Past Point Cricket Blog

Every international team has probably done this at some stage during a series – revamp their squad in the hope that it will provide better results. The West Indies are currently 3-0 down in the one-day international series with Australia, with two matches to play. All cricket bets are off with regards to who is going to win the series and it seems the home side are willing to try anything in a bid to avoid a crushing 5-0 defeat.

The latest thinking from the West Indian selectors is to bring Shawn Findlay, Nikita Miller and Kemar Roach into a the squad that will face a jubilant Australian side at St Kitts tomorrow. The three new-boys – if selected in the final eleven – will be making their first appearance for their country in an ODI. I’ll talk more about each of these players in a moment, but first a brief reminder about what happened in the two ODI games since my last blog.

In the second match of the series, Australia won by 63 runs – by virtue of the Duckworth/Lewis method. In conditions that made batting rather difficult, the Australians posted 213-5 in their 50 overs. Patient fifties from Michael Clarke and Mike Hussey led the way for the tourists before quick-fire 40 from Cameron White took the score beyond 200.

As ever with the West Indies, the loss of early wickets cost them. Xavier Marshall was dismissed the first ball of the innings and Gayle, Fletcher, Bravo, Browne and Pollard all fell soon after to leave the hosts struggling on 53-6. How often do West Indies do this?! Of course, the only man who showed any resistance was Shivnarine Chanderpaul. He was stranded on 46 not out when the rain intervened with the score 140-8 after 41 overs. There was no further play and as the West Indies were behind the D/L rate – they lost the game.

In the third one-day game, it was a late order batting collapse that cost the West Indies this time. Gayle and Marshall got them off to a fantastic start, reaching 86-0 before the West Indies skipper was stupidly run-out having just made his 50. Shane Watson then claimed the wicket of Marshall, bringing Sarwan and Chanderpaul together at the crease. These two continued where the openers left off and before long the hosts were going well at 160-2.

Then came the dismissal of Chanderpaul, which changes the whole innings. Sarwan soon followed and 160-2 became 223 all out in no time at all. Yet again, the West Indies failed to perform throughout the 50 overs. Nathan Bracken helped himself to two wickets along the way as the home side recorded a below par score which the Aussies fancied chasing down.

After an early scare when Shaun Marsh was dismissed by Fidel Edwards for a duck, the tourists strolled to victory. Rickey Ponting and Shane Watson put on 190 for the second wicket, with the latter recording a fantastic century. Watson hit 15 fours and 2 sixes on his way to an aggressive 126. He was supported by the Australian skipper who played a more watchful innings of 69. Both fell as the target drew closer, but Michael Clarke and Andrew Symonds saw the Aussies home inside the 40^th over to secure another series win.

So, onto the fourth one-day game. With the series decided, the Windies are playing purely for pride and as I mentioned have introduced some new players in a bid to do just that.

Shawn Findlay – the man responsible for changing their batting fortunes – only averages 15.61 in first-class cricket and is a strange choice in my opinion. He is more suited to the shorter form of the game, but I can’t see him troubling the Australians a great deal. A quick fire 20 odd is the best he can hope for.

Nikita Miller is a slow-left arm bowler was the leading wicket-taker in the West Indian domestic season during 2007 and 2008. With that in mind, a call up to the national side is probably slightly overdue. Many believe he should have been given a chance in the test matches against Australia, but he will now have to use the remaining two ODI matches to make his name.

Finally, Kemar Roach – who is only 20-years old – has been given his first call up and does so, on the back of just four first-class games. He is a fast bowler who is likely to replace the injured Jerome Taylor in tomorrow’s game. It will be interesting to see how he fairs.

Just because I am fed up of backing the Australians, I’m going for a West Indies win in this won. They are the world’s best at being ‘gallant losers’ and now the series has been lost, it would be typical of them to win now. I’d like to have a look at the cricket odds on it happening, because Australia are bound to be strong favourites yet again.

Thomas Rooney - Freelance Sports Journalist

Tonight Paul Collingwood would probably be recapping what has possibly been the worst 24 hours of his life. First the ODI defeat to New Zealand which see’s them take a 2-1 lead in the series with one to play. Secondly he’s been made a fool out of over his decision not to withdraw the appeal and thirdly he’s now been banned for four matches after bowling a slow over rate.

Paul Collingwood, in my opinion, should of withdrew the appeal and let the New Zealand batsman carry on. He didn’t. Elliot, the batsman was given out. In came Mills after the wicket of the captain. Mills hit 25 from 27 balls to see New Zealand home. Had Collingwood with drew the appeal England might have won.

The question that everybody wants answering is “Will Paul Collingwood still be England captain after his ban?” I would of thought so but… will the ECB wont to keep him?

Pietesen will take charge while Collingwood is in his ban. I really can’t see Pietersen being a good captain.

I’m surprised they didn’t opt for possibly Bell.

Ever heard of Shaun Marsh before? To be honest, I hadn’t until the son of former Australian batsmen Geoff Marsh struck a very impressive 81 as Australia beat the West Indies by 84 runs in the first one-day international between the two sides.

Batting first, the Australians posted a more than competitive score of 273 for the loss of eight wickets. As well as Marsh – who was opening the batting – Brad Haddin and Mike Hussey weighed in with 50 and 44 respectively. A quick word about Hussey – he really does have an amazing record at international level. In one-day cricket he averages an impressive 55.30 and in 25 test matches, he averages an almost unbelievable 68.38. It really is incredible that he only made his test debut three years ago, aged 30. I’d like to see what the cricket odds are on him finishing with an average if above 70 when he retires – that would be quite something.

Anyway back to the game itself. Chasing 274 to win, there was never any real hope of the West Indies winning. Especially when they found themselves 29-3 early on. Already they had lost two of their potential ‘match winners’ in Gayle and Sarwan and things were looking bleak. Shivanarine Chanderpaul left a huge hole in their middle order as well – he was missing with an injury.

Bravo and Ramdin weighed in with 30-odd each, but it wasn’t enough for the home side. A late cameo from Darren Sammy gave more respectability to the West Indies score but he was soon dismissed for 35 as they were bowled out for 189 in the 40^th over. Nathan Bracken helped himself to four wickets along the way.

One of these wickets caused a great deal of unrest within the crowd. When top-scorer Sammy was bowled by Bracken, the batsmen believed it had done so off the wicket-keeper’s pads. Television replays went onto show that the dismissal was legal and Sammy was clearly bowled. Despite this, the home crowd reacted angrily to what they thought was a wrong decision. Play was stopped briefly as various objects were thrown onto the field.

I’m guessing that there was a great deal of frustration in the crowd’s actions. They had, after all, on their way to another defeat against Australia. Something they have experienced a fair amount – with the exception of the recent Twenty20 – over the last few weeks.

There was something significant about this Australian victory though. Something that showed they have a great balance of youth and experience in their line-up.

The two top-scorers were men that were occupying postions normally assoctated with the retired Adam Gilchrist and the injured Matthew Hayden – both huge players for Australia in one-day cricket over the last few years.

Marsh opened the batting in a very aggressive manner, much like Hayden would have done. Haddin – who has taken over as keeper from Gilchrist – also weighed in with a quick-fire 50. It was the sort of innings that Gilchrist was famous for and, for me, shows that Australian cricket is moving into its next generation very healthily indeed.

Particularly in the batting department, there seems to be a conveyor-belt of talent for the Australians. When the likes of Justin Langer, Damien Martyn and Adam Gilchrist have retired – the likes of Phil Jaques, Haddin and now Marsh have performed admirably. Matthew Hayden hasn’t been in the side recently either and he hasn’t exactly been missed. There is an abundance of talent in Australian cricket and there are plenty of players that, if given the chance, would shine for their country. It is a depth that I – as an England fan – am extremely jealous of.

One man that has skippered his way through the recent changes to the Australian side is Ricky Ponting and the next one-day international, which takes place tomorrow, holds added significance for him. It will be the 300^th time he has played a one-day game for Australia. Looking at the record books, this would lead me to suggest that you place a cricket bet on Ponting scoring some runs.

This is because - on his 150^th, 200^th and 250^th ODI, he scored a century on each occasion. He also marked his 50^th ODI with a half-century. Pretty interesting wouldn’t you say?

As for this next game between Ponting’s side and Australia – well, it takes place tomorrow in Grenada and although it is boring and predictable, I have to go with another Aussie win. They won convincingly in the first game and the likes of Michael Clarke, James Hopes and Ponting didn’t even make an impact on proceedings – worrying stuff for the Windies. Let’s just hope they at least put up a fight this time.

What a series! Can it get better than this? Reverse hitting, abandoned games in the dark, dramatic batting collapses. Nobody thought this series could get more cracking cricket. Well it just did. Paul Collingwood not withdrawing his appeal, then Graeme Swann’s shy at the stumps went for overthrows after not being backed up and suddenly New Zealand lead the series 2-1.

England didn’t bat well enough. Only Shah, Bell and Bopara batted with any real substance, a word that I’ve used a lot in this series when describing Englands batting, or lack of it. Pietersen went awol three balls in hitting one up when he wasn’t even off the mark. Overall it was a shambles of an England batting display, one that didn’t deserve 245 runs.

New Zealand had similar problems to England. They threw their wickets away. Styris and Oram batted well. McCullum didn’t. Unnecessarily playing a lose shot early in the game. Do New Zealand deserve a 2-1 series lead? If England won today would they deserve a 2-1 series lead? Both answers are probably no.

You’ve probaly found out about the immense hitting of Graham Napier in the Essex vs Sussex match yesterday. Napier’s 152 came of just 58 balls and set a new world record in the process. Included in the innings were 16 sixes.

This years Twenty20 has thrown up many suprises. The fantastic form of Middlesex, the poor form of Surrey and the fact that previous winners Leicestershire won their first game of the competition last night.

As well as writing here on Past Point I’ve recently joined two other cricket websites. I’ve now got an online column with New Zealand based Sports Freak. I’m also writing fairly frequently on Cricket Write. I’ll still be blogging here on Past Point though.

And don’t forget tomorrow will see another installement of Thomas Rooney’s new blog here on Past Point.

Just a reminder if you’ve got any photo’s then you can email them to us. We’ll return a link in the post announcing the new photo’s. Please visit the Contact page if you’d like to get in touch. Were looking for any match photo’s, player photo’s or ground photo’s that you might have.

What a bowler.

As you’ve probably found out English teams who qualify for the Champions League wont be allowed to field ICL players in the tournament. Only Kent, Middlesex and Somerset don’t feature any rebel ICL players.

I don’t see why ICL players can’t play in the tournament. It’s nothing to do with the IPL. If counties still go ahead and play in the tournament which I don’t know will happen, then the players who are registered ICL players will probably stay ICL players.

Something’s got to give, what’s your thoughts?

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