Announcement

**DaveK93** · 07-10-2015, 07:49 PM

Great to see the Golden Isles back, it's been a while!

**Imager36** · 07-10-2015, 09:02 PM

A solid start to our new career.

England won the toss, and chose to bat first, unsurprisingly on a good pitch. We started looking optimistic and spritely, but soon got a taste of what might be to come if we don't keep our heads up. Lyth and Cook both put on 50s, and put on a century partnership to get England up and running. Cook and Ballance went to Permaul, who looked inspired when he came on, and then Lyth became Matthew's first test victim to a catch in the slips. We kept chipping away nicely, largely through Permaul, and reduced them to 246/7, but England had a bit of a sting in their tails as we struggled to remove Broad and Ali. Eventually, Ali fell for 62 to Rampaul, and he and Rampaul picked up one more each to make England finish on 369, with Broad 55 not out.

We started even better than England, and by tea on Day 2 we were 129/0, with Brathwaite batting patiently, and Edwards taking initiative against Wood and the three spinners England tried early on. Brathwaite eventually went for 80, with us on 171, and Edwards promptly followed for 90. Bravo and Chanders rebuilt with a partnership of 70, and when Bravo was out, Shiv went onto 57 before falling to Wood. At this point we were only 90 behind, but Samuels played a silly shot to lose his wicket, and Johnson falling for 35 led me to question if we'd even get a lead. Matthew, whose FC average of 14 made him a statistically poor modern number 8, suddenly found his batting shoes. Without having hit a 50 in his career, he fell for a scintillating 95, having put on 179 with his captain, Ramdin. Denesh made it to a century, and was then (curiously) dropped by Adam Lyth in the slips twice in two overs! He only made a few more, and went for 116. Rampaul and Permaul made a few each too, and we were all out on the fourth morning, 215 runs ahead, with plenty of license to attack England.

A 158 partnership between their openers dulled our attacking tendencies a little, and Samuels was the bowler to eventually grab Lyth's wicket, after his maiden Test century. By this point, England had given up on the victory, and took their time over scoring, but we just couldn't force the opportunities we needed to force them out, as the top 4 all frustrated us, and though Permaul took a few quick wickets, England declared 202 ahead.

There was no time to press for a victory, and we were happy to bat it out for a draw, with only Edwards lost.

Batting Award - Denesh Ramdin - The captain stood up in the first innings, and grabbed a century while helping Matthew out.

Bowling Award- Veerasammy Permaul - There was a lot of choice in terms of spinners for this Test, but it feels like we selected the right one in this match!

We make no changes for the second Test, on another flat-looking pitch. England don't make any changes either, though on this occasion we are the ones to win the toss and bat first.

**Imager36** · 07-11-2015, 02:00 PM

An impressively rescued draw!

Brathwaite and Edwards again made a solid start to the innings, but both fell in the 30s to leave us 85/2. Unfortunately, the innings never really got back on track this time around. All our middle order made starts, with Bravo and Samuels 20s bookending the 49 and 50 respectively from Chanders and Johnson. None of them stuck around or pushed on though, and with Ramdin and the tail all falling quickly, taking us from 226/4 to 258 all out to leave us seriously behind the 8 ball in the match.

England had no such problems, on this placid looking pitch made short work of hurting us. Their opening partnership was a century stand before Permaul got rid of Lyth, and Cook added another century partnership with Ballance to take England to 225/1 before we removed him. We got back into it to some extent by taking wickets at regular intervals to take them to 333/6, but two partnerships in the 80s involving Moeen Ali robbed us of that, as all four of our frontline bowlers conceded over a hundred runs. At least none of them remained wicketless. Eh? Then they declared, and much to our pain, we had to bat again midway through the afternoon session on day 3.

Edwards edged behind in the teens, but Brathwaite and Bravo played with a lot of calm and poise on the third evening to have us ending day 3 160/1, still 86 runs behind England's mammoth lead. Starting again on day 4 did not go well though. Bravo was bowled by Anderson without adding to his overnight score, and Chanderpaul was LBW for a 10 ball duck. Brathwaite and Johnson batted well together, though, with the former reaching a century, and the latter with his fourth Test 50. The new ball came with our lead at 56, and Johnson was bowled an hour later, having made his highest Test score of 96. Brathwaite followed for an impressive 178, but as Samuels went for 13 we were subsiding. The partnership between Ramdin and Matthew was 115, with both reaching 50s, before they went for 64 each. We set England a target of 277, with roughly an hour and a half left of the penultimate session.

Surprisingly to me, England didn't bother trying to chase the score, and just batted out for the draw. Drawing this match was a massive result, and one I'm very happy to have got!

Batting Award - Kraigg Brathwaite - That 178 from 302 balls. Took 458 minutes of England's time. Beautiful.

Bowling Award - Mervin Matthew - The only one of the seamers to look at all worrying to England in the first innings, not sure anyone deserves an award, but still!

Team News - None of the seamers have impressed, but Roach is the most out of form, and is replaced in the squad and team by Jerome Taylor. In the team, the underperforming Marlon Samuels is replaced by Narsingh Deonarine, who can at least add a second proper spinning option. England make one change, the extra spinner, with Rashid taking the place of Stokes.

Toss - We won again, and want to make a better fist of batting first than we did last time out!

**Imager36** · 07-12-2015, 10:11 PM

HINT - We didn't make a better job of batting first.

Our hopes of a drawn series were quickly crushed by England as we careered out of the gate, instantly falling to 17/3 on a decent pitch in the sunlight! Chanderpaul and Johnson threatened to put on a half decent partnership, and did, with 62, but it wasn't the massive one we needed to get us back into the game. Neither were the next two. When Deonarine was out on his recall, our top 6 had all gone, and we were on a paltry 92. Ramdin did his best to resist England and make some form of game of it, and managed to drag us up to 173 before we were all out.

The fact that England's first innings started with consecutive century partnerships should surprise no-one. Bloody Adam bloody Lyth hit another score to keep us feeling down, and that feeling never really went away. Taylor was impressive on his return, but it did rather seem that all the other bowlers lost heart at the sight of Lyth hitting us all over the place. After we'd let them get to 306/2, we took regular wickets, but only every 40 runs or so, unfortunately, and they got a total that really put them over the line in this game, barring any more Kraigg Brathwaite heroics.

This time, the top order did their job, but it was a little too late for that. The top 5 all got starts, and while Brathwaite and Johnson went on, and Bravo posted 59, none of them got anywhere near the humongous hundred we would have required to put anywhere within sniffing distance of salvaging the series. Johnson did bat well at 5 though, and made absolutely certain of his place for the Australia tests.

I was glad that we managed to get a few wickets to stop the 10 wicket victory, but in the end it was largely symbolic as England romped home.

Batting Award - Leon Johnson - Batted well and aggressively for his 87.

Bowling Award - Jerome Taylor - Bowled well in his first match for me, with a lot more threat than the rest offered.

**Imager36** · 07-12-2015, 10:28 PM

England Tests Review

We didn't really think we stood a chance of getting anything out of this series at the start, and at the end so it proved, but we can take a lot of heart from the way we managed to fight for our first two test draws, and we certainly went down fighting, with England knowing that they'd been in a battle. Apart from the lopsided way we balanced our runs between our first and second innings', our batting was not half bad against a good England attack, with all of our top 5 plus Ramdin (and Matthew!) averaging enough over 30 to keep their places secure. Obviously Kraigg Brathwaite was our batsman of the series, thanks to that match saving 178 in the second test. In terms of bowling, we were dismantled by England very well, and we'll have to pick ourselves up to go against Australia. Matthew was taken apart after a good first test, and with Roach also failing to trouble the batsmen and Rampaul also struggling, though not quite to the same extent, we were very one-dimensional. Permaul played decently, and will keep his place, and Jerome Taylor was great in the final test though, so there are some positives there.

In terms of England's players, Broad was the scourge of our batsmen, with 16 wickets at just over 25 in the three match series, and Cook, Lyth, Ballance and, most annoyingly, Moeen Ali, filled their boots against our bowlers and made us grovel. For me, the player of the series was Stuart Broad, for his fantastic wicket taking and also for frustrating our bowlers himself on a couple of occasions.

Australia Tests Preview

It's an odd situation to have three test series back to back in the modern game, but we certainly arrived in this middle one with more of an idea of what our best team was, and more positively. Despite notably lacking flair in the batting department, that will mean we most likely have to have a very different limited overs side, and missing one or two quality seamers, we have a lot of positives to work with. From the final England test, we make two changes, with Matthew replaced by Carlos Brathwaite, and Deonarine missing out for Jermaine Blackwood, as we feel we don't need the extra spin option in this test. The pitch looks like a seamers' wicket, so one to test us! The full line ups for the first test are below:

West Indies	Australia
K. Brathwaite	D. Warner
K. Edwards	C. Rogers
Darren Bravo	S. Smith
S. Chanderpaul	M. Clarke (C)
L. Johnson	B. Haddin†
J. Blackwood	S. Watson
D. Ramdin† (C)	S. Marsh
C. Brathwaite	M. Johnson
R. Rampaul	M. Starc
V. Permaul	J. Pattinson
J. Taylor	P. Siddle

Formidable looking line-up, isn't it, that Aussie one? Shaun Marsh being selected to bat at 7 is a bit of a strange one, but never mind. They also haven't picked Nathan Lyon, so it's an all seam attack for Australia unless mssrs. Clarke or Smith fancy turning their arm over. In this test Australia have won the toss, and elected to bat first. Good luck everyone. This series could be a ripper. Or, more likely, we'll get ripped a new one. Anyway.

**Imager36** · 07-13-2015, 11:47 PM

Who knows whether we'll ever bat well in both innings.

Our bowlers forced a number of plays and misses immediately, but neither Warner nor Rogers fell very early, leaving it to first change Brathwaite to take his first wicket, with Rogers edging behind. We didn't let Warner or Smith get away either, and though 154/3 was not a commanding position for us, we felt things were going fairly well at this point. Clarke and Haddin tried their best to hurt us though. They put on 136 for the fourth wicket, with Haddin ever the aggressor and Clarke nudging himself to another Test century, and frustrating our bowlers to boot. They went in consecutive overs to leave Oz 293/5, but Watson, Marsh and Johnson between them managed to make us even more annoyed and put on some runs, taking them up to a final total of 430 all out on a good batting track.

We started solidly, with Brathwaite as a steadying influence making his way to 38 from 99 balls, but when Darren Bravo fell straight after him, we were languishing at 94/3. Thank heavens, then, for Leon Johnson. His first test century was a cracking innings, while Chanderpaul and Ramdin joined him for two century partnerships that really put us back in the game - Ramdin fell with the score on 348/6, less than 100 behind the Australians, and we knew we had to be happy with the way our middle order had held the innings together. To add insult to injury, Ramdin added 36 of his own to take us within touching distance of their first innings score. Game level. Just over two more days to play.

Warner got to 46 before Brathwaite could snare him, but it was both Rogers and Smith scoring in the 90s that really set the game up for the Australians. After that, we took regular wickets, but the two of them had done the real damage, and we were set a target of 369 to win the test in just over a day.

We thought it was gettable when we set out, but it soon proved otherwise. We were soon 32/4, effectively, with both openers out, Chanders retired hurt, and Johnson edging behind to a ball considerably newer than the one he wanted to be facing. Blackwood and Bravo tried to make a game of it with their starts, but that was pretty much all we had, as we rolled over in the afternoon session of day 5.

Batting Award - Leon Johnson - A sparkling first century. Hopefully many more to come from him. Currently averaging just over 60 in 4 matches so far this year.

Bowling Award - Veerasammy Permaul - Permaul seems to be developing a worrying trend for a spinner - plenty of wickets in the first innings when the pitch isn't helping, and not really much at all in the second. If he can improve his second innings', he's well set.

Team News - With Chanderpaul injured, and being reluctant to recall Samuels, we turn to Chris Gayle to add some experience and excitement to our line-up. Gayle opens the innings with Brathwaite, pushing Edwards to 3 and Bravo to 4. Else, we're unchanged. Australia play the same XI as in the first test, and again win the toss and choose to bat first.

**GrahamB** · 07-14-2015, 12:03 AM

Very frustrating when your batting is inconsistent.

**Graham_5000** · 07-14-2015, 12:11 AM

I'm onboard for the Golden Isles thread - hope you're successful crafting a new era of dominance!

**Imager36** · 07-15-2015, 08:19 PM

Another frustrating defeat by a very good Australian side.

We took two early wickets to remove Rogers and Smith, but Warner and Clarke had other ideas. They put on a partnership of 199 together, both ending up with scores in the 120s to really turn the screw against our bowling line up, which looked a little out of ideas. Haddin inflicted a little more pain when he joined Clarke, but we took a couple of quick wickets to leave them 362/7, with us looking at restricting them to a total we could match. Unfortunately, Shaun Marsh and Mitchell Starc were around, and did all they could to bat us out of the game in their partnership of 144 for the 8th wicket. We took the last couple of wickets quickly, but feared the damage may have already been done.

Our first innings was the tale of a decent start from the top order to take us to 168/1, and then the largest Calypso Collapse-o I have ever seen. Only the top 3 batsman made double figures (of which the smallest score was 47), and then the next highest score was 9, with FOUR ducks as Siddle and Pattinson ran through us. Taylor also didn't manage to score, but as he was not out without facing, you can't really blame him!

We followed on, and made an even better start second time around, with Gayle bringing Brathwaite out of his shell as they hit their first 200 together at just over 5 an over. The good times couldn't last though. While Darren Bravo batted well for a good 72, Johnson bagged a pair, and no-one could stay with him for a concerted period of time to try and make Australia chase a target of at least three figures. We went from 213/0 to 238/4, and then 359/5 to 375 all out in two quite impressive collapses, but nothing could compare to the first innings.

Their chase was small, and we couldn't derail them, to leave them with a 2-0 series victory.

Batting Award - Brathwaite/Gayle - Both openers played out of their skins, and Gayle showed that maybe he does have something to offer us.

Bowling Award - None - The bowlers were all as mediocre as each other, and not good enough for anyone to warrant it jointly!

**GrahamB** · 07-15-2015, 09:33 PM

Tough going!

**Imager36** · 07-18-2015, 08:41 PM

Originally posted by GrahamB View Post

Tough going!

Rather. It is with this tough going on our minds that we travel to Zimbabwe. We know that this won't be an easy tour, as none of them are, but it will at least be nice to be in a position where we can expect to have a chance! The initial squad I posted has gone a little bit out of the window, but never mind. These are the 15 players picked to play the 2 Test series.

Originally posted by Zimbabwe Squad

K. Brathwaite (O)
C. Gayle (O)
K. Edwards (O/BAT)
Darren Bravo (BAT)
L. Johnson (BAT)
S. Chanderpaul (BAT)
J. Blackwood (BAT)
D. Ramdin† (C)
N. Deonarine (ASP)
J. Holder (ALL)
C. Brathwaite (SEAM)
R. Rampaul (SEAM)
V. Permaul (SPIN)
J. Taylor (SEAM)
K. Roach (SEAM)

As well as these 15, 3 youngsters are selected as part of a performance programme, but are unlikely to get a look in in the Tests. They are 21 year old Shai Hope, who will also act as reserve wicketkeeper, Jeremy Solozano, a 19 year old opener, and Chris Powell, a 20 year old RFM bowler. As we're only playing two tests, I didn't feel like selecting a full 18 man squad for cover was necessary.

We turn up to Bulawayo to find a pitch looking good for the seamers, and the teams are as follows.

Zimbabwe	West Indies
S. Raza	K. Brathwaite
V. Sibanda	C. Gayle
R. Chakavba†	K. Edwards
S. Williams	D. Bravo
H. Masakdza	L. Johnson
T. Chisoro	S. Chanderpaul
M. Waller	D. Ramdin† (C)
T. Panyangara	J. Holder
B. Vitori	C. Brathwaite
N. M'shangwe	V. Permaul
T. Chatara	J. Taylor

So Jason Holder plays his first match for us as we continue to search for wicket taking seamers, and Ravi Rampaul is the one to miss out. Blackwood is also unlucky to miss out, with Kirk Edwards the batsman looking over his shoulder. We win the toss and bat, in strong sunlight.

**Imager36** · 07-18-2015, 10:07 PM

It's nice to finally deal out a thrashing.

We started fairly averagely, with Gayle falling early, and Edwards and Brathwaite leaving not soon after to put us to 113/3 and facing a competitive looking game. After this, we managed to get ourselves on top though, with a fantastic partnership between Bravo and Johnson really making them sweat. Neither looked troubled as they completed their seventh and second Test centuries respectively, with Johnson hitting his highest ever Test score and Bravo capitalising on some worse opposition to hit his best this year to date, and first century for me. In all, the partnership totalled 244 runs, and even when Johnson went for 124, Bravo kept going, and Chanderpaul joined in with 62 to really press home our advantage. Ramdin, Holder, Permaul and Taylor all frustrated Zimbabwe even further, before we were bowled out just before the end of the second day.

They started decently, getting to 61/0, but then Taylor went on a rampage, taking 4 wickets for only 4 runs off him, to reduce them to 76/4. After this, we managed to keep up the regular wickets despite Sean Williams' solid contribution at the other end, with Brathwaite and Permaul contributing as Taylor failed to add any more wickets to his tally. Jason Holder wasn't as effective, but eventually picked up the wicket of Williams to help our cause. As their first innings didn't take too long and we were still a long way out in front, we had no qualms about enforcing the follow on, and pushing toward a big win.

This time it was Sibanda who managed to hold up an end, but again wickets fell rapidly at the other, with Zimbabwe's batsmen not looking too well cut out for this level. This time round, Holder was sensational, taking two of the top 3 LBW and a couple later in the innings too. Taylor and Permaul picked up 3 each and were impressive against this lacklustre opposition, and while Brathwaite was wicketless, he only had to bowl 6 overs as we attacked! It was almost too easy. Maybe they're lulling us into a false sense of security?

Batting Award - Darren Bravo - His big hundred was good to see, and proved he is someone with bags of potential, despite his recent failings at international level.

Bowling Award- Jerome Taylor - His amazing burst in the first innings left the Zimbabweans shellshocked, and if we're honest, they never really seemed to recover from it.

Team News - With a great result, and my new tactic of not getting complacent, we change nothing for the second match. Zimbabwe play the extra seamer, Tripano, instead of spinner M'shangwe, but otherwise stay the same. We lose the toss this time, and will bowl first in this match.

**Imager36** · 07-19-2015, 02:12 AM

Another innings victory to secure the series.

We got Sibanda early, but Raza and Chakabva built nicely to give them some sort of platform. Pleasingly for us, we got 4 quick wickets then to leave them 127/5 and us well in control of the match in the early stages. Chisoro and Waller put on 62 together, but the last 5 wickets went for only 20 to have us well in control of the test match and the series. I'm wondering how much Australia are going to thrash Zimbabwe when they play them! Permaul was incredibly effective in the first innings again, taking 6, though everyone bowled well.

Our openers both got starts without going on, although when Darren Bravo got out, Kirk had managed to drag us up to 153/3, not troubled at all by Zimbabwe's score of earlier. We kept adding through the middle order though, and with it added heavily to our lead. Kirk played a good hand, but it was, once more, Leon Johnson, who took control of the innings and made a good knock, having come in with the lead at 20 and left with it at almost 200. As usual, his strokes were free flowing, including a number of lovely cover drives, and he fully deserved the century that took his average for the year almost up to 60. The way he's performing at the moment, he's looking like he might make the ODI team, which would have been unlikely at the start of the season. Ramdin was also good, and while none of the tail stuck with him for long, he managed to grab enough runs to give us a very nice lead.

Another Taylor burst was imminent, leaving Zimbabwe 41/4 and with no real aspirations of saving the test based on how poor they had previously been. Some pretty good partnerships followed, which were a little annoying, but we had plenty of time to wrap up the win with a few wickets for Permaul, and if we're honest, it never really looked in doubt.

Batting Award - Veerasammy Permaul - 10 in the match for our spinner, a fantastic performance who made sure the match was never in doubt.

Bowling Award - Leon Johnson - Another century for our number 5, and he's looking like he'll be occupying that position for the foreseeable future!

And so, on we go to the three ODIs against the same opponents, of which we will be hoping we can win all three. I haven't selected a limited overs side yet, so I think I'll give that squad in my next post!

**Imager36** · 07-19-2015, 10:07 PM

Right, let's start with a look at the 15 man squad that has travelled for the 3 ODIs!

Originally posted by ODI Squad

K. Brathwaite (O)
C. Gayle (O)
Darren Bravo (BAT)
L. Johnson (BAT)
M. Samuels (ASP)
D. Ramdin (K)
J. Charles (K)
Dwayne Bravo (ALL)
A. Russell (ALL)
D. Sammy (ALL)
J. Holder (ALL) (C)
C. Brathwaite (SEAM)
S. Narine (SPIN)
K. Santokie (SEAM)
V. Permaul

Most of the squad are fairly obvious picks - Kraigg Brathwaite is thought of as useful due to his test form, as with Leon Johnson and Permaul. Santokie is also a punt, having only played a few T20Is in his short international career, but I like to have seamers who can play restrictive roles. Here are how the teams line up for the first ODI:

Zimbabwe	West Indies
S. Raza	K. Brathwaite
V. Sibanda	C. Gayle
S. Williams	Darren Bravo
H. Masakadza	M. Samuels
R. Chakavba†	L. Johnson
T. Chisoro	Dwayne Bravo
N. Madziva	D. Ramdin†
L. Jongwe	D. Sammy
D. Tiripano	J. Holder (C)
T. Mupariwa	S. Narine
T. Chatara	K. Santokie

On a seamers pitch, Narine is the sole spinner, while Santokie takes precendence over Brathwaite for offering a left-arm angle, and a different pace to our other bowlers. We win the toss, and elect to field first.

West Indies	England
K. Brathwaite	A. Lyth
K. Edwards	A. Cook (C)
Darren Bravo	G. Ballance
S. Chanderpaul	J. Root
L. Johnson	I. Bell
M. Samuels	J. Buttler†
D. Ramdin† (C)	M. Ali
M. Matthew	B. Stokes
R. Rampaul	S. Broad
V. Permaul	M. Wood
K. Roach	J. Anderson

Announcement

The Golden Isles - Into the Sunset

The Golden Isles - Into the Sunset

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