Windies Won Up

Gayle 150 & 64x but no MOM award?

Darren Sammy and his merry men, completed a thorough thrashing of the truly beige brigade from New Zealand on the last day at North Sound, Antigua. The return of Chris Gayle certainly buoyed a West Indies team which has lacked the ability to play hard cricket in every session of a Test match and lost the Test series against England by losing key sessions. He again breezed through a second innings fifty to quickly lead the way in the chase for the meagre total the Kiwis set them on the last day. Its hard not to see the politics of division in his failure to be named Man of the Match.

After starting the last day in front and in a comfortable position at 3-199, New Zealand lost their last seven wickets for only 73 runs. It was Kemar Roach who made the important breakthroughs, including Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson  in a rain disturbed first session and night watchman Neil Wagner immediately after lunch. Again it was snail-paced batting from the New Zealanders who added just 18 runs in eleven overs before the rain came. Immediately after they resumed, they lost Taylor lbw to a ball angling into leg stump and Williamson bowled, playing down the wrong line in Roach's next over. Wagner and Dean Brownlie grew cultures on the wicket and in the process found a miracle cure for insomnia by "adding" 8 runs in the fourteen overs left until lunch.

Roach 5-60

The game quickly fell away for the visitors with their last five wickets falling in the hour after lunch. Roach and Ravi Rampaul cut them down with a new ball which had been delayed by Sammy until after the lunch break. Roach induced an edge from the inert Wagner after three deliveries with the new cherry, ending a two hour, 103 ball innings of 13 and then Brownlie, cemented to the crease, waved at one from Rampaul in the next over and was caught by Gayle at slip. Brownlie contributed 5 in an hour.

It was just a matter of time after that, although Kruger van Wyk played against the trend of batting from the grave with a purposeful innings with the tail. Roach finished, deservedly, with five.

The West Indies ended it quickly, taking less than twenty overs to reach the 102 target and losing only Kieran Powell. Gayle's fifty came from 42 balls.

For the West Indies, it all went right. Gayle returned spectacularly, sharing a huge opening stand with Powell who broke through for his maiden Test century in his 10th Test. Asad Fudadin and Narsingh Deonarine batting slowly but their clear purpose was to make sure a lead was built to set up the win. Even the Chanderpaul duck served a purpose, causing the younger players to rise to the occasion. Roach and Rampaul showed how dangerous they can be and Sunil Narine troubled New Zealand on a wicket that wasn't offering a lot for spinners. The loss of Rampaul for the second Test will be compensated by the return of Fidel Edwards.

Gutil 97 & 67 was NZ best

Ross Taylor's men have much more to worry about. Their batting lacked direction and was too content to hand the initiative to the opposition. The young men - Daniel Flynn, Kane Williamson and Dean Brownlie - have to do better than this but the captain has to set the example. Twice Taylor batted for lengthy periods to establish his innings and twice he failed to go on. Any batsmen worth his salt knows that low scores happen but once you are in, its a far greater crime to fail to go on. Martin Guptil was the stand out batsman but again, his two fifties were marked by both being thrown away when he was in charge. Brendan MCullum at least showed a desire to take the game back to the bowlers rather than the defensiveness of his team mates. Their bowlers were ineffective, although Doug Bracewell had no luck and should have cut Gayle off before he made fifty in the first innings. Flynn's miss at point was the turning point of the match. Dan Vettori's continued presence must now be questioned. He was milked by men with big hands and a patient hunger to squeeze two an over from him but keep him bowling. There was no stage when he posed a threat. Chris Martin looks finished, with a top speed of 129km/h making him no more than a sharpish medium pacer and Chris Gayle took a heavy toll.

Their fielding was poor with many errors and an U/12's coach would be tearing strips off them at training. Harbour bridges, dropped catches, inattention to the captain, a lack on anticipation ... enough errors to write a coaching manual in order to correct. Further more, I bet Guptil will never field at short leg without a box again.

West Indies played Test cricket but I'm not sure what you'd call the Kiwi effort?

Beige, I guess.