South Africa could have done much better

Just when I was going through the PINOY BLOGGER REVIEWS I was reminded by the news channels about the 2^nd day's play of the 3^rd test between South Africa and the West Indies which obviously is held in the upperhand by the Proteas. But, with such a weak opposition the batting display of the South Africans which included the likes of Jacques Kallis, Ashwell Prince, A B devilliars etc should have been much better unlike their day ending with just 285 on the board adding just another 239 runs on the board after ending day 1 at 46/2 after dismissing the hosts for 231.

As mentioned in my yesterday's post, if at all South Africa can boast of something great, it is their achievement in the test matches against teams like West Indies, Bangladesh etc. Though occasionally South Africa have had success against Australia and India, their real strength lies in games against West Indies. But, a total of just 285 with the loss of 6 wickets is far too little compared to what is being expected out of them. South Africa have a solid line up in their batting department with Jacques Kallis heading the list followed by Prince, Smith, Devilliars etc all of whom can surprise anyone.

On the otherhand, the West Indies have the world's worst bowling display though their batting department have players like Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderapaul etc who can save some face for their team. But, their bowling department is starving since 2000 after the retirement of bowlers like Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, Ian Bishop and Roger Harper who were deadly on their days. Winning a match has been guessed and anticipated well in advance even before the series was decided but the way it would be won is always a wait game and winning that game takes precedence than to just finish it off formally.

With the caliber that the present South African team is having, they should have won both the first and the second tests by an innings rather than winning the former by 163 runs and drawing the latter. Had it been India or Australia, both the matches would have been won by an innings one can suppose. This is the test that tests the real myth of a team and faring badly could send out signals to other teams against which their next test series is due. More than ending the 2^nd day at 285/6, losing 2 wickets before the first day's play got over speaks much about the South African batting caliber. And, who knows who Alviro Petersen is?

RSA will always have an upperhand against WI

If not in crucial games like it happened in the quarter finals of the 1996 world cup at Karachi and in the ICC champions trophy 2004 at England, the West Indies are no match for the Proteas atleast in today's cricketing world irrespective of whether South Africa are hosting the game or not. Perhaps! a West Indies-South Africa match is yet to be played on a neutral venue unlike a match that is scheduled to be hosted by Pakistan. Now, yet again the West Indies have flattered in the 3^rd test match as well. West Indies have lost all their wickets even before the day ended.

A test match drawn by West Indies is a test match saved won by them which would be worth an investment. A score of 231 by the home team speaks for itself and the caliber of the West Indian team is once again proved. West Indies were lucky to have saved the 2^nd test held at Basseterre when the match ended in a draw and the West Indies were able to secure a rare 3 run lead against a team against which losing miserably has become a passion. Another amazement came to the West Indies when Shivnarine Chanderapaul was awarded the man of the match award for little bit of effort.

Why should anyone mention Johan Botha's name or Dale Steyn's name when there are the likes of some Dale Richards and Brendan Nash who have been trained to give the opposition bowlers the performance of their lives in addition to their lack of experience. The very same Johan Botha is hardly considered when South Africa is about to face say India or Australia even in front of their home crowd let alone touring such a nation. South Africa rarely play Bangladesh which has deprived them of a major record bank. If one doesn't believe me, you can ask Kumara Sangakkara regarding South Africa's tour to that country.

Pakistan can be considered to be an exception but not completely kept out of discussion. If not for Dwayne Bravo, no other member in the West Indian team managed a half century and some Suliemann Benn had to be the person to score a 20+ score despite coming in at number 9. If individual scores of the West Indian batsmen are considered, then the price should consist of contenders who would have scored 20 runs or more. Amazingly, most of them scored double digit scores including the number eleven batsman Brandon Bess who scored 11*. Let us see what Smith has in store for us.

Test championship for Graeme Smith?

The South African captain Graeme Smith insists that there should be a test championship similar to those in the one dayers and T20 formats of the game. But, the article does not emphasize on what exactly does the South African captain means when he mentions test championship. Does he want an international tournament similar to the world cup in the other formats of the game is test cricket as well? Or does he want test matches played under lights which are still under discussion? Smith's idea lacks preciseness if one is that particular. Then one can completely rule out watching test cricket.

The reason for Smith to come out with such ideas has got to do solely with the current West Indies' tour of South Africa which is known to have attracted poor crowds. Is the lack of interest in watching test match cricket by fans the main reason for this poor attendance? I don't think so for one, the teams under discussion are South Africa and West Indies, one who is strong for any opposition on their day and the other being equally weak no matter whose day it is. And two, there is lack of technique in test cricket unlike what it was a decade ago.

Test matches more than ending in a draw are seen only from a batting perspective when there is much to offer from the bowling and fielding side as well. Gone are the days when a total of 400-450 on the board promises a tough fight for the opposition to even avoid a follow on. But now, chasing 400+ totals have become a common gesture and though if not for South Africa, no other team has managed to do that offlate, teams have crossed 400 mark despite being on the losing side. A run rate of even 4.0 an over in test cricket confirms of a batting friendly pitch.

Coming to Smith's point, in case a test championship is conducted on the same lines as that of the T20 and ODI world cup, one can imagine the amount of time it might take for the tournament to be concluded. And, with most of the test matches ending in a draw, who would contest the semi finals of such a tournament? And, if this is given a pass taking into consideration the run rate, what if the knock out stage match like the final or a semi final ends in a draw? Who would have the patience to go out and watch test championship for five days? Or should the test matches be reduced from 5 to say 3 days?

I'd rather prefer visiting the Heart of Rachel than to watch a test championship.

A rare feather in South Africa's cap

South Africa and New Zealand belong to a totally different club when it comes to international cricket with both the teams having made only upto the semis finals of a world cup and that too equal number of times. Both the teams have made it to the semi finals of a world cup on three occasions in 1992, 1999 and 2007. Here, South Africa makes news for the good reasons when the South African wicket keeper Mark Boucher celebrates his 500^th test victim when he gets the West Indian player Ravi Rampaul out caught behind in the 2^nd test at St Kitts.

This, I guess is the only feat that a South African individual can ever boast of after Lance Klusner was awarded the man of the series in the 1999 world cup played in England. Lance Klusner was out only on two occasions, one against Australia and the other against New Zealand in the 1999 world cup and deserved to be there holding the trophy despite there being Geoff Allot from New Zealand along with Shane Warne who had finished on top with 20 wickets each to become the highest wicket takers in the tournament. If not for that, no other South African player can boast of his achievements in international cricket.

This can be rejoiced by the South African team who has known to be unlucky though that is evident only by their outlook. South Africa is yet to make it to the finals of a world cup, let alone winning it. And, so is the case when it comes to the world T20. There is no South African batsman who has scored a triple hundred in test match cricket. All these happening despite South Africa having the potential to do it unlike Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. However, South Africa, as a team can boast of being the only team to have successfully chased down a total in excess of 400.

South Africa are the only team to have beaten Australia in Australia since 1994 when West Indies did the same. Oh! I forgot to mention Herschelle Gibbs' feat of hitting six sixes in an over in the world cup pool match against Holland though which draws much criticism for being achieved against a non test playing nation. But, the other side of the coin also suggests that no other batsman has been able to do that despite there being teams like Bermuda, Scotland etc. Of course, one should not expect Gary Kirsten's knock of 188* to be mentioned here for this is no general blog and has no general readers.

Just another step towards victory

As I always say regarding whenever the West Indies go out there in the middle to take on the opposition, this time as well, the opponents namely South Africa did everything right and effortlessly to overcome the West Indies. Continuing from day before where the Proteas had left after the captain Graeme Smith notched up a century against a bowling squad that can just fill in the vacant places in the squad. With that being an old and an outdated issue, the point to be seen here is that Smith is found boasting victories only against West Indies and no other team in the world.

It is evident still the way the Proteas lost the second test on their tour to India in February early this year. In the second day of the second test against the West Indies, Smith and his team had another day on the field wherein they all were found doing was to continue the good work they had done on the first day's play. Meanwhile, it was Graeme Smith himself who came up with a century when he scored 132 day before yesterday to become the driving force for his team's to-be victory in the second test. Nothing special or creative in it.

The first step for the Proteas is a close being over when they piled up a total in excess of 500 by the end of half a day past the first day. All they have now got to do is to wait and see from the position where they field the way the West Indian batting crumbles in the days to come. However, if the West Indies' batting is seen in the hours that have collapsed yesterday, they are found to have as usual reduced the degree of humiliation by reducing the margin of defeat. In this case, the defeat may be on the 5^th day or by a few runs less than what they had in their first test.

There was an individual score of an unbeaten 46 by the West Indian captain Chris Gayle which will not bring him the captain's knock in any way. And that is far from expectation and also far from deserving at the same time. One thing that can be seen from the South Africa's first innings is not only that there were three batsmen who scored centuries but also between them contributed as many as 377 runs out of 543 runs which happens to be close to 3/4^th of the total. However, this cannot give a conclusion that the pitch was a batsman's paradise for, the opposition is West Indies. Likewise, Smith can experiment from the next test onwards after winning this one.

Four more days left for RSA to take an unassailable lead

Well none of you readers need to be told specially that South Africa have begun their campaign in their second test against the West Indies Basseterre successfully after Graeme Smith scored a hundred for, all of you guys are aware of the one and the only site that is solely dedicated to the game of cricket - cricinfo. But, some things based on my point of view needs to be given a consideration atleast in the scope of this blog. Needless to be said, the South African captain Graeme Smith scored 132 on the first day's play against the West Indies which was more than one third of the total score of 296 on the board.

This has to be considered as their path to an unbeatable lead in the series with them already 1-0 up in the series after they won the first test in Antigua last week by 163 runs after they were reduced to 352 in their first innings. But, how should and how does that matter when victory is already granted rather than a possibility? A score of even 200 is enough to see the West Indies home and that too against South Africa. A score of 200 by South Africa would mean that the West Indies will collapse for a score may be just above 100 on the board.

People would have gone sick of me writing the West Indies' down to earth performance on the field, with every match well in front of them. It is more than a possibility that the West Indies will lose to any opposition they face in today's cricket. One need not think twice before having their bet on Bangladesh when they play the West Indies. In case the West Indies are hosting Bangladesh, still the chances of a West Indies win is slightly above 50%. It is fascinating to see Graeme Smith still going in for a full fledged South African team to tackle the West Indies.

On the other hand, the West Indies are found to rest some of their key players like Ramnaresh Sarwan for reasons best known to the West Indies Cricket Board selection panel. South Africa can afford to declare their first innings now itself which can give the cricket lovers a fantastic match. Likewise, South Africa are the team which is making matches involving the West Indies more interesting when they come close to losing the game and end up winning the same. Wow! How poetic it is! By the way, Smith is expected to experiment with his team in matches against West Indies which can prove worth.

Pitch aided the WI bowling

Well, disputing someone's statement has always been the trademark of this blog whatsoever and we think it is just healthy one and we are sorry if it is not. Coming to the matter which involves the West Indies captain - Chris Gayle's statement after his team's another expected and crushing defeat at the hands of the Proteas, when he says that his team's batting let them down, one has to acknowledge the fact that the West Indies didn't have any frontline bowlers to tackle the South African batsmen. On the otherhand, the South Africans were equipped with bowlers of the ranks of Morkel & Steyn.

The captaincy of Graeme Smith and the experience of Jacques Kallis is more than enough for the West Indies' batsmen to run for cover. A score of 352 was more than enough not only by South Africa against West Indies but also on a pitch that started with low bounce that gave the batsmen very little room for scoring. The bowling from the West Indies' part was also not that satisfactory if Chris Gayle's words are anything to go by. They should not have been carried off by the way three quick wickets fell on the South African side on the first day itself.

That was a truncated day with just 34 overs being able to be bowled. Had there been a complete day's play, the things would have been different as per West Indies point of view, with some compromises made with the West Indian bowlers continuing their good work with the ball. The West Indies' bowlers had got enough rhythm on the first day which was spoilt by rain. Whatever happens, the result would not have been any different for the West Indies. They would have lost in any circumstances. One has to appreciate Sulieman Benn for being successful with both the bat as well as the ball.

Benn picked up eight out of the 12 South African wickets and scored 42 runs which was his highest individual score in test cricket and more importantly, was from a batsman who would enter into the crease at number eight who are referred to as tail enders. If the West Indian squad is considered, the team has more depth in batting that involves the likes of Chris Gayle, Shivanarine Chandrapaul and Narsingh Deonarine. On the otherhand, their bowling consisted of Dwayne Bravo and Sulieman Benn who stand nowhere when it comes to international test rankings for bowlers. It was slowness of the track at Port of Spain that aided the bowlers and the same slowness that proved trouble for the batsmen when they took to the crease.

End of a formality

Well on the first day's play between the West Indies and South Africa, it was as though the West Indies though will not win the game, will atleast put up a tight finish by giving the visitors a run for their money. But, as expected, the West Indies just continued from where they had left in their last test against Australia. The world was saved from watching horrible cricket by the West Indies for as long as six months when the West Indie didn't have any major test series inbetween. Anyways, with that being a different issue, the 1^st test saw the Proteas taking a 1-0 lead in the 3 match test series needless to be said.

The match traveled from bad to worse as far as the West Indies were concerned. On the first day, when the Proteas were bowled out for a mere 352 on the board, it was as though the match would see the West Indies achieve an unexpected triumph which obviously didn't happen. And then after the second day's play when the West Indies team lost all their ten wickets for just 102 on the board, their defeat was confirmed. However, though the defeat was in hand for the West Indies, not many would have thought that to be on the fourth day itself.

Had the match been continued until the fifth day, there would have been much relief for both the West Indian players and fans as well. Precisely speaking, the match ended in less than four days when the first day which was truncated is given a close look at. The first day's play contained just 34 overs which saw the Proteas losing three important wickets. Had the West Indies taken on the game, may be they would have returned home with a little bit of satisfaction. However, now also they should be satisfied when nothing unexpected happened to Chris Gayle's team.

The worse happened to the West Indies when they lost the game in a span of just more than three days. The result would have been much more worse for the West Indies in case the South African captain Graeme Smith would have imposed a follow on which he fortunately didn't. In case that had happened, the result would have been achieved in may be two and a half days. If the scorecard is given a closer look at, the West Indies put up 395 runs on the board with both their innings put together. This was just 43 runs more than the 352 runs put up by South Africa in their first innings.

So, an innings defeat would have been avoided at any cost by WI.

The expected happens

Well if one could go through yesterday's post where I had written about the high possibility of the West Indies' batting collapsing owing to depth in the South African bowling that involves Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, that was what exactly happened when the entire West Indian batting was shattered by the same two for a score just above hundred. One has to notice the coincidence when the South African batsmen fell for the West Indies for a score of just two runs above 350 and the very next day the West Indies team fell for the Proteas' bowling for just two runs more than 100.

Anyways, such coincidences appear in large in the game of cricket and this is nothing special whatsoever. However, coming back to the third day's lay between West Indies and South Africa, it is fascinating to see the home team crashing towards the touring country and that too by a margin of more than 200 runs. The margin happened to be a mammoth 240 runs with the West Indies being able to put up just 102 runs on the board despite having the like of Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderapaul and Dwayne Bravo. The Proteas would have enforced a follow on had there been a little bit of courage from the South African captain.

May be the fact that they were the touring nation made the South African captain - Graeme Smith to decide against enforcing follow on the West Indies. The entire West Indies innings saw just three batsmen crossing double digit mark with Chandrapaul, Deonarine and Ramdin scoring 26, 29 and 25 respectively. The trio contributed a total of 80 runs out of the 102 put up on the board by the entire team. Including the extras bowled by the South African bowlers, the contribution from the rest of the West Indian batsmen come up to be 88. Meaning the trio put up 80% of the total score.

This should have been anticipated before hand itself when a bowler - less West Indian squad could contain the entire South African squad in a single day when they saw the Proteas end their first innings scoring just 352 on board. Then, one can imagine the case when a full fledged South African team with bowlers of the ranks of Dale Steyn and Morkel would bowl and that too on a pitch that would have got a bit slower compared to what it was a day ago. Not only did the West Inidies innings end at 102 but, they could not play for more than 47 overs meaning, the innings lasted just 2 sessions. Anyways, that was far more than expected.

Enough....but not enough!

Well for all those cricket freaks who are into the ongoing first match of the test series between South Africa and the West Indies, here it is. Cricinfo is a better site to tell you what exactly happened on the 2^nd day of the test at Antigua but, my views about the test and the day as well differ slightly. However, the view does not dispute the fact that the two Bs who were there to entertain the crowd who come to watch their favourite game cricket without favoring wither of the teams namely South Africa and West Indies out there.

However, the second day though belonging to the Proteas, some share was taken by the home team as well not only for Sulieman Benn who captured four more wickets after the first day's effort which saw him take the wicket of Hashim Amla and with that the tally of his wickets in the innings reached the magical figure of 5. Despite all odds, Sulieman Benn showed the cricketing world that he can do better things than on field spats with both his teammates and opponents as well. No one expects the West Indies to win the game and that too against South Africa.

But, as a home team, fans can nonetheless support their country though not deserving and the only satisfaction they take home would be that they put up a better performance compared to their previous one. And this time as well, the West Indies were found doing just that when they not only bowled out South Africa for a score just below 350 but also got them back in the pavilion on the second day itself. Speaking precisely, the game didn't last for two days, with only 34 overs being able to be bowled on the first day. Anyways, that is a different issue of what happened on day 1.

If the West Indies continue their good work from here onwards, one can expect a miracle to happen. This would shake all betting freaks who would have bet all their money on the Proteas taking the West Indies for granted which they deserve. It is indeed a more than decent performance from the West Indies' side when they bowled the South Africans for a score just above 350 as mentioned above. However, the Proteas still have the match well in their hands for, the bowling from the South African part is way ahead compared to that from the West Indians.

They have bowlers of the ranks of Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn and others for whom the West Indies have no answer, both as a batting unit or as a bowling one. Though there are bowlers like Benn and Bravo, they can lest be treated on par with some Hussain from Bangladesh team and not with even a part time bowler from South Africa like say Graeme Smith or Jacques Kallis. So, keeping these things in mind, one can conclude that the West Indies' performance as a bowling unit is enough to reduce the margin of defeat but not win a test match.

How long will the domination continue?

Well very rarely one comes across the news that the West Indies are dominating their opposition and this time, the fans of West Indies cricket are quite lucky when the first day at Trinidad against South Africa in the 1st test belonged to the West Indies. At the end of day 1, the South Africans were reduced to 70 runs for the loss of three wickets and that too quick ones. This included the price wicket of Hashim Amla who was awarded the man of the series in the recently concluded one day series. All these happening in just 34 overs of the day's play.

This once again proves the bad luck the West Indies are facing, for the day was patented by the West Indies who would have made up their mind to strike it this time in tests after their whitewash in the one dayers and T20s. Had the day went on smoothly, the West Indies would have surely cashed in on the initial breakthrough given by the spinners Sulieman Benn and Shane Shillingford who reduced the South African top order like never before. This could have been the most spectacular event in today's West Indian cricket where the West Indies are found to be satisfied with even a decent defeat.

I still remember the VB series 2005 that involved West Indies, Pakistan and Australia (of course) where in one of the games between West Indies and Australia, the Aussies consisting of the famous 2003 champions namely Adam Gilchrist, Mathew Hayden and others were made to reel at 41/5 by the West Indies, who until then had just one victory against Pakistan in the series . When all thought that the West Indies have had all within them and a rare Aussie defeat is on the cards, rain came as a spoilsport for the West Indies who were forced to be satisfied with a point.

However, though the West Indies have the first day's play, the next big question is how long will their dominance continue against the Proteas? The match needless to be said is scheduled for 5 days and the West Indies team has hardly any substance in them to continue good work of any sort against any team barring Bangladesh. No doubt that the West Indies team consists of decent batsmen like Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chandrapaul who can save some face for their team. But, when will the world see the West Indies team win matches like it was doing some 30 years back?

Crap the West Indies!

Well as expected, Chris Gayle's team had a sound ending to the bilateral series against South Africa which they finally lost by a 5-0 margin. This was the 3^rd time that the West Indies team was whitewashed by the Proteas. But, I can assure you that this would not be the last time that the West indies are whitewashed be it by South Africa or by any other team. Except Bangladesh, no other team in the world can ever hope of losing a bilateral series against the West Indies. Much to anybody's amazement, this was yet another thrilling finish when the Proteas had lost 9 wickets.

This is the fourth time the matches between the two teams had ended in a tight finish and anyone who would have seen the series thoroughly would no longer want to see another high drama like this atleast in the near future. For the second time in this tournament, the West Indies put up a score in excess of 250 but, not even once or not even a single score could see them through any of the 5 games played. Initially, the South Africans had a bit of problems when their captain Graeme Smith was forced to change the hands of the ball 7 times which finally paid off though not well.

There were just two South African bowlers in Raelof van der Merwe and Johan Botha who bowled their complete quota of ten overs though there were the likes of Jacques Kallis, Charles Langeveldt who could have done so, with the former having a vast experience and the latter making a name for himself as a striking bowler atleast in the current South African squad. The West Indies did well to reach 250+ score by not losing wickets at regular intervals which showed that they were taking atleast this game quite seriously. And, this would have made Gayle satisfied for having shown a better performance.

This was a better performance from the West Indian batsmen compared to their previous match where they posted a 300+ total yet ended up losing. That was not a match where the West Indies' batsmen took time and played cautiously like this time. The West Indians had a tough time facing the wrath of every South African bowler though not fierce but fierce at the same time as far as the caliber of the West Indies team is considered. This should have seen the West Indies winning provided their bowling provided the much needed caliber. The West Indies' bowling is all gone with the Walsh - Ambrose - Bishop trio I suppose.

Chris Gayle realizes the truth!

Well Chris Gayle has been found to realize the fact which all cricket lovers had accepted atleast some seven years ago that the West Indies team has got used to defeats. Some big and others comparatively small. But, defeats mean defeats no matter what the margin of the same has got to say. But still, Chris Gayle has not been found to embrace the fact completely when he says that "losing is becoming a habit" when he and his team had got used to defeats. Chris Gayle's statement comes after his team's fourth loss to the Proteas when they were in the winning position for the third time out of 6 games.

Before that, his team had taken a decent thrashing from the hands of the Aussies when they thrashed the West Indies team also led by Gayle by a 4-0 margin. This was after Chris Gayle predicted a 4-1 victory for his West Indies team. May be at that time he was in a dream that had taken him some 25 years back when the West Indies team were a world beating side that used to push apart the strongest of all oppositions including England and Australia - who were tough competitors for the West Indies at that time in the 70s.

And now, just a couple of days prior to the tournament with South Africa, Chris Gayle makes a statement when he warns his fellow team mates of losing their place in the side in case they fail to perform. In other words, Chris Gayle was found to follow the "perform or perish" mantra which happened to be only in the form of words and is yet to get into action. But still, Chris Gayle has some satisfaction in his team who put up a better performance each time they step on to the ground. And, it is also evident when the West Indies team is found to lose convincingly than their previous loss.

I have many a times highlighted in so many of my earlier posts regarding the way the West Indies team reduce their margin of defeat everytime hey step onto the field. In a couple of cases, they came close to winning but strictly stuck themselves to defeat when they let go a last ball thriller. Does Chris Gayle say that West Indies will come back harsh upon the Proteas and win the last ODI? One has to think as to how come the Proteas also came that close to losing the game when they lost only 3 wickets enroute to their successful chase.

Sulieman Benn: A non Aussie sledger

Well whenever the word sledging is heard or is making news, the first name team that comes to everyone's mind is the Aussies starting from Dennis Lillie and Steve Waugh to the present day's players like Brett Lee, Ponting and Hayden. Their sledging is not restricted to on the field alone. Off the field as well, Aussies are masters of sledging which is quite evident from the story of Mathew Hayden calling Harbhajan Singh "an obnoxious weed" some three years down the lane during the Border-Gavaskar trophy 2007-08 and the Commonwealth Bank series that followed. Whatever, that series can be called as mother of sledging.

That series involved everything about sledging starting from the eight umpiring decisions that went wrong and the "monkey" word said to be uttered by Harbhajan Singh at Symonds. Then there was the egg throwing incident on the Sri Lankan off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan (of course not by any of the Australian players) who had come to participate in the Commonwealth Bank series that followed the 4 match India - Australia tests. Finally the Commonwealth Bank series not only ended with India winning the trophy and Adam Gilchrist & Brad Hogg bidding adieu but also with the incident of a streaker being hit by Andrew Symonds on the field.

Anyways, all these were just a recap of how ugly can sledging can get when it crosses the line and also when it doesn't. However, it seems that it is the birth right of an Australian player to say anything about their opponents and the fact that they have been and are today also unbeatable supports their on field deeds. But, outside the Aussie world as well, sledging has its own share but a bit more ugly one. The list includes India's Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh & Zaheer Khan offlate, Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akthar and the latest to join the list has happened to be West Indian Sulieman Benn.

This is the 2^nd time that the West Indian has been seen making news for the wrong reasons, after he was first time banned for doing so in the three match test series against Australia late last year when he had an on field spat with the Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson. This time again, the West Indian is found doing the same and is penalized by none other than the West Indian captain Chris Gayle who asked him to leave the field after the captain decided that Benn was not needed anymore. Though being unable to make a mark in cricket, such things can easily make Benn make headlines.

Better but not enough from WI

Well since the start of the bilateral series between the West Indies and South Africa, there has always been an improvement from the West Indies from match to match which has seen them lose rather less miserably compared to hat had happened to them in the earlier match. And, this time as well in the fourth one day match between the two nations mentioned, the West Indies for the first time in this tournament posted a total in excess of 300 but to no avail when they still lost the match to the Proteas by 7 wickets thus making it four in a row.

Atleast after their loss in the third one day, the West Indies were expected to bounce back and save some face by winning the remaining two inconsequential match against South Africa. But, one of them has already been lost by the West Indies and there is one more to go which still favors the Proteas than the West Indians. The match reached the ultimate delivery of the match which the West indies team could have still cashed in upon. But, that never seemed so for the West indies who can only win against any non test playing nation or worst come Bangladesh.

On the other side of the cricketing world, the Zimbabwe team which loses matches against even Bangladesh is seen beating India despite India posting a total of 289 on the board. With the present day West Indies team being so hungry to lose, the remaining teams can well reserve all their experimenting with the West Indies rather than Bangladesh or any other non test playing nation. One has to imagine how come the West Indies managed a win against India in the super eights of the world T20 held in their home a couple of weeks back! Is it their home team advantage that gave them the edge?

In the previous game, which was the last chance for the West Indies to save the series, they had bowled the South Africans to a below par total of 224 but failed to chase down the same when they lost all their wickets for a score less than 175. And this time, despite posting a total in excess of 300, they failed to defend it. So, one has to imagine where on earth does the West Indies go wrong? They fail to defend a huge total when batting first and also fail to chase a mere total when bowling first. Forget about defending the total, they could not take more than three South African wickets.

Such improvement does not guarantee a place for the teammates. Is Chris Gayle there?

Anything else Mr.Chris Gayle?

The West Indian cricketers as well as fans would have now got used to losing matches or may they have got used to the same long back and it is now been realized by me. Whatever, it has to be considered as the ill fate of world cricket that a team that has had three world cup finals out of which they have won two against the strongest nations of that time is now found itself in shambles. One cannot recall the last time they came above Bangladesh or Zimbabwe in one day cricket and above Bangladesh in test cricket.

May be in the coming future, Bangladesh is going to overtake West Indies in both tests as well as ODIs. It should not matter to the West Indies Cricket Board as to whom it is playing as no matter which team travels to which country, the result is the same. West Indies lose the match by so many runs or so many wickets. And then West Indies lose the series something-0. This is the West Indies team which has had three ICC champions trophy finals which no other team in the world has been able to do. Not even by Australia.

In the beginning of the tournament, the West Indies captain Chris Gayle had threatened his fellow teammates of losing their spot in the squad in case they fail to show a decent performance. It is no doubt that the performance of the West Indies team is found to improve match by match when every match sees the West Indies team losing by a smaller margin compared to their loss in the previous game they played. This time as well, for the 1^st time in this series, the West Indies were able to bowl out the Proteas well before the 50 overs.

But, the other side of the coin is also that the West Indies team lost all their 10 wickets against South Africa for the third consecutive time in this series. For the first time in this series, the West Indies team were able to bowl out the South Africans for a score less than 250. And also for the first time in this series, the West Indies lost all their ten wickets for a score less than 200 and just above 150. A line of 175 on the board would be ideal to judge the West Indies, which would still see them fall short by 18 runs.

Another thriller by SA-WI

Well as I mentioned in a post a couple of days back regarding the thrillers in matches involving West Indies and South Africa, especially after their 1 run loss at the hands of the Proteas, here comes another exciting thriller if the newspapers are to be believed. And here as well, the match saw the West Indies batsmen putting up a decent score on the board when they ended their batting innings with 283 runs on the board. This total no matter was 17 runs less than what the South African batsmen had piled up and was 18 runs short of a victory.

But, as far as the West Indian batsmen are considered, the match would have given them much relief when they as usual reduced the margin of defeat and then also there was a batsman from the West Indies side who threatened to snatch the game from the Proteas when Sammy scored 58 runs from 24 balls at a strike rate of 241. This is rare in the West Indies side who can only gift their opposition or surrender meekly. Darren Sammy hit 6 hits out of the ground which was equal to the total number of sixes hit by anyone else from both the sides.

The match saw 12 sixes, out of which 6 were hit by Sammy alone as mentioned. The remaining contribution came from Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo who hit 1 and 2 sixes respectively. Then from the South African side, A B Devilliers hit one six and the new batsman who playing his second one dayer - David Miller hit two of them equalling the number hit by the West Indies' batsmen minus Darren Sammy. Once again Hashim Amla was awarded the man of the match this time rather deserving for his top score in the innings of 92 that included 7 fours though without any sixes.

This time the West Indian batsmen did what they were supposed to do in their last game at Antigua when they played 48 overs. This time the West Indies' innings lasted for one ball more than 48 overs but without any different result. And the West Indies captain didn't go in for 8 overs and insisted in bringing in just 7 of them. As mentioned earlier, the margin of defeat for the West Indies also was reduced to 17 runs as against the 66 run defeat they suffered a couple of days back. There were 3 batsmen from the WI side who returned with scores in excess of 50.

For more details here it is!

Continuation in West Indies' misery...

Well if at all anyone wants to see the West Indies winning a match be it either the test or the one dayer or the T20, the only option would be to see them play non test playing nations for, even Bangladesh and Zimbabwe are comparatively better than the West Indies. Of course, West Indies winning a test series match can be dreamt of I suppose. Even in today's cricket, if at all there is a team that fails to chase down a total of 250 or 300, that can be West Indies alone. Of course, England and New Zealand join the list occasionally.

Even today, there can be seen an innings in a one dayer wherein a team follows the same old slow and steady approach to the game, first by not losing wickets at regular intervals and then by settling and start whacking the bat hard in the last ten overs. That was what was evident from the South African innings when they put up a decent total of 280 on the board from the 48 overs that were allotted for reasons that is not so important here. With already two gone in the first 8 overs when the scoring rate was over 6.0 an over, the pressure was started to be felt by the incoming batsmen Hashim Amla and Devilliers.

As expected, the duo put up a partnership in excess of 100 and then a decent total was on the cards for the Proteas. And why shouldn't the Proteas do that when they are facing a team that has absolutely any bowlers in it? The West Indies team is found to miserably lack bowlers irrespective of disciplined ones and non disciplined. The West Indian captain Chris Gayle bought in 8 out of ten players to bowl at the South African batsmen. With the wicket keeper Denesh Ramdin not set to bowl usually, the number can be counted as 9 out of 11 or 8 out of 10.

A debutant in David Miller was found scoring at the strike rate of 143 which speaks of the caliber of the West Indies' bowling. Finally, like it has happened, once again, Hashim Amla was awarded the man of the match award for scoring a 109 ball 102. But, with a batsman in A B Devilliers who scored 102 from 101 balls was sidelined. Why? Some reasons that are though not satisfactory include that Hashim Amla was the opener who was facing the new ball and was in place when two quick wickets fell. And some things that should not be spoken about include Hashim Amla taking the due advantage of the power plays and support from Devilliers.

Improvement from the West Indies

One can imagine the fate when a bugler steals a less amount of money after he was advised not to do so when he had stolen a fairly large amount. And the situation is no different from the one mentioned above if the performance of the West Indies team in the second T20 game against South Africa is considered. West Indies had lost the first T20 game against South Africa by a margin of 13 runs just a couple of days ago. And the one they lost on that day was just a couple of days after Chris Gayle warned his team mates of a severe consequence in case they failed to perform upto the mark.

So, in the second T20 game against the Proteas, the West Indies team redefined the meaning of a better performance when they declared that a better performance means a smaller margin of defeat, which was until then meant in making up for a loss in the previous game. I wish one should have watched the game which is referred to as a thriller by most of them commentating right there. But, once again, even the word thriller is being redefined when there are many such thrillers involving the West Indies team. And these thrillers are most of them shared by South Africa over West Indies.

Most of the so called thrillers between South Africa and West Indies are won by the Proteas and still the word "thriller" is being repeatedly used by major cricketing sites, TV channels and commentators. One can see the scorecard of the match to find how stupid it would have been to come across such a game. If the West Indians are weak, then that should have seen the South Africans thrashing them the way they decide. But, all that the South Africans could do was to pile up 120 runs at just 6 runs an over. May be that is the reason why the Proteas failed to make it to the semis of the world T20 last week.

It would be nice to highlight from the match that both the team played for 20 overs each and lost 7 wickets in their batting innings. Both the teams out there had their opener getting out for a duck when Loots Bosman from the South African side joined hands with the West Indian opener Chris Gayle to return back to the pavilion for naught. There were 9 bowlers from both the sides to have bowled their complete quota of 4 overs. It is stupid to say that a couple more from the West Indies would have seen them through the game for, that is obvious.

Finally, the West Indies team showed some improvement when they reduced the margin of defeat.

The assault starts on West Indies

Well no words or actions can stop the West Indies team from losing be it on their home turf or outside, the result is never bound to change. West Indies lose their first T20 match against South Africa played at North Sound yesterday. The threatening call from the West Indian captain Chris Gayle is still not found to work one can suppose. The warning from the WICB goes unanswered by everyone from the West Indies squad that includes Chris Gayle. In fact, Chris Gayle's name must appear first in the list of the probables who should be shown the doors for his performance in the first T20 game against the Proteas.

By god's grace and a lot of co operation from the West Indian side, one could see a five wicket haul being taken by McLaren when he was about to complete his full quota of 4 overs when he fell just 1 ball short. This was all the more expected and such statements from Chris Gayle can only make people laugh. The WICB would be far from being satisfied despite their team's loss if the West Indies lose with some dignity unlike the way it is happening now or since the last decade. So far, in international cricket there have been batsmen getting out without scoring a single run but it rarely happens that the batsman even fails to play a delivery before he gets out.

Once again anyone who missed watching yesterday's match missed something really interesting. The first one as mentioned being the 5 wicket haul by McLaren and second one being the rare situation where Deonarine gets out for a duck without even playing a single delivery, not even the ball for which he was out. Deonarine was out for a ball that was declared wide by the umpires which on one side added an extra run to the West Indian side and on the other hand a wicket to the South African side. The second event was unexpected. This is a rare case where a bowler is applauded for something which should have seen him invite a penalty.

Some highlights for the West Indies to feel comfortable would be that they lost the match by just 13 runs which is not that bad a loss than what the fans would have thought it to be. When ever the West Indies team is playing, a more challenging bet would be to predict the margin of loss the West Indies team will suffer, with the fact that they will surely lose the game already being obliged by one and all. Scorecard of the match reveals that the West Indies captain bought in 8 out of ten player to bowl. With one game already in front of us, it would be more fascinating for all of us to see how the series might end. So lets wait and watch.