The Golden Isles - A Third Time Lucky West Indies Story

[GrahamB]

After that match, I respect your work even more than I have previously!

Unfortunately, doesn't make me feel any happier.

Well done on the two 20/20 wins.

[Imager36]

Thanks, and a good match for the first ODI results in another win for us!



Having won the toss again, I bowled first. Andre Russell was once again the standout bowler, with his death bowling being especially impressive, but again, it was the middle overs, controlled by Bishoo and Narine, where I feel we won the match. In the 20 overs they bowled, they only took 2 wickets, but conceded 76 runs, at 3.8 runs per over. Roach was expensive, as was Smith at the death, but after starting well, his figures weren't bad overall. Gayle went for 17 off the 2 overs I gave him, but I do think spin is the key in the short game in ICC12.

So, we needed 248 to win at just under 5 an over. We made an acceptable, but slow start, accumulating just under 40 in the first 10 overs, but for no loss. Gayle was looking particularly circumspect. In fact, it was not until the 31st over that New Zealand made the breakthrough by removing Barath for 58, of a partnership of 125. Due to the delay of the bowling powerplay, the 10 overs of extra powerplay were between the 30th and 40th overs, so Chanderpaul came straight in and tried to raise the rate of scoring. By this stage, about a run a ball was needed, and he made 32 at almost this rate to confirm our position in the driving seat. When he was out, Gayle pressed accelerate, and went from 50 to 90 in about 25 balls before being bowled by Bracewell. Bravo and Sarwan fell quickly, but Dwayne Smith made sure of the victory in double-quick time, with 21 coming from 15 balls, to win with 15 balls to spare.

Series State - West Indies lead 1-0, 4 to play.
Batting Award - Chris Gayle - Great innings, built a platform and then teed off from it.
Bowling Award - Andre Russell - I would have given it to a spinner if I could pick between them, but Russell's nerveless death bowling deserves all the accolades it gets.

Team News - Same team to play the second match.

NOTE - I'd just like to point out now that I am not using any of my custom fields in this career, mainly to get the hang of playing these limited over games without them.

[Imager36]

I thought New Zealand were pretty much meant to be on my level?



Two early wickets from Kemar Roach set the tone for the New Zealand innings. McCullum and Taylor consolidated, but just as they were about to get going, they both fell to the newly-introduced spinners, and the black caps has 2 new batsmen in again. Williamson was soon gone to Smith, and after that it wasn't long before Russell and Roach were re-introduced, and the innings was completely suffocated.

A target of 185 never looked like it was really going to test us, and it didn't really. Barath was out early, and Gayle followed for 37 not long after, but Darren Bravo played solidly for 39 from 80, and Chanderpaul got the bulk of the runs, his 86 coming from 106 balls and including 13 boundaries.

Series State - West Indies lead 2-0 with 3 to play.
Batting Award - Shivnarine Chanderpaul - A good amount of runs at a good rate, making sure there were no dramas.
Bowling Award - Kemar Roach - An unusually good performance from the new hope of the West Indies.

Team News - Rampaul has recovered from his injury, but the luxury of the 2-0 lead will allow us to rest him for 1 more match, so he can become fully fit again before playing.

[GrahamB]

Perhaps I don't suck too badly after all? Look at how bad NZ are here!

Nice story. Keep it going.

[Imager36]

Compared to this guy, Graham, you're working miracles!



Okay, shush, I let this one get far too close. I sort of wasn't paying attention well enough. But I won, okay? No issue.

I lost the toss, but they inserted themselves, and the bowlers set about their business. Sinclair, McCullum and Taylor played well, with Narine again dominant in the middle overs (his 10 went for 28). Smith was an early destroyer, and he returned at the death with Russell, both of them taking wickets, and ruining the score of above 200 that New Zealand had been planning.

Our opening partnership were the opposites of each other. Gayle made 47 at over a run a ball, whereas Barath made 19 from all of 62 balls. Chanderpaul made 58 from 100 balls, and as we sailed a bit close to the wind, Sarwan got 42 from 51 in the last 15 overs or so. We only needed 7 off the last two overs, but 2 off the first and 3 off the next 5 balls left us needing 2 to win off the final ball. Luckily, Sarwan smashed it for 4, and we'd won the series!

Series State - West Indies win the series, leading 3-0 with 2 to play.
Batting Award - Chris Gayle - His 47 got on with it, which no-one else really seemed to want to in our order.
Bowling Award - Dwayne Smith - I'm bored of writing Andre Russell, and his early wickets of Sinclair and Ryder the next ball set up the victory.

Team News - With the series won, the still unfit Ravi Rampaul is rested for the final 2 games to get him right for the test series, and the sure-fire picks Gayle, Chanderpaul and Russell are rested for the talents of Brendan Nash, Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo. Searching for yet another captain, I pick Lendl Simmons pretty much randomly to take the job for these 2 games.

[Imager36]

Okay, let's summarise those two very quickly.



Bowled first, bowled rather well. Roach was stunning, really stepping up to the plate, and Narine was also very impressive, but Bishoo and Pollard were worryingly expensive.

Batted utterly dreadfully, really missing Chanders and Gayle. Simmons and Nash were both patient, but no-one else wanted to be, and despite a late-order charge from Dwayne Smith, we fell quite a way short.

Series State - West Indies have won, 3-1 with 1 to play.
Batting Award - Pfffffttttttt....
Bowling Award - Kemar Roach, definitely, fantastic.



Possibly a slightly worse bowling performance overall, but Bishoo was far more impressive and economical, and with Narine he tied New Zealand down in the middle overs superbly. Roach and Bravo then swept up most of the tail.

Much better batting performance, led by the first-teamers Barath and Sarwan. Darren Bravo made a combative 39 in quick time at the end, when it looked like we may time our chase horribly and come up short, and Kieron Pollard hit 2 crucial boundaries at the death.

Series State - West Indies win the series 4-1.
Batting Award - Ramnaresh Sarwan - Scored 13 more runs than anyone else.
Bowling Award - Sunil Narine - Economical, and got Sinclair and Taylor in consecutive balls to ruin the top order.

Okay! Cracking. Now, series awards and such.

Series Awards

Batting Award - Shivnarine Chanderpaul - 3 matches, 176 runs @ 88 and a S/R of 72.41 - His batting secured 2 of the first 3 matches and the series victory.

Bowling Award - Kemar Roach - 5 matches, 17 wickets @ 11.94 and an economy of 4.81 - Okay, not the best economy of our bowlers by a long way, but really showed in the last two matches why he should keep his place for a long time, and came to the fore in the absence of Russell.

And finally, we have 2 Test matches against the same opponents. We lost the series the last time it was played, and the way the black caps are playing it seems an ideal time to get those two points, and move above them in the Test ranking table to 7th.

C. Gayle (OASP)
A. Barath (O)
S. Chanderpaul (BAT)
K. Edwards (BAT)
Darren Bravo (BAT)
B. Nash (BAT)
Dwayne Bravo (ALL)
D. Ramdin (K)
A. Russell (SEAM)
R. Rampaul (SEAM)
D. Bishoo (SPIN)
K. Roach (SEAM)

And from that squad, it is Darren Bravo who will be running the drinks, as we go with an attacking 5 bowler line-up to try and win the 1st test in home conditions.

[Imager36]

We should have easily won this match, and in the end we did it in a very difficult way instead.



We lost the toss, and had to bowl first, but the New Zealand innings was never really comfortable, despite never looking like a disaster. Every time they looked to settle and pile the pressure on, a wicket was taken, and Bishoo demands extra credit for his partnership-breaking knack shown in that first innings. Their tail unfortunately got 125 runs for the last 4 partnerships, which is disappointing, but the total was still about par.

That is, of course, until Chris Gayle batted on this surface. Barath made a very un-Barath-like 26 off 23 balls before getting out, and Chanderpaul (23) and Edwards (15) both got a few before being sent packing by Vettori. At this stage, Gayle was playing in an unusually reserved manner. Nash came in and made a handy 55 in partnership with Gayle, and by the time he charged down the pitch and missed off Vettori, we were 210/4 and looking at first innings parity. Bravo went quickly, and whilst Ramdin put up some resistance, it was the partnership Gayle shared with Andre Russell that was most special. The two, pretty much equals in the partnership, smashed 129 quite quickly to build us up a handy lead, before both getting out, and watching Bishoo and Roach play a couple of good cover drives each before Roach edged behind.

Very soon, it looked like the test was won. With a good lead, we soon had New Zealand 13/3 as Watling, Ryder and Williamson all fell early to Russell and Rampaul. Guptill and Taylor, however, rode the early storm, and built a partnership worth 169, giving their side a serious chance in the game. Some late-order hitting from McCullum, Franklin and Vettori also ensued, and before we knew it, a total that was gettable, but not a given on a tough 4th and 5th day pitch had appeared.

At 33/4, I was worried for my own safety. Luckily, for my sanity as much as anything, Chanderpaul, Dwayne Bravo and Denesh Ramdin pulled out good innings in diffficult conditions, and we'd won our first test of this career!

Series State - West Indies lead 1-0, 1 to play.
Batting Award - Chris Gayle - When a man scores 192 in a single innings, it's hard to look anywhere else. Let's forget that he only lasted 2 balls in the second innings.
Bowling Award - Andre Russell - 8 wickets in the test, not a bad way to start his 5-day account under me. Especially in that second innings, he seemed to have the ball directly reporting to him, and when Guptill and Taylor eventually went, it was he who did the damage.

Team News - On a pitch looking like a minefield, we take the sensible decision and replace Kemar Roach in the team with Darren Bravo.

[GrahamB]

Nice test win. Roll on the 2nd Test!

[Imager36]

The draw we wanted, but it was hard to come by.



This time, we won the toss and batted first, and this time, Gayle made it to 200 and beyond. His innings in this test was far more commanding, including a grand total of 28 boundaries, of which one 6 pulled off Bracewell was particularly memorable. Until Darren Bravo came in, the other batsmen seemed content to let him take control, with none of the other top 5 batsmen making above 27, despite the score being 164 when that 4th wicket fell. The 5th wicket partnership was worth 184 on its own, as Gayle slowed his scoring slightly, but Bravo pushed on, and fell just before his own ton. Dwayne came and went, but Ramdin stuck around with Gayle, making 41 off only 57 balls. Gayle was out not long after him, and the innings was soon over.

New Zealand's top order once again looked fragile, as they crumbled to 40/3, Rampaul doing much of the damage. Then, in the final over of the day, Dwayne Bravo injured his back, and we were facing playing the rest of the test with not a 4 man attack, but a 3 man one. We struggled from then on, removing Taylor and Brownlie after they had done damage, but the big, lasting partnership was between the set Williamson and Brendon McCullum, and it lasted for a grand total of 228 runs. Eventually, it was over, both men were removed, and the only thing blocking me from sanity was a 9th wicket partnership of 69 between Franklin and Bracewell.

As leader of a fragile national side, I realised the situation we were in was perilous. When pace had done for the top order, and we were 69/3, it seemed even more so. Kirk Edwards played a blinder, and to be honest saved us the series with his 167 from 302 balls. Nash hung around for a while for his 38, and Darren Bravo pretty much guaranteed his place in the next test team with his second 50 in as many innings. Dwayne was absent hurt, and Ramdin was out early, but Andre Russell hung around for 70 more balls and 30 runs, just to make sure of the draw, leaving New Zealand needing around 350 runs in 2 and a half sessions.

They barely bothered to chase, and I don't see why we couldn't have just called the test match a draw at that point.

Series State - West Indies win the series 1-0
Batting Award - Chris Gayle/Kirk Edwards - Both the innings were 'daddy' hundreds, and really saved us the match, and kept us in it, on both occasions. You can't pick between them.
Bowling Award - Ravi Rampaul - 6 wickets in the match, a thoroughly professional, workman like performance.

Series Awards

Batting - Chris Gayle - It had to be, really, didn't it? 448 runs in 4 innings, with one of those innings worth 1? You can't argue with that.

Bowling - Ravi Rampaul - Consistent throughout the 2 tests, impressive in the 3 man attack in the second.

Well that was unspeakably easy.

Next upppp... we have the Twenty:20 World Cup in Sri Lanka. Gosh, that'll be fun! Here follows the squad for said tournament.

C. Gayle (OASP)
A. Barath (O)
D. Smith (OAR)
S. Chanderpaul (BAT)
Darren Bravo (BAT)
R. Sarwan (BAT)
K. Edwards (BAT)
K. Pollard (ALL)
L. Simmons (OK)
Dwayne Bravo (ALL)
A. Russell (ALL)
R. Rampaul (SEAM)
S. Narine (SPIN)
D. Bishoo (SPIN)
K. Roach (SEAM)

Well that looks fun, doesn't it? We're in a group with Australia and Ireland, and the match between those two happened first. This is how it, unsurprisingly, finished.



The dangerous Warner was in flying form, but, interestingly, none of his Australian friends really joined him in that.

We play the Aussies first, and for that match, the players to miss out from the squad of 15 are Barath, Dwayne Bravo, Pollard and Roach. Gayle and Smith are to open, with Simmons down to come in at 7, and Rampaul skippering the side.

[Alrounder80]

We play the Aussies first, and for that match, the players to miss out from the squad of 15 are Barath, Dwayne Bravo, Pollard and Roach.

Pollard and Bravo aren't really as highly rated as they should be :/

Anyways, well played against New Zealand!

[Imager36]

Thanks And we did a lot better than I was expecting against the Aussies!



They won the toss, but I would have bowled anyway They got off to a good start, Warner and Watson thrashing around Russell, Rampaul and Smith inside the powerplay overs. Narine did not show the control he has previously, but Bishoo was very effective in his 4 overs, and Gayle was in his 3, which shows how useful a player he is for us. 165/4 was a total we felt we at least had a hope at chasing.

Gayle and Smith both went early, but Chanderpaul and Edwards re-built perfectly, and with 3 overs left of our innings, they had accelerated to need 30 more runs. They got 5 off the first 3 balls of a Marsh over, but Edwards spooned one up to Hussey. Russell was drafted in at 5 to try and give the firepower required, but wickets kept falling, and we ended up 7 runs short.

Series State - Series? Well, in our group, the result in the early match means it's a straight shoot out between us and Ireland.
Batting Award - Shivnarine Chanderpaul - Controlled the innings, and had he stayed to the end, we may have just sneaked home.
Bowling Award - Devendra Bishoo - Controlled the Aussies for his 4 overs, and took the wickets of the dangerous Warner and David Hussey.

Team News - No changes to the line up per se, but Simmons and Dwayne Smith swap places, so I have an option for power hitting down the order.

[Imager36]

We beat the Irish! But not as easily as we'd have liked.



The start we made was phenomenal, having won the toss, As Ireland were soon 16/4 due to Russell, Rampaul and some suspect running. Stirling went soon after, but Cusack and Kevin O'Brien were happy to sit back and milk the spinners, which at that stage we were happy to allow them to do. O'Brien got out near the end to Gayle, and Murtagh tried to force the issue but was also out, leaving Boyd Rankin to face 6 balls, off which he managed 2 runs. 145 seemed a target we should get against this bowling line-up.

Lendl Simmons made an attacking start and then got out, but Gayle never really got going, mustering 26 from 26, with only one boundary. Chanderpaul hit the only 6 of the innings before he departed, and Kirk Edwards was bowled by newgen Martin Cook off a no ball before he entered double figures. His 37 in the end came off 25 balls, and pretty much secured our victory. Darren Bravo scored 24 off 18, and Sarwan and Smith came in and finished the job off professionally.

Series State - West Indies progress to the Super 8, to face England, South Africa and Pakistan, in that order.
Batting Award - Kirk Edwards - Top scored, and pretty much secured the victory.
Bowling Award - Andre Russell - Two wickets, went for under 6 an over, made minnows look like minnows.

Team News - Dwayne Smith loses his place to Dwayne Bravo, in the world's first Dwayneswap.

[Imager36]

A somewhat surprising win against an England team that had the wood on us in their conditions.



They made a great start, as they were 54/0 in the 6th over when Bravo took the wickets of Trott and Bopara in consecutive balls. This slowed the England innings down considerably, and despite a solid partnership of 23 between Cook and Bell, a flurry of 4 wickets soon fell, leaving England at only 78/6 in the 12th over, with a team hattrick at 2 Narine wickets sandwiched the run out of Alastair Cook. Bairstow and Woakes rebuilt at just over a run a ball, and England's good start secured them a still decent total, with us ruing our laxness in letting them get away.

Chris Gayle played his most stereotypical innings to date, getting a 6 and a 4 off the first 2 balls of the innings, and out off the third. Simmons and Edwards soon followed to leave us 25/3, but Chanderpaul, Darren Bravo and, latterly, Sarwan, rebuilt well enough to guide us to our victory target with only 4 wickets lost and 5 balls remaining. Woakes took particular tap in vengeance for his earlier innings.

Series State - South Africa beat Pakistan, and it is likely we will need to win one of our remaining games to progress.
Batting Award - Shivnarine Chanderpaul - 62 not out off 47 balls when chasing 149? Just a classy performance.
Bowling Award - Sunil Narine - Come on? 2 for 12 off four overs? In a T20 match? Against one of the best teams in the world? You're having me on, aren't you?

[GrahamB]

Some impressive results. Your Windies side are a force to be reckoned with.

[Imager36]

Well we certainly were until you said that.



We were poor in that game, in terms of both batting and bowling. We bowled first, and the fact that they were 9 wickets down belies the fact that 5 of those wickets went in an absolutely sensational final over to the previously useless Andre Russell. In reality, the bowling was poor throughout, and had those 5 wickets been taken earlier on, we would have restricted the Saffers to a chaseable total.

As it turned out, we hadn't. Gayle went early, as did Chanderpaul. And Edwards. And Darren. From there it was pretty much game over, and despite Simmons using up his good innings for the tournament, in all honesty we got nowhere near the lofty standards that we needed.

Series State - Pakistan, rather excitingly, beat England, meaning that the final qualification place is a straight shoot out between me and them. Otherwise, it would have been on the other match and net run rates and absolutely hideous.
Batting Award - Lendl Simmons - Got his biggish score out of the way, so he can go back to failing without being troubled.
Bowling Award - Devendra Bishoo - I'm sorry, Andre, but your job is to do that in the powerplay too. You were so bad in that I only brought you back for one over at the end on purpose. Don't you DARE look at me like that. Well you can perform from ball one next time, can't you? Yes, I hope you do prove me wrong. Good, I'm glad that's sorted.

Team News - None to report. These guys have just been told to improve. I'm looking at you, Andre.