THE PITCHES served up for the one-dayers in the West Indies, starting from the tri-series, have largely produced scores of under 250 and in the two 300-plus scores, the batsmen were aided more by poor bowling than favorable batting conditions. In the two One Day Internationals played so far in this series at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, middle-of-the-road scores in the region of 220 to 230 have been match winning ones for the team batting first.
With the series shifting to St Lucia for the three remaining one-dayers, the question is whether the trend of scores will change and West Indies skipper Dwayne Bravo is optimistic of higher scores but his team of power-hitters will be relieved only if they get conditions that suit their strengths.
The West Indies batsmen did well to recover from their shocker of a collapse in the first ODI by posting 232 in the second contest.
It was a laborious innings for most part till Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard provided the calorie boost towards the end, as Darren Bravo and Marlon Samuels adopted a conservative approach, preserving wickets instead of taking off.
Respecting the conditions, West Indies went with the strategy of setting a 235 target, knowing that would be enough to put pressure on Pakistan’s line-up, which hasn’t been in the best of touch either, while Sunil Narine, who was pasted in the first match, bounced back to pick up four wickets.
Since his 109 in the opening match of the tri-series, Chris Gayle has mysteriously tapered off, failing to go past 14 in his next five innings. His no-show at the top, coupled with Marlon Samuels’ struggle is partly responsible for West Indies failing to bat with the fluency they are associated with.
In the first ODI, he set off for a single then hesitated before falling short of a direct hit from Misbah ul Haq and in the second, pushed tentatively at a delivery outside off from Mohammed Irfan and edged to the keeper.
If Gayle sets himself up to bat through the innings, it could lend greater stability at the top and enable the Windies to post a much challenging total to their opponents who are presently observing the Holy Month of Ramadan.
On the other hand, Pakistan’s batting worries haven’t eased since they set foot in England for the Champions Trophy last month.
The pitches haven’t really helped their batting line up that is low on confidence and should they attack at the start or adopt the West Indies’ approach of safety first before leaving the acceleration to Shahid Afridi and Umar Akmal, is a likely dilemma knowing that they have the bowling to defend a competitive total which is beyond doubt.
Ahmed Shehzad was recalled to the one-day squad after a gap of two years, but it hasn’t been a happy comeback, with scores of 5 and 19.
His last five ODI scores make for poor reading – 0, 6, 9, 5 and 19. He will have fond memories of St Lucia though, where he scored his second ODI century during the 2011 tour, before that slump began, but will be under pressure to perform, having taken Mohammad Hafeez’s place in the opening position.
The final XI for the Windies will be chosen from: Dwayne Bravo (captain), Christopher Gayle, Johnson Charles, Devon Smith, Darren Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Kemar Roach, Darren Sammy, Tino Best, Marlon Samuels and Lendl Simmons.
With the series shifting to St Lucia for the three remaining one-dayers, the question is whether the trend of scores will change and West Indies skipper Dwayne Bravo is optimistic of higher scores but his team of power-hitters will be relieved only if they get conditions that suit their strengths.
The West Indies batsmen did well to recover from their shocker of a collapse in the first ODI by posting 232 in the second contest.
It was a laborious innings for most part till Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard provided the calorie boost towards the end, as Darren Bravo and Marlon Samuels adopted a conservative approach, preserving wickets instead of taking off.
Respecting the conditions, West Indies went with the strategy of setting a 235 target, knowing that would be enough to put pressure on Pakistan’s line-up, which hasn’t been in the best of touch either, while Sunil Narine, who was pasted in the first match, bounced back to pick up four wickets.
Since his 109 in the opening match of the tri-series, Chris Gayle has mysteriously tapered off, failing to go past 14 in his next five innings. His no-show at the top, coupled with Marlon Samuels’ struggle is partly responsible for West Indies failing to bat with the fluency they are associated with.
In the first ODI, he set off for a single then hesitated before falling short of a direct hit from Misbah ul Haq and in the second, pushed tentatively at a delivery outside off from Mohammed Irfan and edged to the keeper.
If Gayle sets himself up to bat through the innings, it could lend greater stability at the top and enable the Windies to post a much challenging total to their opponents who are presently observing the Holy Month of Ramadan.
On the other hand, Pakistan’s batting worries haven’t eased since they set foot in England for the Champions Trophy last month.
The pitches haven’t really helped their batting line up that is low on confidence and should they attack at the start or adopt the West Indies’ approach of safety first before leaving the acceleration to Shahid Afridi and Umar Akmal, is a likely dilemma knowing that they have the bowling to defend a competitive total which is beyond doubt.
Ahmed Shehzad was recalled to the one-day squad after a gap of two years, but it hasn’t been a happy comeback, with scores of 5 and 19.
His last five ODI scores make for poor reading – 0, 6, 9, 5 and 19. He will have fond memories of St Lucia though, where he scored his second ODI century during the 2011 tour, before that slump began, but will be under pressure to perform, having taken Mohammad Hafeez’s place in the opening position.
The final XI for the Windies will be chosen from: Dwayne Bravo (captain), Christopher Gayle, Johnson Charles, Devon Smith, Darren Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Kemar Roach, Darren Sammy, Tino Best, Marlon Samuels and Lendl Simmons.
Pakistan’s XI from: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Ahmed Shehzad, Asad Shafiq, Junaid Khan, Mohamad Irfan, Nasir Jamshed, Shahid Afridi, Umar Amin, Abdur Rehman, Asad Ali, Haris Sohail, Mohammed Hafeez, Mohammad Rizwan, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Akmal and Wahab Riaz.
