Windies take heart despite defeat

Basseterre, St. Kitts – West Indies went under to Pakistan by 196 runs to lose the Second Digicel Test on the fifth and final morning at Warner Park. The Windies were asked to make 427 for victory but were bowled out for 230 shortly before lunch on Tuesday.

Captain Darren Sammy played some bold shots as he cracked six fours in 41 off 51 balls, while left-hander Ravi Rampaul hit two sixes and two fours in 20 off 22 balls, while Pakistan’s spinners Abdur Rehman and Saeed Ajmal shared the wickets again.

The result meant the Pakistanis rebounded to level the two-match rubber 1-1 following their 40-run defeat in the First Digicel Test in Guyana.

Speaking after the match on Tuesday, Sammy said the team was disappointed with the result in St Kitts. He however outlined that a share in the series was still something for his players to be proud of.

“We did a great job getting the win in Guyana and we were looking for similar success here in St Kitts, but things did not go our way. Pakistan played some good cricket and you have to give them credit,” Sammy said.

“Our bowlers did all that was asked of them all throughout the series. They bowled with heart and that is what we asked. This is one of the positives we could take out of the series. We had momentum coming into the match, and we had them on the run in the first innings but the last wicket stand switched the momentum a bit and took it away from us at that stage. When we batted we did not put enough runs on the board and we were always playing catch-up from that stage.”

The West Indies will now switch their attention to the upcoming tour by World Cup champions India, who are due to arrive in the region early next week.

Sammy noted: “It’s all about hard work and putting into play what we worked hard on during the training sessions. We have a full series against India coming up and it will be a tough series. We have to continue to put in the hard work and look to put totals on the board so the bowlers will have runs to work with. We are a confident group of young men and we will go into that series with the belief that we can win.”

The West Indies squad to face India will assemble in Trinidad early next week for the Digicel Pearls T20 International, which will be played at the Queen’s Park Oval, Port-of-Spain on Saturday, June 4.

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2 Comments

  1. follower
    May 25, 2011

    As a Dominican I am disappointed we did not win but at the same time I am happy we lost in St. Kitts. If we had won the series two zip, we would conclude that we are strong and are not in need of our senior players anymore. Yes we leveled the series but we must remember that in four innings we only scored 250 or more once and really we struggled to reach 250. That’s not good.

    Furthermore, why was devon Smith dropped after the first test which we won? Clive Lloyd and VIv never changed a winning team. I agreed Devon failed in Guyana especially against the spinners, but who did not fail. In my opinion all of them failed except maybe Simmonds and Chanderpaul. Guyana had a bad wicket that assisted the bowlers, especially spinners and our batsmen were totally out matched. Smith should have been given a chance to play in St. Kitts on a better batting wicket before they dropped him for a young Bajan who is totally not ready for test cricket. I am sure captain Sammy was not the one to drop Devon. But you know that’s why they have Sammy captaining the team so he could be their (Selectors, coach and management) puppet to do what they would not be able to get someone like Gayle to do. So making Sammy who really does not deserve a pick captain and Nash who is an Australian the vice captain, they have secured two puppets they can dominate for years, so I really don’t see us giving India a fight.

  2. Channel 1
    May 24, 2011

    Unfortunate loss. Now to the Indian series. Trust the Windies learn from their errors and now focus on beating India.

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