The Golden Isles - A Third Time Lucky West Indies Story

[Imager36]

Wow... and I thought my batting line up was a little flaky.



Gayle was out early, as appears to be normal, but Simmons and Chanderpaul rebuilt with a partnership of 65, albeit a slow one. They got out almost simultaneously, however, casting more doubt over the innings, as Darren hit a lovely 54 from 64 balls, supported briefly by each of Blackwood, Hinds and Dwayne Smith, the latter due to Darren himself being out. Smith hit with Russell, Narine and Bishoo, and ended with 33 off 41 balls, taking the innings up to the paltry score we managed.

The fact that the highest partnership in the Aussie innings was 31 sort of tells the story. We picked up regular wickets early on, with all the top 6 getting starts, but Watson's 26 being their highest score. Russell and Roach were good up front, and although Bishoo and Smith were expensive next, Smith got the key wickets of Clarke and Hussey. Narine and Hinds came on, and made the innings die a slow death. Both sets of figures came from 8 overs, and Narine picked up the wickets of numbers 5, 6, 7 and 8 in order to flog a dead horse as though he had no respect for the former animal's rights.



Series State - The series with Australia is level at 2-2, and with 3 finals to play, this is a tight contest.
Batting Award - Darren Bravo - The one man to reach 50, and the only man to really look comfortable in his innings.
Bowling Award - Sunil Narine - Hard to pick one bowler, but his 4 wickets finished the Aussies off.

Team News - None to speak of.

[GrahamB]

You really are doing well! Should be an interesting ODI series. Can the Aussies recover?

[Imager36]

STOP IT GRAHAM, YOU MONSTER!



Yeah. YEAH. We bowled fine, with wickets falling quite often, apart from Clarke's, which resolutely stayed unbroken for quite a while. Narine and Hinds were particularly impressive in the middle overs, going for 3.3 and 3.1 runs an over respectively. Bishoo hasn't kept the runs down for a while, but I feel that may be due to the fact that I'm putting him on for the overs 10-20. I'll try Hinds in that stretch, so we might get 10 good ones out of Bishoo.

The batting was... dreadful. No-one except Gayle and Chanders got into double figures, as Siddle and Watson knocked us about, getting rid of all the rest cheaply, and putting us 1-0 down in this final series.

Series State - Final Series lies at 1-0 Australia, overall series at 3-2 Australia.
Batting Award - Chris Gayle - The only man to put up a fight.
Bowling Award - Sunil Narine - Almost half as expensive as Roach, and despite his wickets, Narine was better.

Team News - None again.

[cricfan1]

[Imager36]

I'm not sure how my game has been rigged to provide such compelling, story-worthy drama.



The Aussie openers put on 69, but luckily, one wicket brought 4, as Narine and Roach reduced them to 83/4. Forrest and Nevill put on another 56, but again, the wicket of Nevill led to 3 more, as the spinners filled their boots in the middle overs. Harris and Copeland somehow managed to put on 34 against the returning seamers, but Russell managed to get rid of 10 and Jack to limit the Australians to under 200.

We were always in control of the run chase, in truth, with an opening partnership of 116 putting paid to any chances the Australians really had. Chanders put on another 52 with Simmons, and even 3 quick wickets, to leave us at 179/4, had come too late, and we waltzed over the line with 17 balls to spare.

Series State - Overall series tied 3-3, finals tied 1-1. It's all to play for. And by all, I mean 2 damned ranking points!
Batting Award - Gayle/Simmons - Both did the job, and made sure the result was never in doubt.
Bowling Award - Sunil Narine - 10 overs, 1 maiden, 30 runs, 4 wickets. Need I say more?

Team News - None. Although I was verging on dropping Bishoo for Sarwan.

GRAHAM B. SAY NOTHING UNTIL I AM DONE. OKAY?

[Imager36]

Overall, I think the tournament and series win for Australia was deserved.



169 was not a bad total for where we found ourselves, writhing in agony at... wait for it... 16/5. Gayle, Simmons, Darren, Blackwood and Hinds all fell for single figure scores, and it was only the solid 121 partnership between Smith and Chanders that kept things respectable. They both got out at roughly the 35 over mark though, and after a couple of boundaries each from Russell and Narine, the innings was over.

They were always in control of their run chase, but Bishoo did his best to take it away from them. We delayed our bowling powerplay and bowled Bishoo and Narine straight through from overs 10-30, which left them still with under 100 runs by the time 30 overs had passed. Unfortunately, the two could not bowl forever, and despite good backup by Ryan Hinds, the Aussies marched to their total.

Series State - Australia win the series 4-3, and the triangular.
Batting Award - Dwayne Smith - Although when Dwayne is the mainstay of your innings, you do really have problems.
Bowling Award - Devendra Bishoo - 10 overs, 1 maiden, 14 runs, 3 wickets. FOURTEEN RUNS? Are you having a laugh?

Series Awards

Ooh, awkward, the series stats for triangulars don't work properly!

Batting Award (presumably) - Shivnarine Chanderpaul - Was great in the first half of the series, but didn't come to the fore in the finals when it mattered.

Bowling Award (probably) - Sunil Narine - 3.25 awards in 6 matches since recovery, he's our best bowler in this format.

And next up is the final act of the 2012/13 season. 2 tests, 3 ODIs and 2 T20Is against Zimbabwe, at home. We won our last home test series with Zimbabwe. Here follows a 12 man squad.

C. Gayle (OASP)
A. Barath (O)
S. Chanderpaul (BAT)
K. Edwards (BAT)
Darren Bravo (BAT)
B. Nash (BAT)
Dwayne Bravo (ALL)
Denesh Ramdin (K)
A. Russell (SEAM)
R. Rampaul (SEAM) (C)
S. Narine (SPIN)
D. Bishoo (SPIN)

Two spinners? Interesting. Brendan Nash is the man to miss out on the final XI.

[Imager36]

A disappointing start to the test, but when we got back into the 5 day game, the end result was what was demanded.



We lost the toss, but the early wicket of Senzere helped to calm the nerves. We were unable to take wickets as regularly and quickly as we would have liked, with Russell seeming to lack fitness, Bravo ineffective and Narine not picking up wickets. Bishoo, however, was doing a sterling job at the other end, and eventually bowled 39 overs of the 134 in the innings, taking his 6/90. We felt we should have limited Zimbabwe to less than 374, but that was all we managed.

Batting started badly, however, with Barath going to his third ball and Chanderpaul, despite sticking around, following for only 8. Gayle and Edwards, however, then proceeded to be magnificent. A century for each was most certainly well deserved, and their partnership was worth 207 runs, and put us in control of the match. Bravo, Bravo, Ramdin, Russell and Rampaul all got starts but then failed to push on, but that gave us enough runs to take a lead. Despite the Zimbabweans playing only 4 bowlers, their second seamer, Tiripano, bowled only 17 overs out of our 155. Keegan Meth bowled 43 overs. More on him and my personal vendetta later.

We knew we had to get out of the blocks well if we were to stand a chance of winning this first test, and we did, reducing Zimbabwe to 4/2, and latterly 50/4. Meth put on 63 with Cremer to try and deny us an easy victory, but they didn't do enough, setting a total of just over 130.

Barath went to his 3rd ball again, and Gayle went for 28 a while after, but Chanders and Kirk guided us through to a victory just after lunch on day 5.

Series State - West Indies lead the series 1-0 with one to play.
Batting Award - Chris Gayle - His aggressive century on days 2 and 3 was a joy to behold, and really set us up to charge.
Bowling Award - Andre Russell - Less wickets in the test than Bishoo, but done at more important times, 4 in the second innings.

Team News - Barath, after facing a whole over in that test and not being successful earlier in the year in 5 day cricket, is replaced by Kieron Powell in the squad and the team.

[Imager36]

Very similar to the first Test.



Lost the toss again, but that evens a test up in some ways. We were, of course, bowling very well, and Bishoo especially had reduced Zimbabwe to 200/7, but a 160 partnership between Meth and Cremer really hurt us, to leave them with a total that appeared to be above par on a turning pitch.

Luckily, because the pitch was turning, they left out their second spinner and employed a third seamer. No, I don't know either. We were as conservative as possible in our batting, knowing that a draw would be enough to secure us a series victory. We built steadily, but it was only Chanderpaul who made a contribution of about 31, whilst Kirk, Darren, Dwayne, Ramdin and Powell all got starts, none of them pushed on, but Shiv managed a 'daddy' hundred, 182 not out, as he watched partners come and go.

The Zimbabweans made a better start this time around, being 96/2 at one point, but then collapsed to 151 all out, with Bishoo and Narine taking all 8 of those between them.

We needed a modest 4th innings total again, and again we didn't collapse. Chanders and Darren made unbeaten half centuries, but the result was again more about the 3rd innings than the 4th.

Series State - West Indies win the series 2-0.
Batting Award - Shivnarine Chanderpaul - 238 runs, not even out once. Smashing.
Bowling Award - Devendra Bishoo - 11 wicket match, and his 7/131 are his best innings test match figures.

Next up - 3 ODIs against the same opponents. Squad follows.

C. Gayle (OASP)
L. Simmons (OK)
S. Chanderpaul (BAT)
K. Edwards (BAT)
Darren Bravo (BAT)
J. Blackwood (BAT)
K. Pollard (ALL)
R. Hinds (ASP)
D. Smith (ALL)
A. Russell (ALL)
R. Rampaul (SEAM)
S. Narine (SPIN)
K. Roach (SEAM)
D. Bishoo (SPIN)
N. Pascal (SEAM)

Lots of bowlers in that squad, with the aim being to include 2 at least 2 of the all rounders in each team, so that 6 frontline bowling options are available, plus Chris Gayle. As such, it is Blackwood, Pollard, Rampaul and Pascal who miss out for the first match.

[Imager36]

Ruthless.



All the first 5 partnerships were very useful, with Simmons particularly impressing with his 118 coming from 123 balls, his second ODI century. Darren's contribution was also very useful, an unbeaten 68 from 49 balls, and Russell hit 8 from 3 balls in the final over to take us almost to the 300 mark.

Russell and Roach got early wickets, and I brought on the spinners with attacking fields to finish the match off quickly. They did as requested, and we polished off the match.

Series State - West Indies lead 1-0 with 2 to play.
Batting Award - Lendl Simmons - Made his second ODI century in beautiful fashion.
Bowling Award - Devendra Bishoo - 5 quick wickets to finish off the Zimbas, and put us 1-0 up.

Team News - None.

[GrahamB]

Bring on the big boys!

[Imager36]

Ruthless.



Zimbabwe are quite bad. They were 88/6 before a brief revival brought them back. That was stopped by Russell though, and he, Narine and Hinds all went for less than 3 an over. Pfft. They only made 178, and that was never really going to be competitive.

We managed it for the loss of only 2 wickets, with the first partnership worth exactly 100 runs, and the victory easily achieved with 4 overs left. Give me decent opposition and decent matches and I'll give you a decent write-up!

Series State - West Indies win the series 2-0 with 1 match to play.
Batting Award - Lendl Simmons - Top scored.
Bowling Award - Andre Russell - Top wicket-taker.

Team News - Darren, Smith, Russell and Roach are replaced by Blackwood, Pollard, Rampaul and Pascal, for rotation and squad depth testing purposes.

[Imager36]

Not ruthl... oh, just, just made it.



We bowled poorly, considering the score we reduced them to. Pascal was impressive, with his 4/44 coming from 10 overs and including two maidens. Hinds and Narine kept the run rate down also, but Bishoo was expensive in his 6 overs. Pollard was average, and Rampaul was quite good.

The struggle we made of that, you wouldn't imagine that we'd made 85 with the opening partnership. Blackwood managed 27 at number 4, but Chanderpaul and Edwards were out for 3 and 9 respectively, and Kieron Pollard was caught behind first ball. Ryan Hinds was, for the second time this season, handy with the bat, but at 174/9 we were staring down the barrel of a less than anticipated 2-1 series win. In the partnership of 51 that followed, Bishoo only faced 10 balls, and 16 runs came off them! The rest of the work was done brilliantly by Hinds, whose final 44 came from only 42 balls. Great innings, great match... just wish it had been more important now!

Series State - West Indies win the series 3-0.
Batting Award - Ryan Hinds - Won us the game, from 174/9.
Bowling Award - Nelon Pascal - Very impressive whenever he plays, but it's hard to see how he would get into the first team at this point. Good reserve for Roach.

Two T20Is to finish off the season against Zimbabwe... I'll rush through them in the same post next up so I can get it polished off tonight and provide some brilliant stats etc.

Squad News - Blackwood and Pascal out, Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo in.
Team News - Edwards, Pollard, Rampaul and Hinds miss out from the squad.

[Imager36]

First up, a relatively simple win.



Senzere was out with the first ball of the match, and soon the Zimbas were 61/5 as Bravo and Smith took 2 each in their early spells. Narine was poor, but Bishoo was economical and picked up a wicket. Taibu and Crystal put on an unbeaten 49 stand for the 7th wicket to give Zimbabwe a shout in the match.

The total wasn't nearly enough, however. Gayle exploded early on, and completed a 16 ball 34 before being caught in the deep. Shiv came in (might he retire after one more game? ) and he and Lendl knocked off the runs with no real worries. Odd that.

Series State - West Indies lead 1-0 with one match to play.
Batting Award - Lendl Simmons - Was in charge of the innings, let nothing slip.
Bowling Award - Dwayne Smith - 4 overs, 2/19. Rather good.

Team News - None.

And second up, another simple win.



Bishoo, Narine and Bravo were the men to dominate our bowling, but two big partnerships left the Zimbas 94/2 at one stage. Then Narine started taking wickets, as did Bravo at the end, and Zimbabwe were slowed almost to a standstill, and only made 120.

It was never competitive, despite Gayle running himself out for 6. Simmons made a composed 41 from 34 balls, and Chanderpaul made 59 from 48, unbeaten. Darren came in and finished it off, but the game was already won.

Series State - West Indies win the series 2-0.
Batting Award - Shiv Chanderpaul - What a man.
Bowling Award - Bishoo/Bravo/Narine - Torn three ways, all three instrumental in limiting the score so far.

Retirements - NONE! HELL YEAH!

[Imager36]

2012/13 Season Review

Okay, before we look at what's to come in the next 12 months, we'll do a bit of a season review... first up, let's look at how the tables were this time last year, and how they look at the start of this season.

April 2012



April 2013



So as you can see, however good the season seemed, we've dropped 2 points and a place for tests and only gained 1 point in ODIs, despite gaining 5 in T20Is, but mainly due to not having played the countries yet.

Next up is a look at the match awards given away during the season, totalled, in the...

Self-Awarded Award Awards!

Only players with more than one award in the discipline are listed.

Test - Batting

Kirk Edwards - 3
Chris Gayle - 3
Adrian Barath - 2
Brendan Nash - 2

Test - Bowling

Devendra Bishoo - 5
Ravi Rampaul - 3
Dwayne Bravo - 2
Andre Russell - 2

ODI - Batting

Shiv Chanderpaul - 7
Chris Gayle - 6
Lendl Simmons - 5
Adrian Barath - 2
Ramnaresh Sarwan - 2

ODI - Bowling

Andre Russell - 7
Kemar Roach - 6
Sunil Narine - 6
Dwayne Smith - 5
Devendra Bishoo - 4

T20I - Batting

Shiv Chanderpaul - 4
Darren Bravo - 3
Lendl Simmons - 2

T20I - Bowling

Sunil Narine - 4
Andre Russell - 3
Devendra Bishoo - 3
Dwayne Smith - 2
Chris Gayle - 2

And now, as if you hadn't had enough of the lists, I'm going to list the top 5 West Indians and the top overall on each of the world ranking tables, along with their points totals.

World Rankings

Test - Batting

1st - AB de Villiers - 866
7th - Chris Gayle - 647
8th - Kirk Edwards - 638
22nd - Darren Bravo - 546
23rd - Shiv Chanderpaul - 538
30th - Brendan Nash - 450

Test - Bowling

1st - Peter Siddle - 1016
6th - Devendra Bishoo - 755
27th - Ravi Rampaul - 432
31st - Sunil Narine - 378
37th - Dwayne Bravo - 354
40th - Andre Russell - 346

ODI - Batting

1st - Alastair Cook - 805
3rd - Shiv Chanderpaul - 735
8th - Chris Gayle - 634
10th - Lendl Simmons - 633
22nd - Darren Bravo - 475
50th - Dwayne Smith - 279

ODI - Bowling

1st - Andre Russell - 885
3rd - Kemar Roach - 741
6th - Sunil Narine - 702
9th - Dwayne Smith - 600
18th - Devendra Bishoo - 506

T20I - Batting

1st - AB de Villiers - 911
5th - Shiv Chanderpaul - 828
7th - Lendl Simmons - 751
13th - Chris Gayle - 608
21st - Darren Bravo - 550
39th - Ramnaresh Sarwan - 418

T20I - Bowling

1st - Vernon Philander - 920
3rd - Andre Russell - 776
26th - Dwayne Bravo - 311
31st - Devendra Bishoo - 110
32nd - Sunil Narine - 109
47th - Chris Gayle - 82

And just to record the most runs and wickets in a season, with brackets for the number of games played, here those are.

Most runs and wickets (All Seasons)

Runs

Tests - Chris Gayle - 933 (7, 2012)
ODIs - Shiv Chanderpaul - 1249 (25, 2012)
T20Is - Shiv Chanderpaul - 449 (13, 2012)

Wickets

Tests - Devendra Bishoo - 56 (12, 2012)
ODIs - Kemar Roach - 53 (25, 2012)
T20Is - Andre Russell - 27 (13, 2012)

[Imager36]

2013/14 Season Preview

7th April - 1st May - Sri Lanka - Home

2 Tests - Last series drawn 1-1.
3 ODIs - Last series won 2-0.
2 T20Is - No series yet played.

Okay, an early year opportunity to pick up a test ranking point and 2 T20 ones, but against a strong team our ODI series win must be under threat.

7th June - 5th July - Pakistan - Home

2 Tests - Last series drawn 1-1.
5 ODIs - Last series lost 2-3.
2 T20Is - Last series won 1-0.

Okay, opportunities to win and lose points here against a Pakistan team I'd rather have over for more than 2 tests. Will good Pakistan or bad Pakistan turn up? Who knows.

3rd December - 5th January - New Zealand - Away

3 Tests - Last series drawn 0-0.
5 ODIs - Last series lost 1-2.
2 T20Is - Last series drawn 1-1.

Hmmm, looking at last year's series against New Zealand, this should be a good tour for picking up 4 more ranking points... but who knows, on their turf.

10th February - 9th March - England - Home

3 Tests - Last series won 1-0.
3 ODIs - Last series lost 2-3.
1 T20I - Last series won 1-0.

I fear some good work from earlier in the year may be undone when we take part in the test and T20I series here.

12th March - 30th March - Bangladesh - T20 World Cup

Group with India and Zimbabwe - Previous performance - Semi-finals 2012 - Current Champions - South Africa.

And to round the year off, another world T20. Should be fun, actually.

And just to finish this preview off, the 12 man squad for the first test against the Lankans.

C. Gayle (OASP)
K. Powell (O)
S. Chanderpaul (BAT)
K. Edwards (BAT)
Darren Bravo (BAT)
B. Nash (BAT)
Dwayne Bravo (ALL)
D. Ramdin (K)
A. Russell (SEAM)
R. Rampaul (SEAM) (C)
S. Narine (SPIN)
D. Bishoo (SPIN)

And, unsurprisingly even to him, Brendan Nash misses out on the first test.