Woeful Windies find another way to lose

Apr 29, 2010 Sports

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Despite good bowling and belligerent 53 from Chanderpaul

By Sean Devers at Providence

West Indies, aiming to go one spot further than their semi-final placing in the last ICC 20/20 World Cup in England, appeared to be coasting at 86-1 hunting 125 for a confidence boasting victory ahead of their opening match against Ireland under lights on Friday.
However, a now depressingly familiar collapse by the home team after Skipper Chris Gayle (35) and Guyanese Shivnarine Chanderpaul (53) had added 68 for the first wicket, resulted in the West Indies being bowled out for 117 in 19.4 overs as New Zealand won by 7 runs in their practice match at Providence last night.
Scott Styris took 4-18 from 4 overs for the visitors as West Indies again conspired to snatch a defeat from the jaws of victory after doing all the hard work in the field and at the top of the order.
Replying to the 124-8 off 20 overs made by the visitors, West Indies lost their last 9 wickets for 31 runs in 8 overs after Chanderpaul had set the place on fire with an array of brutal shots not usually associated with the rick-solid left-hander.
The 33-year-old launched a vicious assault on the bowlers and was especially severe on left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori as he exhibited several versions of the reverse-batted shots in an entertaining 53 from 47 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes.
Chanderpaul and Gayle, one of only two batsmen to register a century in 20/20 Internationals, seemed to be coasting to victory after a tidy effort in the field before another senseless West Indies batting performance saw them catapult to defeat with 2 balls to spare.
Gayle had called on the home fans to come out and support his team and yesterday, although only 50% of the accommodation at Providence was used and fans had to line-up to get free tickets, the support for the Regional side was tremendous and the festive atmosphere like an official World Cup match itself.
The fact that Guyanese are cricket-crazy people and that tickets for the two West Indies matches in Guyana have already been sold out should ensure a packed house when West Indies play Ireland and England at Providence.
However, on the evidence of last evening’s pathetic batting display and the disgust expressed by most fans, expectations of an emphatic win by the highly paid but inconsistent Caribbean players will not be as high as it was yesterday.
Gayle, who survived a confident caught-behind appeal off his first ball from Nathan McCullum, smashed the pacer over long-off for six in his next over and pulverized the genuinely quick Shane Bond over extra cover for six.
Kyle Mills replaced McCullum and was effortlessly clipped off his hips for four by Chanderpaul who soon had the crowd ‘eating out’ of his hands. At times guilty of not scoring quick enough at the start of his innings in 20/20 matches, Chanderpaul demonstrated his ability to be a ruthlessly savage and took 17 off the first over from Skipper Daniel Vettori.
A pugnacious reverse sweep for 6 was followed by a thump back over the bowler’s head for 4 and a spanking reverse pull to the cover-point boundary and the crowd went wild as the ‘Tiger’ devoured one of the best limited overs bowlers in world cricket.
Gayle was not to be left out and smashed the spinner down the ground for 4 in the next over to post the 50 in 7.1 overs. The powerful Jamaican opener celebrated with a massive six over long-off in the same over and the match was heading for an early finish.
Gayle pulled Jacob Oram into the stands before he was bowled next ball to leave the score on 68-1 in the 9th over. Gayle’s 35 lasted 27 balls and included 4 sixes and a four.
Chanderpaul continued his ‘Vettori massacre’ with a thunderous reverse slog-sweep to the cover boundary and a scintillating ‘inside-out’ cover-drive for 4, next ball.
Dwayne Bravo, who along with fellow Trinidadian Kieron Pollard only arrived in Guyana from the IPL in India on Tuesday night, was removed by Styris for 3 at 86-2 in the 12th over.
Styris soon removed Ramnaresh Sarwan (1) his countryman Narsingh Deonarine (1) as 3 wickets tumbled in the space of 4 runs to leave the score on 90-4 in 14 overs.
Chanderpaul, who reached his 50 from 43 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes attempted to hit Bond on top of the President’s suite but was caught in the deep at 98-5 with 3 overs to go in the match while Styris got rid of Darren Sammy (2) at 108-6 in the 18th over.
Denish Ramdin (1) seems incapable of batting under pressure and was soon removed by Vettori at 112-7 while Ravi Rampaul was bowled for a duck, Nikita Miller (4) edged Shane Bond to the keeper and Andre Fletcher (15) ran himself out as the home side could only manage 5 of the 13 required for victory off the final over bowled by the genuinely quick Bond.
Earlier, New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat on a track with some turn for the spinners and a noisy crowd saw Benn reduce the visitors to 10-2 in the 3rd over in two balls. Brendon McCullum (6) missed a mighty swing and was stumped by Denesh Ramdin while Vettori was trapped leg before off the next ball.
West Indies, who lost on a bowl-out after their very first 20/20 match ended in a Tie against New Zealand in 2006, struck another telling blow in the 4th over when Miller removed Aaron Redman (5) as Benn ran and dived to his right at long-off to hold a stupendous catch to leave New Zealand on 12-3.
Ross Taylor cut Miller’s last ball of his first over to the backward point boundary and hit him for another four in his next to stage a fight-back. Sammy then trapped Styris (3) leg before with his first ball as New Zealand slumped to 24-4 in the 7th over.
New Zealand were reeling on the ropes when Martin Guptill (5) lofted Sammy to long-on and when Gareth Hopkins (1) fell to Bravo in the next over the Black Caps had catapulted to 35-6 in 10 overs.
New Zealand, who beat Ireland in their first warm-up game here on Tuesday, have played more 20/20 Internationals (33) than any other team and their 99 off 18.3 against Pakistan in England last year is there only two-digit 20/20 International total.
For the raucous crowd, many of whom arrived after yesterday’s opening match was already completed, it did not matter that this was just a warm-up game. With pulsating music being played in between overs and the floodlights on, the atmosphere was festive as the home side enjoyed a rare period of total domination against a team above them on the ICC Rankings.
The 50 was posted in 12 overs as Taylor and Jacob Oram staged a recovery with Taylor lofting Miller for the game’s first six in the 13th over. The 7th wicket pair hit the ball into the gaps on the lush green and immaculately manicured outfield and ran hard. Taylor did not miss out on the big shots and deposited Sammy for 2 consecutive sixes in the 15th overs and the lively female cheerleaders, although without their costumes, did not ‘miss a beat’ to practice their dance moves for Friday’s opening game on the podiums set up beyond the large boundary.
Benn retuned in the 16th overs and a bad miss from Ramdin resulted in 4 byes as just 2 runs came from the bat in the over.
Taylor’s 50 came from 35 balls and was decorated with 2 fours and 4 sixes before he was bowled by Rampaul to break the 60-run partnership from 8.3 overs and New Zealand were 97-7 from 17 overs.
Oram swept Benn for 4 as New Zealand passed their lowest 20/20 International total in the 18th over but the Bajan Benn still ended with 2-12 from four impressive overs.
Rampaul had Nathan McCullum (1) caught on the square-leg boundary at 105-8 in the penultimate over while Oram under-edged the next ball past the Keeper for 4 as the pacer finished with 4-18 from 4 overs.
Bravo conceded 13 runs from the final over as Oram thumped him over long-on for 6 off the 3rd ball and finished the innings with another ball which went into the crowd to finish unbeaten on a 40-ball 46 with 3 fours and 2 sixes.
But although 20 came from the last 3 overs, most felt that defending 124 was going to be a humongous task for New Zealand who play last year’s runner-up Sri Lanka in the opening game at Providence on Friday. They might have forgotten that it was the West Indies team that was batting and Gayle’s men will have to show a vast improvement if they hope to win their first title in a multi-nation tournament since their Champions’ Trophy success 6 years ago.

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