The Windies and the Return of Calypso Cricket

[Nottsboy118]

You've taken on a tough challenge. Hope it doesn't get too depressing for you.

Cheers pal. I'm not too disheartened yet, but there's plenty of time for that too change I'm sure.

[Nottsboy118]

We make one change to our T20I squad; Lewis in for Charles. So the squad for the one off game is; Sammy (c), Badree, Brathwaite. C, Bravo. Dw, Gayle (vc),Lewis, Narine, Pollard, Pooran (wk), Powell. R, Samuels, Williams



We make the same change to the XI as the squad; Lewis in for Charles. The England team looks strong, but with grey clouds around and a pitch that looks like it might turn the game could go either way. We lose the toss and have to bat first.

The conditions were beneficial for bowling, no doubt, but 80 all out is nothing short of pathetic. There is nothing much else to right, awful.

We were never going to win but at least we took the game relatively deep. The bowling was good, although it never felt like England were much past 2^nd gear so a pinch of salt probably needs to be taken with any of the figures.



Awards:

5 – Narine, he took a wicket and went for only 18 runs

3 – Badree, bowled four overs for just 12

1 – Brathwaite, batted and bowled pretty averagely, but in this game average was a cut above most

Well maybe more drastic changes are needed to this T20I team than I thought. Expect new personal in the next squad.

[Nottsboy118]

Into the ODI series and four changes to the squad were made after 1 draw and 7 losses so far this year. Bravo, Chase, Mohammed and K. Powell were dropped, and Ambris, Hetymer, Lewis and Reifer were brought in. Lewis for Powell is a like for like swap as Lewis comes back from injury. Chase, Mohammed and vice-captain Bravo have all been poor in this format and so are dropped. We have lost 15 years with these four changes, showing a clear focus on giving some younger players a go.

So the full squad is; Holder (c), Ambris, Bishoo, Carter (vc), Cornwall, Gabriel, Hetmyer, Hope (wk), Joseph, Lewis, Narine, Powell. R, Reifer, Samuels, Walton



We make a fair few changes as we look to give a few more chances to some younger talent. Powell and Cornwall play their first ‘live’ game this year and Hetmyer makes his debut. The England side does it all; bats deep, hits big and bowls a variety too. We lose the toss and are put in to bat.

Good effort with the bat built on the back of two good innings, one from Samuels and one from Carter, topped up with a cameo from Hope. 262-9 gives us something to defend which is more than our bowlers are used to.

A good performance but again we fell just short. At times we were ahead and maybe we should’ve won but we just lack that killer instinct at the moment. Much like the batting effort the bowling was based on the senior pros stepping up and delivering, Holder, Gabriel and Narine all among the wickets whilst maintaining solid economies too.



And for the awards:

5 – Carter, made vice-captain following Bravo’s dropping and responded with a lovely 87 to help set up a good total

3 – Holder, might be struggling at test level this year but he is thriving in the shorter format, another great bowling performance

1 – Samuels, there were a few in contention for the last point but Samuels gets it for another solid contribution.

***

We stick with the same team. England bring in Livingstone for Hales and rejig the order a bit as a result. We lose the toss again and are made to bat under devilishly cloudy skies.

In tricky conditions we just about scraped north of 200; Hetmyer impressed hitting a run-a-ball 45, Hope played nicely for 49 but again fell short of stamping a mark on the game and Walton battled slowly through the initial onslaught and then got out just when things were beginning to ease up.

Holder and Gabriel opened the bowling beautifully but there was little backup once that initial spell ended. Narine was very disappointing offering very little on a spinning track. The gameas a whole was another one where we felt about 75% there, we’re not too far off a complete performance that should win us a game.



The awards:

5 – Gabriel, his figures aren’t as impressive as Holder’s but he got the important first few wickets and looked a tad more dangerous

3 – Hetmyer, a great modern one day innings, looks like we may have found someone with promise

1 – Holder, unlucky to only get 1 point for what was a great 10 overs

***

We made just the one change as Bishoo came back into the XI in place of Narine. England were unchanged, we lost the third toss of the sereis and this time bowl.

We bowled well to restrict them to 276-9. Bishoo on his return to the side was a constant wicket threat, and his wickets in the middle overs were crucial to keeping them to a reasonable score. Powell and Cornwall again bowled well and while still young and inexperienced they have pefromed admirably so far this year in both diciplines.

Our batting struggles on this tour continue and if not for a fifty ninth wicket partnership between Cornwall and Bishoo this could have been really embarassing. No performances to write about here really.



Awards:

5 – Bishoo, Great bowling performance followed by putting the batsmen to shame later on

3 – Cornwall, reasonably econmic bowling effort followed by a decent lower order knock, decent enough

1 – Holder, set the tone early on again with 1-49 from 10

So again we are 3-0 down after three in a five match series, hopefully we can avoid a 5-0 whitewash again.

[Michael H]

A really good thread, well done.

I'm trying to rehabilitate WI cricket with a domestic game (Windward Islands) and lots of coaching of young players who will hopefully go on to have international careers.

You might consider Roshon Primus, a Trinidadian allrounder who is strong in both departments and looks well rated in the game. Other players you could consider from the under 19 WC win (alongisde Hetmyer and Joseph) could be Paul, Cato and Carty. The first two I have averaging 45 in my save although without many 100s.

[Nottsboy118]

A really good thread, well done.

I'm trying to rehabilitate WI cricket with a domestic game (Windward Islands) and lots of coaching of young players who will hopefully go on to have international careers.

You might consider Roshon Primus, a Trinidadian allrounder who is strong in both departments and looks well rated in the game. Other players you could consider from the under 19 WC win (alongisde Hetmyer and Joseph) could be Paul, Cato and Carty. The first two I have averaging 45 in my save although without many 100s.

I had actually forgot about that win, might have to do a bit of research on some of the players featured. Cheers for the suggestions I will defintley have a look, infact it was a toss up between Reifer and Primus for my last one day squad. I'm looking forward to the domestic season getting into full swing so I can see some in game stats for some of these promosing young players rather than picking somewhat blindly. Also I'm hoping that some miracle happens and Jofra Archer magically becomes available to me too.

[Nottsboy118]

We make two changes, one as a result of poor form the other due to the spinning nature of the pitch we encountered. Walton was dropped and replaced by Ambris for a debut, shifting Hetmyer up to open which he did well against Derbyshire earlier on in the tour. And Powell drops out for Narine in a ‘horses for courses’ selection. Hales came in for Duckett for England. And we keep up our bad toss record and have to bowl first.

We unfortunately encountered Joe Root in a run scoring mood and just didn’t have enough abilities to do much about it. Bishoo out bowled Narine but the spinners weren’t as dangerous in the middle overs as I had hoped. And a small point on Gabriel, he appears to just be an unlucky bowler as yet again he bowled well, beating edges, creating half chances, causing poor shots etc, but just not getting the wickets he deserves and often going for a few more runs than his bowling warrants too. Despite all this 308-6 away from home against England isn’t really all that bad, however the problem is that it is pretty much game over for our batting line-up.

We gave it a pretty go ending up on 257 all out, for a loss of about 50 runs. The openers got us off to a great start both hitting run-a-ball fortys, then Samuels and Carter both came in and hit composed 50+ scores to leave us with 7 wickets in hand need about 10 and over heading into the last 10, not impossible. Sadly we just didn’t have the batting strength to pull it off, but again it has been a game that has given me positives without a doubt.



Award time:

5 – Carter, he continues to impress although he probably should have hit a century by this time of the season given his form

3 – Gabriel, his 2-70 doesn’t tell the true story as he produced more ‘chances’ than all the other bowlers combined

1 – Lewis, in a toss between him and Hetmyer as the opener to get a point he just edges it, great effort from both though to get a partnership of 80 our highest 1^st wicket partnership yet

***

And so the final game of the series and the tour is upon us, can we rescue a bit of tangible pride in the form of a win? Two changes; Cornwall and Narine for Powell and debut man Reifer. England are unchanged. We finally win a toss and opt to bat, half hoping the ball does something magical under the lights later on.

We were all out with the last ball for 195. Very disappointing. Everything good about the last batting effort vanished without a trace and nobody stepped up to cover for this. Hope and Holder got us somewhere near respectability but again Hope couldn’t go on and make a significant score; this series alone he has hit three scores between 42 and 49, he really needs to go on and get a bigger score in at least one of those.

A predictable loss given the halfway predicament, yet it was a decent bowling performance regardless. Bishoo again in the wickets means he has definitely overtaken Narine as first choice spinner for the time being. And some good bowling from the two young all-rounders; Powell and Reifer was pleasing.



Awards:

5 – Bishoo, wickets again for him, missed the first two games but came back strong to end the series well

3 – Holder, low order runs and usual dependable self with the ball claiming one wicket

1 – Gabriel, an early wicket in a dangerous spell again from the big man

A 5-0 loss then, far from ideal but at the same time very much expected. However it was a series with brighter spots than the previous two, we are definitely starting to formulate a team that is not far of winning and given that we’re off to Zimbabwe next it better be so soon.

[UTBash]

Ouch, a tough start man! Hopefully things start to pick up, there are some decent performances knocking about the side, it seems it's just not come together in any of your games! Good Luck!

[Nottsboy118]

Ouch, a tough start man! Hopefully things start to pick up, there are some decent performances knocking about the side, it seems it's just not come together in any of your games! Good Luck!

Cheers mate. I think that has been the most frustrating part because there is talent in the Caribbean but the players haven't been cosistent enough.

There may finally be some good news to come though...

[Nottsboy118]

So we finish the English tour and hop straight onto a plane to Zimbabwe travelling that night, have one day off recovering from a long series and the flight and then play a Test match the next day. The WICB working wonders there. Although a quick google suggests this tour may not be happening in real life, it does work well as a microcosm for the crazy schedule of modern day international cricket.

Anyway onto the tour, we play 2 tests, 3 ODIs and 2 T20Is with no warm up games. A look at our recent record in Zimbabwe tells us this tour presents a chance to gain some points. We won the last test series but lost the last ODI series and have never played a T20I game here, so plenty of opportunities.

With still no domestic cricket, that isn’t the CPL, to evaluate any other players we stick primarily with our squad for the England tour making just one change; Joseph in for Johnson. Leaving the squad as; Holder (c), Bishoo, Brathwaite, Bravo (vc), Brooks, Chase, Cornwall, Cummings, Dowrich (wk), Gabriel, Hetmyer, Hope. K, Hope. S, Joseph, Roach, Singh, Taylor, Warrican

[Nottsboy118]

With the pitch looking lively for pace and spin we made the bold call to go with a 2 and 2 attack meaning no Gabriel or Taylor, but instead Warrican finally making his first appearance of the year after being in every squad to date. Zimbabwe employ a similar tactic with plenty of spin options in their ranks too. We lost the toss, Holder really needs to get practising his calling, and we bowl. They’ll be plenty in it for the bowlers all match so it’s a case of consistency with the ball in hand and discipline with the bat in hand.



Well thanks God we played two spinners as between them they took all 10 wickets. They both bowled nicely, although Warrican actually out bowled Bishoo offering a lot more control and taking two more wickets. Before the game I’d have said 300 is around par, and we just about kept them under when it looked like they would get 50+ more than that. We are going to need to bat very well though because chasing on this pitch in the fourth innings will be extremely difficult.

I thought all was lost when we slumped to 109-4 but a fantastic 154 partnership between Bravo and Hope got us back into the match. We scored tremendously slowly the whole innings showing real grit and determination, however just as we were starting to perhaps edge ahead Bishoo was on the receiving end of a vicious bouncer leaving us one bowler short for the remainder of the match. We hauled our way to a 59 run lead but this was going to have to be a great team bowling effort to prevent us chasing much more than 200.

A simply incredible effort from Jomel Warrican, he bowled great as he took 8 more wickets to add to his 6 in the first innings. Zimbabwe are all out for 152 meaning we need to chase 94 for victory, surely we will. Holder, Chase and Cummings all supported him well, but with Bishoo out and no other spinners in the squad we look like we might be a bit short for the second test.

And as expected we did it, claiming our first win of the season, and given the conditions to do it only three down is a pretty good effort.



Test match awards:

5 – Warrican, incredible game taking 14 wickets, which is a new West Indian record against Zimbabwe

3 – Bravo, set the game up nicely with another century, perhaps his best yet this year given the circumstances although there is tough competition given this was his fourth

1 – S. Hope, a seriously good knock getting us out of trouble and giving us the half chance that Warrican took with both hands

Well I must say I’m thrilled with this as we finally get that first win. It really is bizarre coaching West Indies and having spin bowlers make up the majority of your best bowlers, but I guess it means we should be able to challenge away from home in the next few years. One more test to go then, sadly we will be without Bishoo who has a fracture, can we go on to claim our first series win?

***

So the only decision we had was who would replace the injured Bishoo? Cornwall was one option but with the pitch looking a lot more batsman friendly I wasn’t that confident he’d be all that potent. Therefore it was a choice of four pacemen; Gabriel, Taylor, Roach and Joseph. I went for Taylor, who despite a poor test on the England tour has been churning out the wickets for Sussex. Zimbabwe make two changes one at the top one in the middle of the order. We annoyingly lose the toss and bowl first in far from helpful conditions.

We didn’t look that threatening without conditions in our favour and Zimbabwe did well to post a solid 377 with the pitch showing signs of deteriorating. Warrican again will steal the headlines with his third fifth wicket haul in a row but he was ably supporting by Holder.

Similar story to the first test match except this time we were facing a much bigger first innings target. Bravo plays fantastically for yet another hundred whilst Hope battles away but fails to convert. It was a slow ponderous innings and as a result a fair bit of time has been taken out of the game, so on the resumption of play Zimbabwe lead by 90 runs with 2 days and 20 minutes to play.

Cummings bowled a great new ball spell to reduce them to not many for 3, but they rebuilt well and although we chipped away regularly they started to build an imposing total. However as their innings went on it became pretty apparent we weren’t going to win and by them batting us out of the game they actually gave us a much better chance of saving it. They set us 408 to win, but that didn’t concern us. We were far more interested in the day and 44 minutes to be exact, so roughly 100 overs.

We survived for rest of day 4 but the first session of day 5 drew 3 wickets to leave us in a very precarious position. Chase fell early but Bravo and Hope again steadied the ship before Hope fell just before tea putting the game right back in the balance. 2 hours versus 5 wickets. Brooks fell quickly but Holder played a good Captain’s knock to get us to the brink of the draw. He was then caught lbw but Warrican survived the three remaining overs. Bravo again excelled surviving 178 balls and over four hours for his 44* in what will surely rival his 5 hundreds for innings of the season.



The awards:

5 – Bravo, just irrepressible at the moment producing another two fantastic innings

3 – S. Hope, again battled brilliantly in both innings and was an instrumental part of that draw and the series win

1 – Warrican, wickets in the first innings and good control in the 2^nd, has probably moved above Bishoo in the pecking order which is exceedingly impressive given Bishoo’s efforts this year with 25 wickets

Well I’m chuffed with that. All the losses just make moments like this even sweeter. However it’s important we kick on from here with a series in New Zealand and then a touring Bangladesh side to come there should be more wins available to us this year.

[Nottsboy118]

We make a few changes to the ODI squad, some enforced others not. Bishoo remains out with that injury he sustained in the first test, Joseph is left out as with domestic cricket starting up and a lack of opportunity in these international squads I’d rather he play some cricket and Walton is dropped following a poor run of form. Warrican is brought in as a replacement for Bishoo, we recall Bravo in the hope that he can bring some of that wonderful test form to the shorter format and Roshon Primus is also added to the squad thanks to some brilliant early season form for T&T.

Our squad for the three match series is therefore: Holder (c), Ambris, Bravo, Carter (vc), Cornwall, Gabriel, Hetmyer, Hope (wk), Lewis, Narine, Powell. R, Primus, Reifer, Samuels, Warrican

We bring Bravo and Warrican straight into the team, the rest of the team remains stable. Zimbabwe’s line-up looks pretty nice with plenty of bowling options and a deep batting order. This will not be an easy series. We win our first toss in what feels about 10, and opt to bowl.



A very good bowling performance by all five bowlers used. Warrican again the pick, making me start to feel like a fool for not picking him sooner but I have now and I’m reaping the rewards. 223 won’t be a straight forward chase in very bowler friendly conditions, we will need one or two people to step up and guide me home.

A bit of a rollercoaster of an innings but we got there in the end. Their opening bowled really well and had us rattled at 18-2 but that was followed by a great partnership of 132 between Hetmyer and Bravo which was foolishly ended when Bravo was run out by his partner. From that point it really should never have been in doubt but we really did trip and fall over the line, over the line we ended up though.



ODI award time:

5 – Bravo, toss-up between him and Hetmyer and he didn’t run anybody out

3 – Hetmyer, A great innings falling just short of our first ODI century of the year, he looks a player this lad

1 – Warrican, bowled brilliantly and can feel unlucky to only get a point but it was a bowlers wicket and that counts against him

***

With the 2^nd match pitch not offering much turn we bring Narine out, with the feeling Cornwall and maybe even Samuels can send down some off-breaks, and bring in Reifer. Zimbabwe drop bowler Chatara for a batsman in Burl, I’m pleased with that as I thought Chatara bowled very well in the 1^st game. We win the toss again and go for the bowl and chase plan again.

280 was a few more than I would’ve liked the m to get ideally but it’s a good track so is probably around par. They surprisingly went after Warrican hitting him out of the attack but he returned very well later to claim respectable figures, but the the top performer was Reifer who not only got wickets he got big wickets; his three wickets were the 1^st, 2^nd and 4^th top scorers of the innings.

A disappointing chase after a very good start provided by the openers, however they both began to slow before the end of their innings’ and then both fell in quick succession. And from then on the rate kept risen and wickets kept falling and we fell just short. Thus we have a decider when we feel we should have wrapped up the series already.



Awards:

5 – Reifer, as I’ve said not just wickets but big wickets, a very pleasing performance

3 – Hetmyer, another good innings from the top of the order from the youngster

1 – Bravo, continues his strong return to the squad with another half century, sadly ran out of partners towards the end then lost his wicket trying to keep up with the rate

***

We make one change as the sight of very cloudy skies encouraged me to bring in another seamer; Powell for Warrican. Zimbabwe keep the same XI but alter the order, we win a third toss of the series and bowl for the third time this series.

And Zimbabwe post an above par score without a doubt. A pretty average performance from the bowling unit, they looked neat and tidy but not threatening. If we get 261 in these conditions it really would be a hell of a chase.

Arghh! The most infuriating loss yet and by some distance. We collapsed to 47-4, which we followed with a 136 run partnership between Samuels and Hope, only for both to fall with the job not yet done. And then despite ‘batting’ down to 10 we didn’t have enough in the locker and fell 4 short. Really annoyed at this for so many reasons, we could and should have won this 3-0 so a series loss is really poor. I suppose this just shows us our standard; we somewhat scraped a test series win and now they’ve scraped a ODI win. Hopefully we can leave the country with a bit of a smile by winning the T20I series.



Awards:

5 – Samuels, great innings but annoyingly didn’t take us home

3 – Hope, another great inning but annoyingly didn’t take us home

1 – Powell, good bowling effort and hit 18 of 16 late on, which sadly wasn’t enough

[GrahamB]

Congrats on your win in the test series. Good to see that the OD series was also closely fought.

[Fatal]

Good to see you start winning yes. How do you play these games ball by ball? I would like to start playing as west indies & try the west indies domestic circuit aswell

[Nottsboy118]

Good to see you start winning yes. How do you play these games ball by ball? I would like to start playing as west indies & try the west indies domestic circuit aswell

It depends on the format, playing more close attention as the formats get smaller so each ball matters more, and also paying more attention as games become tighter and/or reach a climax.

Give it a go mate, but be prepared for a tough time particularly with the national team. There are some good young players though and definitley some fun to be had!

[Nottsboy118]

In our first T20I away series of the year we had the chance to pick three extra players, which coupled with an injury to Sammy gives us plenty of free spaces. Charles is recalled to the squad. Hetmyer and Reifer are added thanks to promising starts to their ODI career, were as Primus and Joseph again feature in international squads due to domestic form. Powell is left out just to regain/get more game time in domestic cricket.

This means are 15 man squad is: Gayle (c), Badree, Brathwaite. C, Bravo. Dw (vc), Charles, Hetmyer, Joseph, Lewis, Narine, Pollard, Pooran (wk), Primus, Reifer, Samuels, Williams

We make three changes from our last T20I game; with Sammy and Powell not featuring we bring in Hetmyer and Williams, and due to conditions Badree is replaced by Reifer. I would like to give every man in the squad a game in this two match series to try a few new players given the poor start in this format. Zimbabwe field a similar team to their one day outfit. We lose the toss and bowl.



Zimbabwe probably edged above par thanks to some great late order hitting my Waller. All the bowlers bowled well, although Brathwaite’s figures were somewhat ruined by Waller taking him on in the 19^th over. I’d like to think we should chase 163, but my trust in the batting line-up is minimal.

Gayle was out the very first ball of the innings and from that moment on we never looked like winning. Hetmyer played a very good knock, were as Pollard’s was somewhat disappointing due to the strike rate which put others under pressure and contributed to Hetmyer’s wicket if not more.



Awards:

5 – Bravo, bowled really well particularly at the death

3 – Hetmyer, lovely innings, this lad is starting to become an integral member of both our limited overs sides

1 – Reifer, very solid debut adding further to his good start to his international career

***

We decide to stick to our promise of giving everyone a go, after the poor first game it’s not surprising. Charles, Primus, Badree and Joseph come in for Samuels, Reifer, Narine and Williams. Zimbabwe are unchanged and again win the toss and ask us to bowl.

Another solid but unspectacular bowling performance, Bravo again was brilliant at the death but we just aren’t taking enough wickets early on too really benefit from his expertise at that period. However again a chase of 161 should be achievable, and really we need to chase this because a 2-0 loss isn’t acceptable.

And we just about scraped home. We started very poorly slipping to 36-4 then 72-5, before a partnership between Pollard and Bravo got us to 131-5 before Pollard was caught in front of his stumps. The rate creaked up just before the Pollard wicket and when he was out the confidence drained from me, yet in strode Brathewaite who faced the next 12 balls smashing 32 as we got home with 3 balls to spare



Awards:

5 – Brathwaite, tough choice between 1^st and 2^nd but in the end the brutal match-winning nature of Brathwaite’s innings along with a solid bowling effort gave him the nod

3 – Bravo, sublime bowling effort again and a very important and valuable batting performance

1 – Pollard, his innings was again on the slow side which was somewhat bailed out by Brathwaite, but in the two games he has scored runs which is more than can be said for the rest of the top order.

This ends a tour filled with ups and downs; a great test series win, an unacceptable ODI series loss and a T20I series draw that we were a bit disappointed with. Next up is a trip to New Zealand, our penultimate series of the season.