When West Indies team itself is unfit?

Well the news has its say that the West Indies cricket Board (WICB) has scrapped contracts for Ramnaresh Sarwan, Narsingh Deonarine and Jerome Taylor owing to the same old reason that the above mentioned players' fitness does not cope up to the standards of the international cricket. As per my view, the aforementioned three players are the commonest of common names that can be heard in the West Indies team and what is more is that the new upcoming star cricketer in the West Indies team - Narsingh Deonarine has also been shown the gates. Nevermind though if the WICB's words have meaning.

The only name that is seen missing from the list would be Shivnarine Chanderapaul who has been taking the burden of the rusted West Indies team for more than a decade since the 1999 world cup after the retirement of the famous three deadly fast bowlers namely Curtly Ambose, Courteny Walsh and Ian Bishop. Of course, the names mentioned are fast bowlers. But, in their department, they did their job to the fullest extent, leaving little job for the batsmen to complete that included Chanderapaul and Brian Lara. Since then, the West Indies' burden has been shared by only Chanderapaul especially after Lara retired.

The other comparatively lesser known names are obviously Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chris Gayle (though Chris Gayle's name is not listed in the wrong list). Though not completely successful, the fast bowling line up of the West Indies team is headed by Jerome Taylor with equal support from Dwayne Smith and Dwayne Bravo. With Jerome being stripped of his contract, there would no doubt be a blow to the West Indies fast bowling line up which is otherwise also deteriorated. One can definitely ask what is the alternative in case a player is injured or speaking precise is not completely fit for the WICB to award contracts?

Though there can be no other option but to go ahead with the WICB, one has to imagine the lack of fitness of the senior players with the rest of the squad being healthy, if at all the WICB is to be believed. News also had its say that in addition to the three mentioned, even the wicket keeper Denesh Ramdin has been stripped of his national contract. This means that the West Indies team has an unfit player in all departments namely batting, bowling and wicket keeping. On the otherhand, new comers namely Kieron Pollard and Adrian Barat have been given full deals. How mean!

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 47^th 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.