West India use to be a very good side who churned Pace bowlers out of the hat just like Pakistan do now. Their last good player was Brian Lara, no one else really looks like a replacement. The World Cup might have helped but we might not see in improvement until about 20 years. Its like Sri lanka have gone up and West Indies have gone down. Do West Indies have some sort of Domestic system in place? Or was those past years luck in getting quality players? How are West Indies U-19 going? It doesnt seem good and if West Indies Cricket dont do something drastic soon we may of lost a top quality country that was.
Its just since the early 90s players focus and comitments changed. They still do have alot of players with raw natural talent and they did during the late 90s and early 00s but the coaching and the systems that were there in the early years just disappeared. They still have some good older players in Chanderpual (one of the best batsman in the world at the moment), Sarwan who has been injured for the past year or so and Gayle who is their current captain and a really good opening batsman.
There is also Dwayne Bravo who many people in the world of cricket and on these forums rate as one of the best young all-rounders in the world and Darren Sammy looks to be a good all-rounder for the future too, he picked up 7 wickets in a innings on his test debut against England this past summer. Keiron Pollard is a 20 year old batting all-rounder from Trinidad and Tobago and he has been in good form this year in domestic competition.
The bowling department doesnt look bad in tearms of pace, Fidel Edwards is a express bowler capable of bowling at 95 mph and he has really suprised people with his accuracy, has the same sort of bowling action as Tait does.
Jerome Taylor is another good fast bowler who has been good on the ODI scene for a couple of years but he is just starting to step into his own as a test bowler, he played in English county over the summer and i think that really helped him alot. There are a few good pace bowlers in the domestic competitions that i think will be on the team in the near future, bowlers like Jason Bennet and the under-19 fast bowler Jason Dawes also bowlers who are trying to make their way back to the team because of injuries or poor form. Jermain Lawson, Tino Best and a few others.
A few spinners have steped up to the scene this year and last, Sulieman Benn (Slow left-arm orthodox) and Amit Jaggernauth (Right-arm offbreak) are both good spinners who will get a call up to the national team in the future.
It is their batting that is their weak point. For years they relied on Brian Lara to ge the runs for them but since he retired Chanderpual has steped up big time and filled that hole when Lara left. Gayle and Sarwan (when he returns) will be of big help to Chanderpual but it wil be the other players that will have to step up and get some runs on a consistant basis. Players like Samuels, Bravo and Ramdin who has disappointed when it comes to scoring runs but he has been steady behind the stumps and if he can improve his batting he will be a big asset to the team.
There is only one batsman in the domestic competition who in my opinion will be on the team for sure and thats Adrian Barath he is a 17 yaer old right handed opener and he should be the long term partner for Chris Gayle. Xavier Marshall, Lendl Simmons are talented young batsman who might develop into good batsman with the right coaching.
Other than those players i think that the West Indies will have to relly on former players like Wavell Hinds, Ryan Hinds and a few other to fill up the holes when injuries come up.
And if you ask me i think that the West Indies will once again be a good cricket team. I think that they are already starting to turn the corner slowly and this tour of South Africa has been a positive sign even tho they lost the test series but the attitude and comitment of the players has been great. They have a good coach in John Dyson who helped kick start Sri Lankan cricket before Tom Moody was apointed as coach and the West Indies Cricket Board seems to be getting along with the players association.
