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Geoff Miller, erstwhile Derbyshire and England off-spinner, national selector and wonderful raconteur, tells a terrific story of the time he was in the England party that toured the Caribbean in the spring of 1981.

It was the net session before the third Test at Kensington Oval in Barbados and the two teams were practising alongside one another. Miller watched as the West Indies gun batsmen, Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Viv Richards and Clive Lloyd, had a bat against the top bowlers, Andy Roberts, Michael Holding (who a few days later was to deliver to Geoffrey Boycott perhaps the most famous over of all), Joel Garner and Colin Croft, and when done the octet retreated to the dressing room leaving Larry Gomes, next on the list, to warm up against the Bajan net bowlers brought in for the day.

Easy? The net bowlers, according to Miller, were Malcolm Marshall, Wayne Daniel, Sylvester Clarke and Ezra Moseley, a quartet which would compete strongly with any fielded in the history of the game – such riches. And players now are worried of the damage that can be caused by just one bowler of high pace in Mitchell Johnson.

Full Story

It really is a crying Shame , that ALL
we are left with is Memories of a
bygone Era .

The once great Eras of West Indies Cricket is no more , due to the Twin
Cancers that now Exist, Those in the governance of Cricket in the Region ,
who only play lip service to Cricket ;
& their Minions in the Media who dare not criticize them .

One does not care anything about the
State of Cricket in the Region , frankly it seems that if our Team is
relegated to the 2nd Tier , that would not bother them .

The other is happy to support their
Masters , in perpetually bashing the players , while saying little about those in the governance of Cricket .

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

the glory days are long gone, lets move on!

All products of that little rock.

In reply to warr

The Question is to What ;Mediocraty ??
have no fear WE are there right now .
Meanwhile , Bangladesh & even Zimbabwe
have progressed , while WE have regressed .This aint a figment of my imagination either .

In reply to openning

the irony of it is that they were considered net bowlers......that is test class fast bowling quartet capable of making any test team back then and even today speaks to the strength of Bim cricket and by extension West Indies cricket

In reply to hawk
I believe the same quality of players are there, they just not being nurture.
Youngsters in all the club don't have to fight for selection
I believe an Elite or 1st Division with 4-6 clubs, plus UWEE with student Athletes and a youth squad, with no promotion or demotion, will make it competitive, with guys have to fight for selection on teams.
The Segicor T20, could be run separably, as this format is so different from the 3-day or 50 overs.

In reply to openning

Well the net sessions were in the little rock. I don't think they took them to the other territories to bowl in the nets...

In reply to Kay

Can you imagine the outcry of the territories, if the Net-bowlers, was part of the practice squad, for that tournament?
A strong West Indies team, should never be about territory or colour.

In reply to openning

the more serious matter is the region stopped producing great leaders

In reply to openning
Daniels was crap by 1981,no need to transport net bowlers you could find good bowlers wherever they played!