When you say no international cricket you mean no domestic T20 cricket elsewhere in the world until March?cricket_22001 wrote:I was going to hold off until after this round was finished as there is a break until March. I was interested to see how many internationals/BPL players appeared.
Forgetting the usual 20/20 professionals (I'm sure I read last year Lendl Simmons did retire from FC cricket when he appeared in the Aussie BBL), let's see how many commit to the WI domestic scene with no international cricket till March.
Because there is the BBL until the end of January (There are four West Indians in the BBL - Dwayne Bravo, Samuel Badree, Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell; however Andre Russell is currently facing an anti-doping trial; Gayle "opted" not to play in the BBL this year, but most likely he was told he wasn't welcome after the fiasco of last year...in any case would be surprised to see him turn out for first-class cricket at this point); South Africa's T20 Challenge ends December 17 (only around 3-4 West Indians in that I think), the Pakistan Super League from February to March 7 (10 West Indians in that), and then the IPL come April 5. So there will be 3 rounds of the FC competition in March in which there are no major T20 competitions elsewhere in the world and for which a lot of the T20 professionals should be available. We will see who shows up. I doubt Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard or Lendl Simmons will show up.
Pretty much every season has started with a whimper though. However the performances have improved slightly with each new season.The season started with a whimper. For me, just when you need the highest standard at domestic level, below strength teams competed. Although in the 4th round, several internationals returned. I'm not too sure how many West Indians are part of the Aussie BBL.
Indeed. All true. Alleyne and Kyle Hope seem likely to get called up for at least an upcoming A team tour if not full selection to the senior team soon.Anyway, bowling wise, business as usual when you see name like Miller, Shillingford, Permaul, Khan, Cornwall, Warrican & Jacobs at the top of the averages. WI 'A' tourist Keon Joseph is the only fast bowler up there amongst this group & Kemar Roach has useful figures but hasn't ripped sides apart.
The batting is its usual disappointment. 4 centuries in 12 games. But it has one shining light- 23 year old Anthony Alleyne of Barbados. He has 451 runs including a big century & 3 fifties. And this despite a failure in the last round against Guyana. Let's hope he builds on this .Also, glimmers exist in Kyle Hope (brother of Shai) & Jahmar Hamilton. Both were part of the 'A' tour to Sri Lanka & have had a solid season so far. Both have been around a while & Hope is yet to record a FC century.
Yep. All true. Once again though the fact that this season, like the previous two is double round robin gives all of these guys a chance to get more FC experience and matches under their belt. Prior to the attempted professionalisation this round would have been the penultimate round.Other international or 'A' internationals have useful stats but not breaking records. Blackwood, Chase, Chadrika, Ambris, Campbell, Brooks & Keiran Powell are all thereabouts. Shimron Hetmyer is also in this field & I'm thinking the selectors are hoping he kicks on. Another centurion is Montcin Hodge of the Leewards. He's been around for ages but since coming back to FC cricket last year, he has been in career best form.
Chanderpaul probably shouldn't have been forced to retire when he did. He hadn't been getting return in international cricket for quite a while but then the same was often true of Gayle, Bravo, Sarwan and many others who were given numerous life-lines. Rumour has it that the board and coach were at odds over Chanders with Simmons thinking Chanders should go and the board not agreeing, but eventually agreeing to it (this was early in Simmons tenure when he was apparently being given more free reign). His returns in domestic cricket have only strengthened my suspicions that he could have still done well internationally if he wasn't forced out when he was.But, for the West Indies in 2016/17, I think you have to worry when the elder Chanderpaul is high in the batting averages & aggregates.
Anyway, that's water under the bridge. Hopefully his presence in the domestic circuit will provide much needed experience to the younger players in the FC competition.
Yep, let's see.So, let's see what round 5 this weekend offers. Then a break.
What price when the comp resumes in March, it coincides with the Pakistan tour.
Regarding the Pakistan tour, this is the natural outcome of the scheduling squeeze. Too many of the West Indian T20 players want to play in all the T20 competitions as much as possible which means their priorities begin to dictate the scheduling. At one point the board was even mooting the idea of start the FC competition in what is the rainy/hurricane season in the West Indies to accommodate these....players (I prefer the term "jokers") but that idea thankfully seems to have been thrown out. There was a meeting between the board, players association and players where the board apparently suggested trying to accommodate everyone's interest..I suspect this is the outcome - a long break in the FC competition until March so the T20 professionals can eat all their cake and have it too, plus no international cricket to coincide with the January/February period. End result is that international tours and domestic cricket will clash. That's okay though given there will never be enough months in the year to accommodate playing in all domestic T20 competitions, scheduling a FC competition and scheduling international cricket in just one year. And the clash of the international tour and FC should work in theory as it should give other players a chance to break into the FC competition and widen the pool of potential international players (which is the goal of domestic cricket anyway).