring the unwanted 2 test series in England earlier this year, and of course the player's strike, and the Windies have been slowly improving for 2 years now, imo. Don't forget that they gave the Aussies a pretty good fight in the Caribbean in April/May of last year, and before that they took a test off South Africa in their own backyard.

Yes. They've lost a few feathers too though. With Roach now enhancing their pace attack and Barath at the top there seems to be some depth in both the batting and bowling depts. World cricket just isn't what it used to be with them languishing at the bottom. I'm looking forward to their full recovery.

embee wrote:

WIFAN wrote:That was an awesome test from start to finish. Great effort from the West Indies but they just couldn't finish the Aussies off. I thought Benn was a bit disappointing considering the conditions he had at his disposal and he bowled far too quickly, but I won't be too harsh on him as his first innings effort was heroic.

Hopefully that will shut the Aussie press up for a few days at least. I think we may well have won that test if we had Edwards and Taylor at our disposal to accompany Roach but it was not to be.

I'm looking forward to the WACA already, it should be fun now we appear to be playing close to our potential.

Then you would have probably missed out on the 84 runs that Sammy and Rampaul got in the first innings

Taylor has a test match century and usually scores more runs than Rampaul. Point accepted regarding Fidel's batting though.

mirchy wrote:

Henry wrote:Ignoring the unwanted 2 test series in England earlier this year, and of course the player's strike, and the Windies have been slowly improving for 2 years now, imo. Don't forget that they gave the Aussies a pretty good fight in the Caribbean in April/May of last year, and before that they took a test off South Africa in their own backyard.

Yes. They've lost a few feathers too though. With Roach now enhancing their pace attack and Barath at the top there seems to be some depth in both the batting and bowling depts. World cricket just isn't what it used to be with them languishing at the bottom. I'm looking forward to their full recovery.

I doubt they'll ever scale the heights of the 70's and 80's again. Their system is just too unprofessional. They'll always have raw talent though, and could realistically aim to be ranked around 3rd in the world by 2012.

Henry wrote:[doubt they'll ever scale the heights of the 70's and 80's again. Their system is just too unprofessional. They'll always have raw talent though, and could realistically aim to be ranked around 3rd in the world by 2012.

Doubt any country could scale the heights of the 70s/80s, at least not as far as pace is concerned. Sooner or later their professional structure too will find its bearings. Yet, I personally think only good results on the field will expedite the turnaround. If they win at the WACA to draw the series, the have-been tag will find its way to the garbage bin where it belongs.