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So one swallow did not, after all, make an English summer for the struggling Windies. A whopping innings and 209 runs defeat at Birmingham and a nine wickets defeat at Lords bracketed the truly marvellous 5 wickets comeback at Leeds.

But those, including head coach Stuart Law, who were prematurely singing praises and seeing yet another corner turned for Windies, ignored the harsh reality of the Leeds success: three of 11 batters -- Kraigg Brathwaite, Shai Hope and Jermaine Blackwood -- accounted for a massive 79 per cent of the Windies runs. Not a good omen. When those three fail, as two of them did at Lords, the result is likely to be very ugly.

Why the lopsided Lords defeat? Because the basic mistakes of Birmingham, evident to all but the coaching staff, have not been corrected. The bowlers continue to believe that pitching well outside the off stump and hoping to tempt the batsman into error is a winning strategy. But note: James Anderson, the kind of swing, in the Lords Test achieved 500 Test wickets with his best-ever performance (7-42), shattering the stumps four times, the way fast bowlers are supposed to do. His 104 "clean bowled" dismissals is the highest among all fast bowlers, better even than the great Brian Statham, the original "you-miss-I-hit" marksman. Note also: in three tests England bowled 8 no balls and just three wides; Windies helped England along with 11 wides and 28 no balls, including wides to batsmen new at the crease.

The management of the bowling also left much to be desired.Sample: in the three warm-up matches the Test certainty Roston Chase, an offspinner coming up against an England lineup with as many as seven left handers, was allowed a mere 14 overs. Test possibles, medium pacers Alzari Joseph and Miguel Cummings, were given 34 and 37 overs respectively. The result: an under-cooked Chase ended up the top wicket-taker (4) for an expensive 113 runs in 26 overs in the first Test, bowling as many overs as the quicker bowlers.

Despite hiring a fielding coach there has been no noticeable improvement in the throwing.

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This guy is recommending that Shannon Gabriel be dropped from the current Test team, because of no-balls! In general, he recommends the rod of correction, by dropping those who "failed" (based on his criteria). I suppose we will fill the spots by importing players from outside the West Indies, as we now do in T20 cricket.

Ah, well. "Licks" can do that to the head. Another CaribbeanCricket.com front page gem!

In reply to Norm

In reply to Drapsey

These guys like to say "people claim the corner has been turned". Then they attack the imaginary persons making the claim. Reality is that everyone one knows that we have a long road ahead.
These conditions were perfect for swing bowling and James Anderson is simply the best. Some of those deliveries were unbelievable.
He seemed to be suggesting that our bowlers should have swung the ball like Jimmy as if the coaches could magically instil such skills.

CHASE (according Cricinfo ) bowling accurs mainly outside the off stump. ONLY SIX PERCENT of his bowling the batsmen are force to play

Mediocrity is now considered Excellence

No no no no no.

You cant wholesale import T-20 players into the Test team at this stage.

When's the last time Bravo, Pollard / Gayle played a FC match.

I'll answer Bravo March 2013, Pollard March 2015, Gayle Sep 2014, Badree Feb 2009, and averages 37 with the ball..you sir, need your head examined!!!

Gayle's decent FC record as well as the gaping hole at the top of the order, is the only one with the luxury of walking into this Test team straight from T-20s.

Pollard and Bravo will have to play some cricket first, there is little doubt they'll be good enough, but they need match fitness

And the XI selected has only one opening bowler...and bits and pieces seamers in Holder, Bravo and Pollard,how we going to get 20 wickets?

Bishoo is the only real weak link in the bowling currently.

Gayle
Brathwaite
Lil B
Hope
Chase
Mohammed/ Blackwood/ Hety (pick one out of a hat)
Hamilton/ Walton/ Ramdin ( have them pick straws)
Holder
Nurse/ Miller/ Taylor ( Depending on conditions, Nurse/ Miller can have a bowl off if a spinner is required)
Roach
Gabriel

Aljo

In reply to DIEHARD
The Gayle I am seeing in recent times is not a test class opener. I would stick with Powell. However I think that Gayle could be a force in the middle. Once past the initial new ball burst, I think is experience and remaining skills will make him successful.
This team is crying out for experienced players to instil some confidence. How come no one mentions Chanderpaul? Why would Gayle and Pollard be considered as better test players?

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

This Headline is offensive and does nothing to support the guys or even bring an iota of positivity to what is required.

How deep did the author have to dig to come up with this crap?

puleeze.

In reply to Baje

The author needs his meds.

He lost all credibility with the names of those replacements...but this Gayle at 60% is still better than Powell at 100%.

All i'm saying is..he's the only one could walk right in without a FC match if i was doing selecting