**** West Indians no Aptitude for Test Cricket ? ****

I do not think Lara's 'behaviour' at the wicket was learnt although I concur many behaviours are learnt and that can be done theough training so an aptitude, readiness or quickness in learning/ intelligence, seems absent so the question is why? Also in many families subjected to the same rules and principles siblings turn out quite differently but that is an academic discussion and we get into Human Genome which may be relevant!

What has the HPC done in this respect?

If one takes Brathwaite as an example he made a debut, had a SR of around 20 (possibly being generous here) he went away, applied himself and came back more able to manoeuvreand select the right ball to attack.He demonstarted a readiness and quickness to learning how to improve his technique.

Smith at 30+ along with many others, playing the same level and volume of Cricket as Brathwaite, is not there! I do not think Brathwaite has the best technique or skill set but he applies himself diligently.

Say in the times of Worrell or even Rowe there were less games but yet these guys applied themselves and had the willingness to learn.

Boqui,

Lol.

I am in no doubt the talent is there but it is the application.

In domestic cricket, given teh standard, I would expect the best batsmen to score big hundreds but, in the main, they do not.

Also they face so much spin and yet get out to a mediocre Saffer on debut!

Lara is an anomaly. His father was obsessed with cricket, he played with kids twice his age, and was a good batsman before he hit his teens.

People like Paint and Viv got mauled when they were really young, which scarred them, forced them to overcompensate and focus.

People like Chanders are the product of family members pushing them, and constant youth cricket.

Lara once said that Australia has the talent of making good or great players out of ordinary players, whilst the WICB exists to turn good or great players into mediocre ones. I think this is largely still true.

Random factors are always creating a good or great batsman. You have little control of this; ignore this and just let it happen. What you can do, and control, is the baseline. A good system will produce a large pool of good batsmen. They will compete and the better ones will rise.

From the 1980s to the about 2 years ago, we had a crap system. This is what the WICB is trying to fix. Whilst attitude and habits formed during childhood are important, you cant rely on this or control it. You need a good system, one that not only teaches cricket, but history, values, pride and responsibility, and at an early age. If you rely upon "individual responsibility" and "free will" you will get nowhere, because both are largely myths.

That's why I always say, select all the local guys who have big double centuries under their belts, even if their averages are low. Blackwood and Evin Lews have double centuries, and Paint has 2 or 3. People who've made those big runs usually get addicted to big scores, and dont like settling for less.

Aptitude........here we go! Half an hour to go what does Samuels do?

Then Blackwood initial play is as if it is the last over with I 20 to get!

This is what i mean people about aptitude!

I blame Samuels as with Shiv this game could have been saved if not won.

No sense these people.....