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 With that being an old and an outdated issue, the point to be seen here is that Smith is found boasting victories only against West Indies and no other team in the world.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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

How long will the satisfaction last for WI?

Well one has to pity the present day's West Indies team which finds relief after winning the second one day match against Zimbabwe. One has to think whether it was Australia whom the West Indies defeated or was it really Zimbabwe? The moment a team rejoices after winning a match against some team like Bangladesh or Zimbabwe, its caliber is well know to the cricketing world. And, moreover the West indies team finds relief not before it lost the first one day international and the only T20 game that was played prior to that to the same Zimbabwean team. Also, this victory was at home for the Windies.

The same West Indies team was found to have lost or rather being whitewashed by the Bangladesh team somewhere 7 months ago which was any team's first ever test match series defeat at the hands of Bangladesh team and West Indies being the home team then added to their woes. Now, if one sees the West Indies team rejoicing after their victory against Zimbabwe it can be considered that the West Indies team and the fans would have anticipated them to lose the game and the series as well to the Zimbabweans. And, their actions are justified with the absence of some key players like Dwayne Bravo.

This was a hard fought victory for the West Indies, which at one stage saw then reeling with 85 runs on the board at the end of the 26^th over at a run rate of just over 3.0 an over. And moreover, at that stage, the West Indies team had lost 4 quick and top wickets. It would not have been possible without the experienced Chris Gayle and Deonarine who held the nerves and didn't lose more than 2 wickets after their initial debacle which saw West Indies through that game against Zimbabwe. It is now only history that West Indies boasted a batsman in Brian Lara who scored 400* in test cricket.

And, when the West Indies can boast of their victory against Zimbabwe which was a hard fought one, questions do raise about the future of the West Indies in the ongoing series against the same. Can West Indies win atleast two of the remaining three one dayers against Zimbabwe to avoid another disappointment in case they don't succeed in doing so? The target that they chased down was a mere 208 runs and that could draw in a lot of applause which was not the case when they chased down 418 runs in test cricket against Australia some 6 odd years back.