Former West Indies batting coach, Toby Radford, has come to the defense of under-fire WINDIES opener, John Campbell. Speaking on the Jamaican radio show, Sports Grill, he said, "John Campbell is a good player. He played last winter in the Caribbean and looked a really good player. He was getting to 30s and 40s [but] he was getting himself out.

"What John would have to do, I think, is spend more time in England to realize what we talked about, playing late and knowing where your off-stump is."

He continued, "Again, you’ve just got to be a bit more selective. I think what was happening at times [is], he was going for big cover drives, but in England, it swings late. And what might be a cover drive in the Caribbean, [where] it doesn’t swing late [and] it goes to the boundary, in England, you can suddenly be nicking it to second slip. And you’re walking off."

 

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In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

Well a person might think if a batsman is getting out the same way every innings he would make the adjust, almost every inning Campbell was caught or dropped by the slip fielders.

On only 1 occasion did John Campbell survive 100 deliveries in test cricket.On average he survives 42 deliveries.THAT IS ABYSMAL,especially when you look at the amount of times he is beaten outside the ff stump.
Any careful analysis of John Campbell's batting in test cricket would reveal that he is unlikely to be successful unless and until drastic changes are undertaken.
The fact that in his short cameo's he might hit a couple of boundaries to get him to 30 in a short time has been used to obfuscate the reality that is all too obvious.

In reply to Dukes

Maybe some Cawmere alums, heads hard as Rockstone.
Kraigg has been playing county cricket in England, his last county match a year or to ago, he scored a ton, in his county second inning.
He has played for 2-3 counties so far.
You notice he never mention Brookes or Shai, they both had Lord Gavron scholarship to England.
You can read of the Barbados U19 players who have received these scholarships
below.
Link Text

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

Let’s face the facts that a test opener is a very difficult position to bat in this modern era when opening fast bowlers have developed techniques of swinging the balls both ways, which are very difficult balls to negotiate, even when the batsman is batting outside their crease. Campbell and Braithwaite were dismal in recent performances but the reality is that there are really no proven test players to replace them as we have no guarantees that any replacement player will perform any better. That’s the facts and reality of our current situation.
We need more Gayle-like openers, not surprising that he is last successful opener. An aggressive batsman who attacks opening bowlers, prevents them from keeping them in a prolong defensive mode of just fending off balls, which usually results in edging to slips or lbw. An aggressive opening batsman also forces the bowler to rethink or keep adjusting his bowling techniques or line of delivery, this results in the bowler making mistakes like over-pitches deliveries.
So let’s search the region for some aggressive opening batsmen, maybe a player like King could be looked at.

In reply to Slipfeeler

You skunts say cave age bowlers are superior and you change the tune with your liking and saying modern age bowlers are superior and have great techniques.

SHAMELESS SKUNTS CHANGE THE WORDS AS THEY WANT.

The fact is modern age cricketers are far superior to all of those greats combined.

DEDING WD LAF.

In reply to bolls

It’s really not a laughing matter as far as WI cricket is concerned as the rest of the cricket world have left us behind, in terms of adapting to modern techniques in training, plus not many of our cricketers play county cricket, to obtain experience playing against international players outside of test cricket. Our domestic competitions might not be enough to prepare our players both bowlers and bats for international competitions. We desperately need a consistently touring A-team to provide our young cricketers with international experience.

In reply to Slipfeeler

I agree with you.The solution is to have a first class competition with ALL of our best players involved and then we can evaluate our two best openers.
My suggestions
Guyana-Hetmyer and Chanderpaul
Jamaica-King and Campbell
Trinidad-DaSilva and Solozano
Barbados-Brathwaite and Moseley
Leeward Islands-Powell and Hodge
Windward Islands-Devon Smith and Mellius

In reply to Dukes

That sounds like a good plan which we should implement in short order.

In reply to Dukes

DaSilva is not an opener....even though he opened for T&T in 1 match this season

You trying to fit players into roles which aren’t optimal for them just because there’s a need on the West Indies team.

West Indies did that with Daren Ganga and Shai Hope in test cricket and failed spectacularly.

If players are to succeed, they should be given every chance to do so. Not played out of position.

Same for Hety. Yes he USED to open at youth level, but his success has come as a middle order batsman. Why mess with that?

It’s one thing to try and fit talented players into positions of.need IN A SUCCESSFUL TEAM.

Entirely another when trying to do the same on a team that loses more often than it wins

.

In reply to imusic

In reply to imusic

Well the declarative statement about DaSilva not being an opener can reasonably be debated.He has played in 16 first class matches and has opened in 7 of them.One can reasonably state that the reason he was not opening this 2020 season is because he has been wicketkeeping.Now I could make the same claim that you did against me about shoehorning people into roles simply based on need.Now the T&T selectors having Ramdin in the side previously had DaSilva opening the batting but once Ramdin was ditched they had DaSilva wicketkeeper and drop him down the order because clearly opening and wicketkeeping do not go together.

In reply to Dukes
Good supprt from me re openers to be particularly noted in soon FC cricket.

Only play FC cricket in one or two nations in the next months. Get this bubble Caribbean style going and other nations will buy in (I think)

I know King is an opener in T20, but is he an opener in FC cricket?

Someone is not defending you if they assess you in terms of your failures and offer advise on improving. Campbell failed in the most recent WI Test series, just as half the batting did. He, however, earned his place in the team, unlike Hope and Paint.

I would let him re-qualify in the next domestic competition and try again at the highest level, unless someone else comes by and takes a firm grip on that opening spot. At this point I would say that Da Silva and Moseley are decent new contenders for that spot.

In reply to imusic

You assume that they would not bat well in unaccustomed positions. Da Silva, however, has shown himself to be versatile at several positions in the batting order. Sobers, Kanhai, Worrell, Rowe, etc, all batted WHEREVER.

West Indians still cling to the ancient concept that batsmen can only bat well in certain batting positions. Every other team will place their batsmen where they are needed. Stokes, for example, opened the batting recently for England and trashed the "vaunted" WI pace attack all around the field.

Where Drapsey deh?

Campbell looks at ease at the batting crease, the raw naked fast bowling does not ruffle him. he puts away the bad balls with ease. to say that the man can't bat would be wicked BUT so could be said about his precessor Kieran Powell.
Campbell looks like a man who can bat but yet like a man who can't make serious test match deciding runs. many of our batters look so..

Most of our regional and test batsmen are shyte.. barely couple does perform each season or series.

Yall need to forget about this specialist position crap.. they need to take a new approach.. tek de few that performing and find out if they willing to bat in different positions..pass de instruction to de franchises and let de player bat in the new position.. if they continue to perform then promote dem to the senior team.

Our talent pool is small.. select d couple that performing and hope for the best

In reply to Norm

THAT’s your example of versatility in support of Dukes’ suggestions?

England needed quick runs to have a chance to win the match so they send in Stokes and Buttler. That was a SPECIFIC SITUATION where they sent in their 2 fastest scoring batsmen. Neither are opening batsmen. In normal circumstances, neither will ever open again.

Dukes is suggesting a much longer tenure with his advocacy for others to open.

Try again. You can definitely do better than that.


Viv Richards opened the batting in the 5th and 6th test for West Indies on the 75/76 tour of Australia when most everyone else was running.

He has scores of 30, 101, 50, and 98 in those 2 matches.

Same series, Bernard Julien and Alvin Kallicharran opened the batting with Roy Fredericks. Why? Because Gordon Greenidge wasn’t able. To be fair.....very few were on that tour. Men didn’t want to go out and bat.

He never opened again. Why? Because he wasn’t an opener.

In reply to imusic

Why is Hetty unsuited to open for the WI in test cricket but Chris Gayle was suited?

In reply to imusic

I like the "savant" air some of you adopt here. That gives you (in your mind at least) a ready excuse for being lame and lazy.

I put forward my example, and I can put forward many more to show that West Indies only subscribe to the idea that batsmen must bat only at specific positions. No wonder our cricket is so backward, with our "savants" supporting backwardness - and as if it were a strength too!

As I said elsewhere, our best batsmen never had a problem batting WHEREVER there was a need. Most of them batted anywhere in the order, with guys like Sobers batting from No 1 to No 9. Even Shiv batted all over the batting order.

Being stuck at a specific position is pure mediocrity, Mr Savant. Support that if you want.

In reply to imusic

NO. He never had to open for WI again, because capable opening batsmen came about. He, and Rowe, had to bat wherever they were needed for the WI Rebels in South Africa tho - including as openers.

The same goes for Viv. He opened in Aus and scored 101 against Lillee and Thommo. He nevertheless moved down the order as Gordon Greenidge started to bat well as an opener. He did not have to. He CHOSE to.

In reply to Dukes

I’ve already explained in depth why Hety shouldn’t be asked to open.

In reply to imusic

Until Dukes look at what made the era of the fifties, to Viv era tick, and look at profession team sports development of players, his solution will be just as amateurish, as it is now.
Picking 25 players for a camp, who has not been working on their game, since the last tour, is like selecting me to represent Canada, at a Ballroom competition.

In reply to openning

You haven’t represented canada yet?

In reply to imusic
Not even in Country Line dancing, which I know very little about.


I experience my first line up, with mandatory face mask, at Canadian Tire today.

In reply to openning

Does your mask have a picture of Jason Kenney on it?

In reply to imusic
I never met him, but I've never voted for a conservative, in provincial or Federal elections.