The Golden Isles - A Third Time Lucky West Indies Story

[Imager36]

World Cup Preview!

Group A

England

Summary - Lots of all rounders in the English squad for the tournament, and overall a very settled side. Their batting is a weakness, but it's very deep.

Key Player - Ian Stamp - The young all rounder has averaged almost 20 with both bat and ball this year in ODIs, and that's not such a bad record.

Prediction - Semi-final. (1st in Group A)

Ireland

Summary - The associates are always badly treated by the game, and I doubt Ireland here will be an exception.

Key Player - George Dockrell - Their best bowler as of 2012 will probably still be their best bowler as of 2015. Good player.

Prediction - 6th in Group A.

Kenya

Summary - See Ireland.

Key Player - No bloody clue.

Prediction - 7th in Group A.

New Zealand

Summary - Always the dark horses of international competitions, New Zealand have been brilliant against us recently, but may struggle against other, less mercurial countries.

Key Player - Ross Taylor - 30 years old now, but he's averaging 61 in ODI cricket this year. I need say no more.

Prediction - Quarter-final. (3rd in Group A)

South Africa

Summary - As usual, a phenomenal side, but after being rubbish against the West Indies on their home turf a couple of months ago.

Key Player - Vernon Philander - The batting is strong, but this year, Vernon's bowling economy is 3.74, and his batting average is up above 23.

Prediction - Quarter-final. (4th in Group A)

Sri Lanka

Summary - Always strong at home, I don't think Sri Lanka will really have the punch to compete in the seam friendly conditions of Oceania.

Key Player - Maybe not a key, but 19 year old left arm FM bowler Janith Wijesena has made a big impact in his first part-season in international cricket.

Prediction - 5th in Group A.

West Indies

Summary - What can I say? We're excellent, aren't we?

Key Player - I can't just pick one, but for me, Darren B, Pollard and Alford are the guys who can take games away from the opposition.

Prediction - Runners up. (2nd in Group A)

Group B

Australia

Summary - Not in the best for as far as this year is concerned, Australia are my dark horses to do well. They keep tinkering, but at home, they can only be strong.

Key Player - Peter Siddle is a phenomenal player. 31 wickets in ODIs at 15.13 so far, and 3.86 as an economy. Be afraid.

Prediction - Semi-final. (2nd in Group B)

Bangladesh

Summary - As usual, Bangladesh will start as underdogs for most matches, but will rival Zimbabwe for the 4th qualifying spot.

Key Player - Shakib Al Hasan - Their top run scorer and qicket taker in ODI cricket this year. Need I say more?

Prediction - 5th in Group B.

India

Summary - The defending champions, always imperious in limited overs cricket, with their depth of all-round talent. My tip for the title again.

Key Player - Mandeep Singh - The 23 year old has only played 15 ODIs in total, but his average of 46 shows you he's a force to be reckoned with. Add in a strike rate of well over 90, and watch him decimate opposition.

Prediction - Winners. (1st in Group B)

Netherlands

Summary - See Ireland and Kenya. One of the better associates though.

Key Player - Ryan ten Doeschate - He might be old now, but with Tom Cooper having transferred back to Australia, Ryan has the team's batting and bowling on his shoulders.

Prediction - 6th in Group B.

Pakistan

Summary - Cricket's great mercurial side usually pull themselves together for big tournaments, but for me the bowling depth is just not there in their squad.

Key Player - Due to their bowling frailties, the key must be their one firing bowler this year, 20 year old right arm seamer Ghafir Zaman.

Prediction - Quarter-final. (3rd in Group B)

UAE

Summary - I know nothing about the bloomin' UAE.

Key Player - I can't name a single bloomin' one.

Prediction - 7th in Group B.

Zimbabwe

Summary - Their batting looks incredibly fragile, but their bowling looks like it could be almost the stand out in this group!

Key Player - Wayne de Villiers is probably the pick of that bowling bunch, and could lead his team to a few shocks.

Prediction - Quarter-final. (4th in Group B)

[Imager36]

Team News for England Match (24/2/15)

Welcome to the toss for this important match in Group A of the 2015 World Cup. This is England's second match, having beaten Sri Lanka by 1 wicket in their first 4 days ago (more on that later). The West Indies are the only team in the group yet to play. On this batsman's paradise, the toss has just taken place, and Alastair Cook has won it, and chosen to bat first. Here are the two line-ups for the match, with a débutante for the West Indies.

England	West Indies
A. Cook (C)	A. Barath
I. Bell	L. Simmons (C) (K)
E. Morgan	D. Bravo
J. Fortune	M. Paul
B. Stokes	S. Burton
C. Kieswetter (K)	K. Pollard
I. Stamp	M. Alford
T. Bresnan	K. Stoute
C. Woakes	Imran Khan
S. Broad	K. McClean
J. Clare	S. Narine

So, in a way, very much as expected for both sides. Stoute presumably beats off the challenge of Brathwaite and Pascal due to his batting, and sensational batting form, and Narine beats off Hinds in the West Indies side. For England, batsman John Fortune gets the nod despite a poor ODI showing to date. Number 11 Jonathan Clare averages over 20 in domestic one day cricket.

Will bowling first be an advantage? Will Fortune take his chance? Will I stop talking as if all this matters? Find out tonight, as England take on the West Indies!

[6ry4nj]

Will bowling first be an advantage? Will Fortune take his chance? Will I stop talking as if all this matters? Find out tonight, as England take on the West Indies!

Very good, well-structured preview, and good idea to chuck in some funnies - when well done they are the easiest way to lift a story above the pack. Looking to vary the routine with posts other than match reports is a nice tactic as well.

Just one thing though. When you say Wayne de Villiers is the best "of that lot" (pardon the paraphrase), I guess I can imagine googling him (he's a regen it appears), but could I hear a bit more about how he's doing (and how it's better than Vitori/Price/whoever)?

[Imager36]

Batsman's paradise, he said. Loads of runs in it, he said.



McClean and Stoute opened the bowling, and Bell (7 from 31) made England's start very slow indeed. McClean got Cook trying to push on with the scoring, and after a change of bowling, Alford tore through the struggling Bell and the under pressure Fortune. The spinners came on, and Morgan accumulated slowly with a series of partners. McClean returned to take Bresnan to leave England 161/7, but a fightback from Woakes and a continuation of Morgan took them up to almost 200.

We felt this total was well below par, but started our batting cautiously to negate any possible slip ups. Unfortunately for us, our batting was dreadful. Barath went for 4, and Darren for 7 not long after. Simmons then also went LBW for 28, before Burton and Paul both went to leave us 66/5, with our top 5 gone, and panicking. Pollard and Alford tried to do one of their saving jobs, and at points in their 49 partnership, it looked on, but when Alford fell for 17, all hope was gone. Pollard hit out and got out, and the tail crumbled to gift them a win.

Batting Award	No-one. I refuse to give it in a match like that.
Bowling Award	Sunil Narine - 10 overs, 2 maidens, 1 wicket, 20 runs. Rather impressive.
Opposition Key Player Watch	Ian Stamp - Bowled by Narine for 10 from 14 balls, 7.5 overs, 1 maiden, 1 for 29. Not bad.

Just one thing though. When you say Wayne de Villiers is the best "of that lot" (pardon the paraphrase), I guess I can imagine googling him (he's a regen it appears), but could I hear a bit more about how he's doing (and how it's better than Vitori/Price/whoever)?

Loving the fact that someone's actually read some of that. Yeah, Wayne's a regen, originally just W de Villiers, but I like to give the important ones first names too! Their most regular bowling combination this year has been Meth (who as discussed at the previous WC, I have beef with), Chigumbura, Masakadza and Madziva, along with WdV himself. Those 4 are all RM, so having an RFM helps change it up, and he has the best average in ODIs (26ish) and the best economy (4.36) of them. He doesn't stick out from them much, but it's a good pack all told.

[Imager36]

Couple of things to tidy up in this post. Firstly, let's look at all the results thus far (before our match with Sri Lanka) in the tournament.

Group A

England beat Sri Lanka by 1 wicket (Mathews 77, Stamp 5/46, Wijesena 4/35, Kulasekara 3/55)

New Zealand beat Ireland by 149 runs (Guptill 73, McCullum 103, Williamson 54, Banks 3/12, Boult 3/46)

South Africa beat Kenya by 7 wickets (Philander 4/37, Smith 88*, de Villiers 69)

England beat the West Indies by 57 runs (Morgan 92, Bresnan 3/47)

South Africa beat Ireland by 6 wickets (Joyce 75, Pienaar 3/47, McClaren 3/28, Smith 71*, Wilson 51)

England beat Kenya by 7 wickets (Patel 65, Obanda 55, Bresnan 4/38, Clare 5/41, Morgan 101*, Stokes 105*)

So it's England who sit pretty atop Group A, but they have played more matches than anyone else. In that win over Kenya, they were 9/3 chasing 211, but Stokes and Morgan pulled it out of the fire!

Group B

Australia beat Pakistan by 87 runs (Watson 109, Hussey 94, Alam 106, Jaffar 57, Siddle 6/61)

Zimbabwe beat the Netherlands by 7 wickets (ten Doeschate 66*, Cremer 3/47, Chapungu 50, Taylor 100*)

India beat the UAE by 7 wickets (Kazmi 68, Ali 51, Kumar 4/35, Jadeja 4/39, Menaria 50*)

Bangladesh beat Australia by 108 runs (Tamim 79, Mahmud 6/13)

India beat the Netherlands by 7 runs (Mukund 57, ten Doeschate 3/49, Borren 3/43, Diepeveen 81)

Australia beat the UAE by 141 runs (Watson 60, Cooper 50, Raza 3/48, Hanif 3/73)

India and Australia both sit on 4 points courtesy of winning 2 matches, but the most interesting result would have to be the thrashing handed to the Aussies by Bangladesh. They were only chasing 226, and got handed a beating of over 100 runs. Mahmud, 6 wickets for 13 runs. He had previously been part of a 10th wicket partnership taking them from 188 to 225. Nice match.

Team News for Sri Lanka Match (28/2/15)

Unfortunately, we once again lost the toss. This time, in bowler friendly conditions, we were put into bat. Our line up is the same as before, but with Pollard now floating in the middle order.

Sri Lanka	West Indies
G. Maneshan	A. Barath
A. Perera	L. Simmons (C) (K)
A. Mathews (C)	D. Bravo
D. Chandimal (K)	K. Pollard
S. Serasinghe	M. Paul
I. Faumi	S. Burton
R. Silva	M. Alford
K. Kulasekara	K. Stoute
H. Irfan	I. Khan
T. Soysa	K. McClean
J. Wijesena	S. Narine

And Sri Lanka look formidable, their all rounders meaning they have a pure batsman at number 7. The useful off spin of Serasinghe is their only pace-off option, but will be the first spin we've faced in the tournament.

[Imager36]

A low scoring game, but our first points of the tournament.



Having lost the toss, we started slowly. Barath and Simmons built, but Adrian fell having wasted his start of 26 from 60 balls. A couple more average partnerships involving Simmons, Darren and Pollard ensued, and left us sitting okay at 122/3, but going at under 4 runs an over. Paul was out for a duck, and Pollard went soon after along with Burton. Alford put on 32 with Stoute (22 from 21) and then Imran Khan (15 from 17) and Kev McClean (10 from 11) finished things off. 211 was not such a terrible score on a bad pitch.

Sri Lanka also started slowly, as Stoute was unplayable early on. Narine removed both openers as soon as he was put on, but a series of middle order partnerships took Sri Lanka from 33/2 to the more likely to win 148/5 when Serasinghe fell. They weren't running out of overs, but McClean took the next 3 wickets incredibly cheaply, and Stoute finished off the resilient Faumi and last man Wijesena.

Batting Award	Lendl Simmons - 48 from 76 balls, our top scorer.
Bowling Award	Kevin Stoute - Didn't bowl his full complement due to being saved for the death, but figures of 6.5-2-19-2 are not half bad.
Opposition Key Player Watch	Janith Wijesena - 10 overs, no wickets, 46 runs, 1 from 2 with the bat. Not a sterling performance.

[Imager36]

Team News for New Zealand match (7/3/2015)

We're playing on a seam-friendly wicket, and so Imran Khan drops out for Carlos Brathwaite. We won the toss, and chose to bat first following our success in the last match doing the same thing.

New Zealand	West Indies
M. Guptill	A. Barath
B. McCullum (K)	L. Simmons (C) (K)
K. Williamson	D. Bravo
J. Ryder	K. Pollard
R. Taylor (C)	M. Paul
C. de Grandhomme	S. Burton
J. Franklin	M. Alford
D. Bracewell	K. Stoute
A. Banks	C. Brathwaite
M. Henry	K. McClean
T. Boult	S. Narine

In a World Cup where seam seems to be dominant, there's only one spinner on each side, and Kane Williamson may not even bowl. The weather forecast is very good, but there may be a little more cloud around in the second innings.

[Imager36]

The first proper thrashing we've handed out this year!



After winning the toss and batting, Simmons went soon for 3 from 9 balls. Barath and Darren put on 100 runs at about 4 an over, although Darren only made 29 from 56 balls within that before going. Barath also went for a brilliant 80 from 90 balls to leave us 127/3 when we were just about to push on. By then, Pollard had just started his assault. Paul stayed long enough for the partnership to be worth 47, but when Burton went for a duck, we had to calm down again at 174/5 with 15 overs to go. Pollard continued attacking though, and put on 57 and 59 with Alford and Stoute respectively, to take us up to a brilliant score of 294 on a wearing pitch. 91 not out from 72 balls for Pollard. Sensational.

In response, I knew that our large total meant we could afford to be aggressive with our field settings. Carlos Brathwaite took the first 3 wickets, and after the first 10 overs, Alford and Stoute came on and took 5 wickets between them in their 10. Narine got one toward the end, and Brathwaite finished them off. A sorry sight for the Black Caps.

Batting Award	Kieron Pollard - Growing into his position at number 4, would have had a century in another couple of overs!
Bowling Award	Kevin Stoute - 3/18 in 5 overs, made sure there would be no NZ fightback.
Opposition Key Player Watch	Ross Taylor - 4 from 19 balls, caught Darren bowled Alford. We did his team over.

[Imager36]

So with the first 4 or 3 matches completed for all the teams, it's time for another results update. NOW WITH ADDED TABLES!

Group A

• England beat Sri Lanka by 1 wicket (Mathews 77, Stamp 5/46, Wijesena 4/35, Kulasekara 3/55)
• New Zealand beat Ireland by 149 runs (Guptill 73, McCullum 103, Williamson 54, Banks 3/12, Boult 3/46)
• South Africa beat Kenya by 7 wickets (Philander 4/37, Smith 88*, de Villiers 69)
• England beat the West Indies by 57 runs (Morgan 92, Bresnan 3/47)
• South Africa beat Ireland by 6 wickets (Joyce 75, Pienaar 3/47, McClaren 3/28, Smith 71*, Wilson 51)
• England beat Kenya by 7 wickets (Patel 65, Obanda 55, Bresnan 4/38, Clare 5/41, Morgan 101*, Stokes 105*)
• West Indies beat Sri Lanka by 24 runs (Soysa 3/29, Serasinghe 3/39, McClean 3/49)
• South Africa beat New Zealand by 109 runs (Wilson 60, de Villiers 53, Amla 59*, Steyn 3/28, Philander 3/38)
• Kenya beat Ireland by 123 runs (Patel 62, Obanda 100, K. O'Brien 3/42, Rankin 4/70, Varaiya 4/17)
• England beat South Africa by 1 wicket (Wilson 68, Bresnan 3/39, Cook 56, Philander 3/33)
• Sri Lanka beat Ireland by 186 runs (Chandimal 90, K. O'Brien 3/55, Kulasekara 5/21)
• West Indies beat New Zealand by 175 runs (Barath 80, Pollard 91*, Bracewell 4/72, Brathwaite 4/43, Stoute 3/18)
• Sri Lanka beat Kenya by 124 runs (Maneshan 80, Mathews 58, Chandimal 51, Obuya 3/53, Saman 5/19)

All of which means the table looks like so...

Position	Team	Played	Won	Lost	Points
1	England	4	4	0	8
2	South Africa	4	3	1	6
3	Sri Lanka	4	2	2	4
4	West Indies	3	2	1	4
5	Kenya	4	1	3	2
6	New Zealand	3	1	2	2
7	Ireland	4	0	4	0

All of which means Sri Lanka are going better than I expected, but New Zealand have really struggled, and against us were to be honest, awful. Kenya thrashed Ireland somehow, and still hold outside hopes of qualification.

Group B

• Australia beat Pakistan by 87 runs (Watson 109, Hussey 94, Alam 106, Jaffar 57, Siddle 6/61)
• Zimbabwe beat the Netherlands by 7 wickets (ten Doeschate 66*, Cremer 3/47, Chapungu 50, Taylor 100*)
• India beat the UAE by 7 wickets (Kazmi 68, Ali 51, Kumar 4/35, Jadeja 4/39, Menaria 50*)
• Bangladesh beat Australia by 108 runs (Tamim 79, Mahmud 6/13)
• India beat the Netherlands by 7 runs (Mukund 57, ten Doeschate 3/49, Borren 3/43, Diepeveen 81)
• Australia beat the UAE by 141 runs (Watson 60, Cooper 50, Raza 3/48, Hanif 3/73)
• Bangladesh beat Pakistan by 7 wickets (Shehzad 54, Jamshed 66, Mahmud 3/44, Islam 108*)
• Zimbabwe beat India by 32 runs (Kidwell 60, Kumar 3/41, Jadeja 3/56, Kohli 50, Pathan 60*, Madziva 4/63, Cremer 3/15)
• The Netherlands beat the UAE by 52 runs (de Grooth 90, Asif 3/35, Kazmi 74)
• Australia beat India by 8 wickets (Kohli 83, Jadeja 69, Siddle 4/48, Warner 160*)
• Pakistan beat the Netherlands by 5 wickets (Hafeez 4/37, Afridi 3/18, Shehzad 54)
• Bangladesh beat Zimbabwe by 103 runs (Nafees 121, Shakib 50, Madziva 3/50, Taylor 55, Mahmud 3/53, Shuvo 3/10)

Which sees the Group B table currently sitting like this...

Position	Team	Played	Won	Lost	Points
1	Bangladesh	3	3	0	6
2	Australia	4	3	1	6
3	India	4	2	2	4
4	Zimbabwe	3	2	1	4
5	Netherlands	4	1	3	2
6	Pakistan	3	1	2	2
7	UAE	3	0	3	0

Meaning that Bangladesh currently hold a surprise lead in the group, India need to get a grip, and Zimbabwe have a chance of beating Pakistan to a spot in the last 8.

Team News for South Africa Match (9/3/15)

With the pitch no longer offering anything extra to the seamers, it becomes impossible not to play the second spinner, and so the impressive Brathwaite drops back out for Imran Khan. The under pressure Shane Burton keeps his place. We win the toss again, and choose to bat first.

South Africa	West Indies
G. Smith	A. Barath
D. Wilson	L. Simmons (C) (K)
A. de Villiers (C)	D. Bravo
Q. de Kock (K)	K. Pollard
J. Duminy	M. Paul
H. Amla	S. Burton
A. Morkel	M. Alford
O. Pienaar	K. Stoute
V. Philander	I. Khan
M. Morkel	K. McClean
D. Steyn	S. Narine

A win in the recent ODI series in South Africa should spur us on to confidence coming in to this match, but the Proteas will be looking for revenge, and with their batting line-up, you'd be a fool to bet against them.

[Imager36]

I've never scored 295 and been thrashed before...



I don't want to talk about this match in great detail right now, to be honest with you. In our innings, we were brilliant at the start and end, but faltering a bit in the middle cost us a total that might have been closer to 320. Barath (21 from 27) and Simmons (67 from 101) started aggressively, and Darren Bravo (46 from 55) and Kieron Pollard (89* from 73) compounded that misery for the Proteas. Pollard was, once again, brilliant. Cameos from Paul, Burton (28 from 20), Alford and Stoute made sure we didn't waste our good position and got almost 300.

We got two run outs in their second over, both openers to make us feel in charge at 11/2. De Villiers put on 50 with de Kock, but when Khan trapped AB, we felt we could run through them. QdK and JPD had other ideas though. Twin centuries, both at well above a run a ball, absolutely great batting but totally not what I wanted. Part-time bowlers were resorted to in search of a partnership breaker, but none was forthcoming, and they swept over the line with 5 overs to spare.

Batting Award	Kieron Pollard - Yet again the big man doesn't fail to amaze. Bumping him up to 4 seems to give him the time to construct an innings now.
Bowling Award	None given - I can't give it to anyone on that performance. No chance.
Opposition Key Player Watch	Vernon Philander - 10 overs, 1/46. Easily their best bowler.

[cricfan1]

Very Interesting Match

But I want to give credit to Quantum de Kock For his Brilliant Performance
Well Done

[UTBash]

Very Interesting Match

But I want to give credit to Quantum de Kock For his Brilliant Performance
Well Done

yes well done quantum...........

[Imager36]

Team News for Kenya Match (13/3/15)

Taking the threat of Kenya seriously is something we have to make sure we do, and as such, we make 2 changes to the bowling attack that failed to beat South Africa when given a good total to defend. Spinner Imran Khan drops out for the ever-economical Ryan Hinds, and Kev McClean has been too expensive and loses his place to the successful Carlos Brathwaite. Burton's cameo in the last game keeps his place.

Kenya	West Indies
S. Waters	A. Barath
D. Obuya	L. Simmons (C) (K)
N. Laker	D. Bravo
R. Patel	K. Pollard
A. Obanda	M. Paul
C. Obuya (C)	S. Burton
M. Ouma (K)	M. Alford
T. Odoyo	K. Stoute
H. Varaiya	R. Hinds
N. Odihambo	C. Brathwaite
E. Otieno	S. Narine

Kenya enter the match with only 4 bowlers, but 2 keepers! We win the toss, and seeing our score in the last match, choose to bat first, this time on an uneven and dusty pitch.

[6ry4nj]

yes well done quantum...........

His mechanics are pure physics, but he can be prone to uncertainty...

[Imager36]

Far closer than it should have been.



Yep, I think you can say I got away with one there. We made a steady start batting, but the way wickets fell meant that we didn't ever really feel under pressure or in control. Simmons and Darren both got out stumped, a really unnecessary type of dismissal in a big match against a small team. We collapsed, however, from 132/4 to 140/7 in a bit of a disaster against the part-time spin of Rakep Patel. Paul and Hinds rebuilt with a partnership of 47, and the last two helped us to limp over the 200 mark.

It was not a big total, obviously, but we made a good start as the opening bowlers reduced Kenya to 19/3, before two partnerships involving that man Patel took them to 158/4 and severely in contention. The collapse that followed was just quick enough to stop them getting over the line, and a massive 6 by Odihambo proved futile as Brathwaite caught both he and number 11 Otieno LBW to leave the capable Varaiya not out.

Batting Award	Ryan Hinds - For a number 9, he was great. 39* from 52 to nudge us a defendable score.
Bowling Award	Kevin Stoute - 9 overs, 5/29. The only bowler to make them look like minnows.
Opposition Key Player Watch	No-one - Should have been Rakep Patel!