Mitchell Johnson confident fast bowlers have home side’s measure

AUSTRALIA’S quicks went through the Windies batting line-up on the flattest of pitches like a hot knife through butter.

Any hopes that the eighth-ranked home side would offer strong resistance for the Ashes-bound Aussies have so far come to nothing, with half of the two-Test series over.

So what can Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood do to England next month as the tourists chase their first Ashes-series win away from home since 2001?

Pace spearhead Johnson, who was an Ashes tourist in 2009 and wasn’t selected in 2013, isn’t prepared to taunt the Poms just yet.

But the left-armer who was player of the Ashes series in 2013-14 is happy to put on the record that Australia’s fast-bowling attack has the Windies’ number.

After rolling the home side for 148 and 216 in a nine-wicket win in last week’s first Test in Dominica, Johnson and his teammates now head to Jamaica for the second and final Test.

“I’m not going to get too far ahead,” Johnson said.

“I just want to think about this next game that we’ve got coming up and we want to win that game.

“So, we’ve definitely got an edge over the West Indies I believe, with our bowling attack.

I said from at the start of the tour that I think they’ve got a great bowling attack, but I think we outperformed them in this Test.”

read more at Foxsports

A Salute To The Cricketing Sirs

Dave Cameron and Wavell Hinds, presidents of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA), respectively, deserve a rousing round of applause for remembering West Indies stars, players who served West Indies cricket brilliantly over the years.

Tomorrow night, at the annual awards function of the WICB and WIPA at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel, the red carpet will be rolled out and among those who will have the privilege to walk on it will be not only the outstanding performers of the preceding years, but also Renford Pinnock, probably the best player, along with Ralston Otto, who never played for the West Indies.

The pair of Jamaicans, however, has done more than that.

As Pat Rousseau did in 1996 when, as president of the WICB, he invited every West Indies cricketer and their wives from wherever they were in the world to Jamaica to a beautiful gathering at the Pegasus hotel as a way of saying thanks to them for their contribution to West Indies cricket, Cameron and Hinds will be saying "thank you" to seven of the great ones.

Fletcher says genuine error led to gun charge

ST GEORGE’S—West Indies cricketer Andre Fletcher says the EC$2,000 (One EC dollar = US$0.37 cents) fine imposed on him by a court in Dominica for possession of ammunition was as a result of a ‘genuine misunderstanding’ on his part.

However the Grenadian wicket keeper batsman says he has accepted full responsibility following his arrest at the Douglas Charles Airport after security officials found 50 rounds of .22 ammunition in his possession.

In a widely circulated statement released this weekend, Fletcher says he had no idea that the package in his possession was actually .22 ammunition instead of .22 pellets for the registered hunting air rifle he owns.

read more at Trinidad Guardian

West Indies should persist with youth

Clive Lloyd's brave new world of youth, alternatively the post-Chanderpaul era, is off to a rocky start.

Realising from his previous six Test matches that Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the most experienced, most dependable and, significantly, oldest of modern-day batsmen, had come to the end of his remarkable 21-year career, West Indies' chief selector Lloyd, with head coach Phil Simmons by his side, set out the plan for the future leading into the two Tests against Australia.

"Our aim is to continue to play our young players to give them exposure, and you can't get better exposure than playing against one of the best teams in the world," he said. "They will be tested and that is what it's all about."

As Australia completed their victory in Dominica by nine wickets before the end of the third day on Friday, Lloyd could identify his newest selection, the 23-year-old debutant Shane Dowrich, as an example of his expectations. Dowrich's level-headed defiance for 70, stretched over four hours as West Indies battled to remain in contention, was a model to others, already seasoned in the demands of Test cricket, who didn't measure up.

Demolished In Three Days

Inept batting took the gloss off defiant half-centuries from Marlon Samuels and Shane Dowrich, and sent West Indies crashing to a chastening nine-wicket defeat inside three days in the opening Test against Australia yesterday.

Mounting an admirable fightback at 181 for three before tea after resuming the day on 25 for two, West Indies lost their last seven wickets for 35 runs to be all out for 216, half-hour before the scheduled close at Windsor Park.

Samuels top-scored with 74 and the debutant Dowrich got 70, in an excellent 144-run fourth-wicket stand which dug their side out of a hole after Darren Bravo perished for five in the sixth over of the morning to leave the hosts tottering on 37 for three