I had to keep on reading the news again and again unable to believe it in my eyes when I saw it for the first time on the television and on the news channels. The West Indies had beaten Pakistan by 40 runs in the first test at Providence. I had not much of a surprise when the West Indies had two consecutive wins against Pakistan in the last two one dayers which came after they had lost three matches earlier to the sub-continent nation. Of course, that was four in a row for the teams considering the West Indies' ten wicket loss to Pakistan in the quarter-finals of the world cup.
But, a test victory for West Indies against Pakistan is indeed something really worth of a praise for the hosts not only for their victory but also for their win in a test match when the spectators all over the world would have other opinions regarding the test status retained for the West Indies by the ICC. Had I been the ICC chief, I would have stripped the West Indies of their test status after Brian Lara retired. I just can't recall when last did the West Indies last win a test match against a decent opposition barring Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.
Likewise, my doubt to you readers is whether the West Indies have won a test match against even Bangladesh for, all I can remember West Indies doing was to lost both the test matches to Bangladesh on their last tour at home two years ago. Since 2007, the West Indies have never faced India in test matches be it on tour or at home. And they have not won a match against South Africa despite the teams meeting each other every year. Can anyone of you tell me when last did West Indies meet England and Australia and New Zealand recently?
Pakistan's dreams have been shattered once again when they lost the first test by 40 runs yesterday. Pakistan, we hear was and is and after this test will always be looking for a test series win against the West Indies in West Indies. Way back in 2005, the Inzamam-Ul-Haq led Pakistan team snatched a win in the 2nd test at Kingston after losing the 1st test at Bridgetown by 276 runs. This time also, all odds favor Pakistan to win over West Indies in the second test starting on 20th at Basseterre but will have to wait for another tour to relish their dreams.
Showing posts with label Ramnaresh Sarwan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ramnaresh Sarwan. Show all posts
Monday, May 16, 2011
Monday, June 22, 2009
Unsafety In The England Side
England would be facing Australia in the coming Ashes if all are aware of. Unfortunately, team England do not seem to have the privileges that either South Africa or India are found to have. Despite being the home team for the coming Ashes, England still seem to be the underdogs for this Ashes as well. It is a well known fact that Australia are no more the team they were a couple of years back. But, so are England too. Even England are not found playing good or even decent cricket at the moment. Else, what on earth made them lag behind in the ongoing test series against the West Indies?
Forget about the first test where may be that players from England cricket team were new to the West Indies pitches. But, even that shouldn't have been the reason for collapsing so badly by getting themselves all out for a paltry score of just 51 on the board. When it came to the second, there were a lot of mishaps when the pitch where the test match was played on was just friendly for a controversy and laughter and nothing else. The second test had to be played as an unscheduled third test match at a different. Anyway, that is not England's fault whatsoever. In the fourth test at Bridgetown, a score of 600 proves to be little for the Windies.
If the pitch was a batsmen friendly one, then the English batsmen should have scored a thousand runs (a little exaggeration is regretted). An all batsmen West Indies team should have chased a higher total. And when someone like Dinesh Ramdin who was found batting at number 7 scoring 166 indeed raises questions as to how come England could manage to declare with four batsmen still there? Wasn't there any sort of game planning by England, for the entire 5 days saw just two out of four innings being completed? By the time England declared their third innings, there was no room for the West Indies to get in to bat for the 2nd time.
As far as the West Indies team is considered, it was not a must win situation for them for they have already taken a lead in the series after their innings win in the first test. But, I wonder as to where the English brains had gone all the way? Since the past four years that I've been following the West Indies cricket especially in tests, they have hardly won any test series. All I can recall is the way they drew their 2 test series against Pakistan 2 years ago. Oh! Yes..they have had victories against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. Perhaps! Had teams like Ireland, Bermuda & Kenya been granted test status, West Indies could have boasted of a few more victories under its belt. And if any team loses to such a side, it would not be necessary to stress upon the caliber of that team.
Forget about the first test where may be that players from England cricket team were new to the West Indies pitches. But, even that shouldn't have been the reason for collapsing so badly by getting themselves all out for a paltry score of just 51 on the board. When it came to the second, there were a lot of mishaps when the pitch where the test match was played on was just friendly for a controversy and laughter and nothing else. The second test had to be played as an unscheduled third test match at a different. Anyway, that is not England's fault whatsoever. In the fourth test at Bridgetown, a score of 600 proves to be little for the Windies.
If the pitch was a batsmen friendly one, then the English batsmen should have scored a thousand runs (a little exaggeration is regretted). An all batsmen West Indies team should have chased a higher total. And when someone like Dinesh Ramdin who was found batting at number 7 scoring 166 indeed raises questions as to how come England could manage to declare with four batsmen still there? Wasn't there any sort of game planning by England, for the entire 5 days saw just two out of four innings being completed? By the time England declared their third innings, there was no room for the West Indies to get in to bat for the 2nd time.
As far as the West Indies team is considered, it was not a must win situation for them for they have already taken a lead in the series after their innings win in the first test. But, I wonder as to where the English brains had gone all the way? Since the past four years that I've been following the West Indies cricket especially in tests, they have hardly won any test series. All I can recall is the way they drew their 2 test series against Pakistan 2 years ago. Oh! Yes..they have had victories against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. Perhaps! Had teams like Ireland, Bermuda & Kenya been granted test status, West Indies could have boasted of a few more victories under its belt. And if any team loses to such a side, it would not be necessary to stress upon the caliber of that team.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
West Indies Win The Lucky Draw
Well with as many exciting encounters in cricket at present in progress, there are equal number of boring encounters as well on the other side of the cricketing world. The excitement includes the ongoing clash between Australia and South Africa for the number one spot in test cricket and the boring one being the West Indies' tour of New Zealand, which has so far not been taken seriously by either of the teams out there. None of the test matches that were played, were played with the spirit of winning or atleast having the opposition in a spin. Such was the situation with teams like Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. But, the late entries to the same have been West Indies and New Zealand.
Both the teams out there are found to play the games just for the sake of it. Thank god that they were not played in a cricket crazy country like India. Had it been, the sponsors would have had to think twice before going in for such matches. And that too in this era where recession has taken a toll! Anyway, issues like that should not really matter us. However, this is been found to clash with the timings of the Australia-South Africa test matches. The preference obviously going to this rather than the West Indies-New Zealand stuff. But, what about the ones who'd prefer a one day match over a test?
And also its been a long time since a one day international has been up. And the cricket fans would obviously be craving to watch some wonderful one day encounters. But, thanks to the boring West Indies-New Zealand series which has stripped them of the spirit of waiting for a one day match to kick off. This leaves the cricket fans wth no other option than to wait for the one day series between Australia and South Africa to kick off after the third test and the two T20 matches that follows. Neither were the two T20 games interesting if the expectations are to be believed. So, will the game of cricket be able to flourish in these nations wtih such a bad approach?
Lest, there are three more one day matches to go. The first one being cancelled and the second was reduced to 28 overs a side, which the West Indies clinched luckily. None of the players from both the teams making the talk of the hour makes the matter still more worse. Especially after the retirement of Stephen Fleming and Shane Bond, the New Zealand team have no big names that would be found on the fans' lips, with someone like Scott Styris and Jacob Oram making news only for injuries rather than the way they play their game of cricket. And even the West Indies are no different in this regard, with the only consolation being Shivnarine Chanderapaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan. Ok..a little bit of Chris Gayle. Not too bad....
Both the teams out there are found to play the games just for the sake of it. Thank god that they were not played in a cricket crazy country like India. Had it been, the sponsors would have had to think twice before going in for such matches. And that too in this era where recession has taken a toll! Anyway, issues like that should not really matter us. However, this is been found to clash with the timings of the Australia-South Africa test matches. The preference obviously going to this rather than the West Indies-New Zealand stuff. But, what about the ones who'd prefer a one day match over a test?
And also its been a long time since a one day international has been up. And the cricket fans would obviously be craving to watch some wonderful one day encounters. But, thanks to the boring West Indies-New Zealand series which has stripped them of the spirit of waiting for a one day match to kick off. This leaves the cricket fans wth no other option than to wait for the one day series between Australia and South Africa to kick off after the third test and the two T20 matches that follows. Neither were the two T20 games interesting if the expectations are to be believed. So, will the game of cricket be able to flourish in these nations wtih such a bad approach?
Lest, there are three more one day matches to go. The first one being cancelled and the second was reduced to 28 overs a side, which the West Indies clinched luckily. None of the players from both the teams making the talk of the hour makes the matter still more worse. Especially after the retirement of Stephen Fleming and Shane Bond, the New Zealand team have no big names that would be found on the fans' lips, with someone like Scott Styris and Jacob Oram making news only for injuries rather than the way they play their game of cricket. And even the West Indies are no different in this regard, with the only consolation being Shivnarine Chanderapaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan. Ok..a little bit of Chris Gayle. Not too bad....
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