You have a point, akb, but Caribbean Boys have always been difficult to play in the WI. Aussies, no doubt, have great advantage of bowlin' over WI. Merv Dillon and Jermaine Lawson maynot be as fast as Bret Lee and Glen McGrath, but they do got great bowlin' line and length, which matters most.
:)
Aussies will get a tough tiome .. WI have got a great team in Lara , Sarwan , Samuels , Hinds and others !!
Lara back as Windies captain
** Lara back as Windies captain **
Batting star Brian Lara has been re-appointed as West Indies captain more than three years after he gave up the job.
*Lara will replace Carl Hooper for the home series against Australia, which includes four Tests and seven one-day internationals. *
The Trinidadian led West Indies in 18 Tests, winning six and losing 10, and 44 one-day internationals between March 1997 and January 2000 in his first spell as skipper.
He was in charge against Australia in the Caribbean four years ago, when his brilliant batting enabled his side to share the series 2-2.
But it all turned sour later in the year and he gave up the captaincy after they were whitewashed on a tour to New Zealand, citing the "devastating failures that have engulfed West Indies cricket" as the reason for his decision.
Lara's return as captain follows a two-year spell with Hooper leading the team, a period which saw mixed results but the arrival of a clutch of highly talented young batsmen.
Michael Hall, Chief Cricket Operations Officer, told the BBC Sport website that one of them, Ramnaresh Sarwan, would be Lara's vice-captain, a clear sign that the Guyanese batsman is being groomed to take over in the future.
*Former West Indies fast bowler Colin Croft said that having decided to relieve Hooper of the captaincy, they had little choice but to give it to Lara because of the lack of experienced alternatives. *
"I think it will go down pretty well in the Caribbean. I think he was given the captaincy too early the first time. He's better equipped to deal with it now," Croft added.
Bennett King, the head of the Australian Cricket Academy, has been appointed as the West Indies coach in succession to Roger Harper.
King will not be available until later this year, however, so deputy Gus Logie will guide the team against the Australians and in the series against Sri Lanka which follows.
**Hooper indicated he was thinking over his future following the team's exit from the recent World Cup.
"I have to take it each game at a time. It really depends on how I feel in my body and how much more I can contribute to West Indies cricket," he said at the time. **
The 36-year-old was ordered to rest his troublesome knees following the World Cup but returned to action for Guyana in the Carib Beer Cup semi-final against Jamaica.
These islanders must have been smoking ganja when they named Lara as captain. This guy is too soft to be a captain. Oh well, they can now blame their inevitable loss on Lara.
Oh this is something good for the West Indies:k:…
better then Carl Hooper…
Good decision. He will do better this time .
Another reason why the Australians will walk all over the WI. Aussie are going to win all the matches, TESTs,ODIs each one of them.
Dunno if Aussies will walk all over Windies or not... but as a practical matter, I think Aussies should always have their second string team with them for their series. Make it a three-way test championship... just to make their contests slightly interesting.. u know.
:-D
I feel like after sometimes Aussies will stop inviting other TEST nation and rather play a Series between AUS A and AUS B.I bet that will be much more intresting rether than having one sided test series.
Aussies are so good at it that if Americans were playing circket, Sydney would have been subjected to precision bombing by now. The fact that the bombs would have landed in NZ is entirely another matter. 
Yep …And those will be collateral damages !!!
Also Aussies will be accused of Playing an alien called Brett Lee.
Does anyone know how the test pitches behave traditionally in the caribians ??? (caribians ..did i spell it right???)
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*Originally posted by Zero_one: *
Does anyone know how the test pitches behave traditionally in the caribians ??? (caribians ..did i spell it right???)
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Lemme put it this way, the West Indies fast bowler, Fred Trueman in the 70's holds the record of most duck dismissals. Do you get it?. The pitches are hard, bouncy and green-top. Plus the moisture from the ocean breeze adds the swing factor. I have played cricket in SOuthern Florida (similar climate) but it was on a matting pitch. But the wind alone makes bowl do odd things. So, it is suitable for fast bowling.
Having said that, two of the highest test scores have been made in the Caribbeans...Lara's 375 and Hanif Mohammad's triple century.
Fred Trueman, a West Indian ???
Also Sobers scored his 365 in Windies as well.
^ oops. Trueman was English. Sorry, my bad. My whole argument gone down the drain now. :( This shows I am not as old as Ehsan Bhai Jaan.
WOW - I was just going to post on this - Brian Lara back as the Captain of the West Indies! I thought that it would Ramnaresh Sarwan who was named as Captain - Brian didn't have the most successful run as capatain in his earlier reign. By the way, homies I think Carl Hooper resigned as Captain - I'm not 100% sure but I don't think he was fired - He said something about re-thinking his captaincy as soon as the World Cup finished. But I'm not sure whether Brian as Captain will work - and he'll have a tough task to start with as Australia are the side that the West Indies face as Brian's first test series (back) in charge! A member of the West Indian board said that the West Indies selectors were very forgiving people that is as good as blaming Brian Lara for his first stint in charge and the whole bust up between the players and the board. Oh well, Good luck to Lara, though I do think eventually Ramnaresh will be a future skipper from West Indies side. - He is perhaps the best up and coming player in the World at the moment.
[QUOTE]
**
*
Lemme put it this way, the West Indies fast bowler, Fred Trueman in the 70's holds the record of most duck dismissals***
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Did you get that from Prime TV Yesterday? ;)
McGrath to return home from Travelex Tour of the West Indies
*McGrath to return home from Travelex Tour of the West Indies *
Australian Cricket Board - 2 April 2003
The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) announced today that Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath will return home from the Travelex Tour of the West Indies due to family reasons.
The New South Welshman was granted leave from the tour after receiving medical advice about his wife, Jane McGrath, today.
At this stage, the ACB cannot confirm how long McGrath will be absent from the tour, or if a replacement player will be announced. More details are expected to be known in the next 48 hours.
McGrath, who will depart London today, has requested privacy on this matter and will therefore not be available to media upon his arrival into Sydney.
© 2003 Australian Cricket Board
Thats good news for Windies. Mcgrath was the backbone of Aussies pace attack. With Lee firing thunderbolts at one end, McGrath was the one that kept the presuure from the other end and never allowed the batsmen anything. Without him even Lee's performance will be effected as there will be no one as good as McGrath on the other end to keep the batsmen in check. Lets see if the Windies can capatalize on that.
Sorry to hear this. Hope Mrs. McGrath gets well soon.
This shouldn't be a worry for Aus as Gillespie is back in attack. This Australian team has enough depth that they can replace 80% of their team and still pose a challenge to any opponent.
I don't think that will effect Aussies chances of winning that much. They still have lee, Gillespie, and Bichel.