Twice now the Windies have won Tests out of nowhere and prevented Bangladesh from jumping past them into 8th on the rankings table. Looks like it might very well happen again!
Are the Windies the new Pakistan?
Probably lol. They just need a new off field scandal every 3 months haha.
WI - the new Pakistan
BD - the new Sri Lanka (just more orthodox and exciting to watch)
SL - the new West Indies
AFG - the new Bangladesh
PAK - always the same Pakistan
I'd say Afghanistan is almost the new Zimbabwe ?? Punching well above their weight.
As for this test the Windies are well ahead in this match but I'm not ready to rule out the Poms yet.
Surely England can do better than this Westly cap?
AFG has more parallels with BD apart from the obvious. Both teams enter Test cricket with woefully inept batting pedigrees. The Afghans could on their day upset anyone, but could also lose any given day to the likes of Uganda or PNG (remember BD losing to Canada or Hong Kong?). But with both AFG and BD its pretty clear that eventually they will become solid sides. Thus AFG aren't punching above or below their weight, IMO. They are merely punching. Teams with limited resources and talent punch above their weight like NZ, ZIM, IRE, and probably SL too.
Ireland have the potential to be the new 90s Zimbabwe...making due with what they have and punching above their weight. But given Ireland's form, they are probably more like the new Kenya.
How to lose control of a test match 101. When you have a 169 run first innings lead and have an attacking leggie in your playing XI, and you are bowling on last part of day 3 and on day 4, don't even give your leggie enough bowling.
It is appalling how the WI have handled Bishoo since he burst onto the scene with ICC Rookie of the year award. This match was a foregone conclusion if Holder had bowled him more and had let him settle into a rhythm. He had the cushion of runs and the timidity of the English top order batsmen to work with.