The Golden Isles - A Third Time Lucky West Indies Story

[Imager36]

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the...

2015/16 Season Awards!

Test Batting

Most Awards - Darren Bravo - 4 awards - Oh, what a surprise. You might see that name a few times.

Most Runs - Kirk Edwards - 900 runs - This one was a surprise to me. We played 9 tests this season, so that's amazing.

Breakout Player - Max Browne - For a man we didn't think could bat, an average of almost 30 isn't bad, and he's a handy gloveman too!

Test Bowling

Most Awards - Sunil Narine - 4 awards - I'm going to get sick of typing his name too, I can tell.

Most Wickets - Sunil Narine - 44 wickets - Bowled the most overs by a long way too, but it's 13 ahead of anyone else.

Breakout Player - Kevin Stoute - Didn't play a test before last season, but was our second highest wicket taker this. Cracking.

ODI Batting

Most Awards - Shane Burton - 6 awards - Very impressive from Shane this year, he's really cemented a place in that top order.

Most Runs - Adrian Barath - 777 runs - Burton had the best average, but Barath had more runs by virtue of playing more matches, and rather well!

Breakout Player - Dolston Tuit - Not really improved, but no-one has considerably. His 185 runs in 5 ODIs show promise.

ODI Bowling

Most Awards - Sunil Narine/Imran Khan - 6 awards each - They've both been rather good in ODIs this year, so it's fitting that the spin twins share this award.

Most Wickets - Sunil Narine/Carlos Brathwaite - 31 wickets each - He's got a thing about sharing his awards, hasn't he? Carlos mainly gets his wickets at the death and start though.

Breakout Player - Carlos Brathwaite - Played okay last year, but this year made sure he was a large part of the team and was ever present.

T20I Batting

Most Awards - Darren Bravo - 4 awards - I thought he'd sweep it with more awards than that, but what do I know?

Most Runs - Darren Bravo - Makes sense, really. 130 better off than his nearest rival, Powell.

Breakout Player - Kieran Powell - Powell of course played 6 fewer games, and this appears to be his form of the game.

T20I Bowling

Most Awards - Sunil Narine - 7 awards - Yet again, no surprises there. Most awards of anyone in any form.

Most Economical (min. 20 overs) - Sunil Narine - 6.02 - Yep. Economy matters more in this form, but he's still king. Matthew had an economy of 5.85, but only played 4 games.

Breakout Player - Carlos Brathwaite - Again, sort of wins this cause he emerged at the end of last season, but played rather well this year.

Notable Mentions

Mike Alford - Only man to get an award in every category. Got 9 in total, 6 for bowling.

Sunil Narine - 17 awards cross-disciplines. Brilliant season for the mystery offie.

And that just about wraps up our awards for this season. Next up, a preview of the next year, with a warning that it's looking an incredibly short season.

[Imager36]

2016/17 Season Preview

2nd June - 3rd July - South Africa - Home

2 Tests - Last series lost 2-0.
5 ODIs - Last series lost 5-0.
2 T20Is - Last series lost 2-0.

Well... I think it's fair to say we can't do any worse than the team that came before us against South Africa in their home series, but having played them in the T20 World Cup, I don't know that we'll be doing much better. Key aim - Maybe nick a point in the test series?

7th October - 2nd November - Pakistan - Away

2 Tests - Last series lost 2-0.
5 ODIs - Last series lost 3-0.
2 T20Is - No series played.

Pakistan. I know we lost to them in that crucial T20 World Cup match, but somehow I don't feel it'll remain that way over a longer period. I expect us to take points off them at some point in some form.

2nd - 29th January - Zimbabwe - Away

1 FC friendly
2 Tests - Last series won 2-0.
3 ODIs - Last series won 2-1.
2 T20Is - Last series won 2-0.

And finally, in our short season (26 matches total? We played 8 in one triangular last year O.o) we take on the... mighty... Zimbabwe. We have nothing to gain from this series. Except a large amount of shame.

So here we go, ladies and gentlemen. No-one's retired, and I've named the first 12 man squad for the first test against the South Africans. (Remind me of the name Mark Nixon before the Zimbabwe series... promising young RMF bowler.)

A. Barath (O)
S. Burton (O)
D. Bravo (BAT) (VC)
K. Edwards (BAT) (C)
M. Alford (ALL)
M. Paul (BAT)
M. Browne (K)
K. Stoute (ALL)
I. Khan (SPIN)
K. McClean (SEAM)
M. Matthew (SEAM)
S. Narine (SPIN)

On a really dusty track, Imran Khan takes the last place in the XI from Mervin Matthew.

[Imager36]

If I'm honest, it went as well as I could realistically have hoped for.



We lost the toss, and after the first 2 sessions, we knew we'd probably be losing the game, with the opening partnership still growing, eventually terminated by a run out for 224 runs. We took semi-regular wickets from then on, but that partnership had somewhat killed us off. Narine got the wicket of Wilson for 156, but otherwise failed to impress, going for 142 runs. Imran Khan, however, despite going for a lot of runs, did manage to bag 5 wickets and keep his average going in the right direction. Stoute's 3 were the only wickets for the seamers, and that big partnership, as well as 59 between Steyn and Philander, had really hurt us.

The first blow, and possibly the one that hurt us most, was when when Burton picked up a fracture 11 runs in, ruling him out for 2/3 weeks and making him miss two innings where he was on the teamsheet! Barath, Bravo and Edwards all fell quicker than I would have liked them to, and whilst Alford, Paul and Browne had a good time on the counterattack, it got us nowhere near avoiding the follow-on, although a late 19 between Narine and McClean did make sure our first innings deficit was over 300.

Bravo came out to open with Barath and showed that he's possibly the only member of our team who could get into the South Africa XI. He shared brief partnerships with the rest of the middle and top orders, who mainly got starts and failed to convert them into anything. Browne and Stoute then put on 40-odd together, but when Brown, Khan and McClean fell quickly, we were expecting an innings defeat. Step up Narine, who produced his highest test score of 23 to put on a 46 partnership with Stoute and give us 16 runs to bowl at!

We did manage a wicket apiece for the opening bowlers. Which is more than can be said for the first day.

Series State	South Africa lead 1-0 with 1 to play.
Batting Award	Darren Bravo - For his 88, which was constructed with aplomb.
Bowling Award	Imran Khan - His 5fer was the only thing worth mentioning on this front.
Squad News	The 35 year old Ramnaresh Sarwan returns in place of the injured Burton. He's been in great form in England.
Team News	Sarwan in for Burton, Matthew replaces Narine. Bravo opens with Barath with Sarwan at 3.

Note - I note that this is now the most viewed thread on this year's forum. So thanks to everyone who's read any of it through its rather long residency! And to all the people who clicked this because it was at the top and then left the forum, never to return, I'm sorry.

[Graham_5000]

Note - I note that this is now the most viewed thread on this year's forum. So thanks to everyone who's read any of it through its rather long residency! And to all the people who clicked this because it was at the top and then left the forum, never to return, I'm sorry.

I love following your thread.. I hope D Wilson emerges for us one day soon!

[Imager36]

Another brilliant test match. It's a shame we only have 6 this year, and that the close ones don't always fall in our favour!



Winning the toss helped us this time, although Darren Bravo's stint as opening batsman did not start well as he was out for 3. Barath was in supreme form though, scoring 112, his fourth test century. Sarwan scored 43 on his unexpected return to the test arena, and captain Kirk faired just as well in his innings of 45, which Barath fell right towards the end of, leaving us 215/4 with two new batsmen at the crease. Luckily one of them was Mike Alford, who fired a stunning 58 from 60 balls with 7 fours and 2 sixes (I had him set to normal! Honest!) to put us back on top, with Paul out early and Browne playing the supporting role in a partnership of 75. Stoute and McClean managed to put on 42 together to give us a good score of 379.

Bowling was considerably easier than it had been for us previously in the series! Dom Wilson continued to show why he's played 13 tests by the age of 23 by scoring his 4th century, 133, but with ABdV, Rindel, Duminy and Philander all out early, and Smith, de Kock and Amla making starts but not going on at all, it was left down to Morne Morkel to produce a good partnership, with the score when he came in at 177/7. They put on 76 together, much to the annoyance of our bowlers, and he added even more when Wilson was out and Steyn joined him, McClean getting all their wickets to make it 6 for the innings.

We had a slimmer lead than we wanted, in the first session of day 3, and it was clear we didn't need to go too hard. Imagine my surprise, or with this bowling line-up against us, lack of it, when we tumbled to 61/5. Paul and Browne managed to battle though, and between them put on a partnership of 97 to get us back in the hunt. Browne fell for 45, but Paul pushed on to his 3rd test half century and the tail added a few extras to put the target for victory at 291.

Kev McClean got Wilson early for once, and de Villiers next ball to leave the South Africans 22/2 and us believing. The following 110 partnership between Smith and de Kock rather saw to that, realising that they're better than us, but three more wickets from McClean left them 161/5 and struggling. Rindel made 37 with Duminy, but when JP was bowled by Mike Alford, who followed two balls later by trapping Philander, we felt we had the game in the bag.

Unfortunately, we didn't. Morne Morkel was our thorn in the first innings, and so he proved again, adding 28 in a 52 partnership with Rindel. Steyn stuck around for a bit, and Rindel scored 18 while he scored 8 to take them within 15 of victory when McClean got Dale's wicket. Fielding and bowling tactics meant little was on offer for Rindel, but Marchant de Lange managed to eke out 11 from 18 balls to deny us a victory and point off the South Africans.

Series State	South Africa win the series 2-0. How unfair that looks.
Batting Award	Adrian Barath - No-one scored in both innings, but Ade got a century for his efforts in the first.
Bowling Award	Kevin McClean - Well that's more obvious. 12 wickets in the match against the South Africans? At an average of 16.25? Yes please.

Next up, as is standard practice, we play a 5 match ODI series. Shane Burton will miss this series through injury. Squad approaches.

A. Barath (O)
D. Tuit (O)
L. Simmons (O/K)
Darren Bravo (BAT) (C)
R. Sarwan (BAT)
K. Pollard (BAT)
M. Paul (BAT)
M. Alford (ALL)
D. Benjamin (ALL)
R. Hinds (ASP)
I. Khan (SPIN)
C. Brathwaite (SEAM)
K. McClean (SEAM)
M. Matthew (SEAM)
S. Narine (SPIN)

Sarwan gets a recall to the ODI side too following a decent test showing and the absence of Shane Burton, a key figure in our ODI middle order. Kevin Stoute is dropped for consistent bad ODI performance. Kev McClean gets a place in the ODI side due to his sparkling form, making the side for the first ODI looks a little like this...

A. Barath

D. Tuit

L. Simmons (K)

Darren Bravo (C)

R. Sarwan

M. Alford

D. Benjamin

I. Khan

C. Brathwaite

K. McClean

S. Narine

PS - Just saw that this thread has an average star rating of 4.9 after 30 ratings. Firstly, wow, this forum has a star rating system, second, aww, you guys :').

[Imager36]

I think it's safe to say no-one was expecting this...



We produced a very confident display to win the first ODI, although I was hopeful we might get it done before the last ball of the match! We won the toss and chose to bowl first, but our start was not ideal. Smith was out for 10, bowled by Carlos B, but de Villiers and Wilson remained and hit hard at our bowlers. Within the first 18 overs, they'd passed 100, but the loss of ABdV when they were on 99 preceded a slowing down period, with de Kock falling as quickly as he came out and the spinners taking charge from there. Between them, in a 20-over period, they conceded only 58 runs and managed to pick up 5 big wickets for us. Brathwaite and Benjamin were the death bowlers, and they performed their job admirably despite Morkel batting well at the end. The total, we felt, was manageable.

We started cautiously against the strong South African quick bowling line-up, and Barath and Tuit managed to make 49 for the opening partnership, despite the ferocious attack making runs hard to come by, and we were only going at about 3 an over. Lendl Simmons, strangely, gave us exactly what we needed in terms of impetus. His bright 41 from 48 balls came by attacking Bothma and Morkel, and Ade Barath managed to stay there and slowly accumulate at the other end. When Simmons got out, Darren Bravo continued his good work, and even though Barath was out for a stodgy 65, the result was never really in doubt, with Sarwan hitting hard straight away. We only needed 2 from the last over, but still somehow took it down to the wire with the wicket of Bravo, and needing 1 to win, Sarwan hit a nice boundary.

Series State	West Indies lead 1-0 with 4 to play.
Batting Award	Lendl Simmons - His innings really got us back into the game when it could have faded away from us.
Bowling Award	Narine/Khan - Bowling in tandem, they were utterly deadly and the reason we won.
Team News	On a spinning track, Hinds replaces McClean. This could be amusing.

Aside - We're 5th in the ODI and T20I world rankings, but 7th in the tests? I thought we were best at those!

[Imager36]

I wasn't quite so impressed with our batting this time around.



We won the toss and chose to bowl again. Wilson was, unfortunately, rather good yet again. This was his 3rd hundred in only 6 innings against us this year, but it was fine. Whilst Smith and de Villiers fell early, he had fine support from de Kock, who really brought the attack to us with 43 from 41 balls. Amla and Duminy fell quickly after QdK, but Philander once again provided resistance, this time only 21, as Wilson reached his hundred and Narine got him LBW. They failed to press on to the 220 plus total they were on course for thanks to some great death bowling by Mike Alford and Sunil Narine, who as our best spinner was granted more responsibility. We felt this target to be well within our grasp.

As things on this game seem to go though, we were soon 19/3. We hadn't been looking to push on at all at the start, merely try and maintain wickets to make the game safe, but the SA quicks rather saw to those attempts. Barath (31) made it through the carnage, and started playing well when Sarwan joined him, but they were both out not too long after to leave us 55/5. Mike Alford and Dean Benjamin battled hard to a 42 partnership, but Bothma broke that, dismissing Alford for 22. 35 year old Ryan Hinds though, in at number 8, played superbly. He ended with 59 from 67 balls, his 2nd ODI half-century, and with 11 balls to spare when he was dismissed, a little more resilience around him would have led to us winning the match. It wasn't to be.

Series State	South Africa level the series to 1-1 with 3 to play.
Batting Award	Ryan Hinds - I doubt he'll get another of these, but he really was splendid.
Bowling Award	Alford/Hinds/Narine - Another triple award sums up our bowling. Hinds first ever to win both in one match?
Team News	Spin is our strength and we're sticking to it! No changes.

Aside - University exam season means I really shouldn't be here, but on the plus side you've got a whole summer's worth of updates to look forward to!

[Imager36]

Okay... we've been slightly too competitive to date. It's scaring me.



Now, weirdly, this time out their opening partnership was 108, but they never really seemed like they were at all on top. Smith and Wilson were not their usual dominant selves, as they meandered to 108 through 27 overs at a measly 4 an over! All the bowlers were economical at the start, with the exception of Ryan Hinds who was the spinner to bowl in the powerplay, which is always tough. Even after Wilson fell, Smith failed to really accelerate, and despite a lovely cameo of 34 from 33 from JP Duminy, other batsmen departed for low scores to Khan, Alford and Narine and South Africa failed to take advantage of their position. Alford appears to be back in to some sort of bowling form, which has rather compensated for the drop off in his batting so far this season!

We came out to bat knowing if we messed this up we would not be likely to get a third chance in the series. We started cautiously, therefore, with Dolston Tuit making 28 fairly slowly to give the innings some form of base, but with Barath and Simmons out early, we became 82/3 and feared another collapse. Thankfully Darren Bravo was in form. He put on 78 in partnership with Sarwan to add to his 40 partnership with Tuit, and his 79 from 103 balls was almost perfectly paced, including 12 fours and a six. We did fear when he was LBW to Morkel with still 56 to score, and we seemed right to when Alford, Benjamin and Hinds departed for a sum total of 21, leaving us needing 25 more with Khan and Sarwan in. Khan scored a quick 15 though, danger was dispelled, and we reached our target with 10 balls to spare.

Series State	West Indies lead the series 2-1 with 2 to play
Batting Award	Darren Bravo - The highest score of a low-scoring match, in good time too.
Bowling Award	Imran Khan - Economical and took wickets. Alford is unlucky here!
Team News	Thought about switching Benjamin for Pollard or Brathwaite for Matthew, but in the end made no changes.

Aside - I like to think my declarations are a little more positive than Alastair Cook's, if I get in a position to make one!

[Imager36]

The one where Alford lived up to the hype.



Graeme Smith almost stole his limelight, but he wasn't having any of it. We lost the toss and were sent in to bat first, and got off to one of our usual poor starts. Adrian Barath fell for one to leave us 3/1. Surprisingly, however, this was followed by a pretty decent partnership, 72 between the almost shotless Tuit (21) and Lendl Simmons, who hit a lovely 57 from 65 balls and hogged the strike. The run rate was around 4.5 an over and we were going well, but as soon as Dolston fell, Lendl followed to leave us 83/3 and with 2 new men at the crease. Sarwan faired worse, making only 7 before departing LBW to Morkel, but this only brought our 21 year old wonderkid Mike Alford to the wicket, in what was his 50th (wow, I probably have overused him) ODI. Alford hit his unbeaten 78 from 77 balls, and whilst wickets and hold-ups appeared at the other end (Benjamin took 40 balls to fall for 23), he batted on and reached his highest ODI score (by one run!) in the final over. His hitting had opened up the game, and given us the highest score of the series so far from a poor position.

When we came back onto the field to bowl, Alford was still looking a little jaded, but was happy to take up his newfound new ball duties nonetheless. I'm not entirely sure who gave him some form of beast mode, but in his first 4 overs he took 2 wickets for only 4 runs, and those the important ones of the double 'de's. (Too proud of that pun to let it lie in normal sized font.) Add that to Brathwaite's dismissal of Wilson earlier, and we had SA on the ropes at 14/3. They did fight back though, as ever. Smith was playing beautifully at one end, and both Amla and Duminy managed to stay with him for decent amounts of time, taking SA to 127/5 and almost putting them back in with a chance. Philander and Eccles fell quickly to leave them still over 90 runs away with 7 down, but yet again Morkel batted well, his 30 from 35 against the spinners was only broken when Alford returned for the death and had him caught and bowled. Steyn made 16 before falling to Alford, and with victory only 12 away when Paterson came in, Mike claimed the final wicket to make him undisputed man of the match, and possibly the series.

Series State	West Indies win the series, 3-1 up with 1 to play.
Batting Award	Mike Alford - Showed his potential.
Bowling Award	Mike Alford - Showed it's not just potential.
Team News	With the series in the bag, I gamble on changing a winning side. The shotless Tuit is replaced by Paul, who shuffles down to number 4 in the order.

Aside - Unsure whether to continue this story when ICC13 comes out or not... if the international online includes save games as it probably won't, I might change and give people the (occasional so as not to ruin the flow) chance to take me on.

[Imager36]

Glad we'd already won the series here!



We batted poorly except for Sarwan, Alford and Bravo, and even Darren was a bit stodgy as we looked to resurrect our innings and rather failed to do that. The lower order were actually decent, and pushed us up to a score that would have been good at other places in the series.

Wilson and Smith put on a quick 161, and when that had happened, we'd pretty much lost, unfortunately! Never mind... I sort of rushed through this one through, I have to say.

Series State	West Indies win the series 3-2.
Batting Award	Ramnaresh Sarwan - Top scorer... poor innings all round.
Bowling Award	Sunil Narine - The only bloke who had an economy under 5, and it was 3.8
Team News	For the first of the T20s, Stoute, Powell and Bascombe replace McClean, Barath and Tuit. In terms of the team, Powell, Bascombe and Stoute replace Barath, Benjamin and Paul.

And we were back on form again to nick at least a point off them in the first T20!



We removed Wilson for 18 from 11 balls, but just couldn't shake Smith. He stayed in 64 balls to make a mammoth 98, and de Villiers at the other end just held up the end and finished 38 from 39. De Kock came in at the death and made a rather good 24 from 11 balls, with all the seamers and Imran Khan coming in for hefty punishment at various points in the innings.

We thought we had no chance of chasing a total that large, and that reduced when Powell fell to the first ball of the innings from Philander. Simmons and Bravo though, despite me discrediting the wicketkeeper especially from time to time, looked in superlative form. They put on a partnership of 116, with Simmons the man to fall at the end of it, his 66 from 41 balls coming in really good time and keeping us up with the rate and really in the game. Darren Bravo was also batting well, but possibly a little more in check, as Bascombe came and went. He put on 40 with Sarwan, beginning to accelerate as we had to, but when Sarwan fell there were 2 overs left and we still needed another 21 to win. He hit 3 consecutive fours off the start of the next Steyn over to put victory within our grasp, and then perished trying to hoik another one over mid-off. Alford and Stoute knocked off the 9 from 9 with little difficulty.

Series State	West Indies lead 1-0 with 1 to play.
Batting Award	Simmons/Bravo - I give it to two bowlers sometimes, this is only fair. Both strike rates over 160, both meant we won the game.
Bowling Award	None given - None of the bowlers were actively good... 2 wickets taken and economies were high.
Team News	This pitch doesn't look like it'll spin... Kieron Pollard replaces Hinds for 5 bowlers and a part-timer/pinch-hitter. He'll move up and down the order as I see fit.

And... What do you mean we won?!?



South Africa got off to a decent, if not stunning, start. Smith went well again, making 47 of the opening partnership worth 63, before falling to Kev Stoute in the 7th over. Wilson and de Villiers were steady until Narine had DW stumped, and the innings continued in a rather sedate fashion til the end, with the spinners rather doing their work well in the middle overs, and Carlos Brathwaite bowling exceptionally at the death to keep them down under 8 runs an over overall.

We felt this was a target we could chase after our last success, but we soon started losing wickets. Simmons and Bravo fell after 8 balls each, Pollard went for a golden duck when I sent him out to try and help the already inflating required runrate, Bascombe went not long since, and after Sarwan came in Powell was trapped in front by Morkel for 36, the highest score from the top 5 by 26 runs. Sarwan found partners hard to come by. Mike Alford only managed to stay in 7 balls for his 5, but Sarwan removed the middleman and made this partnership worth 34, the highest of the innings. He was keeping us up with the run rate though, and while Stoute made 8 from 5 balls, it was arguably Imran Khan's 8 from 13 that was more useful, occupying whilst Sarwan mopped up the remaining runs. Brathwaite came in and hit a boundary to take us safe, and Sarwan fittingly hit the winning single.

Series State	West Indies win the series 2-0.
Batting Award	Ramnaresh Sarwan - One of the best T20 innings I've seen on this game... kept strike well with the lower order, won us the game.
Bowling Award	Carlos Brathwaite - 1/23 from 4 overs ain't bad against a top-class side.

And to finish for today, a reminder that next up for us is a 2 test series in Pakistan, for which the following 18 (excessive, much?) has been selected.

A. Barath (O)
S. Barrington (O)
L. Simmons (O) (K)
S. Burton (O/BAT)
Darren Bravo (BAT) (VC)
K. Edwards (BAT) (C)
R. Sarwan (BAT)
M. Alford (ALL)
M. Paul (BAT)
M. Browne (K)
D. Francis (K)
K. Stoute (ALL)
C. Brathwaite (SEAM)
I. Khan (SPIN)
K. McClean (SEAM)
J. Holder (SEAM)
M. Matthew (SEAM)
S. Narine (SPIN)

I think that's about the strongest 18 for test match cricket we've ever had. Daniel Francis, 22 year old regen keeper, makes the squad due to an injury to Browne and not being significantly worse, statistically... 2 week injury, but I have no idea whether he'll be back for the second test or not! So many quality batsmen, really makes it difficult to pick an XI. I have done so, however. Sarwan misses out to promote the youthful Burton, and Jason Holder gets another chance in place of Matthew, Brathwaite or Narine because he really deserves one with his averages.

A. Barath

S. Burton

Darren Bravo

K. Edwards (C)

M. Paul

M. Alford

D. Francis (K)

K. Stoute

I. Khan

J. Holder

K. McClean

Aside - After last day of uni exams, massive GI post. What did you expect?!

[Imager36]

One poor innings of bowling led to our demise in the first test.



We lost the toss and thus had to bowl first at a strong batting line-up. McClean took 2 early wickets to get them 13/2, but they fought back well through opener Salahuddin and Asad Shafiq. When Shafiq fell to Alford to give Dan Francis his first international dismissal, Alam and Jamshed quickly followed to Imran Khan's spin, leaving them in trouble at 133/5. Keeper Rizwan came in and was a real thorn in our side, scoring 75 as Salahuddin and then Nadir kept going at the other end. Even when he was out, it wasn't over, as Nadir kept it up, the bowler eventually staying not out on his highest test score of 47, taking Pakistan to a decent total.

We came out to bat and made the track look an absolute minefield. Burton fell to Bhatti, and Bravo followed the next ball to leave us in trouble early on. Barath went for 21, and Paul for 12 to leave us 53/4 and staring defeat in the face already. Edwards and Alford built for a while, but they both fell soon enough, with Stoute and Imran Khan following to leave us 130/8, not having met the follow on target yet! Francis and Holder eaked out those runs... and then just kept going! Their partnership was worth 133 and was practically chanceless, spanning most of the evening session of day 2 and the morning session of day 3, with débutante Francis finally falling for 84, just 16 runs short of something Max Browne hasn't yet managed in 17 tests, a century. Batting all the way to 11 sometimes has its perks, and it did again here as McClean and Holder put on another 63 to take us to within 10 runs of the Pakistani score. McClean eventually fell for 31, leaving Holder stranded on 79, his highest score and second 50 in all cricket.

Then came our poor innings. We tried everything to get wickets, but their openers managed a 136 partnership, the second wicket was worth 107 and to add insult to injury, the third was worth 85. After that we took wickets swiftly as they searched for quick runs, but the damage had really already been done, and all we were helping were our bowling averages. They declared just before tea on day 4, leaving us 4 sessions to bat to save the game, or 441 to win it.

Our opening partnership was stodgy and worth 88, giving us hope we might actually save this thing, but wickets fell quickly after that. Alford (44) and Francis (40 from 35) put on entertaining cameos for the crowd, but the result never looked possible. Imran Khan batted 104 minutes himself in the last 2 partnerships, which were worth 89 in total, but the final wicket fell with just over an hour and a half to play, and we knew we'd have to bowl better in the next test.

Series State	Pakistan lead the series 1-0 with 1 to play.
Batting Award	Dan Francis - First test match, 124 runs, 6 catches. Not bad at all.
Bowling Award	Jason Holder - Wasn't exciting in getting his 5 wickets, but grafted. Bowled well in both innings.
Team News	No recovery from Browne, but Mervin Matthew comes in for the totally out of form Kevin Stoute and Sarwan replaces vice-captain Bravo and opens, with Burton at 3.

Aside - That latter change is probably more significant than it sounds in that rushed text above. Darren's only averaged 22 from his 6 test innings this year. We could have swapped out Paul instead, but he scored a double hundred in his only domestic FC game so far this year so is in form.

[Imager36]

Low scoring test matches are always more fun! No good for averages though. Or the heart.



They won the toss and, as expected, chose to bat first again. The pitch was looking green, so I hoped for early wickets with the new ball, but was disappointed as Salahuddin and Shehzad stockpiled a solid 56 from the first 29 overs of the innings, at such a slow pace I couldn't work out whether the seamers were doing well to keep them down or badly to not have put them out of their misery yet! Then I introduced the spin of Imran Khan for a different angle, and as soon as I could blink it was 74/5, Khan with a five-for and showing I should never trust the pitch report! The next two wickets went to Holder to put them 110/7, but the tail led a revival. Nadir scored the extra 3 runs this match to make his maiden test 50, and Bhatti hit a pretty decent 36 to put them back in contention. 213 looked a decent score on a horrible pitch.

Our opening partnership was worth 32, until Barath was out for 23 to Bhatti. Sarwan was really struggling though, his 17 from 70 balls was a rate that even Johnathan Trott would have thought took the piss. Burton fared poorly in his début at number 3, but Kirk Edwards was assured as always. His test average is over 50, and he showed why in his 19th test half century (13 tons). Wickets kept falling at the other end though, and when Francis was out, we were 132/6. Captain Kirk and Khan managed a 44 partnership, and when Edwards was out, Imran continued to steer the ship, reaching 34 before falling to Ashfaq and leave us 196/9. Matthew and McClean managed a 63 partnership from somewhere, though, Kev hitting his straps and hitting an unbeaten 41 from only 36 balls before Mervin was struck LBW to give us a lead of 46.

Kev also hit his straps with the new ball, removing both openers by the time the scores were level to give us an advantage. Sohail and Shafiq fell soon after to Holder and Khan, and Mike Alford getting Alam left them 102/5, only 56 in front. Jamshed and Rizwan played sensibly, and well, to add 77 runs, but as Jamshed went to Khan, Rizwan was left with only the tail to work with. They all stuck around a little while, but in the end Rizwan himself fell for 79 and we were set the challenging but not insurmountable 201 to win the test and tie the series.

We made a poor start as Sarwan was out in the first over, and Barath and Burton put on 26 before Burton was LBW to Bhatti. Edwards fell remarkably quickly and Barath followed to leave us 75/4, but thankfully Mike Paul showed composure and style as he scored 61 in partnerships with Alford (25) and Dan Francis, who was the ideal foil for him. That partnership took us to within 40, but Paul went to Ashfaq, and it was left to Francis to attack and Imran Khan (18*) to stick in to take us to the total we needed, which they, happily, did.

Series State	West Indies and Pakistan tie the series 1-1.
Batting Award	Mike Paul - A tough one, this, but his second innings won us the game from a tough position.
Bowling Award	Imran Khan - No-brainer when a guy takes 10 wickets. We're not missing Narine since I dropped him for Khan!

Next up, 5 ODIs against Pakistan... more great escapades to come for the Golden Isles?

A. Barath (O)
L. Simmons (O/K)
Darren Bravo (BAT) (C)
S. Burton (BAT)
R. Sarwan (BAT)
M. Paul (BAT)
K. Pollard (ALL)
M. Alford (ALL)
D. Francis (K)
D. Benjamin (ALL)
R. Hinds (ASP)
I. Khan (SPIN)
C. Brathwaite (SEAM)
K. McClean (SEAM)
S. Narine (SPIN)

Lovely, so basically, Dolston Tuit is dropped for this series, with Burton coming back in after injury and Francis making the squad due to his aggressive tendencies and form. Paul, Francis, Pollard and Brathwaite are the 4 excluded from the first ODI, as we employ 3 spinners again.

Aside - I was at the Rose Bowl for the England/New Zealand ODI today. Eurgh. Guptill's innings was magnifique, however.

[Imager36]

A really poor performance to start this series.



We won the toss and put them into bat. They put on 97 for the first wicket, Salahuddin was cautious, but Shehzad managed to pile on runs and when they were both out, almost at the same time, Alam and Jamshed joined forces to create another good partnership, this time 109. They both played well and aggressively too, to take the run rate up above 5 against the spinners, Narine being picked out for special treatment. When McClean returned he got rid of both of them, but Rizwan hit 39 from 27 balls to put them way ahead of the curve.

And... we failed to really put up any resistance. Simmons made a duck to condemn himself to 12th man duties for the next match, and while Barath, Burton and Sarwan put up a bit of a fight, everyone else pretty much crumbled easily to allow them a win and a 1-0 lead.

Series State	Pakistan lead the series 1-0 with 4 to play.
Batting Award	Darren Bravo - 65 and then run out. Well batted sir.
Bowling Award	Imran Khan - Only man to go for under 5 an over, going at 3.3!
Team News	As above, Francis replaces Simmons and opens, and Pollard and Brathwaite replace Hinds and Benjamin.

The second game, however, was far more satisfying.



We chose to bat first, as we simply don't go well batting second against certain teams, and I felt Pakistan might be one of them! We started well, with Barath and Francis making 42 from the first 10 overs, and Barath falling for 20 soon after. Francis continued apace though, ending on 57 from 72 balls, despite giving a few chances. Bravo joined him and slowly accumulated 30 from 56. Unfortunately they both fell at pretty much the same time to leave us 114/3, and Burton joined them 2 runs later. Pollard came in, and he and Sarwan added 48 before Sarwan went to Shah for 22, and Alford and Khan left us in the lurch at 172/7 after 38 overs. Pollard was still there though, on about 30, and was joined by Brathwaite. The latter held out for 37 balls to score 29, and the former went on a rampage like he did in the good old days! After a slow start to his innings, he suddenly went to 70 from 58 balls, with 9 fours and a six. He'd given us a rather decent total, 249.

Our defence didn't start too well, as Shehzad teed off in an opening partnership of 78, but due to Salahuddin's inability to get the ball off the square, we stayed a little ahead on the required run rate for this period of the innings. Alam and Jamshed both got starts and then out, but even as the wicket of Rizwan left them 153/5, Sohail was looking dangerous. Brathwaite removed Shah after much effort, and the bowlers fell at just the right times, Sohail going for the 9th wicket to McClean, and Ashfaq being removed by Brathwaite to cue our celebrations.

Series State	West Indies level the series 1-1 with 3 to play.
Batting Award	Kieron Pollard - Back to how he was a little while ago in this innings, showing he's still a force for good.
Bowling Award	Brathwaite/McClean - Economical at the start, deadly at the death. Worked in tandem well.
Team News	No changes!

Aside - Graham Napier's 4 from 4 balls today was rather splendid. Inswinging yorkers really are the way to go at the death.

[Imager36]

More late-night Golden Isles action kicks off with a loss.



We lost the toss, and Salahuddin and Shehzad put on 158 for the first wicket at a relatively stable pace. We chopped and changed bowlers, but we just couldn't find a way to break the partnership, or even make them take risks, and couldn't until the 38th over, when Khan bowled Salahuddin to open up one end. The issue with that is that it opened up one end for a succession of more aggressive batsmen. Fawad Alam made the major attacking cameo, with 21 from only 9 balls, but Jamshed and Nadir were also successful and dragged their team up to over 240.

The openers had both come and gone by the time 7 balls had passed, leaving us 3/2, and whilst after that the run rate didn't really become an issue, wickets continued to fall on a regular basis and despite a nice innings from Burton and some hitting from Pollard, we were soon 121/7. Brathwaite provided rather good entertainment for the crowd, but the result wasn't in doubt, and we fell 38 runs short of our target.

Series State	Pakistan lead 2-1 with 2 to play.
Batting Award	Carlos Brathwaite - His début ODI 50 couldn't have come at a more pointless time.
Bowling Award	Mike Alford - Bowled well in the second powerplay and at the death, a confident performance.
Team News	The out of form Barath is replaced by the in-form-but-not-as-good Paul. Burton opens with Francis.

Aside - Halfway through playing the 4th ODI, but was distracted and now 4 hours have passed. I shall return to it tomorrow!

[Imager36]

Well halfway through I was hopeful!



We chose to bat first, and started slowly. Francis was bowled for 7 by Nadir, but Burton and Bravo batted cautiously. Burton began to accelerate, and was playing beautifully as he went to his 10th ODI 50 in his 52nd match. He looked good for his 2nd century, but unfortunately he edged behind off Nadir to give him a second wicket. Darren stayed in, but failed to press any sort of advantage, falling for 53 from 104 balls with 10 overs left in the innings, making the score 181/4. There were good cameos in the lower order from Pollard (32 from 26), Sarwan (36 from 22), Alford (18* from 16) and the impressive Imran Khan (26* from 17) to drag us up to 266/6.

The openers again looked like making mincemeat out of us, building a partnership of 135 against the quicks at a rate well ahead of our curve, and only a little behind the required run rate. When Salahuddin did fall, Alam came in and smashed us all around the ground, really putting the result beyond doubt. They achieved their target with an over to spare, and won the series with it.

Series State	Pakistan win the series 3-1 with 1 to play.
Batting Award	Shane Burton - Our top innings, had it been Bravo to fall when he did we could have had 290+
Bowling Award	Mike Alford - 10 overs, 2 maidens, 1/38. Decent figures, even if they weren't winning ones.
Team News	None made.

I rushed through the final ODI in order to move on, and that didn't help the result!



We lost the toss and batted first. Burton was out early, but Francis and Bravo shared a century stand, and when Francis was joined by Paul, they added another 76. Wickets fell quickly as we tried to accelerate at the end though, Pollard making 22 from 18 but no-one else hitting anything much.

Although in the end they only crossed the line with 6 balls to spare, the result was never really in doubt. The openers and Alam played well again, and chasing a small total already they took them to within a hundred of victory. The spinners and Alford took a few late wickets to impinge their progress, but we didn't feel like we were getting close to a win, and they got the final runs pretty easily.

Series State	Pakistan win the series 4-1.
Batting Award	Dan Francis - Another good performance... the chances he was giving suggest he might not be up to this level though.
Bowling Award	Narine/Khan - Kept the middle overs tight and got 3 wickets between them. Shame we hadn't got enough of a score on the board.

And so, next up, 2 T20s against those same opponents. Barath, Paul and Benjamin drop out of the squad, with Stoute, Powell and Blackwood, whose T20 record is actually rather good, coming in. In terms of the team, Paul, Francis, Burton and Khan are replaced by Powell, Simmons, Blackwood and Hinds. Kev McClean plays his first T20I for almost 2 years.

Aside - First post not to come after midnight since the middle of May!