Sunday 7 March 2010

Smiles on West Indian faces

Well finally fans of West Indian cricket can hope to smile after the West Indies registered a rare victory in an international one day match. It doesn't matter against which team the victory came against at present but, it is winning that is important for a team who has got to losing as though it is the sun rise and sun set. However, the victory was not achieved until the last 12 odd balls prior to finishing the match with the West Indies team taking the game until more than the 47th over of the match. And, in the process the West Indies team lost 6 wickets.

This is no big deal whatsoever. As it has been repeatedly mentioned in this post, it is winning at present that is important for the West Indies and not the margin of victory or the way they achieved it. But, the West Indies' efforts were not even that bad either when Chris Gayle and Deonarine scored 153 runs out of the total score of 208 which ensured the West Indian win. Not even Chanderapaul was found at his batting best with that being his only job in international cricket since decades. Whatever, it would be worth mentioning the 21 extras that the Zimbabwean bowlers bowled which aided the West Indian run chase.

Chris Gayle and Deonarine accounted almost 84 percent of the total score of 208 that the West Indies team needed to win. If not for these two, the remaining batmen could not record individual scores more than 10, which ws possible only by Chandrapaul keeping in mind his decade long experience. Had Chandrapaul not been this experienced, may be even his score would have been just a couple. A comparative picture would suggest that the Zimbabwean team had a better batting chart with almost all of them notching up double digit scores. The fact is also that the present Zimbabwean team is more experienced compared to West Indies.

But, the main area that needs some consideration is the man of the match that was awarded to some Deonarine. Scorecard suggests that he was the second highest scorer for the West Indies after Chris Gayle scored 88.It is impossible to find a valid reason for Deonarine being awarded the man of the match. Chris Gayle would have been the ultimate choice after furnishing his role as a captain, opening batsmen and a part time bowler. Not only did Gayle top score at 88 but also took the wicket of the number 3 batsmen- Brendan Taylor and was the lone bowler to have bowled 10 overs for the WI.

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