West Indies Announces Squad for Australian Test!

The West Indian Cricket Board today announced their 14-member squad for the first test against Australia, starting on Thursday May 22.

The skipper Chris Gayle is yet to recover from the groin injury he suffered during the one day series against Sri Lanka.

It's been a month since he suffered the injury and is still to recover. He will not be playing the first test as he is yet to recover. The team will be lead by Ramnaresh Sarwan. Dwayne Bravo will be his deputy.

This will be a good test for Sarwan as a captain and for the entire squad as they are playing against the world champions.

The Squad: Ramnaresh Sarwan (captain), Dwayne Bravo (vice-captain), Sulieman Benn, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Fidel Edwards, Ryan Hinds, Amit Jaggernauth, Runako Morton, Darren Sammy, Devon Smith, Brenton Parchment, Daren Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Jerome Taylor.

Good luck West Indies!

Kaif replaces injured Sachin, back in Indian Team!

With his willow doing the talking, Mohammad Kaif is back in the Indian team as a replacement for Sachin Tendulkar for the 2nd test.

Sachin is ruled out of the second test to start on April 3 in Ahemadabad due to groin injury. He was advised two weeks rest after the Australian Down Under tour. The Physio sent a fitness report on every player, but there was no time as the series against South Africa started immediately.

Kaif, who had a successful domestic season, finally found his place back in the Indian team. Though it is not sure whether he will be in the playing XI, as Yuvaraj is already waiting for his turn, we have to wait and see whether he will be given chance before being removed from the team once Sachin is back.

Kaif's last appearance for India was in 2006 against West Indies. Kaif's records:

Test Cricket and ODI

13 test and 125 ODI
22 innings in test and 110 innings in ODI
3 not out in test and 24 not out in ODI
624 runs in test and 2753 runs in ODI
148 not out is his highest in test and 111 not out in ODI
1 hundred in test and 2 hundreds in ODI
3 fifties in test and 17 fifties in ODI

Sri Lanka wins First Test!

Sri Lanka have beaten West Indies for the first time in West Indies. Vaas was the pick of the bowlers taking half of the West Indian wickets.

Resuming the last day at 96 for 1, West Indies needed 341 runs and Sri Lanka wanted 9 wickets.

Bravo and Sarwan were batting well and didn't hurry at all. They're not going for win, but trying to save the game. They added 134 for the 2nd wicket and it looked like Sri Lanka was losing the grip in the game. Muralitharan, the experienced and leading test wicket taker gave the break through by dismissing Bravo through a beautiful caught and bowled. That was the turning point of the game. Samuels was caught behind off Vaas for 10. Chandrapaul followed him for 3, bowled by Vaas. WI were struggling at 178 for 4 with 50 overs to bat out.

Both Muralitharan and Vaas were getting wickets and providing break throughs for Sri Lankans. Gayle was the lonely warrior battling in the field. When 8th wicket fell at 89th over, West Indies needed to play out 24.3 overs. Both Gayle and Taylor were negotiating with Muralitharan's doosra and off-spin.

They played out 12 overs very well. New ball was taken by skipper Jayawardane and given to Vaas. He gave the break through with a short ball which edge to slips. With Gayle and Powell on the crease with 10.5 overs to spare. They were batting well, but the poor shot selection by Powell off Vaas finished the match. He tried to hit the ball over mid-off, but Muralitharan jumped and took a one-handed catch to give Sri Lanka the lead in the series. Gayle was not out on 51, which actually does not matter.

Score:

Toss: Sri Lanka

Venue: Providence Stadium, Guyana

Date: March 22-26, 2008

Captains: Jayawardane (Sri Lanka), Gayle (West Indies)

Man of the Match: Vaas (Sri Lanka)

Short Score:

Sri Lanka 1st Innings 476 for 8 declared in 162 overs (Vandort 52, Warnapura 120, Sangakkara 50, Jayawardane 136, Vaas 54 not out, Taylor 4 for 110, Gayle 2 for 66)

West Indies 1st Innings 280 all out in 111.5 overs (Sarwan 80, Hinds 37, Ramdin 38, Senn 28, Taylor 27 not out, Vaas 3 for 48, Mirando 3 for 59, Muralitharan 3 for 112)

Sri Lanka 2nd Innings 240 for 7 declared in 57 overs (Warnapura 62, Jayawardane 33, Samaraweera 56 not out, Bravo 2 for 54, Benn 3 for 59)

West Indies 2nd Innings (437 to win 113 overs) 315 all out in 106.2 overs (Bravo 83, Sarwan 72, Gayle 51 not out, Vaas 5 for 61, Mirand 2 for 70, Muralitharan 3 for 112)

Sri Lanka on top in the First Test!

West Indies trailing by 369 runs in the first innings with 4 wickets in hand at Lunch on Day 3. Can they at least score 170 runs to avoid the follow-on?

Sri Lanka declared their 1st innings at 476 with the loss of 8 wickets. Warnapura and skipper Jayawardane scored century to help Sri Lanka to go beyond 450+ runs in the board. Vaas was not out on 54. Vaas and Jayawardane added 126 runs for the 7th wicket which proved crucial to West Indies. JE Taylor picked 4 wickets and was the successful WI bowler.

With 16 overs to bat in Day 2, West Indies lost Gayle in the 3rd over for duck off Vaas. West Indies ended day 2 with 29 for 1.

They lost 3 more wickets till lunch on Day 3 with Smith, Samuel and Chandrapaul back in the pavilion. Sarwan is in the crease with 64 and West Indies is really struggling.

Short Score:
Sri Lanka 479 for 8 declared in 162 overs (Vandort 52, Warnapura 120, Sangakkara 50, Jayawardane 136, Vaas 54 not out, JE Taylor 4 for 110, Gayle 2 for 66)
West Indies 107 for 4 in 44 overs on Day 3 at Lunch (Sarwan 57 batting, Mirando 2 for 32)

Sri Lanka tour to West Indies 2008

Sri Lanka is touring West Indies this year for a 2 test and 3 one-day match. Though there was no 20-20 scheduled, the 3 ODI matches is expected to compensate for that. This is the first series played in West Indies after the world cup in 2007. One of the most successful batsman of West Indies, Brain Lara has retired and is not in the team. Whether the team will be able to win the Sri Lankans, we have to wait and see.

The schedule:

Practice Match

March 17-19, 2008, Guyana President's Select XI v. Sri Lanka at Providence Stadium, Guyana
March 29-31, 2008, West Indies A v. Sri Lanka at Shaw Park, Tobago

Test Match

March 22-26, 2008, 1st Test at Providence Stadium, Guyana
April 3-7, 2008, 2nd Test at Queen's Park Oval, Trinidad

ODI

April 10, 2008, 1st ODI at Queen's Park Oval, Trinidad
April 12, 2008, 2nd ODI at Queen's Park Oval, Trinidad
April 15, 2008, 3rd ODI at Beausejour Stadium, St Lucia

Good luck to both the teams!