Well it might have just come in as a surprise for all those curious fans of West Indies cricket out there when their favorite team inflicted a 10 wicket defeat on Pakistan yesterday at Guyana. But, to me who has been following the West Indies cricket from the past decade, this should come in as no surprise with the series already decided two one dayers back with Pakistan leaving absolutely no stone unturned in their approach against the West Indies. Of course, the West Indies earlier in the tournament beaten Pakistan in a game that was cut short at Bridgetown.
That was in the 4th one day international by which time West Indies had already meekly surrendered to the Pakistan team no matter where they were playing them. West Indies had lost the series 3-0 to Pakistan after the touring country had taken an unassailable lead in the five match one day series. Added to that would be the fact that the game was truncated to 30 overs after Pakistan had scored 248 runs on the board. Though not enough in today's limited overs cricket, the total was far from enough when the opposition they were facing came into consideration.
One can see the West Indian cricketers rejoicing their thumping 10 wicket win over the sub-continent nation unaware of their losses in the previous three encounters prior to that and the one off game that proved to be lucky for the hosts. I can remember the West Indies beating Australia on three successive occasions in a 7 match series after losing to the Aussies 4-0 in the first four one dayers that preceded this. Then, the West Indians were responsible in stopping the 21 match winning streak of Australia that started from the VB series involving England and Sri Lanka and went on through the world cup 2003.
The very same thing happened in the test series when the West Indies miserably lost the first three tests and won the 4th test which made news for the highest ever run chase in a test match that stands even today. All credit to Brian Lara who bought out the best from the worst from his team. If West Indies were even a little bit serious about their cricket, they should have had at least one win before handing out a series to the touring country. A consolation win is the last thing that any team ever dreams about. However, this was far better than a 5-0 whitewash.
Showing posts with label Pakistan vs West Indies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pakistan vs West Indies. Show all posts
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Will Pakistan experiment or play serious?
It has been less than a month since Pakistan inflicted a crushing defeat on the West Indies when the touring team lost all 10 wickets for a mere score of 113 on the board and on the other hand failing to strike even a single time. Of course, even England lost the match to Sri Lanka by 10 wickets despite England putting up a total in excess of 200 in the quarter finals. May be, had the West Indies scored above 200, a Pakistani wicket would have made it to the score card. That was just another loss for West Indies and nothing more.
With that apart, news and schedule has it that Pakistan is set to tour West Indies or are already in the country that is facing a lot of trouble in cricket. No prices for guessing the result of the series for even a kid can claim that West Indies are set to lose the series or worst come, may end the tournament without even a single win in both test as well as one day cricket. Couple of days back, news had its say that Gayle may be unavailable for the series, with the current West Indian squad speaking otherwise.
One can see the names of Chanderapaul and Sarwan along with Gayle. In addition to the presence of Chris Gayle and co, one can expect the return of Marlon Samuels for people who are familiar with the name and a chance for people who don't to get to know who this average cricketer is. Since Samuels is not some Mohammed Asif or Shane Warne, his return would hardly bother anyone-not even the WICB. But, the million dollar question is whether Pakistan will go ahead with a full fledged team to face the enemy or will they experiment with their players?
Had I been the Pakistani selector, I would have rested some or most of the key players from the tour though the series is away from home. Teams like Zimbabwe and West Indies (but rarely Bangladesh) can prove to be of some use to viewers only when key players and inform players take a break. Than, one can see a balanced match wherein both teams fight it out on the field. I remember Dhoni resting Schin Tendulkar in one of the games to see how things work with the absence of a star player. That was the reason for Australia to dominate the world cricket for so many years.
With that apart, news and schedule has it that Pakistan is set to tour West Indies or are already in the country that is facing a lot of trouble in cricket. No prices for guessing the result of the series for even a kid can claim that West Indies are set to lose the series or worst come, may end the tournament without even a single win in both test as well as one day cricket. Couple of days back, news had its say that Gayle may be unavailable for the series, with the current West Indian squad speaking otherwise.
One can see the names of Chanderapaul and Sarwan along with Gayle. In addition to the presence of Chris Gayle and co, one can expect the return of Marlon Samuels for people who are familiar with the name and a chance for people who don't to get to know who this average cricketer is. Since Samuels is not some Mohammed Asif or Shane Warne, his return would hardly bother anyone-not even the WICB. But, the million dollar question is whether Pakistan will go ahead with a full fledged team to face the enemy or will they experiment with their players?
Had I been the Pakistani selector, I would have rested some or most of the key players from the tour though the series is away from home. Teams like Zimbabwe and West Indies (but rarely Bangladesh) can prove to be of some use to viewers only when key players and inform players take a break. Than, one can see a balanced match wherein both teams fight it out on the field. I remember Dhoni resting Schin Tendulkar in one of the games to see how things work with the absence of a star player. That was the reason for Australia to dominate the world cricket for so many years.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
200+ partnerships & Sri Lanka
After the West Indies, the next best thing that could happen in the ongoing world cup would be the elimination of England who can only play a spoilsport with lack of talent and hard work. And this was very much evident when England became the 2nd team after the mighty losers-West Indies to be the team to hand over a 10 wicket win to a sub-continent nation. But, if England has lost to Sri Lanka by 10 wickets with over 200 on board, questions will definitely be raised regarding their caliber in international cricket. England is not that bad a team to lose so badly in the crucial stages of a tournament.
I think I have just got to Enjoy what's fun and funny with the English language keeping in mind the way the English campaign is going on. An effortless win for Sri Lanka yesterday seemed as though the Sri Lankans were playing some Netherlands and not England and the game was not a quarter-final but just another game in the league stage or some stupid friendly match. Though England have not been favorites to win the cup or make it to the semi-finals, such a bad thrashing was not at all expected by anyone. Sri Lanka never needed Muralitharan to do the damage.
An ordinary Herath and Mendis were enough to restrict the Englishmen from posting a demanding total. In fact, Muralitharan didn't even bowl his full quota of 10 overs and instead settled with 9 overs despite being the most successful bowler with two wickets to his credit. Let alone taking a wicket, there was not even dropped catches to say that England missed a chance. In the 1st match between Pakistan and West Indies, West Indies posted just 112 on the board and a 10 wicket win for Pakistan was almost expected. But things would not have been the case had they got a decent 200+ on board.
After the 4th quarter-finals between the teams mentioned above, one has to notice the Sri Lankans having two 200+ partnerships, with the 1st one coming against Zimbabwe and the second yesterday. They just fell short of breaking their record for the highest 1st wicket partnership when they lost their first wicket for 282. Yesterday, had this been known beforehand, may be the Sri Lankans would have conceded another 40 runs which would have seen them into the record books. As a matter of fact, Sri Lanka hold the record for the highest 1st wicket record against England in ODIs when they made 286.
I think I have just got to Enjoy what's fun and funny with the English language keeping in mind the way the English campaign is going on. An effortless win for Sri Lanka yesterday seemed as though the Sri Lankans were playing some Netherlands and not England and the game was not a quarter-final but just another game in the league stage or some stupid friendly match. Though England have not been favorites to win the cup or make it to the semi-finals, such a bad thrashing was not at all expected by anyone. Sri Lanka never needed Muralitharan to do the damage.
An ordinary Herath and Mendis were enough to restrict the Englishmen from posting a demanding total. In fact, Muralitharan didn't even bowl his full quota of 10 overs and instead settled with 9 overs despite being the most successful bowler with two wickets to his credit. Let alone taking a wicket, there was not even dropped catches to say that England missed a chance. In the 1st match between Pakistan and West Indies, West Indies posted just 112 on the board and a 10 wicket win for Pakistan was almost expected. But things would not have been the case had they got a decent 200+ on board.
After the 4th quarter-finals between the teams mentioned above, one has to notice the Sri Lankans having two 200+ partnerships, with the 1st one coming against Zimbabwe and the second yesterday. They just fell short of breaking their record for the highest 1st wicket partnership when they lost their first wicket for 282. Yesterday, had this been known beforehand, may be the Sri Lankans would have conceded another 40 runs which would have seen them into the record books. As a matter of fact, Sri Lanka hold the record for the highest 1st wicket record against England in ODIs when they made 286.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Bangladesh would have been a better opposition
Bringing all my frustrations in, I totally reject the West Indies team that not only fared so badly but also made the competition so boring. If not the Pakistani players, there would be no 2nd player who would be happy with the way the West Indies team played in the 1st quarter finals of the world cup yesterday. Had I been the person in charge, I would have stripped the West Indies team of its test status. Not even the Bangladesh team made me go mad with their bad performance. This I fear is the worst defeat for any team in the world cup knock out stage.
It has to be some bloody miracle that bought the West Indies team into the 2nd round of the competition with Bangladesh standing an equal chance of making it there. If one can go through the points table, it would be evident that both Bangladesh and West Indies had three wins against them. West Indies had wins against Bangladesh, Holland and Ireland while Bangladesh had a win against Ireland in addition to wins against Netherlands and Ireland. But, it was the net run rate that all made the difference for both the teams. At least Bangladesh had a win against England.
But, the West Indies didn't manage even one victory against a major opposition. They could have won their games against India and England after the former lost all their ten wickets and the latter piling up only 243 on the board. Any team that can better this record can be only a non test playing nation like Kenya, Zimbabwe, Ireland etc in case by chance they manage to do so. With such a daring start against England if the West Indians could not win, a thorough scrutiny of their test status is necessary I suppose. Despite India losing 7 wickets for 41 runs, a target of 270 proved too much for the West Indies.
I can't just recall when last West Indies put up a decent performance in world cups. In 2007, the only match worth mentioning for West Indies was against Pakistan which was the 1st match of the tournament. That was followed by losses against Australia, Sri Lanka, England, New Zealand and South Africa. In 2003, they won against South Africa by 3 runs with the South African innings reduced to 49 overs owing to slow over rate. That was followed by losses to Sri Lanka and New Zealand but was somewhat bearable compared to their present post-Lara era. Had Bangladesh qualified, there would have been 4 sub-continent teams in the quarter-finals.
By the way, if you are looking for awesome Embroidery Designs here you go.
It has to be some bloody miracle that bought the West Indies team into the 2nd round of the competition with Bangladesh standing an equal chance of making it there. If one can go through the points table, it would be evident that both Bangladesh and West Indies had three wins against them. West Indies had wins against Bangladesh, Holland and Ireland while Bangladesh had a win against Ireland in addition to wins against Netherlands and Ireland. But, it was the net run rate that all made the difference for both the teams. At least Bangladesh had a win against England.
But, the West Indies didn't manage even one victory against a major opposition. They could have won their games against India and England after the former lost all their ten wickets and the latter piling up only 243 on the board. Any team that can better this record can be only a non test playing nation like Kenya, Zimbabwe, Ireland etc in case by chance they manage to do so. With such a daring start against England if the West Indians could not win, a thorough scrutiny of their test status is necessary I suppose. Despite India losing 7 wickets for 41 runs, a target of 270 proved too much for the West Indies.
I can't just recall when last West Indies put up a decent performance in world cups. In 2007, the only match worth mentioning for West Indies was against Pakistan which was the 1st match of the tournament. That was followed by losses against Australia, Sri Lanka, England, New Zealand and South Africa. In 2003, they won against South Africa by 3 runs with the South African innings reduced to 49 overs owing to slow over rate. That was followed by losses to Sri Lanka and New Zealand but was somewhat bearable compared to their present post-Lara era. Had Bangladesh qualified, there would have been 4 sub-continent teams in the quarter-finals.
By the way, if you are looking for awesome Embroidery Designs here you go.
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