The Golden Isles - A Third Time Lucky West Indies Story

[Imager36]

Another demoralising loss.



Gayle fell early again, but whilst Simmons and Darren were able to score at enough over a run a ball to make a competitive total, neither Edwards or Burton were keeping up with that pace, and between them, they ended up dragging it down to a score that, on a good pitch, should be easily chaseable.

Unfortunately, so it proved. We took wickets fairly regularly, but not regularly enough, and they took an unfortunately easy victory.

Series State - New Zealand win the series 2-0
Batting Award - Darren Bravo - 48* from 39. A good innings.
Bowling Award - Sunil Narine - 1/16 from 4 overs. Top notch T20 bowler.

And so ends a disappointing tour for us. Next up, we're visited by the Bangladeshis. 2 tests first, so here is my XI for the first test. Chris Gayle, who has been dreadful this year, is dropped.

L. Simmons (OK)
S. Burton (O)
K. Edwards (BAT) (C)
Darren Bravo (BAT)
R. Sarwan (BAT)
B. Nash (BAT)
M. Alford (ALL)
C. Brathwaite (SEAM)
D. Sammy (SEAM)
K. McClean (SEAM)
D. Bishoo (SPIN)

If we can't be these guys, we can't beat anyone. 'Cept maybe Zimba.

[Chasjs]

Hopefully so... I haven't mentioned his domestic bowling figures yet, 'cause they're poor, so I think if I ignore them he'll be fine. Interesting for the game to generate a good 'typical West Indian' player though - Aggressive lower-middle order batsman, quickish bowler. Thing is, in real life, he'd be taken by the IPL aged 21 and rarely play for us after that, but as it is he could be in the team for 15 years. I love getting a good regen.

Me to but I usually find that unless you put them in your national team straight away regens appear too old. You'll very rarely find an 18/19 year old regen who has played a couple of years FC cricket like Finn/Broad/Cook had before they made their international debuts. Most only appear aged 20-24 when I think it should be more like 17-21.

[Imager36]

Some tame batting leaves us 1-0 down.



Guptill started the New Zealand innings with a bang, getting 34 from 14 balls, but a flurry of wickets still left them 50/5 after 5 overs. Franklin played very well for his 49 from 47, and singlehandedly gave us a total to chase. Except Russell and Pollard, our bowlers went for at most 5.5 runs an over.

Gayle and Edwards both went early to leave us 31/2, and whilst a good partnership between Simmons and Darren developed, they could not get the ball off the square, and left us with a tall order to win. Pollard played well for his 36 from 20 not out, but at the end we couldn't get our noses over the line.

Series State - New Zealand lead 1-0 with 1 to play.
Batting Award - Kieron Pollard - The only man to get double figures and score at over a run a ball.
Bowling Award - Sunil Narine, 4 overs, 2-17, very nice work from the 26 year old spinner.

Team News - Holder in for Russell.

[Imager36]

Alford looks like an exciting find!

Hopefully so... I haven't mentioned his domestic bowling figures yet, 'cause they're poor, so I think if I ignore them he'll be fine. Interesting for the game to generate a good 'typical West Indian' player though - Aggressive lower-middle order batsman, quickish bowler. Thing is, in real life, he'd be taken by the IPL aged 21 and rarely play for us after that, but as it is he could be in the team for 15 years. I love getting a good regen.

[Chasjs]

Alford looks like an exciting find!

[Imager36]

No-one shone, we lost.



Having lost the toss, we batted first. Simmons fell for 3, but Gayle made his highest score of the season so far, 42 runs, in his 11th innings in all forms. Edwards continued scoring, albeit at limited pace, but Burton was out cheaply. Paul came in, and stroked the ball around elegantly. Edwards was out 1 short of his 50, and after Alford went for 17 from 14, and Hinds was run out without facing, all seemed bleak. Russell, Holder and Roach went quickly too, to leave us 173/9. Paul played exceptionally to rescue us from that, with Bishoo staying in alongside him. Paul was out LBW with 1 ball left. He did well to get us over 200.

The problem was, that total was never really going to look like enough. Despite a good spell when Alford and Holder reduced them from 63/0 to 103/4, we never looked on top, and a good partnership from Taylor and de Boorder took them home.

Series State - West Indies win the series 3-2.
Batting Award - Mike Paul - Batted well, and at a good pace.
Bowling Award - Mike Alford - 3 of the 4 wickets taken went to him. He now has 14 wickets in 5 ODIs. I'm hoping he'll continue in this vein.

Okay, so now 2 T20Is against the black caps. Sammy and Dwayne Bravo come into the squad for Roach and Pascal. For the first of the matches, Paul, Hinds, Holder and Sammy miss out, meaning Alford plays his first ever T20 match. That's how you can tell the newgens.

[Imager36]

Series won - Another good chase by the middle order.



Lost the toss, but got to bowl anyhow. Russell removed McC, but both Guptill and Williamson impressed, before Guptill fell. Ryder went soon after, but Taylor put on 92 with Williamson to give New Zealand a good total. 4 quick wickets left them 216/7, but Franklin and Banks frustrated Russell and Alford to leave them 7 down at the end.

Gayle and Simmons both went early, but Edwards and Darren put us in a position where chasing was definitely possible. Unfortunately, both of them and Burton fell in quick succession, leaving us needing 111 to win with 5 wickets remaining and just under 20 overs. Luckily, both Pollard and Paul were in sublime form, and ended with 54* from 55 and 70* from 71 respectively.

Series State - West Indies win the series 3-1, with one to play.
Batting Award - Mike Paul - 70 from 71, not out, with no proper chances, and 10 boundaries. Good knock.
Bowling Award - Andre Russell - His 3 wickets really limited the NZ total.

Team News - For the dead rubber, Hinds, Holder, Roach and Bishoo get a run out in place of Darren, Pollard, Narine and Pascal. Alford bats at 6.

[Imager36]

We batted well! After a bit.



We won the toss and bowled first. We started badly, with the quicks being hit around a bit early on, and Pollard then going for 41 runs from his early 5 overs. Gayle was brought in to make these up, and went for runs, but removed Guptill. Narine was economical in the middle overs, as usual, and Pascal took a couple of wickets alongside him to give us hope. Russell and Alford returned at the death, and did well to limit them to under 250.

It was a total we felt we had a chance at chasing, but the early wickets of Gayle (0), Edwards (5) and Darren (3) left us faltering at 49/3. A 120 partnership sorted that doubt out, however, and Burton's 68 from 62 balls put us nicely above the required run rate. When he was out, Simmons finished off his 3rd ODI century, 102 from 105 balls. We needed 61 when he was out, but luckily Paul (38*) and Pollard (26*) guided us to an easy victory.

Series State - West Indies lead the series 2-1 with 2 matches to play.
Batting Award - Lendl Simmons - An ODI hundred is always a good occasion, and he played well for it.
Bowling Award - Mike Alford - 2/22 from 10 overs, with 2 maidens... he's played like he's been doing it for years.

Team News - None.

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And we're level.



We won the toss, and bowled very well indeed. Pascal got Guptill early, and the 19 year old Alford added McCullum, Ryder and de Boorder within his first spell. The black caps then rebuilt against the spin of Hinds and Narine. Both went at under 3 an over in their 10 over spells. Then Pascal returned, with Alford, who added Williamson, Banks and Henry to his earlier tally, before the last 2 bumped them up to 200.

We felt this was well below par, but at 10/2 with both openers gone, we doubted that. Even after that no-one got going. Edwards (24), Darren (21), Burton (33), Pollard (15) and Alford (23) all got starts, and if one of them had managed to go on to 60/70 then we would probably have won the match. Alas, they did not.

Series State - The series is level at 1-1, with 3 to play.
Batting Award - Shane Burton - Tried his best to at least restore calm to the batting.
Bowling Award - Mike Alford - Obviously.

Team News - Errm, well... Mike Paul is coming in... forr.... oh, I don't know. Ryan Hinds, I think. This will almost certainly backfire.

[Imager36]

In the West Indies, they're bred ice cool.



Won the toss, and so bowled. Good start, as McCullum fell in the second over. A couple of 50 partnerships, however, both including Guptill, put us on the back foot, but, in what turned out to be a good move, we sacrificed a little run-rate safety for wickets, and the consistent fall of them at one end meant that Ryder was powerless to attack, and had to mill around with a strike rate of around 75. A quick mention here for Mike Alford, whose 2/39 from 10 overs weren't the best figures, but were certainly up there for a début.

Early wickets of the top 3 put us struggling at 48/3, but a 44 partnership between Darren Bravo and the aggressive Shane Burton (29 from 25) rekindled our chances. Pollard went early, however, and Bravo followed for 41, with 94 still required. Luckily, Hinds and the young Bajan Alford did exactly as they needed to. They plodded along with strike rates of exactly 75 each, and with the aggression early on, this was enough to take us to victory. Hinds was out soon after reaching his 50, his first in ODIs, but Alford and Russell steered the ship to land.

Series State - West Indies lead the series 1-0 with 4 to play.
Batting Award - Hinds/Alford - Cool under pressure, with 95 to get and 6 down, these 2 both deserve accolades.
Bowling Award - Nelon Pascal - The best of a rather good bunch of figures.

Team News - One more match before I consider bringing in batting reinforcements.

[Imager36]

My bowling in Tests is SO up and down. No idea.



We made a good start to our innings, but were on course for a total around 300 whilst at 262/7, when Sammy came to the crease. The resulting partnership of 114 allowed Burton to get a maiden test century that he most definitely deserved, and Sammy to get his 2nd highest test match score, missing out on the highest by only 3 runs.

In the first innings, our bowling was down. At 273/6 though, it looked like we would have a lead on first innings, but de Boorder had other ideas, compiling a brilliant 108 from only 137 balls, his first test century. A lead of 65, just the level where it's hard to overturn.

The first three partnerships were good, as they took us to 200/3, but quick dismissals of Burton, Darren and Browne left us struggling at 240/6. Alford put on 65 with Brathwaite to save us, and set the black caps a total above 250.

They never got going, in reply. None of the partnerships were worth over 33, and the seamers and Bishoo were consistently on top. Our bowling was up.

Series State - New Zealand win the series 2-1.
Batting Award - Shane Burton - His first test century, and a big step up for a promising young man.
Bowling Award - Kevin McClean - 7 wickets in the match, including 6 in the first innings. He was the only bowler who turned up then.

Next up, 5 ODIs against them. Here's your top squad.

C. Gayle (OASP)
L. Simmons (OK)
K. Edwards (BAT) (C)
Darren Bravo (BAT)
S. Burton (BAT)
M. Paul (BAT)
K. Pollard (ALL)
M. Alford (ALL)
R. Hinds (ASP)
A. Russell (ALL)
J. Holder (SEAM)
D. Bishoo (SPIN)
K. Roach (SEAM)
N. Pascal (SEAM)
S. Narine (SPIN)

Paul, Bishoo, Roach and Holder miss out for the first match.

[Imager36]

At least they were in a game this time around.



Won the toss, so could bat first. 350 seemed a decent total. Gayle and Edwards both fell early, but Simmons, Darren, Burton and Alfie all made scores in the 40s, and, anchored by Nash's 97, which he deserved a century for, we constructed a decent total. The tail, despite packing considerable punch on a good day, did nothing.

We again failed on the bowling front, however. None of the NZ batsmen were out for less than 29, and having given them all starts, we allowed most to go on to 50 and beyond. They made a generous declaration, in hope of getting the series sewn up in this match.

Simmons and Edwards hit a good partnership after Gayle fell early, but we were reeling again at 144/4. Luckily, Nash was joined by Shane Burton, the natural foil to his defensive style. They struck up a partnership of 140, Nash eventually being run out for 57, and Burton just missing out on his first test 100 by 8 runs. The bottom 5, unfortunately, contributed nothing of note, to leave them needing well under 200.

At 94/3, it was looking simple, but not easy. At 149/8, it seemed less so. Unfortunately, Ross Taylor was still there, and hogged the strike to carry his team to victory.

Series State - New Zealand win the series 2-0, with 1 match to play.
Batting Award - Nash/Burton - Both deserved a century and a 50 in the match.
Bowling Award - Kev McClean - 4 wickets in the second innings, despite none in the first, gave us a sniff.

Team News - We use the dead test to play another youngster, with Browne coming in for Lendl. Bishoo also replaces Narine.

[Imager36]

Can't bat, can't bowl. So angry I might just have to play another test match.



We beat these guys really easily in 2009. Now look at us and them. Genuinely, I'm not even going to review this match. We took 7 wickets in 152 overs, and they took 20 in just over 160 overs.

Series State - New Zealand lead 1-0 with 2 to play.
Batting Award - Ramnaresh Sarwan - The only man to get going in both innings, of course misses the next 3 weeks due to injury.
Bowling Award - None of my bowlers averaged under 55 in that test.

Team News - Burton replaces injured Sarwan, and a complete bowling switch means débutantes Alford, McClean and Brathwaite come in for Dwayne, Rampaul and Bishoo. No idea why I'm letting the 19 year old play. Madness, presumably.

[Imager36]

Finally, before I immerse myself in the New Zealand test match, I have decided that Kirk Edwards is to become the new captain of the side in all formats. He didn't play a T20I last year, but with Shiv going, a more defensive player will be required to fill his place anyway. The XI for that first test goes a little like this...

C. Gayle (OASP)
L. Simmons (OK)
K. Edwards (BAT) (C)
Darren Bravo (BAT)
R. Sarwan (BAT)
B. Nash (BAT)
Dwayne Bravo (ALL)
D. Sammy (ALL)
R. Rampaul (SEAM)
D. Bishoo (SPIN)
S. Narine (SPIN)

In case you're wondering, the final member of the squad, only there to be technique trained, is 19 year old regen all-rounder Mike Alford, who averages over 54 from 15 first class innings, with 3 100s, and over 41 in 10 OD innings, with 2 100s. As an aggressive batting all-rounder, his bowling needs improving, but we'll work on that, and try to nurture this big talent. Expect to see him in an ODI soon, sharing the 5th bowler's slot with Gayle.

See you in a while.

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2014/15 Season Preview

2nd June - 5th July - New Zealand - Home

3 Tests - Last series won 1-0.
5 ODIs - Last series won 4-1.
2 T20Is - Last series won 2-0.

An early season chance to lose my points against a resurgent New Zealand.

2nd August - 24th August - Bangladesh - Home

2 Tests - Last series lost 2-0.
3 ODIs - Last series lost 3-0.
2 T20Is - Last series won 1-0.

A great chance to gain some Test and ODI points against a weak team.

3rd October - 12th November - India - Away

1 FC Warm-up
3 Tests - Last series lost 2-0.
1 OD Warm-up
5 ODIs - Last series lost 4-1.
2 T20Is - No series yet played.

Maybe aiming for a point in the T20 series, and hopefully a lucky one in the test series too.

26th December - 17th January - South Africa - Away

2 Tests - Last series lost 2-1.
3 ODIs - Last series lost 5-0.
2 T20Is - Last series drawn 1-1.

Well, we can't lose the ODI series as badly as last time.

20th February - 30th March - Australia/New Zealand - Cricket World Cup

Grouped with South Africa, England, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Ireland and Kenya. Current Champions - India.

We fancy a quarter-final in the world cup, and after that we'll just have to see who we're drawn against and how things go.