Kamlesh Barjati
Banned
- Joined
- 26 May 2011
- Messages
- 1,087
- Reaction score
- 31
Mid-way through the series, it seemed to be a nightmare for the West Indies. With a never-ending player dispute that claimed Chris Gayle as its casualty, off-field problems continued. However, against an Indian side where half the first-choice eleven were missing, even a Gayle-less side should have aimed to achieve good results. In the end, the 3-2 result was fairly satisfactory and the fact that it came after conceding a 3-0 lead was the most heartening aspect of the West Indian performance.
The Hits:
Andre Russell: Russell played just 3 matches in the series, but those were enough to catapult him to the top of the tree as far as value to the West Indian side was concerned. He batted twice, one bludgeoning 92 not out off 64 balls, and ended the tournament with a strike-rate of 150. The three matches were also enough for Russell to go to the top of the wicket-takers list for West Indies, with 8 wickets. It left one wondering how the result might have been different if Russell had played in all five matches. As it was, in the three matches that he played in, West Indies won 2 and lost 1, while Russell was Man-of-the-Match in two matches. In the one match in which he didn't get the MoM award, he hit 25 off 14 and grabbed 3/16 off 7 overs!
Anthony Martin: Anthony Martin was just as raw as Russell to international cricket, but from his performance with the ball, it didn't seem that way. He played in 4 of the ODIs in the series and never returned wicket-less. Along with Russell, he too had 8 wickets for West Indies. He also maintained a superb economy rate of 4.2 (the best for the West Indies) and exerted the control that more established bowlers - Roach, Sammy, Rampaul - failed to. Martin's best performance was the 4/36 in the 4th ODI, where his wickets included Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina. With Devendra Bishoo also having established himself, Martin's emergence means that West Indies can look at their spinning options with fresh hope.
Ramnaresh Sarwan: The only one of the old guard who made a sizeable impact, Sarwan was West Indies' highest run-scorer with 216 runs. He was the only West Indian to cross the 200-run mark, though the strike-rate at which he scored - 65.8 - didn't always serve his team well. In fact, if Sarwan hadn't performed well in the final ODI (where he scored 75 off 94), it would have been a middle-of-the-road series for him. However, that performance, coming on the back of good scores in the first three ODIs, made it an eventually successful ODI series batting-wise for Sarwan.
The Misses:
Darren Sammy: It is curious to see that both captains had largely uninspirational roles during the series. Sammy didn't score too many runs, didn't pick up enough wickets and couldn't stem the flow of runs either. He made 22 not out in the second ODI, but apart from that aggregated a meagre 8 runs from 3 other innings. He bowled in all five matches and could take only 4 wickets, leaking runs at 5.1 per over. For a man who is still not looked at as the best bet for captaincy by many, the poor personal performances could not have come at a more inopportune time for Sammy.
Kemar Roach: Roach played only 3 of the ODIs in the series, but in those three he was far below his best. Given that Roach was expected to be a strike-bowler, his return of just 2 wickets hurt West Indies. He did manage to maintain a decent economy rate of 4.5 runs per over, but economy was not what West Indies would have wanted primarily from their fastest bowler. Both his wickets came in the final ODI and one was of tail-ender Vinay Kumar. For West Indies to do better in the Test series, Roach needs a quick turn-around in form.
Amongst the other West Indians, Lendl Simmons squandered a chance to put his name up there on the Hits list. He had a decent series, but it could easily have been an outstanding one if he had converted his starts. He got past 40 thrice, but had a highest score of 67 only. There was no doubting the talent of Simmons, but greater application would have reaped better rewards. Darren Bravo's match-winning 86 was his only note-worthy contribution in the series, and if had failed in the final ODI, he would have possibly even pipped Sammy in the Misses list. The other much talked about player was Kieron Pollard. Pollard had a mixed series - neither outstanding nor mediocre on the whole. His innings of 70 in the 4th ODI was a superb one, but he needs to play those more often for West Indies. His bowling was adequate for a non-frontline bowler, with 3 wickets and a 4.9 economy rate.
Overall, West Indies had many positives to take from the series than would have been thought possible at the half-way point. Now that they have the winning momentum, they need to ensure that it doesn't come to naught when the Test series starts.
The Hits:
Andre Russell: Russell played just 3 matches in the series, but those were enough to catapult him to the top of the tree as far as value to the West Indian side was concerned. He batted twice, one bludgeoning 92 not out off 64 balls, and ended the tournament with a strike-rate of 150. The three matches were also enough for Russell to go to the top of the wicket-takers list for West Indies, with 8 wickets. It left one wondering how the result might have been different if Russell had played in all five matches. As it was, in the three matches that he played in, West Indies won 2 and lost 1, while Russell was Man-of-the-Match in two matches. In the one match in which he didn't get the MoM award, he hit 25 off 14 and grabbed 3/16 off 7 overs!
Anthony Martin: Anthony Martin was just as raw as Russell to international cricket, but from his performance with the ball, it didn't seem that way. He played in 4 of the ODIs in the series and never returned wicket-less. Along with Russell, he too had 8 wickets for West Indies. He also maintained a superb economy rate of 4.2 (the best for the West Indies) and exerted the control that more established bowlers - Roach, Sammy, Rampaul - failed to. Martin's best performance was the 4/36 in the 4th ODI, where his wickets included Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina. With Devendra Bishoo also having established himself, Martin's emergence means that West Indies can look at their spinning options with fresh hope.
Ramnaresh Sarwan: The only one of the old guard who made a sizeable impact, Sarwan was West Indies' highest run-scorer with 216 runs. He was the only West Indian to cross the 200-run mark, though the strike-rate at which he scored - 65.8 - didn't always serve his team well. In fact, if Sarwan hadn't performed well in the final ODI (where he scored 75 off 94), it would have been a middle-of-the-road series for him. However, that performance, coming on the back of good scores in the first three ODIs, made it an eventually successful ODI series batting-wise for Sarwan.
The Misses:
Darren Sammy: It is curious to see that both captains had largely uninspirational roles during the series. Sammy didn't score too many runs, didn't pick up enough wickets and couldn't stem the flow of runs either. He made 22 not out in the second ODI, but apart from that aggregated a meagre 8 runs from 3 other innings. He bowled in all five matches and could take only 4 wickets, leaking runs at 5.1 per over. For a man who is still not looked at as the best bet for captaincy by many, the poor personal performances could not have come at a more inopportune time for Sammy.
Kemar Roach: Roach played only 3 of the ODIs in the series, but in those three he was far below his best. Given that Roach was expected to be a strike-bowler, his return of just 2 wickets hurt West Indies. He did manage to maintain a decent economy rate of 4.5 runs per over, but economy was not what West Indies would have wanted primarily from their fastest bowler. Both his wickets came in the final ODI and one was of tail-ender Vinay Kumar. For West Indies to do better in the Test series, Roach needs a quick turn-around in form.
Amongst the other West Indians, Lendl Simmons squandered a chance to put his name up there on the Hits list. He had a decent series, but it could easily have been an outstanding one if he had converted his starts. He got past 40 thrice, but had a highest score of 67 only. There was no doubting the talent of Simmons, but greater application would have reaped better rewards. Darren Bravo's match-winning 86 was his only note-worthy contribution in the series, and if had failed in the final ODI, he would have possibly even pipped Sammy in the Misses list. The other much talked about player was Kieron Pollard. Pollard had a mixed series - neither outstanding nor mediocre on the whole. His innings of 70 in the 4th ODI was a superb one, but he needs to play those more often for West Indies. His bowling was adequate for a non-frontline bowler, with 3 wickets and a 4.9 economy rate.
Overall, West Indies had many positives to take from the series than would have been thought possible at the half-way point. Now that they have the winning momentum, they need to ensure that it doesn't come to naught when the Test series starts.
