The Golden Isles - A Third Time Lucky West Indies Story

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Results before West Indies vs. Netherlands

Group A

The West Indies (144/8 from 19.3, Powell 77, Broad 5/23) beat England (143/8, Trott 47, Brathwaite 3/28, Narine 3/27) by 2 wickets.

England (190/2, Cook 117*) beat the Netherlands (126 all out, Seelar 48*, Stamp 3/11, Broad 4/16) by 64 runs.

Group B

India (174/6 from 18.3, Mukund 45, Kohli 60) beat Sri Lanka (171/6, Mathews 45, Silva 40*, P Kumar 2/24) by 4 wickets.

India (189/2, Kohli 96*, Mukund 45, Menaria 42*) beat Kenya (99 all out, Tong 35*, P Kumar 3/22, Ashwin 3/15) by 90 runs.

Kenya (160/6 from 19.4, Obuya 50, Obanda 48) beat Sri Lanka (156/6, Serasinghe 50*, Varaiya 2/21) by 4 wickets.

Group C

Pakistan (189/8, Alam 54, U Akmal 68) beat Bangladesh (111 all out, S Tanvir 2/15, A Tanvir 2/13, Hafeez 3/10) by 78 runs.

Pakistan (194/2, Shehzad 68, Jamshed 53, Alam 59*) beat Australia (180/3, Warner 63, Burns 52) by 14 runs.

Group D

South Africa (85/2 from 14.2) beat Zimbabwe (81/9, Philander 3/13, Razak 3/17, McLaren 2/4) by 8 wickets.

New Zealand (153/4 from 18.5, de Boorder 56*) beat South Africa (150/9, Smith 47) by 6 wickets.

New Zealand (169/6, Taylor 53, de Boorder 41, W de Villiers 2/17) beat Zimbabwe (146 all out, Masakadza 44, Banks 3/14, Noema-Barnett 3/35) by 23 runs.

Team News for Netherlands match (19/3/2016)

Basically, the West Indies will qualify with England from Group A unless they are thrashed by the Netherlands, and will win the group if they manage to win this match.

Netherlands	West Indies
T. Heggelman	K. Powell
T. de Grooth	L. Simmons (K)
A. Kervezee	Darren Bravo (C)
R. ten Doeschate	S. Burton
P. Borren (C)	M. Bascombe
E. Szwarczynski	K. Stoute
M. Swart	M. Alford
M. Bukhari	R. Hinds
S. Mott	I. Khan
P. Seelaar	C. Brathwaite
W. Barresi (K)	S. Narine

So the only change for the West Indies is that Dwayne Bravo drops out and is replaced by Mike Alford, who is down to come in at number seven. The Netherlands' top scorer in the last game, Seelaar, is still buried at number ten in the order. The pitch isn't set to spin too much, but the three spinners are retained on account of how well they did last time.

The news from the middle here in India is that the Netherlands have won the toss and have elected to bat first.

[Imager36]

Thanks... I've gone back a bit to just playing matches and writing about them briefly

Anyway... a totally unexpected win, but not one I begrudge us.



We opened our bowling with Ryan Hinds, who bowled straight through and only went for 22 runs on a spinning wicket. None of the seamers could really keep the runs down at the other end though, so after the powerplay we brought on a full spin attack and ran the English batsmen rather into the ground. Khan got rid of Cook almost immediately after coming on, and towards the end of their spells, him and Narine took a little flurry. Trott was caught LBW, and after Bairstow got a first-baller from Khan, Gates was stumped for 25. Morgan and Stamp offered little resistance against the returning quicks, and while Stokes and Bresnan put on an annoying 29, a couple more late ones for Brathwaite sorted out their innings and gave us a chaseable target.

Lendl Simmons started our innings in typical fashion, with a 2-ball 1. Kieran Powell and Darren Bravo (23) put on 57 in quickish time for the second wicket though to put us well back on course, although as soon as Darren fell, Dwayne followed with his 3rd duck in 3 T20Is. Drop time, I think. Miles Bascombe came in and played well though, putting on another 55 with Powell and making 26 from 20 balls to keep us ticking along nicely at the run rate and confident. Shane Burton came in, and Powell accelerated to make the partnership worth 21, but then was bowled by Broad at the start of the 19th over, us requiring only 7 from the last 2 overs to win. Stoute ran a single, but Burton was caught LBW by Broad, and after a single for new batsman Hinds, Stoute and Khan were out in consecutive deliveries to make things nervy. Stamp started the 20th with a strong LBW appeal, but a single and a boundary saw us to a good victory.

Batting Award	Kieran Powell - When did that man get so good at T20 cricket? 77 from 59 to keep us in with a shout at the match.
Bowling Award	Hinds/Khan/Narine/Brathwaite - All four did amazing jobs and were all reasons we managed to keep the total so low.
Key Opposition Player Watch	Ian Stamp had an average game, 5 from 4 balls with the bat and 22 runs coming off his 3 and a half overs.

[KGKOOLKAT777]

Really enjoying the return of your story. Keep it up

[Imager36]

Team News for England Match (14/3/2016)

Did anyone else miss the Team News posts I did at the last world cup? No? Well, I did, so you're getting more this time round.

This is the first match in Group A. There's no real discussion to be made, therefore, except to say that they'll almost certainly beat us and we shouldn't be particularly distressed about that. So, without further ado...

England	West Indies
A. Cook (C)	K. Powell
J. Trott	L. Simmons (K)
J. Gates	Darren Bravo (C)
J. Bairstow (K)	Dwayne Bravo
E. Morgan	M. Bascombe
B. Stokes	S. Burton
I. Stamp	K. Stoute
T. Bresnan	R. Hinds
C. Woakes	I. Khan
S. Broad	C. Brathwaite
J. Harris	S. Narine

No Mike Alford? In a West Indies team? Preposterous. It's happened though, with the pitch looking as if it's going to turn square, we pick a spin trio of Narine, Khan and Hinds, with England not even having a decent part-time spin option. Shane Burton is batting at 6 for us because I thought he was the most viable option... a failure for him in this game may offer a return to the more multi-dimensional Alford, however.

The news from the middle though, is that the West Indies have won the toss, and decided to field first.

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2016 T20 World Cup Preview

2016 T20 World Cup Preview

I even gave this post a title. Yep, it's serious.

Group A

England

Summary - England have named 3 wicketkeepers in their squad for the tournament, which as a team with half a wicketkeeper in their 15, I rather envy. Cook and Morgan will lead the batting, and Swann may get outings on these Indian pitches.

Key Player - In Ian Stamp's T20i career to date, he's played 19 matches, averaged 50.8 at a strike rate of 131 with the bat, and taken wickets at 14.7 and an economy of 5.93. I'm impressed.

Prediction - Runners up

Netherlands

Summary - As ever, ICC will not let me view the team details for the Netherlands. Generally the most dangerous of the associates on the game, but I would expect and hope that they lose both their group matches.

Key Player - Ryan ten Doeschate was in amazing form at the last World Cup tournament, and if he hasn't retired yet I expect similar again from him.

Prediction - Knocked out from Group A.

West Indies

Summary - We enter this tournament in our worst position for a while. Since the loss of Shiv Chanderpaul we've never really looked the same, and whilst I can see one unexpected Super 8 victory and a win against the Dutch, I don't see knockout stages looming.

Key Player - Sunil Narine is still only 27 years old, but his middle over economy is always vital for my side, and I can't help but name him our key player.

Prediction - 3rd in Super 8 group.

Group B

India

Summary - They've just beaten the Australians at ODIs in Australia, and handed out a 7-0 home thrashing to the Golden Isles on a limited overs tour, so they'll have their heads up. The bowling looks fragile though, and if someone goes out and clobbers them I have no idea if they'll be able to react. Rishi Dhawan has never played an international match, but makes their squad.

Key Player - Abinhav Mukund is a massive part of the Indian top order. In the 7 matches against the West Indies recently, he scored 553 runs at an average of 110.6. None of his scores were below 50. Watch out, world.

Prediction - Semi-finalists

Kenya

Summary - They'll almost certainly be dreadful.

Key Player - None, they haven't got a hope.

Prediction - Losers in Group B. I'll be surprised if they score over 100 in either match.

Sri Lanka

Summary - Always a strong team when you look at a World Cup, they have serious batting talent and probably enough bowling to see them over the line. A team that is very hard to predict for though, as they could implode at pretty much any point.

Key Player - Janith Wijisena is still only 20 years old, but the left arm paceman is sending down some serious balls at the moment. His test match record may be average, but in T20Is this year he's sent down 35 overs, taking 16 wickets at 13.25, with an economy rate of 6.06. Brilliant.

Prediction - Semi-finalists

Group C

Australia

Summary - Normally they go into tournaments looking strong and with people saying they'll win the thing, but I have an inkling that might not happen this time. Whilst they have quality players, I think they lack any real depth in their team and squad, and I don't think they'll get past the Super 8s.

Key Player - David Warner is the sort of opener we'd all love to have in this format. A great player in all formats, but he made his name in T20 and I think he'll excel again.

Prediction - 3rd in Super 8 group.

Bangladesh

Summary - Their bowling, and especially their spin bowling, is very strong indeed, but apart from Shuv Hom, none of their players average over 20 in the T20I format. I can't see them getting through this strong group.

Key Player - Shuvagata Hom has to carry the batting almost by himself in this tournament. He's a talented boy, but he will have to be right on form for his side this time out.

Prediction - Last in Group C.

Pakistan

Summary - Pakistan's strong squad belies their world ranking of eighth, and I have a sneaking suspicion they might beat Australia in the group stage. Not many allrounders for them though, which could lead to a bit of lower order collapse.

Key Player - Nasir Jamshed is the highest run scorer in T20 and T20I cricket in the world this year, and I'd expect him to get a few big scores in the matches they play.

Prediction - 4th in Super 8 Group.

Group D

New Zealand

Summary - I'm going to come right out here and say it... this New Zealand squad is weak. Their bowlers apart from Vettori are expensive, and only de Boorder and Rutherford have batting stats to compete at this level.

Key Player - The only man who helps give balance to their side is Derek de Boorder. He has a good T20I average and Strike Rate batting wise, and his keeping too allows one more specialist batsman in the side.

Prediction - Last in Group D.

South Africa

Summary - I'm finding it incredibly hard to pick any holes at all in this South African squad. My only hope for the rest of the competition is that they choke. Their allrounders aren't the best bowlers ever, so we'll have to hope people can score in the middle overs.

Key Player - It's hard to pick just one, but 29 year old Abdul Razak has turned himself into the spinner that South Africa have always longed for in the short formats. He's started his international career wonderfully, and in India will be key.

Prediction - Winners.

Zimbabwe

Summary - I've stuck my neck out by saying Zimbabwe will beat New Zealand to that second qualification spot in Group D, and that is partly because the Zimbabwe squad actually struck me as quite a good one. Brendan Taylor and the little man Tatenda Taibu will lead the batting, and they're a bit weak in this area, but in terms of bowling they're looking like a very good side indeed.

Key Player - Because of the all-round bowling strength, this is a batsman, more specifically Brendan Taylor. He's still only 30, and averaging almost that number in T20Is, will lead his team from the front and with bat in hand.

Prediction - 4th in Super 8 group.

[Imager36]

Well... that wasn't our finest performance.



What happened to my golden touch, eh? Considering the start we got with Powell and Bravo, who made it through to 87/1, we had a torrid time at the end of the innings and just couldn't speed it up no matter how hard we tried. Dwayne and Bascombe fell cheaply, and whilst Alford managed to club 8 from 4, it wasn't really as much as we needed.

In the bowling department, it could be said that things went even worse. Holder started off with two total nightmares of overs, and had to be taken out, with Alford not faring much better. Dwayne Bravo bowled an economical over. Hinds took a wicket. Pfffffft.

Series State	India lead 1-0 with 1 to play.
Batting Award	Kieron Powell played well for his 72, but it could have come quicker...
Bowling Award	Sunil Narine - Bowled four overs for 23. Pfffffft.
Team News	Stoute in for Holder. Cracking.

Yeah... we're going to struggle in this world cup.



We were more pleased with our total this time round, coming as it did from 22/4 off the first 5 overs, mainly due to a partnership between Simmons (21) and Stoute worth 67. Waiittt... Kevin Stoute averages more than most of our batsmen in T20... why did no-one tell me this? I may utilise him at 6 in future...

Our bowlers struggled again against a rather good Indian team, and we were utterly and totally thrashed. Ah well.

Series State	India win the series 2-0
Batting Award	Kev Stoute - A rather fine innings from him... shame he was batting at 8.
Bowling Award	None awarded.

Next up is the preview of the T20 World Cup. We keep the same squad going into that.

[Imager36]

K. Powell (O)
BAT or O
S. Burton (BAT/O)
Darren Bravo (BAT) (C)
BAT
BAT/ALL
BAT/K
M. Alford (ALL)
ALL/ASP
K. Stoute (ALL)
SPIN/ASP
C.Brathwaite (SEAM)
SEAM
S. Narine (SPIN)
WILDCARD

What you can basically gather from that is that we have a very unsettled squad at the moment, taking losses against big teams, so I can only name 7 players out of 15 as definite to go... not amazing. Anyway, next up, a list of players in contention for each position.

Position	Player	T20s	Bat Average	SR	Bowl Average	Econ
Opener	Dolston Tuit performed well in the recent ODI series in India, and his good form and performances in T20s this year could see him catapulted into the line of duty.	41	23.71	134.59	-	-
Opener	Xavier Marshall is an aggressive batsman who has played a lot of West Indies cricket, but mainly as a young man.	59	25.06	134.94	-	-
Batsman	Miles Bascombe has played a solitary T20I for the West Indies, but his domestic form this year is not to be sniffed at, as is his aggressive nature.	62	24.55	139.45	-	-
Batsman	Mike Paul plays a lot of international cricket for me, and has played all 8 T20Is for me this year. Not particularly successfully though.	37	21.76	122.09	-	-
Batting All-rounder	Dwayne Bravo is another who has played a great number of T20Is previously (55), but has been out of the team recently.	214	24.60	130.42	22.34	7.97
Batting All-rounder	Kieron Pollard. Once well renowned young talent, then West Indies short-form batting revalation, now struggling to retain his place in even a weak middle order.	200	26.59	158.01	24.54	7.90
Keeper/Opener	Lendl Simmons, who many would say was unfairly dropped earlier this year in favour of better glovemen who can't bat.	112	25.25	117.19	-	-
Keeper	Graham Maynard, who played well in his 2 T20Is to date, but really struggled in his 11 ODIs.	6	42.67	129.27	-	-
Keeper	Max Browne, now the first choice test match keeper for the side, would not be an explosive pick, but a solid base.	26	18.88	126.37	-	-
All-rounder	Dean Benjamin would be a pick that would enforce the status quo. Immediately impressive in international cricket, his ODI century has boosted him, but otherwise he has struggled.	18	22.90	129.37	20.50	7.66
All-round spinner	Ryan Hinds is a man who generally features in my tournament squads, but at 35, is this one tournament too far? An experienced head may be useful though.	57	22.89	127.93	20.03	6.58
Spinner	Imran Khan is another who plays a lot when I'm in charge, but he can't be a definite as he's only played 9 T20Is for me. Good economy this year though.	67	15.73	112.67	12.96	7.05
Spinner	Devendra Bishoo is a man who hasn't been mentioned much round here lately but can probably still spring a performance. Can't bat well though.	81	9.76	135.74	17.56	6.64
Seamer	Mervin Matthew has played a lot in the last year, but can't be a definite simply due to the fact he has no form at all at the moment.	65	6.90	113.11	12.90	6.79
Seamer	Jason Holder is now 24 and could be in line for a nice return to the national squads. Has been taking wickets in T20 at an average of 10 runs this year.	46	15.07	148.68	12.85	6.99

Whew. That was a lot of reading and writing. Anyway, for the two warm up T20s, I have selected these players to fill the positions...

BAT or O - Dolston Tuit - Just for the fact he made a promising start to his international career.
BAT - Miles Bascombe - I'll give anyone a go, me, and this guy (a regular in one of the previous Golden Isles games) may have something.
BAT/ALL - Dwayne Bravo - I've missed him. I'll bat him higher this time around.
BAT/K - Lendl Simmons - I've missed him too in one day cricket. I was impetuous. Sorry Lendl.
ALL/ASP - Ryan Hinds - The old guy gets the nod, and spinners always concede fewer runs somehow.
SPIN/ASP - Imran Khan - The only real no brainer, a quality performer.
SEAM - Jason Holder - I miss his striking ability and don't know why I didn't persevere a little longer first time.
WILDCARD - Dean Benjamin - I'm happy for him to sit on the bench all tournament, but if we struggle he's a decent option.

And the team for the first match, and what I believe at the moment to be my strongest team, looks like this...

K. Powell (O)
D. Tuit (O)
Darren Bravo (BAT) (C)
Dwayne Bravo (ALL)
M. Bascombe (BAT)
M. Alford (ALL)
L. Simmons (K)
R. Hinds (ASP)
C. Brathwaite (SEAM)
J. Holder (SEAM)
S. Narine (SPIN)

And within that I'd say there are a lot of combinations... take an opener out, let Simmons open and bring Burton in, for instance, or sub a bowler for Khan for even more spin or Stoute for even more batting! I like this squad. I better bloody do. It took me long enough.

NOTE - I originally wrote those two posts as one, but it was too long and it wouldn't let me.

[Imager36]

You know what, guys... I think this side might just be better than us.



We batted first, and after Barath was out early, Tuit, Bravo and Burton constructed a solid but rather slow platform for our side. Unfortunately, they got out at just the wrong moments and Pollard and Alford both failed to do what they're in the side for and hit, leaving Benjamin (27) and Imran Khan (28*) to tidy up the mess and provide us with a strong finish, which they did.

India made 161 from their opening partnership, however, and despite Kohli and Pandey both falling cheaply, had no real issues passing our target which on a good pitch was made to look dreadful.

Series State	India win the series 3-0 with 2 to play.
Batting Award	Shane Burton - Top scored at quite a good rate, was only out run out.
Bowling Award	None awarded - A poor performance in this area.
Team News	None!

Let's get this series over and done with in this post then, shall we?



This time was the other way round... we started bowling well and ended batting badly... The Indian top 3 were quality as they always seem to be, but apart from them, dots and scores in the teens from the middle and lower orders were all we had to contend with, and having constricted them to under 250 we really felt we had a good chance to take a consolation victory from the game.

It never really happened for us with the bat though... regular wickets fell at all points, and when Imran Khan second-top scores in an ODI, you know you've been having problems with the willow.

Series State	India have won the series and lead 4-0 with 1 to play.
Batting Award	None given or deserved.
Bowling Award	Sunil Narine - Economy, 3 wickets, lovely.
Team News	Maynard back in for Pollard, McClean in for Matthew.

Pffffftttttt.



Mukund got India off to an amazing start, and whilst no-one really stuck with him that well at the other end, people made cameos of attacking efforts, and that meant India could reach their highest total of the series by some margin.

As that had happened, we didn't really fancy our chances of reaching the target. We made a pretty good fist of it in the end though, with our opening partnership worth 103, Tuit's 65 from only 53 balls. Unfortunately though, we couldn't turn that into a win. Shane Burton played incredibly well, but no-one stuck with him for long enough. Alford managed to stay out there for 25 balls, but that was the best our middle and lower orders could accomplish.

Series State	India win the series 5-0.
Batting Award	Dolston Tuit - He scored quickly and positively, and was our second highest run scorer in the series.
Bowling Award	Kev McClean - Had the difficult job of closing the innings, but kept his economy rate low.

You know what's next, ladies and gentlemen? 2 T20Is against India and then the infamous T20 World Cup. With a preview and everything. First up though, we have to work out what our best squad for this format of the game is... In the template below, I've put in all the definites and positions still to be filled.

[Imager36]

Not exactly a convincing start to our ODI series.



They got away from us early doors, without us being able to take out the top 3 quickly, and all of them made half-centuries, Mukund especially impressing of course with his brilliant 112. The spinners had economy rates of 5 and above, nothing quite went right for us in the innings and India raced to 254/7 despite a poor end to the innings.

We never really stood a chance. Tuit wasted balls on debut, but it's unfair to blame him for the loss because we were never scoring enough runs. Burton was the only man to put up any real resistance.

Series State	India lead 1-0 with 4 to play
Batting Award	Shane Burton - Slim pickings.
Bowling Award	Carlos Brathwaite - 4/48 ain't bad.
Team News	Alford out, Keiron Pollard in.

Well, I think we improved a bit...



We managed to keep Indian wickets falling regularly during their innings, but they always seemed to manage to just wrestle back enough control to stay ahead of the game. The bowling unit as a whole worked fairly well, in truth, and despite a late surge from Uday Kaul (31), we felt like we had restricted them to a somewhat gettable total.

We started with a fairly decent 58 partnership and took Praveen Kumar apart a little, which was nice for the oft sedate openers. Darren Bravo came in and played well, but no-one could stay with him, Burton and Pollard (0 from 0, run out!) came and went and whilst Benjamin managed 33 from 32 balls when the required run rate was even above that, the bottom 5 could only manage to face 13 balls between them and we were all out a decent way short.

Series State	India lead 2-0 with 3 to play...
Batting Award	Darren Bravo - Led the way with the bat, rather.
Bowling Award	Brathwaite/Benjamin/Khan -All with incredibly similar figures.
Team News	Maynard the keeper makes way for Alford in a drastic move. Renowned catcher Pollard takes the gloves.

[Imager36]

And we were knocked out with a thoroughly disappointing defeat.



As soon as we put them in to bat, we were having issues. Warner and Watson put on 134 for the opening stand, and we had no real response to that. Not even the spin could really contain the pair, although it got a wicket and those continued to tumble despite the rapid rate of scoring. Alford and Brathwaite finished the innings with wickets, but cameos from Nevill and Mitch Marsh got the Aussies to a very good score.

Unfortunately, we couldn't keep up with the scoring rate and keep wickets from falling. Paul and Benjamin's 79 partnership was certainly worth watching for some lovely attacking strokes from both players, but we were never in with a chance of reaching the target.

Series State	Australia 3 - 1 West Indies West Indies fail to qualify for the finals.
Batting Award	Mike Paul - Showed some backbone and was unbeaten on 49 when the tail fell.
Bowling Award	Mike Alford - Not economical, but managed 4 wickets.
Team News	No changes.

And this match went far better.



We batted first, and Barath made a solid start, supported by a 25 from Alford and a slow 15 from Darren B, we made it to 97/2, but a collapse left us feeling glum at 126/6. Thankfully, a combative partnership of 71 between Maynard (29*) and Stoute (40 from 36) led us almost to the 200 mark, before the last 4 wickets fell in 4 balls to Irfan Pathan.

We knew the only chance we had was to go out and try to take wickets. We managed it, and each of the 6 bowlers grabbed at least one for their tallies. A 50 partnership between Jadeja and Karthik threatened to overthrow us, and Ashwin gave it a go, but Brathwaite and Alford finished the innings well and we won feeling that we might have even without the last two wickets as the batsmen were struggling to score.

Series State	India 2 - 1 West Indies
Batting Award	Kevin Stoute - His unexpected 40 from 36 balls was great to watch and gave us a chance.
Bowling Award	Carlos Brathwaite - 4/29 from almost 10 overs, also finished their innings off.
Final Table	India won the finals 2-1.

And with that, we move on to a 5 match ODI tour of... you guessed it, India. Before the 2 T20 'warm-ups' against them and then the T20 World Cup in India! For the ODI series, the recovered Mervin Matthew comes into the squad in place of the unused Ryan Hinds and on-form 29 year old opener Dolston Tuit makes his squad début in place of Lendl Simmons. In the actual XI, Tuit replaces Paul, with Bravo reverting to 3, Burton 4 and Alford 5, and Matthew coming in for Stoute.


Dolston Tuit

[Imager36]

A poor batting performance and a poor bowling performance.



When did Darren Bravo go from being the only one who wasn't scoring to the only one who is?

Series State	Australia 2 - 1 West Indies
Batting Award	Darren Bravo - Scored some runs.
Bowling Award	Sunil Narine - Took some wickets.
Team News	Paul replaces Pollard. Batting order changes to Barath, Burton, Alford, Bravo, Paul, Benjamin, Maynard, etc. I'll try anything, me.

Not that it'll work, mind...



Another sorry tale. India got off to a wonderful start, progressing to 110 from the first 20 overs for the loss of only 1 wicket. Reddy and Kohli were both out soon after this though to the spin, and those spinners managed to keep the run rate incredibly far down, conceding only 58 runs from 20 overs between them. They took wickets too, but Jadeja remained, and punished us with a fine half century against the returning quicker bowlers.

Barath was out for 0 in the first over, but Burton and Alford built a base and then started to hit from it. Unfortunately, the middle order of Bravo, Paul and Benjamin all failed and after that we didn't have a hope. Maynard and Stoute battled bravely, but it was ultimately futile.

Series State	India 2 - 0 West Indies
Batting Award	Shane Burton - Top run scorer in the match.
Bowling Award	Narine/Khan - The spinners seriously constricted India.
Team News	No changes.

So to get through to the final we need to win both our remaining matches and hope Australia lose to India in their final match. No problem.

[Imager36]

A few bowling-based worldies occurred.



We won the toss once more and put them into bat. This time, the tactic really worked. We got stuck in and never let them settle, Brathwaite grabbing Watson early and then first change Alford getting the other 4 of the top 5 in one of his finest bowling performances. With those batsmen gone, Narine had a fairly easy job keeping the run rate down as the Australians tried to rebuild, but McClean and Brathwaite finishing the innings off failed to get the last wickets quickly, the last partnership being worth 24 and giving Australia a sniff.

We made a solid start with an opening partnership of 40, but Maynard fell for 21 and was followed shortly after by Burton. Barath held his end though, and he and Pollard added 54 at above the required pace for the third wicket. Pollard then swiped across the line and was out LBW. Darren Bravo stuck around for 27 painful balls for his 7, but Barath got over his 50 in partnership with Alford (28* off 26), and the young allrounder saw us over the line with help from his comrade Benjamin.

Series State	Australia 1 - 1 West Indies
Batting Award	Adrian Barath - Boring but necessary.
Bowling Award	Mike Alford - Got the important wickets that kept them to a low total.
Team News	NO CHANGES!

A slightly more disappointing match to bring us back down to earth.



I wrote up a match report yesterday evening but it was somehow deleted. Suffice to say, we did not play especially well.

Series State	India 1 - 0 West Indies
Batting Award	Darren Bravo - He did his best to get some form, but we were unlikely to ever get that target.
Bowling Award	Sunil Narine - Economical, 2 wickets, lovely.
Team News	Benjamin and Maynard swap batting order positions. Stoute comes in for McClean.

[Imager36]

A much better showing. I thought we were going to win it for a large proportion of the game... but they Australia-d us.



They lost the toss and we made them bat, but they got off to a good start. Despite the fact that we took a couple of early-ish wickets, they managed almost 110 from the first 20 overs, and then Burns, Nevil, Clarke and Hughes set about extending their advantage. Luckily for us, everyone got a bit stuck against Sunil Narine, who conceded 27 runs from his 10 overs, meaning they'd slowed to well under 5 an over after 35 overs had passed. The Clarke/Hughes partnership was worth a quick 67, but their last 6 wickets fell for 25 runs to undo a lot of that good work, albeit leaving them with a good total.

Barath was out early, but Burton and Bravo worked on making me like them again in their partnership of 94 before Bravo was LBW for 47. Unfortunately, this was proceeded by an inevitable but nonetheless crushing collapse. Pollard scored a quick 19 before Alford was out for 1 and the hero Burton fell for 82 from 105 balls, a great effort from the makeshift opener. Maynard made 29, but the allrounders failed him in terms of their batting and we fell 20 runs short.

Series State	Australia 1 - 0 West Indies
Batting Award	Shane Burton - No questions asked. He needed a score and got one.
Bowling Award	Sunil Narine - 1/27 from 10 overs is a good effort, and Benjamin was too expensive to win this.
Team News	No changes for the first India match.

This match literally couldn't have been any closer.



We put India in to bat, and their first two partnerships were worth 159. These partnerships were both slow though, and as a player I was thankful that they decided to try and keep wickets in hand, knowing that their top 3 batsmen, Mukund, Reddy and Kohli, were by far their most dangerous. As expected, when they tried to accelerate, they lost wickets and ended up going almost nowhere. Brathwaite and Benjamin finished off the innings expertly.

As usual when I think I'm doing well, next something went badly wrong. We were soon down to 8/2, and after Burton had stuck around briefly and Pollard had done what he does best - smacked a few and then smacked one to a fielder - we were 55/4... not ideally placed to win the match. Mike Alford went for an uncharacteristic dig-in, and was 6 from about 25 balls, but up the other end his partner Benjamin was stockpiling the runs and making sure our position was becoming gradually tenable. In the end, the pair put on 108, with Alford speeding up to reach 41 from 72 balls. Graham Maynard came in, and things remained largely as they had been, with the required rate nudging 6 and staying there pretty well. Maynard was out for 20, and McClean went for his second golden duck of this 2 match old series, but only requiring 9 from the last 9 balls I felt we would be safe. We scored 2 from the next 3, and then Benjamin reached his first List A hundred with a single. He couldn't quite bring up victory though... Khan faced a dot ball, and needing 3 from the last, Dean only managed to sneak 2 to earn us a tie and our first point of the triangular.

Series State	West Indies 0 - 0 India
Batting Award	Dean Benjamin - I have to say I wasn't expecting an innings of such class and composure from him. Good on the boy.
Bowling Award	Carlos Brathwaite - Least runs, most wickets. Simple, really.
Team News	Batting order shuffle. Maynard goes to open with Barath, Burton slides down to a hopefully more to his liking 3, with Pollard at 4 and the under-performing captain at 5.

Edit - The morning after, I realise how stupid that batting order shuffle looks... "Ooh, Benjamin can bat! Let's put him down at 7 where he'll never have the chance to build an innings again!" Never mind. I will keep it.

[Imager36]

Not the great comeback I was hoping for, to be honest. Another thrashing.



We lost the toss and were put into bat, which looked a great decision as we teetered at 16/2, both of the openers out. Bravo, Pollard and Paul did their best to revive the innings, but were methodical about it and left us struggling in terms of run rate. Maynard made a quick unbeaten 13 to drag us above 6 an over, but the total didn't seem nearly enough.

Indeed it wasn't. Australia had no problem breezing to the total. Shane Watson was out for 7 though, which was nice.

Series State	Australia lead the series 1-0 with 1 to play.
Batting Award	Mike Paul - Top scored at just over a run a ball. Best of a bad bunch.
Bowling Award	Carlos Brathwaite - 1/15 from 2.4 overs. Quite good bowling.
Team News	Chris Gayle drops out for Imran Khan. Mike Alford moves up to open.

And a more promising match to brace us for the long triangular series.



It was, once again, a case of being put in to bat, and then the fragile batting order really hurting us. Powell and Alford started well with a quick partnership of 35, Mike scoring 19 from 9 balls to start the innings positively. Darren Bravo was run out soon after though, which made us slow down. Another good partnership, this time 36 between Powell and Pollard made us feel in with a shout in the game. After these two though, we suffered a large ongoing collapse, with Maynard scoring 30* from 22 balls but no-one able to stick with him for long enough to give us a decent total.

They opened with a strong but slow partnership of 61, but Imran Khan looked dangerous from the second he came on and took 3 wickets to reduce Australia to 86/3. Warner and Steve Smith unfortunately managed to ride out the pressure period with a partnership of 29, and even as as Brathwaite and Stoute got wickets at the end, it was unlikely to ever contain a much improved Australian side from when I faced them at the start of the year.

Series State	Australia win the series 2-0.
Batting Award	Graham Maynard - Played well and almost took us to a reasonable total.
Bowling Award	Imran Khan - Came on and suddenly made us feel like we had a chance in the game.
Squad Changes	Powell, Gayle, Dwayne out, Barath, McClean and Hinds in.

The tournament is a quadruple round robin between us, Australia and India (who we then face in India, making the results of this pointless for us but not them!) First up is a match against the home side, the Aussies. The team is... Barath, Burton, Bravo (C), Pollard, Alford, Benjamin, Maynard (K), McClean, Khan, Brathwaite, Narine. Trust in Maynard!

(I'm going to do 2 matches a time through this mentally long tournament too.)

[Imager36]

And as soon as I posted that... this happened. After the first innings, we were in control... then they had a third wicket 378 partnership and it was all over.

Series State	Australia win the series 2-0 with one match to play
Batting Award	Darren Bravo - Only man to make a good score in either innings.
Bowling Award	Kev McClean - Not his best performance, but 7 wickets is decent.
Team News	The same XI completes the series.

I rushed the final test to get it over with, but it was promising. Matthew was injured in our first innings, but Alford stepped up his overs and wickets to bring his career average back below 40.

Series State	Australia win the series 3-0
Batting Award	Kirk Edwards - Captain Kirk top scored in both innings.
Bowling Award	Mike Alford - Close between him and Stoute, but he gets it as I favour him.

So now, we play 2 T20Is against the Aussies before an interminable ODI tournament. Here's the squad for the T20s as I've forgotten what it usually looks like.

K. Powell (O)
C. Gayle (OASP)
L. Simmons (OK)
Darren Bravo (BAT) (C)
K. Pollard (ALL)
S. Burton (BAT/O)
M. Paul (BAT)
Dwayne Bravo (ALL)
D. Benjamin (ALL)
M. Alford (ALL)
G. Maynard (K)
K. Stoute (ALL)
I. Khan (SPIN)
C. Brathwaite (SEAM)
S. Narine (SPIN)

Indeed, experimental. Gayle is recalled after a long absence at the age of 36 to add life to our top order and a spin bowling option, Kieran Powell comes into the T20 reckoning off the back of a very strong domestic season and Graham Maynard gives me a solid wicketkeeping option with Simmons failing with the bat at the moment anyway. Mervin Matthew is injured for 3 weeks and doesn't make the squad. Darren Bravo takes back the captaincy.

Simmons, Burton, Dwayne and Khan miss out, giving Powell his return and Maynard his Windies début, batting at 8.