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The ball there, hit it hard as fuks

Wish Bobo could do the same

In reply to sudden
One of the commentators said that it looked like Mayers was batting on a different wicket from the other batsmen. That kid can bat, but he needs a shirt with bigger arm holes

In reply to Walco

He is 29 years or thereabouts

I like his attitude.

Why don’t they select him for ODIs?

Seems a bit odd doesn’t it?

In reply to sudden

Good question. Mayers and Hetmyer should replace Mohammad and Bravo, but dislodging a Trini from the white ball team will not be easy

I do not see our current ODI batting lineup chasing down 300 runs against anyone.

Mayers is always a pleasure to watch. His shots are crisp and effective, and without Hety's exaggeration, for example. He also does not get bogged down easily. He seems to lose concentration in the 40's and that is something the batting coach should work on.

Even when not in form he will give you a decent 40 odd, which is more than most others in the team.

In reply to Norm

True. I noticed that 40 thing. I will have to check the number of balls faced too. Maybe he needs to slow down and take singles around that period and regroup.

Good spot for a Guyanese

In reply to sudden

A fact I accept with some trepidation at times, such as when other Guyanese start posting stuff in support of Brer Anansi.

In reply to Norm
Dowrich was not easily bogged down early in his career also.

In reply to Walco

I think Mayers missed his true calling as a batsman earlier in his career, when he was a very good swing bowler. You can see the immense natural batting talent there.

He has a few batting demons to sort out tho. One is the loss of concentration in the 40's and the other is playing back and being pinned on middle-leg from deliveries moving from his off to leg stump.

Given the way he was not part of the Bdos team for much of his career, you would think there was some history there too that worked against his development.

Dowrich looks good against mediocre bowling, but crumbles against top bowling. We saw how Archer worked him over and how good spinners would force him into his shell.

In reply to Norm

He needs to bat a bit outside the crease so that when he plays back he is not that close to the stumps which I believe makes him look ungainly because he is mindful of hitting the stumps. In addition it would help negate the edge to slip from that expansive drive as he would be much closer to the pitch of the ball.

In reply to Norm

Archer would work over many world class batsmen as he has done but point taken wrt Dow.

WI batsmen as is the case of most batsmen nowadays are front foot players with most trying to get inline and you can’t or rather shouldn’t get in line to genuine fast bowling. Yet will get hit

In reply to sudden

It might be easier and more effective for him to play forward more. I sometimes wonder if some WI batsmen play back as much as they do because Garry did so very effectively. It is almost as if they believe they are taking a shortcut to "Garrydom".

Playing back so much could also be the result of the slow tracks around the Caribbean.

One way or the other, Mayers leaves me with my heart in my mouth when he plays back as much as he often does. In Bangladesh, he started to conquer Mehidy and company by playing forward much more.

In reply to sudden

Every batsman gets hit sometime. You have to get behind the ball, either off the front foot or back. You just have more time to see and play it when playing off the backfoot.

Against good spinners you almost have to "live" on your front foot, especially against the "quick" spinners (like Axar Patel) and spinners with good top-spinners (like Warne). The latter (top-spinner or quicker ball) seems to cause Mayers quite a bit of trouble.

In reply to Norm

Your bat, not your body, should be in line or near enough to the ball to hit it. Your body or front leg should be just outside the line. That is the problem with Dow and Chase. It leaves little room to maneuver if you get a quicker than expected bounce or pace.

Yes Mayers should get forward more but he seems to lunge too much when he does that.

I believe he should try batting outside the crease more often but to spinners he must be mindful of getting stumped

Just my two cents worth. I am not a coach and only played bat and ball

In reply to Norm

Garry was balance at the crease, he was able to move in any direction.
A number of our batsman seem not be balance at setup, weight is on the front foot.

At Waterford and Sweet bottom.

In reply to Norm
I remember watching a video of so Garry and asking if he ever played on the front foot

In reply to tc1

Waterford and Thyme Bottom would be closer. Although I spent a lot of time in St George during the summer vacation

In reply to Walco

In his own words Garry said he was a back foot player and wondered why so many of today’s players are front footed

What I have seen from Gary and most of the top class players is staying still until the ball is released.

I am at awe at that

Me? I used to vacillate between ducking, swiping or having a conversation with the square leg umpire

In reply to Walco
You cannot cover drive or move forward if you don't get on the front foot.
It is the first time, I hear anyone speak such.
Here is Gary 150 against England.
Link Text

In reply to openning

The spinners he came forward and drove yes

In reply to sudden

True, ultimately. You have less control the further away you are from the ball tho. That goes for all ball sports.


Understood. I think most of us are happy that Mayers has been "discovered", even if accidentally. The same could be said of Bonner too.

That seems to indicate that our talent-spotting in the Caribbean is terrible, however, and is probably compromised by insularity and misplaced hero-worshipping.

In reply to openning

His body mass also seemed to be minimal and well distributed, unlike Hety, Cornwall and a few others. Despite being light, Gary also had catlike power. He was one of the few who could play forward with precision and power (as opposed to "lunging forward") when he chose to, sometimes in mid-stroke!

In reply to openning

I used to think so too, until T20 came along! It is still a very difficult thing to do regularly tho.

In reply to sudden

Hahahahahaha! I think Archer had Dowrich doing the same thing too!

In reply to Norm

I would never get in line to any of Archer’s deliveries. The umpires would be my good friends that day if I lasted that long

In reply to Norm
I was coached many moons ago, to continue the forward push.
Players today just block, the bat stops when playing forward or back.
Kyle Mayers dad has his own Academy, that maybe the reason for the improvement with his batting.
I am quite sure Shirley has every video of Kyle's cricket, batting/bowling, since making the International scene.
I would not be surprise if he and his dad, watched the video of his out, Frame by frame.

In reply to openning

You can see this is a Gary Advance in age, seems limited in his movement due to knee's problem.

I got the firestick.

In reply to Norm

Mayers played u13,16 and 19 for Bim, was on the WI u16 and u19 teams, the same can be said of Bonner, he was in the WI u19.

In reply to openning

Many WI players do. The best international players kill that spin "dead dead dead" with a very slant bat forward defense. Get close to the pitch and cover the ball well. It wouldn't matter what it kind of spin it was.

Today I see some batsmen using the sweep shot very effectively (as a sort of catch-all when they are not reading the turn) against spin, except for ball pitched in the stump-to-stump area. Sweeping to a ball pitched around middle is pure madness.

In reply to tc1

Then Bdos cast him out.

In reply to Norm

what ever you deem to say.You have Jason Holder, Reifer, Carlos Brath, Greaves, big boy Primus all medium pacers.

In reply to tc1

Great.
It took the Pandemic to get me moving.
I saw Sir Gary a few times playing for Bim and the West Indies, saw him only once playing for Police.
I was glad I went to see that match, I got a ball signedl by Gary.
I was captain of St. Matthews at that time.

In reply to Walco

He doesnt hang about does he.Give bowlers some serious lashes.He just needs to tighten up his shot selection technique and he should be fine.

In reply to sudden

Bobo compliments Mayers. Now seeing what HH&G was saying "team of stars vs star team". Team of stars does not alwqys win. Star team on the other hand...

In reply to natty_forever

This was never a difficult concept to grasp. The haters among us just used it as ridicule and a weapon to fight the then leadership of WICB by the "dots." We are now reaping the rewards of the HH&G vision.

Today, there is hardly a mention of "dots" as the haters' myopia and badmindedness drift further and further away from reality. I shall never forget these daily strident attacks. The proverbial "dots' are driving the CWI wagon again and we have come full circle. Viva HH&G.

We are are now embracing the "star team" concept, albeit, belatedly.

The dream and steadfastness of HH&G lives on.