West Indies tour rumours

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Anyone got any news?

Some things to speculate on:

- which venues will be used
- the tour dates
- will there be any tour matches (if so, who'll play)

[Kriterion_BD]

What kind of pitches are they going to go with is of paramount interest.

Windies quicks on a greentop would be lethal, and a flat track would require teams to score big to avoid a negative result. My bet would be for ZIM to make rank turners in Bulwayo and pack the team with spinners. Play maybe just the 1 quick (Mumba, Chatara).

Would be great if Taylor and Jarvis were back in time for this.

[jaybro]

If they could get Harare to play the same as the South Africa test in 2014 that would be our best chance IMO.

Seems like the Windies board and players are getting along now with Samuels & Gayle being recalled for the ODI side.

I'm expecting Darren Bravo and Samuels to be back for the test series to sure up their middle order.

[Mr Twig]

This will be our best chance of winning Test and even a series. Windies Test side is a total mess at the moment.

Hopefully one or both of the Tests aren't turned into a couple of ODIs/T20Is

[TapsC]

I also really hope that both tests are played. I actually think we can outbat them so a flat deck wouldnt be the worst. Jarvis still has another year on his contract i think

[Mr Twig]

Maybe Windies are coming good again? Just beat England. Not good for us

[jaybro]

Maybe Windies are coming good again? Just beat England. Not good for us

This result has definitely tempered expectations from a Zimbabwe point of view. Its funny how much difference a test makes, after the first test we were talking about winning 2-0 now after watching the second I doubt many are so confident.

[TapsC]

Its all about conditions for me.. English conditions are perfect for them. A spinning deck will give them nightmares. We have to play in Bulawayo and create a spinning track.

[jaybro]

Its all about conditions for me.. English conditions are perfect for them. A spinning deck will give them nightmares. We have to play in Bulawayo and create a spinning track.

Last time we played them was in the Caribbean on raging turners and Shillingford destroyed us ( only Tino managed a 50 plus score ).

In saying that I feel we're a better batting unit and Shillingford was a chucker.

[Kriterion_BD]

Its all about conditions for me.. English conditions are perfect for them. A spinning deck will give them nightmares. We have to play in Bulawayo and create a spinning track.

Agreed its all about conditions. Bangladesh would never have beaten the Aussies in AUS.

That being said both the WI and ZIM have decent spinners. I would say thats even, possibly even Cremer giving ZIM the slight advantage. So then it comes down to the batsmen and who plays spin better. I havent yet watched the current Windies batters barring KB, and he's a classic opener. Chase, Hope, and Blackwood...no clue how well they play spin.

But bowling friendly tracks tend to make things a shootout of nerves. For example, ZIM's 2014 tour of BD...the first Test was close and nearly bckfired on BD. It came down to nerves with Sibanda dropping the possibly game winning catch. The other two tracks were played typical SC pitches that are flat for 3 days then turn a bit on days 4 and 5 and BD won by comfortable margins. The Tests we had vs ENG and AUS came down to a battle of nerves (England holding their nerves to beat us by 22 runs in Chittagong).