West Indies have disappointed their fans yet again! When West Indies batted first, their fans expected their top order to fire and lead them to a challenging total.
But it proved to be otherwise.
The Collapse: W.Indies started disastrously losing Chanderpaul to Bond in the 8th over. The West Indian top-order once again proved why they are the most brittle in the world. From a solid 66/1, they lost key wickets of Sarwan(19), Samuels(9), & Gayle(44) to get themselves at 81/4. Gayle did show glimpses of returning to form when he scored a brisk 44 off 56 balls, but he edged an Oram delivery onto his stumps. Yet again, the responsibility fell on the captain, Brian Charles Lara.
Poor Lara! No matter whether it was Australia or New Zealand, his side seems to depend heavily on him to score plenty of runs. Just the previous day, Lara had scored a great 77 against Australia to save his side's reputation as they were defeated by 103 runs. Now, he had to lead his side to a respective total. Lara did play some beautifull drives and latecuts during his brisk 37(49 balls). But the pressure got onto him as he edged a Styris delivery to Mccullum. The West Indians were now deep in trouble at 150/6.
At this stage, I expected the W.Indies to score atleast 210 or more. But thanks to yet another shambolic display by the lower order, West Indies crumbled and were all out for a meagre 177. New Zealand did bowl tightly, but the West Indian batsman never applied themselves and allowed the New Zealanders to dominate the proceedings right over.
Oram(3/23) and Vettori(3/39) played their parts very well as they took 6 crucial wickets between them for just 62 runs. Bond also chipped in with 3 wickets.
At this stage, the match was set for a Kiwi win unless the West Indian bowlers sprung some surprises, which they didn't.
NZ score an easy win: New Zealand began disastrously losing Fulton in the very second ball of the innings to Powell. Marshall got out in the 9th over . But Fleming scored a brisk 46( 6 fours and 1 six) before he was run-out by Lara.
Apart from the initial hiccups, the Kiwis were always in the chase. Styris scored a brilliant 80 not out and was well supported by Craig Mcmillan who made a sedate 33, as they led Kiwis to an easy 7 wicket win.
West Indies now need all their remaining matches if they desire to reach the Semis.
I really doubt whether they can make it as their opponents are strong teams like England, South Africa, Srilanka, etc.
New Zealand on the other side are looking great. Their batsman: Fleming, Mccullum, & Mcmillan etc are in prime form, they have a world-class bowling attack with the Dangerous Shane Bond, Vettori, and also great all rounders like Styris, Oram and their wicketkeeper Mccullum. If all of them perform as a unit against teams like South Africa and Australia, they might just lift the World Cup.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment