Cricket Tournaments

West Indies have been beaten 0-5 by South Africa in the 5 match ODI series at home. They were also beaten 0-2 in 2 T-20 internationals earlier. So where is the team going wrong? After the IPL 2010, West Indies cricket has faced much tougher times.
It was expected that West Indies would come in the Top 4 of the World T-20 following good performances in the IPL by the captain Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard.

However they disappointed in the World T-20, following defeats to Australia and Sri Lanka in the Super 8s round. The pressure on Gayle in particular was enormous and with a demoralized team that he had, West Indies were of ‘limited edition’ when they were ready to play South Africa in the T-20 internationals.

Matters became worse after defeats in both the matches. However West Indies didn’t seem to be interested in winning and getting things back on track as they lost the first match of the series itself by a huge margin. A bad start meant that South Africa had won half the battle. Although the hosts did put up a fight courtesy Darren Sammy’s 24-ball 58, West Indies lost the second match also by 17 runs. The usually cheerful Chris Gayle also looked helpless with the bat and as captain on the field.

He hasn’t been able to devise a winning formula for the team alongside former England bowling coach Ottis Gibson. Gayle tried to play at his aggressive best, but only got starts to then get out by playing some silly and immature shots.

As captain, Gayle was at his tactical best as South Africa was bowled out for 224 in the third ODI. However, South Africa won the battle of the mind as West Indies batted terribly to have been bowled out for 167. A 0-3 deficit drew harsh criticism from Gayle, coach Gibson and experts such as Tony Cozier who believed that the team gave up easily.

The worst statement being of the honest Gayle, ‘Losing has become a habit’. Obviously then, how will the team win when the captain doesn’t have faith in the playing XI and can’t motivate his team? As a result, going into the fourth game with West Indies having nothing to lose, West Indies batsmen batted like free birds to score a good 303 in 50 overs, batting first. However, it was a last-ball defeat for the hosts as an in-form Hashim Amla made life much more difficult for them with another hundred.

During the match, the division between the West Indies players was evident when Sulieman Benn, the reliable left-arm spinner in an embarrassing moment was sent off the field by Chris Gayle for not obeying his instructions. This also made the West Indies cricket board (WICB) chairman Julian Hunte say that there will be more embarrassment for West Indies cricket to face at least for the next three years.

South Africa seemed to enjoying their victories and the increasing criticism that the hosts were finishing in their own country and by their own media. The pressure only grew stronger for the West Indies to win at least one game as consolation for a poor series. And it looked like it was going to happen when West Indies were in a winning position with 2 overs to go in the South African innings in the 5th ODI, when they were chasing 253 runs to win in 50 overs. But again, the West Indies in excitement lost the plot as Roelof van der Merwe and L Tsotsobe hit the winning runs with 2 balls to spare.

Though in hindsight, West Indies lost many close games which they should have won, this didn’t make Gayle happy. Losing all matches doesn’t make any captain happy with his team. And rightly so, instead of appreciating his team’s fighting efforts, he just said that ‘We don’t know how to finish them off’. So it is evident that Gayle knows the problem but then why can’t the team find a solution to solve it.

Graeme Smith, his counterpart and South Africa’s skipper would agree his team gave it their 100% to win the series after a dismal World T-20. But he would beg to differ with the fact that it was West Indies who lost it rather than South Africa who won it.
West Indies are minnows not just due to the fact that the team doesn’t trust itself to win, but also because of relying on individual performances.

One day, it is Bravo who does well and the others follow him by playing a supporting role. Another day, it will be Gayle who will come up with a cracker and the others keep watching and just do what is told to them. I think the solution for West Indies’ revival would be making all the players believe in giving their best and not rely on the stars to perform on a given day.

And for that, the players’ skills need to be taken care off. Perhaps, the opening of a high-performance centre in Trinidad has come at the right time for West Indies cricket to get back on track.

Twice in two games, West Indies were in with a great chance of upsetting South Africa in the T20 series being played in their own backyard. However, on both occasions, they squandered the opportunity, and were left licking their wounds.

This is nothing new to Caribbean cricket, and their unlucky fans, who have to be part of this ignominy time and again. This, indeed, has been the story of Windies cricket for the past decade and a half. And, under the current circumstances, there is very little chance of things improving in the future.

The major problem with West Indies cricket is no so much of talent as it of attitude. As skipper Chris Gayle said after the loss in the second match, the players need to look into themselves and try to redeem themselves.

This wont be easy though as the players have got used to making losing a seriously consistent habit, and mostly from a winning position. There is too much of negativity and lack of confidence around the squad.

What else can explain the inability of their batsmen to chase down 137 and 120 in a T20 game? True, the pitches weren’t exactly the best for T20 cricket. Still, both targets were achievable, more so since they are playing in home conditions.

Coming to the players there is too much dependence on Gayle, another throwback to the 90s when Brian Lara was the sole warrior for the side, and West Indies more often than not needed him to perform miraculous feats to achieve wins.

Despite his experience, Gayle is nowhere near the class of Lara, and lacks his consistency as well, which makes matters far more worse. Thus, every time he fails, the West Indies look like a bunch of players from a minnow side, and slide to embarrassing lows.

The disaster in the T20 World Cup was a glaringly reminder, and the way they have started in the ongoing serious against the Proteas gives one a strong sense of déjà vu.

The saddest part of West Indies never-ending decline is that there is dearth of talent as such in the side, but somehow they just cannot get their act together, or rather are not wholeheartedly dedicated to the cause of reviving their team’s fortunes.

Take the case of Dwayne Bravo. The genuine all-rounder, in spite of all the experienced gained over the years, hasn’t quite turned out to be the match-winner he truly can, and one West Indies desperately need, apart from Gayle. This is not to say that he hasn’t been performing consistently.

He has been among the better performers for his side in recent years. However, he is yet to take the lead to the next level. He is destined for greater things, but keeps falling short just like in the last match, where he top-scored but couldn’t secure the elusive win for his side.

Bravo is not the only one to be blamed for yet another Windies debacle though. The skipper Gayle himself needs to start look beyond batting and inspire some confidence in his rather inexperienced mates. And, for this, he will need the full backing of senior teammates like Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan.

All the infighting within the team and issues with the board need to be put on the back burner for a start. What West Indies need most is eleven players who are cent per cent dedicated to the cause of winning. The results might still not come. But, at least the beleaguered fans will be able to appreciate the effort that was put in.

R Vinay Kumar picked up three wickets in one over, that of Sachin Tendulkar, Dwayne Bravo and Ambati Rayudu, to put the Mumbai Indians firmly on the back foot. However, the home side recovered well thanks to some lusty hitting down the order by Zaheer Khan and useful contributions from Kieron Pollard and R Sathish. 151, however, was still not going to be enough against Bangalore’s charged up batting line-up, and on a pitch that was highly batting-friendly.

Jacques Kallis continued his unbeaten run, slamming yet another 50, while Manish Pandey and continued with their big hitting spree as the Royal Challengers charged to victory without any trouble, and claimed their spot at the top of the table.

Clearly, it was that three-wicket over from Vinay Kumar that turned the tide in Bangalore’s favour. At 74 for 3 in the 11th over, Mumbai were still in the game courtesy of Sachin Tendulkar, who was looking good on 25. But, Vinay got rid of Rayudu, with a well-directed bouncer, a plan which had worked exceedingly well against the Rajasthan Royals.

Then Sachin, who was denied the strike for quite some time, was cleaned up when he shuffled too far and left his leg stump exposed. The skipper batted well for his 25, but the team needed a lot more from him on this day. If Sachin’s dismissal wasn’t bad enough, Bravo got a dose of his own medicine when an off-cutter from Vinay Kumar accounted for him. Bravo fell for one and Mumbai had slipped ton 76 for 6 in no time.

No doubt Vinay Kumar bowled a great spell, but he was greatly assisted by the ones who bowled earlier. Praveen Kumar swung the both ways and kept the Mumbai openers on their feet. At the other end, the aggressive Dale Steyn took out danger man Sanath Jayasuriya with a wonderful outswinger.

Kallis then came on and proved his merit with the ball claiming Aditya Tare, a smart bouncer doing the trick yet again. Next man Saurabh Tiwary, coming off the back of two 50s, had some troubles as well with the rising delivers, but was good enough to fend some off to the ropes. He was fooled, however, by Anil Kumble’s googly and had to be satisfied with 25.

In Mumbai did manage to cross 150, it were due to the efforts of Sathish and Pollard. Judging the situation well, they rotated the strike for a while. Towards the end, Pollard had to do what he was chosen for, some mighty hits. He managed to dispatch Praveen for a six and a four, but was unluckily dismissed as he guided a full toss from Steyn into the hands of Virat Kohli.

Sathish soon fell to a brilliant catch by Rahul Dravid in the deep. Zaheer Khan then punished Kumar’s length deliveries in the final over, claiming 16 runs.

It was far from enough though as Kallis and Pandey continued from where they left off in the previous game. The Mumbai bowlers tried their best, but there was nothing on offer for them. And, in the end, it was Bangalore did it rather royally.

At St Lucia on 3rd July, constant interruptions came as a bane for the Indies and boon for India. In the 3rd ODI of Degicel series India won the rain reduced match according to Duckworth-Lewis method against West Indies leading the series by 2-1. Dhoni holding the nerve firm knocked unbeaten 46 runs guiding India to the victory.

West Indies came to bat first, it was much to their ill fate the constant rain interruptions often lead to discontinuation and regular reduction of overs and runs. Decision was taken by India to put the Indies to bat; decision came as determining factor of the match result and as India anticipated Indies innings were adversely affected by rain.

With the rain interruption of more the 2 hours the game was reduced to 41 overs. Indies powerful opener Chris Gayle came to bat and with his fastidious spree of runs knocked 27 runs off 14 balls which was Indies score also. But as Gayle faced 13 ball rain again interrupted and match has to be put at stop. After a while reducing the overs further to 39 overs, Gayle returned to the pitch, just  on the 14th ball he succumbed to Ashish Nehra(5-21-3wk) delivery being caught behind.

During the Indies innings match was twice again has to be suspended for a while reducing it further to 36 overs then eventual to 27 overs. Despite constant rain intervention Ramnaresh Sarwan on the second wicket blasted 63 runs off 59 balls with 5 boundaries and 1 maximum. Rest onwards Runak Morton (22), Shiv Chanderpaul (15), Dwayne Bravo (19), Darren Bravo (15), Jerome Talyor (2) and not out Denesh Ramdin (14) contributed to the scoreboard aggregating to 186 runs off 27 overs.

Ashish Nehra bowling was the most impressive he was able to beat important batsmen (Gayle, Chanderpaul, Bravo)of Indies. Harbhajan Singh swept away 2 wickets with spin damaging more to Indies; Yusuf Pathan took 1 wicket and rest the Indian bowlers performance was average.

India came to bat to pursue 186 runs target off 27 overs. India score found solid base with the ferocious knocks by Dinesh Karthink (47 runs off 43 balls) and Gautam Gambhir (44 runs off 38 balls) in the top order. Due to fifth rain intervention for indefinite period in the 14th over made it more easier for the India to chase.  After the resumption runs were reduced to 159 runs according to Duckworth-Lewis method and runs left were 64 runs off 51 balls still having 9 wickets in hand it came as a clear advantage to India. Yuvraj Singh (2) and Rohit Sharma (11) were inexpensive even though Indian innings were smooth because of Dhoni’s firm hold of his nerve and aggression leaded India to victory.

West Indies bowlers were not able to put the impressive show as in last match. Bravo, Bernard and Benn took 1-1 wickets.

In the penultimate over when victory seemed far for India, Dhoni ravaged in the last over leading the India in series with 2-1.

Now, Indians fans have something to smile and cheer about after India’s disastrous consecutive defeats in ICC T20 World Super 8. 26, June at Sabina Park in 50 overs ODI, India defeated Indies in most exciting and close match. Yuvraj with 131 innings coming off 102 balls outstandingly batted and became significant factor to India for anticipated victory. India batting line up after a long time supported each other well enough and they aggregated gigantic score of 339 runs off 6 wickets. 340 runs target was huge nevertheless as speculated Indies fired back with bat but that fire came late and they were not able to hold wickets. Consequently they all got out and succumbed to achieve the target by just 20 runs still 11 bowls spared.

Indian batting lineup has always been most powerful; each Indian batsman has on and off made bowlers sweat and frown over their own ability. On 26 June, at Jamaica again we saw Indian batsmen joshing and bashing Indies bowlers. Gautam Gambhir (13), Rohit Sharma (4) and Ravindra Jadeja (0) left the ground scoring inexpensively. Beside that Dinesh Karthik (67), Yuvraj Singh (131), MS Dhoni (41), not out Yusuf Pathan (40) and not out Harbhajan Singh (21) rampaged the pitch and not a single corner left where ball didn’t transgressed the boundary. Indian batsmen were unstoppable and Indies bowlers each trick seemed nothing but desperate plea. Yuvraj was everywhere in the scream of crowd and commentators, simply marvelous innings we saw coming from Yuvraj charismatic batting leading India to mammoth score of 339 runs off 6 wickets in 50 overs.

West Indies bowling was at its worst, each player economy reaching above 6 runs per over. Jerome Taylor, Lionel Baker and David Bernard took 1-1 wicket and Dwayne Bravo took 2 wickets. West Indies Bowlers gave batsmen ample space take shoots and every trick of in swing or off-spin was worthless in front of Yuvraj and Dinesh.

Indies got huge pressuring 340 runs target, yet it was difficult to achieve but it was never impossible for Indies. Indies got good start by Chris Gayle (37) and Runako Morton (42) and middle order played above average; Sarwan (45) and Chanderpaul (63) snatched the chance for Indies but the wickets kept falling not single batsmen after them sustained on pitch to lead Indies. Eventually when victory seemed near they all got out at 319 in 48th over by Indian bowlers.

Return of Nehra in team gave the boost to the Indian bowling. Indian bowlers fared well, RP Singh, Ishant and Harbhajan took 1-1 wickets; and Ashish Nehra and Yusuf Pathan took 3-3 wickets. Though bowlers were not able to confine Indies batsmen but still Nehra, Pathan and other bowlers didn’t let batmen sustain on pitch.

Match concluded with the close win of India and man of the match to Yuvraj Singh. Contrarily Yuvraj poked sting like a bee, as Gayle predicted for Indies.

On, 19 June 2009 in second semifinal of ICC World T20 at Kennington Oval, we saw tremendous expertise from Lankans side and insensibility and spiritlessness from Indies. Opening batsman Dilshan played like a maestro and mesmerized whole audience with his unbeaten innings of 96 runs coming off just 57 balls. Dilshan is high scorer from Lankans side in ICC World T20, led Lankans to the truly deserved victory over uninspiring Indies.

Sri Lankan innings was fluctuating, in 15th over Lankans were at 98 runs off 3 wickets, reaching above 150 runs total was somewhat difficult on slower and bowler friendly pitch of Oval. But in the last five overs with the DIlshan on the field Lankans knocked whopping 60 runs, taking total to 158 runs off 5 wickets. Dilshan innings was the major contribution to the total, rest the Lankans batsmen were not able to put up better support. Sanath Jayasuriya (24), Kumar Sangakkara (0), Mahela Jayawardena (2), Chamara Silva (11) and Jehan Mubarak (7) were not able to sustain on field and support to Dilshan. Even though Dilshan remain consistent without any support from other teammates throughout the innings and aggregated challenging score of 158 runs on slower pitch like Oval.

As the Gayle’s bowler were being attributed mystique and powerful mix of spinners and pacers, all proved futile in front of Dilshan. Gayle’s bowlers were not able to confine Dilshan and still the bowling was commendable, every boundary was tough though but Dilshan knocks showed it lot easier. Tight field by Gayle’s company was commendable and fielders were diving for every single shoot to prevent boundaries even two’s. Jerome Taylor, Sulleman Benn , and Kieron Pollard took 1-1 wicket and Dwayne Bravo expensive though took 2 wickets.

West Indians came to bat to face 159 runs target; 159 runs target was pretty much tough on the slower pitch of Oval still it was expected from Indies, they would be tough competition. But the disaster happened Angelo Mathews took 3 wickets in very first over, Indies were dumbfounded. Roaring audience in support of Lankans with uninterrupted commentary started coming from commentary box of Lankans making it to the finals. Gayle (63) was the only batsman to sustain on the pitch rest batting line up of Indies felled like the stock rates on the Wall Street.

Sri Lankans bowlers and Dilshan were remarkable and outstanding in the last semifinal, purely out doing Indies in every aspect of the game. Angelo Mathews and Star Player Muttiah Muralidaran took 3-3 wickets, Ajantha Mendis took 2 wickets and Isuru Udana and Lasith Malinga took 1-1 wicket. Lankans jamboree of bowlers were superb and astounding; Lankans bowlers bowled every type of bowling with Yorkers to off spin, leg spin and short balls with the better line and length gave no room to Indies to go for the shoots.

Malinga taking the last wicket in the 17th over Indies were all out on 101 runs and Lankans winning the match by big margin of 57 runs.

The boys from West Indies got the better of the England in a rain-reduced run chase through the Duckworth Lewis method to make it to the semi finals of the T20 WC Men’s competition. They beat the hosts to knock them out of the competition. This is for the first time after a gap of more than ten years that the West Indies team has made it to the Semi Finals of a major tournament.

The experience of Ramnaresh Sarwan and classy Shivnarine Chanderpaul through an unbeaten partnership of 37 runs in 20 balls ensured safe passage for West Indies into the Semifinals. With South Africa having already qualified from this group, the match between England and West Indies was nothing sort of a Quarter Final Clash. The Windies players managed to hold on to their nerves in an intriguing match to make it to the Semi finals of the T20 World Cup competition this year.

Earlier set into bat the Englishmen scored a respectable 161 runs loosing six wickets in the process. Ravi Bopara played the crucial anchor’s role scoring 55 runs and Kevin Pietersen scored a quick fire 31 runs of just 19 balls to set up a challenging total for the West Indies. Other notable contributions included Owais Shah with 18 runs, Stuart Broad with 10 crucial runs of just 2 balls and James Foster with a useful knock of 13 runs towards the end of the innings. The Englishmen were hoping to get a complete match, which might have given them a chance of reaching the semis.

With heavy downpour right after the England innings, the match eventually got underway with West Indies being set a revised target of 80 runs from nine overs. The England bowlers did their best to restrict the Windies batsman as Ryan Sidebottom got rid of the dangerous Chris Gayle, after the opener had hammered him in the first four balls of the over. Stuart Broad got rid of Lendl Simmons in his very first over. West Indies were tottering at 23 for the loss of three wickets and the shortened target was looking stiff.

Dwayne Bravo, the only Windies player to have been consistent throughout the tournament contributed useful 18 runs to the run chase, before the English pair of Swann and Foster combined to remove him. With Bravo gone, the West Indies were looking for some miracle to make it to the next round. With 16 runs required of the last two overs, the experienced pair of Chanderpaul and Sarwan ensured that West Indies suffered no further hiccups in the run chase. By scoring 13 runs of the penultimate over the Windies batsman ended all hopes of an England victory. Sarwan ended the match by smashing Sidebottom to the extra cover boundary.

West Indies thus made it to the Semifinals of the competition through group E and must watch out for the match between South Africa and India, to get to know their fate. If South Africa can beat India, the West Indian team would qualify for the Semi Finals as the Group runner up and might face the daunting task of playing last year’s loosing finalist Pakistan in the Semi finals.