Windies battle Aussies for title

Windies battle Aussies for title


Vinode Mamchan
Published: Guardian
Sunday, June 26, 2016

Crop over festivities started earlier this month here and today it is expected to hit fever pitch, when 13,000 Barbadians gather to witness the final of the Ballr Tri-series between the home team West Indies and Australia at the Mecca of regional cricket Kensington Oval from 1pm.

The West Indies made sure to show up at their own party by beating South Africa in emphatic fashion on Friday night also at Kensington Oval. A bunch of Trinidadians decided that today will be no disappointment for the Barbadians by coming together to produce a string of brilliant performances to take West Indies over the line against South Africa.

Darren Bravo slammed 102 and put on 156 runs for the fifth wicket with Keiron Pollard 62, to take the West Indies to 285 all out. Shannon Gabriel and Sunil Narine with three wickets apiece then hustled out the visitors for 185 to hand the home team a 100-run triumph.

The result of their performances is that the Caribbean players will line-up to sing the West Indies anthem in front of a packed house today. Skipper Jason Holder who also enjoyed a wonderful game, scoring 40 runs and taking 1/33 of his 10 overs, played with the heart of a lion. Clearly not 100 percent fit with his hamstring injury, Holder led admirably and won the acclaim of the locals.

He thinks that his team has it in them to go all the way in the finals :”We have done well in this tournament so far, we beat Australia in St. Kitts and I think moving into the finals, we just need to keep putting the pieces of the puzzle together. I always speak of the importance of the process and I think that once we handle the process well, the result will take care of itself.

“We need one of the top for to get a hundred in the finals and bat deep. The beauty of the last two games is that we get hundreds from two of our top four batters. We also need to control the first 10 overs of the powerplay as we did against South Africa, get wickets early. Sunil Narine is also very important with his economy and putting pressure on the opposition.”

“We are going to the finals to win, we need to focus on what we can do and trust the process. We know the importance of winning this series and moving up the rankings. We have been criticised for not moving from numbers seven and eight and it is important that we keeping working. Keep this core group of players together and make one or two changes as we move on from tour to tour.”

Holder added that he expects the pitch to play the same on Sunday with tennis ball bounce and some assistance for the spinners later on.

Concerning his fitness the lanky all rounder said :“It’s a bit sore and tight but I will be doing all that I can to be in that game Sunday. I will keep going and we have come this far and not to turn back now, just give it our all.”

In addition to Holder, there are also some other niggling injuries in the camp with Gabriel going off with a groin strain and Keiron Pollard also leaving the field for treatment in the South Africa game.

Holder thinks all the be okay with a day’s rest :”With a day’s rest all should be well in terms of the little injuries and after a big push we can then take a break.”

TEAMS
West Indies: Andre Fletcher, Johnson Charles, Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Kieron Pollard, Jason Holder (capt), Carlos Brathwaite, Sunil Narine, Sulieman Benn, Shannon Gabriel, Ashley Nurse.
Australia: Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith (capt), George Bailey, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Wade (wk), James Faulkner, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood.

WEST INDIES VS AUSTRALIA IN TRI-SERIES CRICKET
1979 - West Indies won B&H World Series
1981 - West Indies won B&H World Series
1983 - West Indies won B&H World Series
1984 - West Indies won B&H World Series
1986 - England won B&H World Series
1988 - West Indies won B&H World Series
1991 - Australia won B&H World Series
1992 - West Indies won B&H World Series
1995 - Australia won B&H World Series
1996 - Pakistan won Carlton & United
2000 - Australia won Carlton & United
2004 - Australia won VB Series
2006 - Australia won DLF Cup

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