Tweet
That's some good work from the ICC naming Kallis as Man of the Match when in previous versions it would usually be given to the best performance regardless of the result.
-
-
Just. Just. Only just.
We lost the toss, but got to bowl first anyway. Jamshed and Hafeez were out early, as Pakistan went to 21/2, but Fawad Alam and Younis Khan then put on a partnership which eventually stretched to 115 runs, and the majority of the innings. The spinners were instrumental in ensuring these two did not put on more in the time, with all 3 bowling their full complements, none of them going for more than 7 runs an over, and Chris Gayle going for only only 15 from his 4 overs. Andre Russell made sure the last over went for only 5 runs and a wicket just to finish it off.
In our chase, we lost wickets regularly. Simmons went without reaching double figures, and Gayle was out for 18 when Afridi came on. Edwards was disappointing, making 12 from 17 balls, and Chanderpaul constructed a nice platform, making his 37 from 34 balls. When he was out, the score became 83/4, and we needed another 59 runs off the final 40 balls of the match. 22 came off the next 10 balls, which was much needed, to take us into the last 5 needing 37. We only managed 4 off the next Hafeez over, and despite taking 8 off the 17th, Hafeez again restricted us to 4 in the 18th, so we needed a total of 21 runs from the final 12 balls. Achievable, yes, but I didn't believe we would. Luckily, however, they left Azam on, and we managed 15 from his last over, needing 6 from the last, and managing after a stumble when Sarwan was out, leaving 3 needed from 2 balls to go through. Dwayne Bravo came in and hit a 4 to win us the match straight away.
Series State - West Indies qualify for the semi-finals, and will face Australia for the second time in the tournament.
Batting Award - Ramnaresh Sarwan - 35 from 22 balls is quite remarkable in such a pressure game, and no doubt won us the match.
Bowling Award - Chris Gayle - A great performance, conceding 15 from his 4 overs, and keeping the Pakistanis pegged back.
Team News - Kirk Edwards is replaced by the classy Adrian Barath, who will open. Simmons shunts back down to 6/7, and Darren and Sarwan move up the order one.
Comment
-
Good luck against the Aussies!
Comment
-
Unfortunately for all involved, our collective luck had run out.
We lost the toss, and were in the unusual position of batting first, and didn't make a very good fist of it. Gayle was out early, as happens, but here the wickets just kept falling. There was a decent early partnership (Barath/Darren), but it was far too slow, and when I tried to push on in the second half of the innings, even more wickets fell. Only Andre Russell saved any face for the West Indies team, coming in at 8, and striking 28 off 20 balls before trying to hit a ball too many. We were bowled out off the final ball of the innings.
127 was never going to be too hard for the Aussies, but a wicket with Russell's 3rd ball kept us interested, but the seamers were hit far too hard, and even by the end of the powerplay, the game was gone. There were other wickets, and the spinners kept it tight and down to the last 2 overs, but it was always a win for the green and gold.
Series State - Australia will play South Africa in the final (Where they lost. HA. HA HA HA. HA HA. HA.)
Batting Award - Andre Russell - Adrian Barath thought he had a look-in for this award, but his innings was a snoozefest.
Bowling Award - Sunil Narine - His figures were 4-2-9-0. I didn't even mention that in the match report!
Tournament Awards
Batting Award - Shivnarine Chanderpaul - 100 more runs than anyone else in the squad at 212, and a strike rate of almost 127, was instrumental in getting us this far.
Bowling Award - Devendra Bishoo - Consistent throughout the tournament. The only bowler who took more wickets than matches (7) and still had a good economy rate (6.33). Russell was better wicket-wise, and Narine better in terms of economy, but Bishoo had the whole package.
And next up on the West Indies world tour, we have a lovely tour of Bangladesh, starting with a 3 day friendly at Chittagong and 2 test matches. The squad of 18 for these 3 matches is found below.
The 7 most likely players to be selected are left out of the practice match, with Gayle, Darren, Nash, Dwayne, Russell, Rampaul and Bishoo those 7. Sarwan captains the side, as a man with infinite knowledge and experience.Originally posted by It's a squad, everyone!
Comment
-
This match went almost exactly as well as expected.
I don't really want to enlarge too much on it, as it was just a tour match. Narine's 10 wickets were impressive, but the pitch was turning so much I could have got some of those guys out with my untrusty leg breaks. The seamers managed a disappointing 1 wicket between them in the 2 innings, and Edwards, Barath and Deonarine were the only batsmen to score well.
Batting Award - Kirk Edwards - A lovely, combative 88 from Edwards gave us a victory chance.
Bowling Award - Sunil Narine - I don't know what more I can say. The pitch was turning round corners.
Team News - With the pitch again looking like spin is the key, Gayle, Darren, Nash, Dwayne, Russel, Rampaul and Bishoo come in for Simmons, Chanders, Sarwan, Deonarine, Sammy, Permaul and Roach. Kirk Edwards will bat at 3, and the two spinners will hopefully be our main weapons.Last edited by Imager36; 07-16-2012, 07:15 PM.
Comment
-
A win that for a long time looked unlikely.
On a pitch that looked like it would turn from ball 1, we chose to bat first. Gayle and Barath made 77 for the first wicket, and Edwards made 21 of the 29 partnership that followed. Darren fell early, and Gayle went soon after for 62. The lower order, however, battling from 129/4, were sensational. Nash made a patient 54 off 144 balls, but Dwayne came in and smashed it around, making 75 including 10 boundaries. Ramdin knocked a nice 70, and Andre Russell came in and hit 66. Nash and Bravo made a partnership of 117, and Russell and Ramdin just surpassed them with 120. The tail fell cheaply, but we stumbled over 400.
Then we bowled. Their openers put on over 100, but then a flurry of wickets fell to the spinners, leaving the hosts 115/3 and then 187/5. Two hundred partnerships followed after that, depressingly, and our first innings lead crumbled, and we were left with a deficit of 36. Only 2 of the wickets fell to seamers on the pitch that was rough as anything.
This time, our openers manages to put on 105 in the opening partnership... Which was strange seeing that they didn't manage 100 runs between them in the innings! We then collapsed again to 148/4, but Dwayne succeeded in putting up a competitive total, pretty much singlehandedly. Edwards made 41, and Russell again helped with 37, but it was Bravo who really gave the innings its bang. The Bangladeshis needed 266 to win from just under a day, something we felt was achievable.
3 wickets went in the opening pace spells, 2 to Rampaul and 1 to Russell. This left them 32/3, but Al Hasan and Mahmudullah put on 89 to make a victory look a little unlikely. After that, the wickets really tumbled to Bishoo, and victory was in the end wrapped up within the afternoon session.
Series State - West Indies lead 1-0 with 1 to play.
Batting Award - Dwayne Bravo - I wasn't expecting this to be the man collecting this award... but with his new responsibility at 6, he really shone with twin 70s.
Bowling Award - Devendra Bishoo - 10 wickets in the match, even on a pitch that was spinning as much as a pitch in hell, is worthy of picking up this award.
We had won the last away series, so we have to win this to preserve our ranking points.
Team News - I have confidence in the same side again for the second Test.Last edited by Imager36; 07-17-2012, 07:09 PM.
Comment
-
Russel is Such a fantastic Find of West indies
After Historical Retired Players Stats ,Captains Record
Is my Next DreamComment
-
We could have played more aggressively and won, but I'm safety first.
We won the toss, and batted, aiming to stay in as long as possible and secure the draw before the need for a game arose. As Gayle and Barath put on an opening partnership of 106, this began to look likely. Barath fell for a sedate 31, but Kirk Edwards came in and played very nicely. Soon, we were 182/2 when Gayle fell, and 260/3 when Darren Bravo's brief innings came to a close. Edwards followed very closely afterwards, and Dwayne hit it straight back to Sunny to make it 292/5. With our strong lower order, to collapse from 292/4 to 325 all out.
We started well in response, however, a series of regular wickets reducing the hosts to 102/5 courtesy of 4 Rampaul strikes. Tamim then put on 110 with Hossain, who put on 87 with Ghosh in turn. It was looking like scores would be fairly even until Sunny and Mahmud put on 45 for the last wicket to give us a deficit of 40 runs exactly.
We started adequately, but with Kirk Edwards and Darren Bravo at the crease, we really pushed for that draw. Edwards and Darren put on 146, and Edwards and Nash managed another 111 to put us almost 300 ahead, and looking at a series victory. A mini-collapse left us 380/6, but Ramdin and Russell put on 76 to grind Bangladesh into the ground and really demoralise their bowlers ahead of the one day matches.
In the end, it seemed we should have declared and tried to bowl them out, but as I felt there was no point due to the way the world rankings work, I didn't. Never mind.
Series State - West Indies win the series 1-0.
Batting Award - Kirk Edwards - Performed in both innings, meaning we've found a number 3 ready for test cricket.
Bowling Award - Ravi Rampaul - 8 wickets in total in the match, and that would generally win you an award such as this. That is also the case here.
Series Awards
It's really hard to do these when you're only playing 8 innings. Never mind.
Batting Award - Chris Gayle - Not the man with most runs in the party, but the only one to pass 50 three times, and perform in both test matches.
Bowling Award - Devendra Bishoo - The surfaces turned, but he took advantage, with 13 wickets in 2 matches to lower his test bowling average to under 30 this year.
And then there's a party of 15 to pick for a friendly in Dhaka and no less than 5 one day internationals.
Two new faces in the squad. Jermaine Blackwood is a 21 year old batsman who has not played that much cricket to date, but a 5 match series in Bangladesh seems the ideal opportunity to give him a chance and let him blend in with the squad a little. 25 year old quick Nelon Pascal has previous with me, but very strong domestic performances have made me take note, and he makes the squad to possibly play a real part.Originally posted by SQUAD
Team News for Dhaka friendly - Sure-fire 4 Gayle, Chanderpaul, Russell and Roach miss out, meaning Pascal and Blackwood are in at the deep end, and those two, Smith and Pollard are likely to make way in the first ODI proper.
Comment
-
A last ball, last wicket win.
Phew. I thought I was going to have to let you all down with a defeat there. We won the toss and bowled, but Dhaka made a decent start. Ashraful was immense, his 90 coming from 89 balls, and without him the Dhaka innings would have been pitiful, but with him they constructed a score that was capable of being defended, even by a team with only 3 recognised bowlers! (They also had 3 recognised keepers, one of those batting at 9 and without the gloves!)
We started okay, with the opening pair making 44, and being 104/3 when new boy Blackwood went for 17. We were a long way behind the run rate though, and Sarwan, Pollard and Smith perished quickly in attempts to push the envelope. Darren stuck in though, and joined by brother Dwayne, began an assault on the Dhaka bowlers that gained 62 runs in the next 7 overs before Darren fell. This left us needing 32 from the last 5 overs, but 4 off Ashraful's next and 5 and a wicket in that from Ayub left us wanting 23 from the last 3, with Bishoo joining Dwayne at the crease. He hit a lovely 4 to start the 48th, but was out from its last ball, leaving Dwayne and number 11 Nelon Pascal needing 15 from 12. 6 from the 49th meant 9 were needed from the last six balls. Scrambled single from Pascal. Lovely four from Bravo. Simple single. Dot. Scrambled single. 2 from 1 needed. FOUR! Bravo won the game off the last ball, with one wicket remaining. Brilliant.
Series State - Oh, shush you.
Batting Award - Bravo&Bravo - Darren set it up, Dwayne finished it off. Great combination play.
Bowling Award - Sunil Narine - 4/41 can never be sniffed at, and especially not when 3 of those 4 were members of the Dhaka top 4.
Team News - As expected, Gayle, Chanders, Russell and Roach replace Blackwood, Pollard, Smith and Pascal, but Pascal in particular impressed in the practice match. If he could bat, he'd replace Dwayne. But he can't. Meh.
Comment
-
You're doing well. My NZ team is currently touring Bangladesh, so I'll be keen to see if I can match your success.Comment
-
After Historical Retired Players Stats ,Captains Record
Is my Next DreamComment
-
-
I swear you saying something nice is a curse, Graham.
We were poor all round. The pitch was also poor, and the 264 Bangladesh scored was easily above par, unfortunately. In that innings, the only partnership that was worth more than 16 runs was that between, obviously, Tamim and Hom. In a way, we were beaten entirely by 2 world class performances from talented players. Neither Bravo nor Narine had the control expected of them, and Roach only came good at the end of the innings, when the damage was largely done.
We started well, making it to 97/1 at one stage after around 20 overs, and it was looking like we could pull it off. Hope of course, is pointless, and 3 quick wickets, a cameo from Lendl Simmons, and 6 more quick wickets were all that lay between Bangladesh and a 1-0 series lead.
Series State - 1-0 to Bangladesh, 4 to play.
Batting Award - Adrian Barath - Played nicely for 45. Shame he got this for it though.
Bowling Award - Kemar Roach - 5 wickets, I guess this award is pretty much his for that.
Team News - Dwayne Smith comes in for Dwayne Bravo, in the world's second known Dwayneswap.
Comment
-
Another last baller! And another win!
The key partnership between Tamim and Hom lasted for only 68 runs this match, and that told. Wickets fell at regular intervals, and on a pitch much like that of the first ODI, Bangladesh stumbled. All of the bowlers impressed, with all either taking at least 2 wickets or going at under 3.5 runs an over. We felt we had limited the hosts to an easily chasable target of 217.
Our key partnership, in this match at least, was that opening one between Gayle and Barath. By the time it ended, with Gayle going after playing the aggressor in the partnership of 135, 32 overs had gone, and we only needed 4 and a half an over to win the match. Unfortunately, the wicket turned into a flurry pretty sharpish, and by the time Simmons walked out to join Dwayne Smith, the score was 171/5, and 46 were needed from the final 8 overs. It shouldn't have been hard, but we made it so. After a bad 3 overs, we needed 37 from the last 5 at over 7 an over, and despite good hitting in the next 3, we were left needing 14 off 11 balls when Dwayne Smith was caught in front playing across the line. 6 came off the last 5 of that over, and 5 off the next 2, leaving us needing only 3 from 4 balls. Russell played and missed. He hit it straight to a fielder. He played and missed again. He looked like he'd lost us the game. He needed 3 from 1 ball. He hit a beautifully timed cover drive, and leveled the series.
Series State - 1-1 with 3 to play.
Batting Award - Chris Gayle - Not only more runs than Barath, faster too.
Bowling Award - Dwayne Smith - So difficult to pick, but it was the bowling of Dwayne, especially at the death, that was surprising and in a pleasant way.
Team News - No changes to the lineup. Gosh.
Comment
-
I should say something nice more often!Originally posted by Imager36 View PostI swear you saying something nice is a curse, Graham.
Comment
Comment