The Golden Isles - A Story

[Imager36]

Maybe we played slightly better in the second test match. At least it serves as a lesson to show how far we have to go to become a world class test team. We just don't have it yet. In our first two tests against the Indians, we have been comfortably beaten.



Based on our performaces, it seems that our batting has been to blame for the bad performances so far. The inexperienced Barath, Bravo, Powell and Bascombe have had a lot to live up to, with combined age being only 92. This lot have been trying to make up for the loss of Sarwan to injury, and all four may well be in the side again next year if captain Chanderpaul retires between March and April. Luckily, Sarwan is back for the third and final test, in which we could prove ourselves, and he comes into the final test squad for Powell.

As a side note - In our second innings, when Gayle got out on 73 off 74 balls, his opening partner Chanderpaul was at the other end. On 7.

[Imager36]

This makes the test series much better -



A bit of a dead rubber, but we still did rather well. Martin bowled rather well, and Sarwan proved why we, to be honest, need him in the team to win matches.

The team for the first ODI is in the quote, with the subs beneath.

C.Gayle (O)
S.Chanderpaul (BAT)
R.Sarwan (BAT)
A.Barath (BAT)
M.Bascombe (BAT)
I.Flokes (WK)
Dwayne Bravo (ALL)
D.Sammy (ALL)
R.Kelly (SEAM)
K.Roach (SEAM)
A.Martin (SPIN)

And the remaining players in the squad -
J.Parris (O)
K.Powell (BAT)
Darren Bravo (BAT)
J.Taylor (SEAM)

[Imager36]

Yet another great start to a one-day series for us, in a low-scoring encounter.



Won the toss again, bowled, and Bravo struck with only the second ball of the innings. Roach got rid of the other opener soon after, and it was destined to be low-scoring. Martin, as usual, was our best bowler, ending with 3/22 from his 10 overs. Sammy also bowled 9 overs for 1/27, at only 3 R/O.

Whilst batting, our wickets slipped from underneath us. Before I noticed, Chanderpaul, Sarwan and Barath had all fallen, leaving us at 52/3 after about 12 overs. Dwayne Bravo, who had an excellent match, polished this off with the tail for 43.

For the second match, Parris comes in for Barath, who has had a brilliant couple of years.

[Imager36]

And almost thrashed in this one -



Batting first never suits my teams, and so it proved again. Before the Sarwan - Flokes partnership started, and became worth 80, we were 20/4. 100/5 seemed a bit better, and we managed to use all our time up through Bravo (who hung around) and Kelly (who hit a few and got out).

They, however, batted well this time, and won very, very comfortably.

For the final match, the Barath - Parris switch is reversed, for what may be Shiv Chanderpaul's final international game.

[Imager36]

And we lose the series, but it was to India.



Sammy and Kelly bowled well, and Gayle and Chanderpaul did well with the bat. Time for a yearly review.

[Imager36]

Results in the 2011 season

Australia in the West Indies - Tests lost 3-0, ODIs lost 3-0
West Indies in South Africa - Tests lost 2-1, ODIs won 3-2
West Indies in Pakistan - Tests won 2-0, ODIs won 2-1
India in the West Indies - Tests lost 2-0, ODIs lost 2-1

New championship standings
Tests - 7th
ODIs - 4th

Test runs last year
Ade Barath - 939
Chris Gayle - 829
Shiv Chanderpaul - 728
Ian Flokes - 614
Ramnaresh Sarwan - 579
Darren Bravo - 555
Darren Sammy - 360

Test wickets last year
Ant Martin - 77
Darren Sammy - 28
Richard Kelly - 17
Nelon Pascal - 17
Kemar Roach - 15
Kev McClean - 10

ODI runs last year
Shiv Chanderpaul - 554
Chris Gayle - 422
Dwayne Bravo - 352
Ramnaresh Sarwan - 232
Ian Flokes - 225
Ade Barath - 191
Runako Morton - 162

Most ODI wickets
Dwayne Bravo - 28
Ant Martin - 24
Kev McClean - 15
Darren Sammy - 13
Kemar Roach - 12
Richard Kelly - 10

Test Player of the Year - Ant Martin
ODI Player of the Year - Dwayne Bravo
Young Player of the Year - Adrian Barath

We did well overall, but our test play needs to be worked on. As seen by the test wickets column, we need to rely less on the spin of Ant Martin, and, as such, I may start to give the option in my squads of playing five bowlers, with Dwayne Bravo coming in to balance the side and another spinner being picked from the domestic scene, most likely Gavin Wallace.

Fixtures next year

New Zealand in the West Indies - 3 Tests, 5 ODIs
West Indies in India - 3 Tests, 5 ODIs
West Indies in Australia - 5 Tests, 2 T20s, 5 ODIs
Australia in the West Indies - 3 Tests, 5 ODIs

Why we play Australia twice in a row is anybody's guess. Looks like it'll be another tough year.

Time then, to get down to business. Here is the first test squad against New Zealand

C.Gayle (O)
S.Chanderpaul (BAT)
R.Sarwan (BAT)
A.Barath (BAT)
D.Bravo (BAT)
M.Bascombe (BAT)
I.Flokes (WK)
D.Bravo (ALL)
D.Sammy (ALL)
K.Roach (SEAM)
G.Wallace (SPIN)
A.Martin (SPIN)

This means that selection for the first test is between Bascombe and Wallace, based on pitch conditions.

[Imager36]

Bascombe selected due to the fact that the pitch looked conducive to bowling. How wrong I was.



As test matches go, this was boring. The batsmen dominated the game, and the fact that Roach got his first test half-century in the second innings. All of the bowlers bowled badly, but they would have been very lucky to bowl in any other way.

Wallace replaces Bascombe for the second.

[Yorks]

it's good chanderpaul hasn't retired yet though

[Imager36]

it's good chanderpaul hasn't retired yet though

It is, he's captain and one of the best bastmen, but we know that eventually we'll have to live without him.

[Imager36]

Another draw, but we very nearly lost this one...



With two sessions rained off, and two left for us to survive at the declaration, we just about clung on to keep this boring series level. One left to play.

[Imager36]

Oh my. We won this within 11 minutes of the end of the match, and it never looked certain. We owe it to one man. At the start of the match, the team news was that Bascombe came back in for Wallace, with the pitch looking nice for seamers only.



We won the toss, and given the good weather, chose to bat. Chanderpaul went unfortunately early for 10, but Barath and Gayle established a good partnership and everything seemed fine until they fell. Sarwan and Darren Bravo ended with 27 and 29 respectively, before Bascombe made only two, and left Flokes with the tail. The tail were useless, and Flokes hung around long enough to see Bravo, Sammy and Roach fail and Martin remain luckily not out at the other end. We had made only 229, and it was time for them to bat.

Before I begin, I'd just like to mention how well Ross Taylor batted. In vain, it turned out, but he batted well. He came in when they were strugging on 58/3, and made partnerships of over twenty with everyone he was in with, including three especially annoying ones that held us back. First he made 86 with Jacob Oram. This, I thought, was just about bearable. Then, he made a partnership of 98 with Mark Gillespie. In this partnership, Gillespie made his first ever test 50. "Everyone's due one sometime", I thought, and carried on. I almost snapped, however, most of the way through his 64 partnership with 36 year old Shane Bond. Luckily, it was soon over, and we were batting again. 174 behind.

A great start left us only 34 behind when the first wicket of Chanderpaul fell for 61, although when reduced from 140/0 to 185/4, it looked like we would probably not be setting a total for New Zealand that we had a chance of defending. Then Bascombe came in, and made 40 in a partnership of 86 with Sarwan. Sarwan continued past Flokes, and then shared 141 with Dwayne Bravo in a fantastic partnership, the all-rounder really proving his merits as a batsman. When Sarwan fell, the innings seemed to be almost over, especially after Sammy fell with a golden duck. Kemar Roach walked to the middle. After he had batted for 3 hours and 17 minutes, he and Dwayne Bravo walked off the field, having made an unbeaten partnership of 158, and him making 73 of those. We had declared around 400 in front with 2 and a half sessions to go, and we knew we could win this.

We also knew that a special bowling performance would be needed. We got one. Bravo, fresh from his unbeaten 146, removed McIntosh with the New Zealand score on 5. Darren Sammy, feeling that he should chip in, bowled Jesse Ryder when the score was 32. Then, Hay joined Fulton, and they went through to lunch and far beyond. After this, Hay was LBW to Roach for 36, with the score becoming 115/3. We still had a chance. Eventually, Martin removed Fulton for 68, in what would turn out to be his only wicket in the innings, and at tea, it was 183/4. There was a chance, but it was slim. Straight after tea, Bravo started making it wider. He had both Neil Broom and Ross Taylor, first innings hero, caught at slip, and both Brendan McCullum and Jacob Oram were toppled by the same man. He then strained himself, and had to go off, but Roach got rid of Gillespie and Sammy got rid of Shaw right at the death to seal a series victory for the golden isles.

Next up, the one day series. This squad contains all 12 of the test squad members plus Richard Kelly, Gavin Tonge and possible 23 year old débutante Kevon Cooper.


Kevon Cooper

For the first of the matches, I have gone with what I feel is the best team, regardless of form. This team is Gayle, Flokes (for one more opening chance!), Chanderpaul, Barath, Sarwan, Bravo, Bravo, Sammy, Kelly, Wallace and Martin.

[Tom Guntrip]

Hoorah! Hope you win the series, for a good world Cup would really help.

[Imager36]

Yet again, a good start to a one-day series.



This time, we lost the toss and had to bat, and the new Gayle-Flokes opening partnership did themselves proud with a 79 partnership. They each took 62 balls and scored 44 and 38 respectively. Slow and steady made way for pacy from someone who usually isn't, with captain fantastic Shiv Chanderpaul scoring 62 from 47 balls. Barath went cheaply, but Sarwan got 34 at almost a run a ball, before Darren Bravo added 33 more. Dwayne Bravo and Darren Sammy hit into two figures each, Kelly was out first ball and Wallace hit a 4 from his first ball and the last ball of the innings.

Their innings got an even better start than ours, as our first wicket came 31 overs into the reply, as Wallace got McIntosh LBW. Then, the wickets tumbled. Chris Gayle got Jesse Ryder in the next over, and then Wallace took the wickets of both Fulton and Taylor in the space of 3 balls in the next over. There were then 3 overs of wicketlessness before the final 6 were gobbled up in 4.2 overs. A good start to a series, but we're a long way from points.

[Imager36]

Another good match, and a nice easy win.



Wallace was good, as he has been since his return, and Bravo bowled okay. Kelly was very economic, and we restricted them to under 4.4 an over.

Sarwan and Chanderpaul batted very well, and there was little room for anyone else to do any batting around them. Vettori and Franklin bowled well, and we eaked out a 2-0 lead in the 5 match series.

[CyberCricketer]

You ought to give Brendan Nash another go (unless he is too old now?). At the beginning of this story he was scoring many hundreds but you still gave up on him.