Archive for West Indies
West Indies wins, Simmons and Bishoo give it to them
Posted by: | CommentsIn the first ever Twenty20 match between the teams West Indies began their latest New Era impressively, beating Pakistan by seven runs. Lendl Simmons made 65 to help West Indies set a competitive total before Devendra Bishoo’s four wickets brought them victory.
Ottis Gibson’s desperation for renewal after a disappointing World Cup campaign five debutants were fielded. Critics, though, could point to a desire for greater control as much as freshness after several senior players were jettisoned from the squad.
Chris Gayle, the former captain, who vented his frustration with Gibson and the WICB by joining Royal Challengers Bangalore and issuing a withering assessment of both in a radio interview. The off-field wrangling dominated the build-up to the match and is likely to rumble on for some time to come but West Indies fans could at least enjoy a moment of on-field catharsis.
To Pakistan such drama is familiar but of late they have been alarmingly stable. Their last game was a passionate spectacle against India in the World Cup semi-final in Mohali, so they could be forgiven for looking a little underwhelmed by St Lucia.
The few spectators who showed up were treated to an entertaining opening from Simmons. Filling the immense hole left by Gayle’s absence he cracked 65 from 44 balls and shared a 99-run stand for the second wicket with a fluent Darren Bravo, who made 42.
The pair struck 15 boundaries between them, which proved crucial as West Indies collapsed in familiar fashion after they were separated.
Bowlers, led by legspinner Bishoo, masked the errors in an energetic display. The six no-balls pointed to performance lacking polish but the attack used a tiring pitch to good effect.
Darren Sammy ensured Pakistan’s chase got off on the wrong foot as he had Mohammad Hafeez caught at fine leg for 3 before Ahmed Shehzad spooned Ravi Rampaul to mid-on for 12. Asad Shafiq threatened a revival with Umar Akmal before Bishoo intervened with two wickets in his first over. Shafiq was brilliantly caught for 25 by Danza Hyatt, diving forward from midwicket, before Misbah-ul-Haq was dismissed for a duck, treading on his stumps a ball later.
ALL legspinners have proved potent in 20-over cricket and Bishoo, who impressed on international debut in the World Cup, is better than that. Mixing his pace and flight nicely he got his third wicket when Shahid Afridi scythed a cut to point on 12 to leave Pakistan’s hopes entirely with Umar.
Umar was victim to his own misunderstanding, having reached a run-a-ball 41. The previous delivery he had alerted the umpires to a no-ball caused by West Indies not having the required three men in the ring but, thinking the following ball was a free-hit, swung Rampaul to Marlon Samuels on the square-leg boundary. Umar lingered but the umpires this time knew better.
To seal victory as Rampaul’s no-ball-ridden penultimate over cost 15, Andre Russell held his nerve in the final over.
Pakistan’s batsmen was in sharp contrast to Simmons and Bravo. Happy to use their feet, both were proficient against the pace and spin and used the small boundaries to good effect. West Indies passed 100 in the 13th over and looked set to post a really significant total but a trademark collapse punctured the optimism.
Bravo holed out to long-on off Abdur Rehman before Simmons was run out by Samuels two overs later. Samuels, on his comeback after serving a two-year ban for alleged involvement with illegal bookmakers, endured a torrid time as he laboured to 4 from 11 balls before running past a Saeed Ajmal doosra. Sammy followed quickly for 1 and it needed a last-over boundary to take the total past 150. Pakistan looked to have the edge but Bishoo ensured otherwise.
Pakistan is into the SEMI-FINAL
Posted by: | CommentsThe match represented a contest for as long as Chris Gayle was in the middle the sum total of 2.5 overs. His departure sucked the life and belief from West Indies line-up with the rest remaining rooted to the crease, managing just seven fours and a solitary Shivnarine Chanderpaul six as he nudged his way to a hollow, unbeaten 44.
Runs came at a painful rate, but at least the fourth-wicket pair were trying to set a platform. However, with the pressure building and Pakistan racing through the overs Sarwan felt he had to try some shots, but couldn’t clear cover as he cut a delivery which bounced more than expected. Not for the first time, Afridi stood with arms aloft and it was just the start for the Pakistan captain.
Pakistan are two games away from repeating the heroics of Imran Khan’s 1992 team after a crushing 10-wicket victory against West Indies in the first quarter-final in Dhaka. Mohammad Hafeez starred with bat and ball, beginning West Indies’ decline with two early wickets then ending it with a brisk 61, while Shahid Afridi is proving an inspirational force and led from the front again with four more scalps as the spinners produced a ruthless display to dismantle West Indies for 112.
Between the three of them, Pakistan’s slow bowlers had figures of 27.3-5-64-8 and gave another example of how there is a threat from every part of the attack. At no point did Afridi need to fill overs, especially when the weakest link of the bowlers Hafeez managed to take 2 for 16 in his full allocation. Hafeez then dominated an unbroken opening stand with Kamran Akmal which wiped off the target with barely an alarm and 29 overs to spare.
Some early aggression had proved the falsest of dawns. Devon Smith cut the first ball of the match to the point boundary and Gayle played two thumping shots, but in attempting his third boundary, he picked out Afridi at mid-off who did well to hold on to a stinging drive. With their talisman gone, West Indies became virtually scoreless.
India moves as second to the quarter
Posted by: | CommentsThe way West Indies and India collapsed, conspiracy theorists will waste no time in suggesting that both teams wanted to avoid Australia in the quarter-final. As it turned out, West Indies finished fourth in Group B, thus getting Group A leaders Pakistan in Dhaka. And India renews hostilities with Australia in Ahmedabad.
The game might have ended in a whimper, but it began explosively. As they successfully did in the last two World Twenty20s, West Indies came out with bouncers for India. Inside the first 11 overs, two deliveries bounced over the keeper’s head for byes, two batsmen got out to deliveries dug in short, one was dropped off another short delivery, but Benn went for 21 off his three overs to ease the pressure. To make matters worse Darren Sammy dropped Yuvraj twice, chances not easy but not impossible, at 9 and 13.
West Indies, they have done for the second match in a row they had a chase all wrapped up but some desperate inspiration from Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh and some mindless cricket from the batsmen who followed Devon Smith ensured that West Indies remained without a win over a Test side other than Bangladesh since June 2009. With Smith playing as well as he has ever played, West Indies almost mocked India for the first 27 overs, getting up to 146 for 2 without a care in the world. Then came a maiden by Harbhajan and a wicked Zaheer slower ball to remove Smith, and West Indies lost the last eight wickets for 34.
That collapse outdid India’s own – 7 for 50 – that had threatened to undo Yuvraj Singh’s century on a track whose bounce West Indies and Ravi Rampaul exploited, but not to the fullest. Rampaul, the hero of West Indies’ last win against a major side, took his first five-for in ODIs on his World Cup debut to hurt the start, the middle and the end of the Indian innings. However, West Indies’ insistence on opening the bowling with Sulieman Benn despite the helpful track, and the obvious plan of trying to bounce India out meant they couldn’t capitalise on a first over that claimed Sachin Tendulkar. Then there was Yuvraj, with his maiden World Cup century, fighting dehydration, vomiting on the field, and then coming back to take two wickets.
England crawls to the Quarter Final
Posted by: | CommentsIt was a finale that would have been remarkable in any other context, but coming from a team that has managed to turn each of its six qualifying fixtures into horror-shows best viewed from behind the sofa through cracks in the fingers, it was a conclusion that teetered towards self-parody. Following a schizophrenic batting performance, in which Jonathan Trott shed his demure image to crash six fours from his first nine balls, England themselves crashed from 121 for 2 to 151 for 6, before Luke Wright justified his first call-up of the campaign with a vital 44. Their eventual total was at least 30 runs below par, but not for the first time, the team’s fighting spirit made up for it lacked in planning and application.
West Indies’ reply was a tale of three cameos. Between them, Chris Gayle and Darren Sammy slammed 84 runs from 50 balls, while Andre Russell launched his own innings with 45 from 29 before going into his shell after a hugely controversial reprieve on the long-on boundary. While those three were cutting loose, aided and abetted by a string of silent partners, not least the obstinate Ramnaresh Sarwan, it was clear that England had no option but to take all ten wickets to progress.
In a campaign of ludicrously slender margins, England gave themselves a fighting chance of reaching the World Cup quarter-finals after emerging victorious by 18 runs in a monstrous battle of wills against West Indies at Chennai. In a contest that fully lived up to the arse-nipper billing that Graeme Swann had given it beforehand, England once again teetered on the brink of oblivion before the spin of Swann and James Tredwell hauled them back into contention in a sensational denouement. Needing 244 for victory, West Indies were coasting on 222 for 6, before losing their last four wickets for three runs in 20 deliveries.
Pollard and Smith get Windies going
Posted by: | CommentsA fluent Ed Joyce steered Ireland’s sprightly reply but they lacked the spark needed to chase down the substantial score, though for the fourth match in a row they showed they aren’t out of their depth against top teams. They kept fighting even when hopes of a victory were lost, reducing the margin of defeat to 44 runs and ensuring that their net run-rate didn’t take too big a hit.
The decision to replace the injured Chris Gayle with bowling allrounder Andre Russell meant West Indies had a long tail, and no batsman of note below No. 5. That meant Ireland would have been the happier side when West Indies crawled to 142 for 3 by the 35th over. The batsmen gambled by taking the batting Powerplay then; a wicket at that stage could have scuppered the innings, but Ireland couldn’t make the vital breakthrough and were helpless as the power of Pollard helped ransack 55 runs in five overs to shift the balance of the game.
West Indies opener Devon Smith made a maiden century but his effort was overshadowed by Kieron Pollard, who bludgeoned a limited Ireland attack all around Mohali to muscle his side to a tall total. Pollard’s effort helped to quell the criticism over his lack of performances at the international level, and gave West Indies their third win in four matches, putting them in prime position for a quarter-final spot.
Bangladesh Crash To Massive Defeat To West Indies
Posted by: | CommentsBangladesh tumbled to a score of 58 all out on their way to a humiliating nine-wicket loss at the hands of the West Indies in a woefully one-sided ICC Cricket World Cup Group B match in Mirpur.
Their innings lasted just 18.5 overs and it took the West Indies just 12.2 overs to knock off the runs required and take their second win of the competition.
Only three West Indies bowlers were required to take ten Bangladesh wickets, with left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn returning figures of four for 18, captain Darren Sammy three for 21 and pace spearhead Kemar Roach three for 19.
Only Junaid Siddique (25) and Mohammad Ashraful (11) reached double figures in a desperately disappointing batting display from the co-hosts in front of their home crowd.
Four batsmen failed to score as they proved to be no match for the West Indies, who themselves had made an uncertain start to the tournament with a loss to South Africa before bouncing back to thrash the Netherlands.
Bangladesh began with a comprehensive, but by no means discredited loss against India, and then a narrow win over Ireland although they never came close to a repeat victory in this game.
Chris Gayle smashed an unbeaten 37 in 36 balls with six fours to finally extinguish Bangladesh’s chances and despite Devon Smith falling to Naeem Islam for six, the game was long since over as a contest.
Bangladesh’s score of 58 is the fourth lowest in World Cup history and disturbing reports emerged following the game that angry fans threw stones – breaking a window – at the West Indies team bus, mistakenly thinking that they were attacking the Bangladesh team.
West Indies thrashed Netherlands with 215-run
Posted by: | CommentsAfter the World Cup found its voice in a nerve-shattering encounter on Sunday evening it reverted to an inaudible mumble on Monday as Canada capitulated against Zimbabwe in Nagpur, before Netherlands put up an embarrassing showing. Gone was the intensity and discipline that spooked England as they allowed West Indies to saunter to victory with more than 18 overs left unused.
This was an important match for West Indies who, coming into it, looked in danger of being drawn into a qualification dogfight in Group B. If they are to beat Bangladesh to the quarters they need their big guns to fire and they would have been relieved that Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard found their form before Roach’s heroics.
Kemar Roach lifted the spirits of World Cup action by becoming the sixth bowler to claim a World Cup hat-trick as West Indies cruised past a disappointing Netherlands outfit in Delhi.
Roach’s whippet pace and low trajectory overwhelmed Netherlands who, set 331 for victory, were left to regret their captain’s decision to field first. Roach finished the game in style, trapping Pieter Seelaar and Bernard Loots lbw before splattering Berend Westdijk’s middle stump to seal a 215-run victory.
It was only a composed but futile 55 not out from Tom Cooper that dragged Netherlands past their lowest-ever ODI total – 80 against West Indies four years ago – in a showing that did themselves, and the beleaguered Associate brand, a total disservice.
Roach operated consistently around the 90mph mark and was happy to aim full at the stumps – a tactic shunned by England’s bowlers against the same opposition – and Netherlands’ batsmen were not up for a fight.
Windies show faith in Pollard
Posted by: | CommentsKieron Pollard is set for an increased workload as West Indies look to fill the hole created by Dwayne Bravo’s exit from the World Cup.
Bravo hurt his knee in the seven-wicket defeat to South Africa last Thursday and has been ruled out of the remainder of the tournament.
Skipper Darren Sammy revealed his side are considering moving Pollard, the big-hitting Trinidad all-rounder, into the vacant number three spot for Monday’s Group B meeting with the Netherlands at Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla.
“He has a lot of experience in these conditions after playing in the IPL and we need to use that.”
West Indies are also likely to include an extra spinner in the shape of Nikita Miller.
“We know what to expect from the pitch now that we have played a match on the surface, it is a must-win game for us.”
Greame smith opt to bowel first
Posted by: | CommentsIt has since been re-laid under the supervision of the BCCI ground and wickets committee chairman Venkat Sundaram and ICC pitch consultant Andy Atkinson, and appears utterly transformed. Before the start of play, a rock-hard surface exhibited a couple of cracks and healthy tinge of green that could make effective use of the new ball decisive.
Graeme Smith decided to bowl first against West Indies after winning the toss at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi, but hinted that there was still a degree of uncertainty over a pitch that last saw international cricket in December 2009, when a volatile surface forced an abandonment of the match between India and Sri Lanka.
Once the shine is seen off, the wicket should settle and favour the batsmen – although South Africa’s decision to play three frontline spinners in Johan Botha, Robin Peterson and Imran Tahir, who will be making his international debut for his adopted country gives a hint of their gameplan for maintaining control over the middle of the innings. With JP Duminy and Faf du Plessis, not to mention Smith himself, on hand to provide part-time spin support and left-arm seamer Lonwabo Tsotsobe sitting out, there is an unfamiliar hue to this South African attack.
A nonplussed Smith suggested that it might have been a good toss to lose given the unknown nature of the wicket, but the nature of South Africa’s bowling line-up and the seemingly ever-present possibility of the ‘dew factor’ with a chilly Delhi evening expected to follow a warm, clear afternoon means his decision was probably the right one. West Indies captain Darren Sammy insisted he was quite happy to bat first and leave the challenge of chasing under lights to the South Africans, but much will depend on whether Chris Gayle can negotiate the new-ball threat of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel and lay the platform for a defendable total.
Bravo positive about quarter final qualification
Posted by: | CommentsThe group in which the West Indies finds themselves in this World Cup is not quite the football-esque Group of Death, but it could well be called a Cluster of Calamity. Where on any given day, a team that is highly-favoured, generously-rated, strongly-supported could find its plans, dreams and ambitions, upended. To whittle down the company that West Indies keep along with India, South Africa, England, Bangladesh, Ireland and Netherlands into four quarter-finalists is tougher than getting Sreesanth to separate his bowling from his bravado.
It is a declaration through which Bravo has painted a target on his back two days before he gets out on the Ferozshah Kotla to play West Indies’ first World Cup match against South Africa. Bravo did so by dismissing the idea that his team’s group was tougher than the one made up of Sri Lanka, Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Canada.
West Indies are one of those under-rated teams, particularly since the last time they beat a Test team in an ODI was in June 2009. Since then, they have been beaten in their last two series at home by Bangladesh (0-3) and South Africa (0-5), both of whom they will meet in this group. It is as if the Gods are mocking the form book, destiny and whatever else can be mocked.
