It was a pitch that was far from perfect for the batsmen. India had been playing on pristine batting tracks in England before they ended up in the Caribbean. In Antigua, they were facing a pitch that left their batsmen with all to do, and their experience shone through.
Faced with a rare top-order failure, MS Dhoni split his knock into two contrasting halves - cautious at the start and with a trademark finish at the end, while Ajinkya Rahane dropped anchor with another fifty-plus score to give India a solid total to defend. In reply to India's 251 for 4, West Indies' batting crumbled as they succumbed to a 93-run loss. India's bowlers revelled on a pitch, that although much more batting friendly than in the first essay, still had something in it for the bowlers. The win meant that India had taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua (CMC) – Struggling West Indies face powerhouse India in the pivotal third One-Day International here today, desperately needing a victory to halt the rot and make an actual contest of the five-match series. They enter the first game of the double-header at the Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium 1-0 down following their 105-run defeat in the second ODI in Trinidad last Sunday, and another defeat here will allow India to put one hand on the series trophy.
That defeat at Queen’s Park Oval – after the first game was rained out – highlighted perfectly the gulf between the two teams. In a game reduced to 43 overs per side because of rain, India piled up 310 and West Indies stuttered and stumbled their way to 205 for six in reply. With much left in the series to play for, however, captain Jason Holder urged improvement especially from his bowlers.
“We’re only 1-0 down after the first game was rain-interrupted. It’s just obviously a situation where we need to tighten up a bit more on our bowling,” the 25-year-old all-rounder said. “Obviously chasing 300-odd in 43 overs is a tough ask. You need to be getting off to a much better start than we did in the last game. We were never able to get off to the good start we were looking for and hence we kept losing wickets in the middle and never got the momentum going into trying to chase 300-odd.”
Smriti Mandhana fell marginally short of a century on World Cup debut but made amends with a fine unbeaten 106 to script India's seven-wicket win over Windies in Taunton on Thursday (June 29). Continuing a dream return to the international fold, the opener combined with skipper Mithali Raj for a 103-run third-wicket stand, enroute her second ODI hundred that laid the platform for India's comfortable win. Even though Raj fell short of her eight consecutive fifty, Mandhana stayed on till the end to take India over the line with more than seven overs to spare. India's reply though was not without initial hiccups. Shamilia Connell dealt an early blow as Punam Raut fell off the fifth ball of the chase, trying to pull a short one. Promoted to one-down, Deepti Sharma didn't look at the top of things from the word go and paid the price with her wicket shortly afterwards. Having consumed too many dots, the left-hander tried to take on Stafanie Taylor but failed to connect and the ball pegged back her middle stump.
TAUNTON, England, CMC – Head coach Vasbert Drakes is optimistic West Indies Women can turn around their slump but believes the senior players must play a key role in the resurgence. The Caribbean side lost their opening game of the ongoing Women’s Cricket World Cup here Monday when they went down to reigning World champions Australia by eight wickets. That loss came on the heels of defeats in the two official warm-up matches last week and in three unofficial practice games prior, leaving them win-less on tour. Drakes said West Indies possessed the ability and the character to turn around their form as they had done several times already in the past. “Anyone who plays cricket will tell you that you get better the more you play and the constraints that we have is that we didn’t play competitive cricket but at this present moment I’m not going to use that as an excuse,” Drakes said here yestersday. “We’re going to draw on our natural resources and that is the ability to make smart decisions under pressure situations. We’ve done it before, it can be done again.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – The Selection Panel of Cricket West Indies today named the Windies 13-man squad for third, fourth and fifth matches of the ODI Series against India.
The selection panel named two newcomers. They are Kyle Hope, a 28–year-old top-order batsman and brother of Shai Hope; and Sunil Ambris, a 24-year-old wicket-keeper/batsman.
The third and fourth matches will be played at Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground on Friday, June 30 and Sunday, June 2. First ball is 9 am (8 am Jamaica Time).
The fifth match will be played at Sabina Park on Thursday, July 6. First ball is 9am (10am Eastern Caribbean Time).
FULL SQUAD (with shirt numbers) 98. Jason Holder (captain) 99. Sunil Ambris 70. Devendra Bishoo 10. Roston Chase 41. Miguel Cummins 1. Kyle Hope 4. Shai Hope 18. Alzarri Joseph 17. Evin Lewis 93. Jason Mohammed 5. Ashley Nurse 23. Kieran Powell 52. Rovman Powell
Quotes from Courtney Browne, CWI Chairman Of Selectors, on the two new players: Sunil Ambris and Kyle Hope are two very promising young batsmen who have been selected on the basis of strong performances in our competitions.
Kyle opened on our last “A” Team One-Day tour to Sri Lanka and had some very good performances. In addition, he also had a good showing opening the batting for the Trinidad & Tobago Red Force franchise in this year’s PCL competition.
Sunil did well in our Regional Super50 One-Day tournament and also had a good showing in this year’s PCL first-class tournament for Windward Islands Volcanoes and therefore will fit within our middle order. They will be up against a good Indian team and they have an opportunity to show their skills and contribute to a stronger team performance.
