The Golden Isles - A Third Time Lucky West Indies Story

[Imager36]

A lack of batting in the line-up, but the bowling was easily good enough.



We started well bowling first, and took regular wickets throughout their innings. In a new plan derivating from real life T20 tactics, Hinds opened the bowling for us, and bowled straight through at the start, taking 0/27, a respectable showing for the plan. It was Sammy who took the early wickets though, and Bishoo and Narine capitalised on that when given the middle overs. Alford and Dwayne Bravo came on for the death, and between them managed the figures of 5 overs, 1/18. Decent.

118 always looked 30 light, and our opening partnership absolutely destroyed it. They put on 109 runs, taking us within sight of victory, with Burton's 61, his highest T20 score to date, coming from a comfortable 51 balls. Simmons was slower. Edwards was out straight after Burton, but Darren joined Lendl to take us to victory with 12 balls to spare, with a big six.

Series State - West Indies lead 1-0 with 1 to play.
Batting Award - Burton/Simmons - Easy, with the openers for once performing.
Bowling Award - Devendra Bishoo - Not easy to pick just one, but he was economical and dangerous.

Team News - Never change a winning side. That's not my motto, but for once I'll follow it.

[Imager36]

A tale of two openers.



We got to bowl first again, and Hinds and Sammy took a wicket apiece to settle any early nerves. Tamim survived though, and as wickets fell regularly around him, he staunchly continued, finishing, caught and bowled Alford in his first over, 56 from 52 balls. They collapsed further at the end, but Kamal and Sunny restored some dignity and took them above the 130 mark.

We felt we should be able to chase it, but it was not a formality. At 110/3, with Simmons having just fallen for 60, however, it did look like one. Darren and Pollard fell soon after, and Alford only made 10 before perishing. We needed 12 from the last two overs, and 6 from the last over. We struggled though, and needed 3 from the last ball. Luckily, Ryan Hinds saved the day with a boundary four.

Series State - West Indies win the series 2-0.
Batting Award - Lendl Simmons - The only man to get past 20, took us within striking distance of home.
Bowling Award - Narine/Alford - Economical/Dangerous.

Next up, a friendly and 3 Tests in India. You'll be wanting an 18 man squad then?

L. Simmons (OK)
A. Barath (O)
S. Burton (O/BAT)
K. Edwards (BAT) (C)
Darren Bravo (BAT)
R. Sarwan (BAT)
B. Nash (BAT)
M. Alford (ALL)
M. Browne (K)
Dwayne Bravo (ALL)
K. Stoute (ALL)
A. Russell (SEAM)
Imran Khan (SPIN)
D. Sammy (SEAM)
K. McClean (SEAM)
J. Holder (SEAM)
D. Bishoo (SPIN)
S. Narine (SPIN)

In our three day friendly against Karnataka, we take the opportunity to give players chances, and our all-rounders allow us to play 6 bowlers to fully show that. We also play players who need form, and others for experience. Simmons, Edwards, Darren Bravo, Sammy, Bishoo, Russell and McClean are the 7 to miss out, and Brendan Nash captains the side whose top and middle orders reach from 1-4, and whose lower middle order goes from 5-10. Browne keeps and bats 6.

[Imager36]

Good batting, not good enough bowling.



It's only a friendly, so I'll skim it. My obvious highlight was the 194 partnership between Alford and Browne, with a combined age of 40. Browne was, unfortunately, dismissed 8 short of his century to the legspinner, but Alford reached his 4th FC century, and his first in Windies livery. Khan was impressive as far as bowlers go, and he'll be first pick spinner for the first test. No-one included mainly as a seamer took a wicket.

The first test pitch looks like a wicket for the seamers. In an interesting change of direction for the test team, I pick a specialist keeper in Browne, who has impressed enough. Here's the entire eleven.

L. Simmons
A. Barath
K. Edwards (C)
Darren Bravo
S. Burton
M. Alford
M. Browne (K)
A. Russell
Imran Khan
D. Sammy
K. McClean

So that's Nash and Sarwan out due to poor form, a tail that looks like it could wag and only one spinner. And Alford playing as our new number 6! Due to the middle order oldies being dropped, no-one in the team is aged 31 or above. The average age (on years alone) is 25.4. Youth over experience.

[Imager36]

That went about as well as could be expected.



We won the toss, which I feel may be almost necessary in these subcontinental conditions. We chose to bat, obviously, and got off to a solid but slow start with an opening partnership of 88. Edwards and Barath (at one stage 19 from 92 balls!) then put on a nice 90 to leave us sitting pretty when Adrian left at 178/2. Captain Kirk went soon after, and Burton followed, but Darren and Alford put on a partnership of 124, with Alford's 73 coming quickly, and Darren's 71 the opposite. Browne supplied 32 useful runs with the tail, but none of them did anything.

We feared the worst for our bowling when India were compiling their opening partnership of 135, but when that breakthrough came, others followed. McClean and Imran Khan bowling in tandem had great success, and Russell took the only wicket that was not split between those two. After they were done removing India, the scores were near enough level.

Simmons stuck to his job well, with a vital 75, but wickets tumbled at the other end with Barath, Kirk and Darren all going quickly, and then Jagat David injuring Shane Burton (out for 4 weeks). Alford gave some resistance with 24 from 63, and when he and then Lendl fell quickly, Max Browne put on a quick 22 with the tail. Sammy ended 11*.

Russell removed Mukund with the score on 26, and then bowled Mandeep Singh the next ball to make us think we had a good chance. Pandey and Rahane put on 67 to try and end that dream, but when Pandey fell to Sammy, Sidana and Jadeja went quickly to Imran Khan. Gautam was caught on his crease by Khan after a brief resistance, and David and Kumar both went to Russell soon after to leave India reeling at 142/8. We thought it was over, but Rahane hogged the strike to put on 21 with Yadav and 27 with Ohja, really scaring us before we finished them off with the first ball bowled with a new ball.

Series State - West Indies lead 1-0 with 2 matches to play.
Batting Award - Lendl Simmons - Made 50s in both innings, and his crucial second innings 75 won us the match.
Bowling Award - Imran Khan - 7 wickets in the match for 143 runs, not sensational but certainly solid.

Team News - On a similar wicket to the one from the first game, the only change is enforced as Sarwan comes in for Burton, who is out of the rest of the tour.

Other News - I think I'm going to be restructuring the opening post to make it easier for me to see things. For that, I've invented the new season summary post, which I will now create retrospectively for the first 2 seasons. Check it out when you have time.

[GrahamB]

Nice win over India.

[KGKOOLKAT777]

Really enjoying your story! Great win over India!!

[Imager36]

Thanks guys! That win was followed up by possibly the best test match I've ever played on ICC. If you don't want to do the maths in your head, they were 8 runs off victory, and us one wicket away, when play closed. I've heard of all 3 results still being possible, but wow.



We luckily won the toss again, and the top 4 all got starts but failed to push on. It was turgid stuff really, as none of them ever seemed to get set at the crease, but when Sarwan came in he meant business. Smarting from being dropped for the first test, he smacked the bowlers around, and whilst Alford and Browne failed, he put on 57 with Russell, who was out for 16. The rest of the tail did nothing, and that was that.

In reply, they opened with a partnership of 126, but Imran Khan then got to work. He removed both openers, and later numbers 5, 6 and 7, to leave India not taking the advantage they wanted at 251/7. Unfortunately, we let them get away with too many tail-end runs again, and Kaul's 40 partnerships with Kumar and Ohja gave them a comfortable lead.

At 20/2, we were fearing the worst. We shouldn't have worried. Adrian Barath slowly accumulated his 98, and when he fell at 233/3, we realised we could go on to win the match, and begun to attack. Sarwan hit 72 from 122 balls, and Alford and Browne both failed, before Russell hung on long enough for Darren to get his first test double century, and us to declare with about an hour of play left on day 4.

By tea on day 5, the match was looking to be in the Indians' hands. They needed 94 more runs to win from 2 hours, and had 6 wickets remaining. We couldn't quite believe it. An otherwise unsuccessful Imran Khan took the wicket of Sidana, and Uday Kaul was beaten by McClean. Sandeep and Jagat David dug deep, but when they were both dismissed, India needed 31 runs with about 40 minutes remaining. Kumar put on 14 with Yadav, but then shut up shop when Ohja came in. He stole singles from the final balls of overs, and survived a good-looking LBW appeal from Khan in the process. With 3 overs left they needed 11 to win, but didn't even attempt the target, taking the odd single, and losing a point in the rankings table. At least.

Series State - West Indies lead 1-0 with 1 to play.
Batting Award - Ramnaresh Sarwan - Controversial, as he didn't score a double hundred, but he succeeded in both innings, and his century on the opening day was more instrumental in saving us from capitulation.
Bowling Award - Darren Sammy - 4 wickets on the last day set up a winning chance for us, and ultimately saved us from defeat.

Team News - On a pitch with more turn, Andre Russell is replaced by Sunil Narine.

[KGKOOLKAT777]

I've heard of all 3 results still being possible, but wow.

I think you mean 4 (win, loss, draw, tie)

[Imager36]

I think we all saw the steamroller coming, but a test series drawn in India is very creditable.



We lost the toss, and had to bowl at the Indians first. The opening partnership was again good, making 71, but Mandeep Singh, in at 3, went first ball. At 178/6, their score looked like it might be embarrassing, but a good partnership between Sidana and David stopped that, and made it respectable at least, and indeed at most.

Our innings started incredibly poorly, as Kirk Edwards struggled to 33, but around him there were ducks for Simmons and Darren. Max Browne strode to the crease with the score at 61/5, but it was not him to be the hero today. He made a patient 33 from 86, and Imran Khan then came in and hit an even more patient 25 from 103. Sammy and McClean both failed, and it was left to Narine to survive 25 balls to make sure Mike Alford secured his maiden test century. A great moment for a 19 year old, I'm sure, against a quality bowling attack.

Despite his heroics, we were only 13 in front, and whilst early wickets fell to leave them 58/3, a series of good partnerships, especially a niggly 85 between Sidana and Kumar, took them to 363, a score that was way above par on a turning, dry, uneven wicket.

In our fourth innings, we were utterly destroyed. Save Max Browne, we might not have made 100. A good performance from the boys on the tour though, and a learning experience for a lot of the young lads.

Series State - Series drawn 1-1.
Batting Award - Mike Alford - His maiden century, no-one else did anything. His FC average is currently exactly 50.
Bowling Award - Kevin McClean - 7 wickets in the match, has been consistently good since I put him in the team.

Now, a warm up OD match against Mumbai CC, and 5 ODIs. Here is the squad for those matches (bear in mind Burton is still injured).

C. Gayle (OASP)
L. Simmons (OK)
K. Edwards (BAT) (C)
Darren Bravo (BAT)
M. Paul (BAT)
R. Sarwan (BAT)
K. Pollard (ALL)
M. Alford (ALL)
R. Hinds (ASP)
Imran Khan (ASP)
A. Russell (ALL)
D. Sammy (ALL)
K. McClean (SEAM)
N. Pascal (SEAM)
S. Narine (SPIN)

As you see, Chris Gayle is recalled after a blistering T20 century in domestic competition put him staunchly in form. For the Mumbai CC game, Sarwan, Pollard, Sammy and Narine are left out, with only Pollard and Narine likely to return for the first ODI. The Mumbai CC team is actually 4.5 stars, so may be a bit challenging for a warm-up.

[Imager36]

Regulation.



Not too much of a write-up because it's just a warm-up. We took a liking to their batting, exploding their top order to leave them 26/5. They consolidated and rebuilt, mainly through number 9 keeper Tare, but all the seamers did their jobs, as did Imran Khan. Our opening partnership was worth 84, and after the out of form Edwards and Hinds had gone, Darren followed. Mike Paul took us over the line with Lendl.

Team News - Hinds and Russell miss out, with Pollard and Narine replacing them. Imran Khan and McClean make their ODI débuts.

[Imager36]

Disappointingly one-sided.



We lost the toss and bowled on a good surface, and India immediately got to piling on the runs. The spinners didn't restrict in any way either, but Imran Khan chipped away with wickets, and when Alford returned, he got his account underway too. McClean got 2 wickets with the final 2 balls of the innings to make his figures look better and do barely anything to the Indian total.

We never really had a chance chasing the total close to 300 with our bowling being stronger, and we had even less chance at 45/3 with both openers and the captain back in the shed. Darren, Paul and Pollard gave it their all, but it was never going to be good enough as the tail was swept aside to leave us over 80 short.

Series State - India lead 1-0 with 4 to play.
Batting Award - Mike Paul - 70 from 71 balls. A perfect innings in that chase, had there been 2 others like him.
Bowling Award - Imran Khan - Good ODI début. 4/50 from 10 overs.

Team News - Darren Sammy in for Nelon Pascal.

[Imager36]

A nice win.



I wrote this report and then it got deleted, so I'll just outline it briefly... We reduced India to 106/6 as we burst out of the blocks, but Pandey, Pathan and David fought back to get them over 200. In reply, Gayle and Edwards fell early, but Darren and Simmons fought back. Paul came in and struggled to 10 from 40, and was then out immediately before Simmons, leaving us needing 58 from 11 overs with 2 new batsmen. Luckily, Alford hit 40 from 25 balls to ease us to a win.

Series State - Series level at 1-1.
Batting Award - Lendl Simmons - 70 from 98 balls. 4 innings in the series so far, and all the high scores have been 70... Weird.
Bowling Award - Sunil Narine - His 2 wickets formed the collapse the low score was based on.

Team News - None.

[Imager36]

A fantastic match, and a disappointing loss.



Sammy took the wicket of Mukund early, but Rahane and Pandey put on 106 to give India a very good base. It wasn't until the 37th over though, at 148/3 when Mandeep Singh was out, that they really started striking the ball. It culminated in a 55 partnership between Kaul and Pandey in the last 5 overs that we felt took the target to a challenging one.

As now appears traditional, we got off to a bad start. 66/3 we soon were, with the out-of-nick top 3 again back in the dressing room. Darren and Paul put us back in the running with a partnership of 58, but this was followed by an even worse collapse, as Paul was followed off the pitch by Pollard, Alford, Khan and Sammy to leave us 169/8, needing over 8 runs an over. Then followed an incredible rally. Kev McClean came to the crease as number 10, and scored 27 from 20 balls as the partnership was worth 78, with Darren bringing up his first ever ODI century in the process. Unfortunately, McClean fell with us 17 short of our target. Darren tried to hog the strike, but that and the run rate got the better of him, and after needing 10 from the last over, a period of 4 balls (Narine on strike for 3) scoring 2 runs left him needing 4 from the last ball. It would have been fitting for him to cap the brilliant innings by smashing the boundary, but he was bowled in the vain attempt and we lost by 3 runs.

Series State - India lead 2-1 with 2 to play.
Batting Award - Darren Bravo - Quite simply a stunning innings. The new Lara? No idea, but that type of innings makes a man.
Bowling Award - Imran Khan - Our only bowler to go at under 4 runs an over (3.4) and also picked up the wicket of Rahane.

Team News - In order to try and give ourselves a top order again, Ronnie Sarwan comes into the side and opens in place of Chris Gayle.

[Imager36]

Another close game - Another loss.



Lost the toss, and were forced to bat first. At 65/3 after almost 25 overs, something wasn't going right. We decided the only way out of our hole was attack, and Mike Paul did that in partnership with Sarwan, scoring 40 runs quickly to give us something to build with. They were both out soon after kickstarting us, but both Pollard (33) and Alford (28) helped our acceleration. When Alford went, Imran Khan gave us a brief flash of his batting skills with 23 not out from 14 balls to take our total above 230, a target I set myself in that 25th over.

They started solidly, but after a collapse again Pollard and Alford which left them 82/5, we took pole position. Pandey rebuilt with Kaul, but they were both out with India requiring 83 more to win at almost 6 an over, and it seemed unlikely. Pathan attacked, and whilst David and Kumar fell cheaply, Pathan rotated the strike with last man Yadav to put on a partnership worth 43 to win the game. Yadav hit 26 from 20 balls, including 2 edged fours and a dropped catch by the keeper Simmons.

Series State - India win the series 3-1, 1 match to play.
Batting Award - Mike Paul - Sarwan scored more heavily, but was very slow in pursuit of runs. Paul set up a decent total by striking cleanly for his 40.
Bowling Award - Mike Alford - 2/41 from 10 overs, despite being involved in that end-of-innings debacle, far more economic than Narine.

Team News - On a pitch turning 90 degrees, Ryan Hinds comes in for Darren Sammy to give us 3 frontline spinners.

[Imager36]

A sensational match that I'm ashamed doesn't mean anything.



After a hundred partnership to open up with, the Indians seriously struggled against the spin, and when McClean and Alford also took wickets in their return to the attack, we made sure they posted a total that was below par.

We started badly, falling to 22/2, but Captain Kirk picked up the slack with Darren (37), Paul (13) and Pollard (30) all helping him along the way. When Kirk and Pollard had both gone though, we still needed almost 60 to win. Alford was on fire, but at the other end, Hinds was out, and Khan followed next ball. We needed 19 from 12 balls, and after making 5 through a boundary and a single, needed an unlike 14 from the last over. Alford was on strike though. He played and missed at the first ball, but scored successive fours afterward to make the equation 6 from 3 balls. He and McClean exchanged singles to make it 4 from the last ball, and Alfie lifted it over the off side to the boundary to secure a last ball win!

Series State - India win the series 3-2.
Batting Award - Mike Alford - Guided us to victory with 48 from 43 balls with the tail.
Bowling Award - Khan/Hinds - The spinners bamboozled India, with Khan taking wickets and Hinds going at only 3 runs an over.

Next up are 2 T20Is against the same opponents. Dwayne and Holder come in for Pascal and Sammy in the only squad changes.

Team News - Dwayne Bravo comes in for Sarwan, so McClean and Imran Khan make their T20I débuts.