Well in case a match that can be won happens to be lost, who is to be blamed becomes the toughest question of all. And that was what the West Indies were to face after their close and yet so far from victory against England at Chennai yesterday. A total of 244 on the board put up by the Englishmen should not have been a tough chase for a team that started off well blasting off 58 runs from the first 7 overs at a run-rate of over 8 runs an over. Chris Gayle and Darren Sammy were supposed to make life miserable for the Englishmen which eventually didn't happen.
Chris Gayle blasted 43 runs from just 21 balls scoring over 2 runs every ball he faced while Darren Sammy massacred the English bowling by scoring just less than one and a half runs every ball he faced when he too fell 9 runs short of scoring a well deserved half century. I just couldn't stop cursing the West Indian batsmen who undid the good work which the bowlers did. If one can go through the scorecard, the West Indies team is hardly gifted with decent bowlers though Kemer Roach and Dwayne Smith can boast of some splendid feats occasionally.
At the end, if Chris Gayle and Darren Sammy fell short of a well deserved half century, the West Indies team fell short of a well deserved victory. Compared to the bowlers like Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan and Graeme Swann, the West Indies' bowlers fall way short though there is Kemer Roach who has had a hat-trick against Holland earlier in the tournament. Similarly, in the batting department, England fall short of a hard hitting batsman of the caliber of Chris Gayle though the tournament's highest individual run scorer has been Andrew Struass when he blasted the Indian bowlers for a 50X1.5.
But, the scorecard suggests otherwise when bowlers do the job for the West Indies team by restricting the English batsmen for a score less than 250 and at the same time getting the opposition all-out. Getting a team that has so far holds the record for the highest team total batting second should come in for some praise until the unexpected happened. England scored 339 batting second in the game against the co-hosts India at Bangalore. West Indies' unsuccessful run-chase started from 58/1 at 6.5 over to 150/6 at the end of the 27th over. This brings 92 runs from 21 overs which is just less than 5 an over but still gettable.
Showing posts with label Kemar Roach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kemar Roach. Show all posts
Friday, 18 March 2011
Tuesday, 1 March 2011
Wow! It is the West Indies!
Well there have been a couple of 200+ run margins in this tournament with the latest one to join the club being the not-mighty West Indies who inflicted a 215 run win against Netherlands yesterday at Delhi. Earlier in the tournament, Pakistan had beaten Kenya ruthlessly by 205 runs following which Sri Lanka outplayed Canada by 210 runs both by the host nations who are one of the favorites to win the trophy and against weaker teams as mentioned above. Now, the record has been broken by another 5 runs when West Indies did what was expected against Holland yesterday.
It is fascinating to see the three 200+ run margin records having a margin of 5 runs with Sri Lanka belting Canada by 210 runs at Hambontana on February 20th which was three days before Pakistan did the same against Kenya and a week later West Indies joins the club by bettering Sri Lanka's record by 5 runs. All these three events took place in a span of just two weeks of the tournament starting and with ten days of the first one by Sri Lanka. There are matches yet to come where teams like Australia, South Africa, New Zealand etc will take on Kenya, Canada, Holland etc.
This is one such rare matches involving the West Indies where all the top five batsmen show their talent with three of them scoring half centuries, one other batsman falling just a run short of achieving that feat and the other scoring a decent and a handy 30. A total of 332 and that too by West Indies seems a lot but, have a look at the opposition whom they are playing. May be other stronger teams might fail in getting such a huge margin of victory against such teams but for sure, their performance will be better against West Indies.
The man-of-the-match Kemar Roach is seen picking up a hat-trick but look at the batsmen whom he has dismissed-the last three batsmen players namely some Pieter Seelaar, Bernard Loots and Bernard Westdijk and gets awarded the man of the match for his 6-27 when there was Kieron Pollard who made a quickfire 27 ball 60. Nevermind who was awarded the man of the match for anyhow West Indies would have won against Holland but, it should be seen whether they can do it against India and England with them already losing to South Africa. Even a narrow escape or a close encounter against them would be appreciated.
It is fascinating to see the three 200+ run margin records having a margin of 5 runs with Sri Lanka belting Canada by 210 runs at Hambontana on February 20th which was three days before Pakistan did the same against Kenya and a week later West Indies joins the club by bettering Sri Lanka's record by 5 runs. All these three events took place in a span of just two weeks of the tournament starting and with ten days of the first one by Sri Lanka. There are matches yet to come where teams like Australia, South Africa, New Zealand etc will take on Kenya, Canada, Holland etc.
This is one such rare matches involving the West Indies where all the top five batsmen show their talent with three of them scoring half centuries, one other batsman falling just a run short of achieving that feat and the other scoring a decent and a handy 30. A total of 332 and that too by West Indies seems a lot but, have a look at the opposition whom they are playing. May be other stronger teams might fail in getting such a huge margin of victory against such teams but for sure, their performance will be better against West Indies.
The man-of-the-match Kemar Roach is seen picking up a hat-trick but look at the batsmen whom he has dismissed-the last three batsmen players namely some Pieter Seelaar, Bernard Loots and Bernard Westdijk and gets awarded the man of the match for his 6-27 when there was Kieron Pollard who made a quickfire 27 ball 60. Nevermind who was awarded the man of the match for anyhow West Indies would have won against Holland but, it should be seen whether they can do it against India and England with them already losing to South Africa. Even a narrow escape or a close encounter against them would be appreciated.
Thursday, 11 March 2010
So, even the West Indies can dominate
The world was all set to forget that at one point of time most of the international records in both the tests ans one day internationals belonged, starting from the fact that they were the first team to win two world cups till Brian Lara scored an unbeaten 400 against England at St Antigua to not only become the highest individual run scorer but also became the only player to score a quadruple hundred. And, if heir recent past is considered, they have lost most of their fan following who are now a days found betting against them be it against any opposition.
And, the West Indies in most of the occasions were in support of that. They have a recent history of faring so badly in all the three formats of the game that whenever West Indies even goes in for a draw, that used to raise eyebrows. This was the case against Australia when the West Indies drew a test match at Adelaide. And, whenever the West Indies were able to snatch, it was at the cost of their opposition who at times underestimated the same. And, this was evident in the second match against Zimbabwe where the West Indies won by 4 wickets chasing just 207 runs.
However, things improved a lot in the third one dayer played at Kingstown where the West Indies took the game away from Zimbabwe in a one sided manner. The West Indies once again showed Zimbabwe that they have been stripped off their test status some five years back. West Indies once again reminded the Zimbabweans that they could not qualify for either the ICC champions trophy or the world T20 last year. In the third one dayer, Zimbabwe were nowhere in the game and the West Indies also showed the fans that atleast at home they can come out victorious.
This time the West Indies team didn't leave any stone unturned when they excelled in all three departments of the game. This was not really evident when the entire West Indies team could not even go past 250 on board when in today's cricket, 300+ also is an average score. And, like always, the West Indies needed the contribution of Shivnarine Chanderapaul to lead the batting though others followed suit. It was then it was realized that the pitch had nothing to offer for the batsmen when there was only one Zimbabwean batsman who was comparatively better than the rest. There was just 1 six in the entire Zimbabwean innings, with the highest individual score being 35.
Once again, the man of the match was awarded to the wrong person who could all do was to extract something which the pitch assisted. The real challenge was to stand and deliver which was possible from Chanderapaul. But, once again the mistake has to be regretted by all.
And, the West Indies in most of the occasions were in support of that. They have a recent history of faring so badly in all the three formats of the game that whenever West Indies even goes in for a draw, that used to raise eyebrows. This was the case against Australia when the West Indies drew a test match at Adelaide. And, whenever the West Indies were able to snatch, it was at the cost of their opposition who at times underestimated the same. And, this was evident in the second match against Zimbabwe where the West Indies won by 4 wickets chasing just 207 runs.
However, things improved a lot in the third one dayer played at Kingstown where the West Indies took the game away from Zimbabwe in a one sided manner. The West Indies once again showed Zimbabwe that they have been stripped off their test status some five years back. West Indies once again reminded the Zimbabweans that they could not qualify for either the ICC champions trophy or the world T20 last year. In the third one dayer, Zimbabwe were nowhere in the game and the West Indies also showed the fans that atleast at home they can come out victorious.
This time the West Indies team didn't leave any stone unturned when they excelled in all three departments of the game. This was not really evident when the entire West Indies team could not even go past 250 on board when in today's cricket, 300+ also is an average score. And, like always, the West Indies needed the contribution of Shivnarine Chanderapaul to lead the batting though others followed suit. It was then it was realized that the pitch had nothing to offer for the batsmen when there was only one Zimbabwean batsman who was comparatively better than the rest. There was just 1 six in the entire Zimbabwean innings, with the highest individual score being 35.
Once again, the man of the match was awarded to the wrong person who could all do was to extract something which the pitch assisted. The real challenge was to stand and deliver which was possible from Chanderapaul. But, once again the mistake has to be regretted by all.
Sunday, 14 February 2010
No one can be a threat to Aussies from WI
Well I wonder as to whether one has to cite so specially that medium pacers from the West Indies can never trouble Australia in the on going 5 match one day series between the two countries? All that the West Indian pace attack at present in the series could boast about was the presence of Darren Sammy and Dwayne Smith, both of whom stand nowhere when it comes to the recent list of all time fast bowling greats. Now, the lone addition to the armory of the West Indian fast bowling line up is Kemar Roach who is thought to be available for the series decider at Gabba.
Even Kemar Roach is yet to make a name for himself in the list of fast bowlers. May be that at present, in this series or even worse, only in the upcoming 4th one day scheduled at Gabba, Kemar Roach can consider himself to be ahead of all other fast bowlers of his team. However, the lone fast bowler who could have been of a little bit of trouble for the Australian team would have been Dwayne Bravo, who is found battling injuries off late and has been replaced by a batsman in Wavell Hinds. This has been the strength of the West Indies fast bowling line up.
Forget about winning aseries match against Australia, the West Indies team at present can't even think of losing after giving a tough fight to the hosts. And all that the West Indian fast bowling line up is found to have medium pace bowlers and no fast bowlers of the caliber of say Ambrose or Bishop. The lone bowler who could and up with a 4 wicket haul until now has been Ravi Rampaul who ended up with figures of 4/61 from his 10 overs giving away runs at the rate of 6.1 an over as compared to the below 5 an over run rate that Australia maintained in that game.
On the otherhand, Australia have more batsmen than the bowlers that the West Indies team can boast. West Indies bowling line up at present also includes the likes of Chris Gayle and Wavell Hinds who are rather considered as batsmen than bowlers. Australia have in them batsmen of the caliber of Shane Watson, Mike Hussey, Brad Haddin and Michael Clarke who can rip out any opposition let alone West Indies. By the way, the West Indies bowling line up can, with good fortune rock only non test playing nations with a doubt whether they can do the same regarding even Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.
Even Kemar Roach is yet to make a name for himself in the list of fast bowlers. May be that at present, in this series or even worse, only in the upcoming 4th one day scheduled at Gabba, Kemar Roach can consider himself to be ahead of all other fast bowlers of his team. However, the lone fast bowler who could have been of a little bit of trouble for the Australian team would have been Dwayne Bravo, who is found battling injuries off late and has been replaced by a batsman in Wavell Hinds. This has been the strength of the West Indies fast bowling line up.
Forget about winning a
On the otherhand, Australia have more batsmen than the bowlers that the West Indies team can boast. West Indies bowling line up at present also includes the likes of Chris Gayle and Wavell Hinds who are rather considered as batsmen than bowlers. Australia have in them batsmen of the caliber of Shane Watson, Mike Hussey, Brad Haddin and Michael Clarke who can rip out any opposition let alone West Indies. By the way, the West Indies bowling line up can, with good fortune rock only non test playing nations with a doubt whether they can do the same regarding even Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.
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