Windies anxious to halt troubled losing slide
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, (CMC) – Winless in their last 12 One-Day Internationals, beleaguered West Indies will seek to arrest their vexing slide when they face Zimbabwe in the second match of the five-match series yesterday.
The match, scheduled for the Guyana National Stadium at Providence, will be as much a test of their character as it will be of their competence as they try to halt a winning drought that dates back to the middle of last year.
In fact, West Indies will have to look back to last June to find their last success in a one-dayer, when they beat India in Jamaica in the second game of the four-match series.
Since then, a depleted side lost all three matches to Bangladesh and another three in the Champions Trophy in South Africa, before a Chris Gayle-led side was decimated 4-0 by Australia in a five-match series last month.
Perhaps eyeing Zimbabwe as easier targets, West Indies have been shocked twice in the space of five days by defeats that would have further eroded their already shattered confidence.
Skipper Chris Gayle told reporters while it was important his side did not panic, it was also crucial they started to win soon.
“Zimbabwe are now two up on us and then by time you check it, we could lose the series,” Gayle pointed out.
“But it’s a one-off game and we have to be careful … we still have four games to go so we have to look back at this.”
Shoddy batting saw them to their loss in the one-off Twenty20 International in Trinidad and Tobago last Sunday and their batting once again let them down when chasing a gettable target here on Thursday.
It is in this department West Indies will have to undergo a transformation if they are to turn around their fortunes against a feisty, well-prepared Zimbabwe side, bubbling with self-belief.
Following Thursday’s loss by two runs in the last over, Gayle singled out Dwayne Smith, Kieron Pollard and Denesh Ramdin as the culprits who let the side down, a warning to the trio to up their consistency.
On the recent tour of Australia, Pollard got scores of 31, 32, 62 and 45 while Smith contributed 7, 43, 59 not out and 21. On Thursday, Smith perished foolishly, bowled for four in the final over with West Indies needing four runs for victory from the last three balls.
Pollard had earlier succumbed for five to a soft dismissal, caught at mid on with the Windies in desperate need of his big-hitting services.
Ramdin is perhaps the biggest worry. In Australia he tallied scores of 7, 30, 15 and three and his 16-ball labour over eight on Thursday confirmed his miserable form.
West Indies will need all three batsmen to find form quickly if they are to avoid the embarrassment of going 0-2 down to Zimbabwe.
Gayle will, nevertheless, need to enforce his presence at the top of the order. Considered one of the most devastating batsmen in this form of the game, he will have to bring this reputation and experience to bear on the less tried and tested Zimbabweans.
His 57 in the opening game broke a sequence of low scores – 7, 0, 0 not out, 34 and 14 – and he will also need to dominate if the Windies are to exert their authority.
In view of the region’s mounting frustration with the side, Gayle called for continued support.
“We still need that support regardless of the results, you know,” he said.
“When you do crap you have to accept you do crap and guys will have to take responsibility out there in the middle. It’s just sad and disappointing at the same time.”
Zimbabwe will rely on their spinners to once again keep the hosts in check. As they did in the opening T20 match, the trio of off-spinning captain Prosper Utseya, left-armer Ray Price and leg-spinner Greg Lamb once against strangled the Windies batsman to increase the pressure of the run rate.
Their batting will centre on the well organised Vusimuzi Sibanda whose two last innings against the Windies have now yielded scores in the 90s, while Tatenda Taibu, Stuart Matsikenyiri and all-rounder Elton Chigumbura can score quickly.

SQUADS:
WEST INDIES – Chris Gayle (captain), Adrian Barath, Sulieman Benn, David Bernard, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Andre Fletcher, Nikita Miller, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Darren Sammy, Dwayne Smith.
ZIMBABWE – Prosper Utseya (captain), Hamilton Masakadza, Elton Chigumbura, Charles Coventry, Graeme Cremer, Kyle Jarvis, Greg Lamb, Timycen Maruma, Shingirai Masakadza, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Chris Mpofu, Ray Price, Vusi Sibanda, Tatenda Taibu, Brendan Taylor.