After their 8 wicket thrashing of England in the third ODI at Bridgetown, its clear that the Windies have the swagger of a winning team. Success breeds success, and the Windies are oozing confidence, batting positively, fielding crisply and bowling aggressively.

Its also equally clear that England are a broken team - lacking in motivation to win, content in going through the motions, longing for the plane ride home. England, frankly, find themselves in a position that the Windies have often found themselves in until recently. The forlorn expressions on players' faces, the rumours of disunity in the team, the lack of joy on the field and the inevitable spiral to defeat after defeat. If not for John Dyson's Duckworth/Lewis error in the first ODI, England would have been winless against the West Indies this year.

On Sunday, the Windies will go for the ODI series victory to add to the Test series win and the Twenty20 demolition. After that they'll seek to close out the ODI series 4-1 and send England back home in further misery. With the trajectory of the fates of the two teams, a 4-1 drubbing is in the cards.

The West Indies were denied in their efforts to win the ODI series 3-0 by persistent rain, but they have to be satisfied with the 2-0 series win. At Beausejour, St. Lucia, the Windies were 81/2 in chase of 258 when persistent rain ended the match. The Sri Lankans were held in check by Dwayne Bravo and Chris Gayle and owed their reaching 250 to a good late innings effort by Tilekeratne Dilshan.Read more

Backed by unbeaten half centuries from Shiv Chanderpaul 52n.o. and Marlon Samuels 54n.o., the Windies strolled to an easy 7 wicket victory in the second ODI at Port-Of-Spain. This made it 2 from 2 and guaranteed a series victory in the 3 match series. The Windies were set a target of 125 from 25 overs after rain cut short the Sri Lankan innings to 112/5 off 30.3 overs. Jerome Taylor and Dwayne Bravo were miserly and had the Sri Lankan batsmen struggling throughout their rain interrupted innings.

After the Duckworth-Lewis rule left the home side a target of 125 off 25 overs, the Windies struggled initially as they slumped to 18/3. However the dependable Chanderpaul and the short-of-form Samuels put together an unbeaten century stand to win the match. The third and final match will be in St. Lucia on Tuesday, April 15.

I always enjoy the commentators' reactions. Ian Bishop kinda loses it at the end, but so did all of us who watched it live! Talk about snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. The story was almost the reverse though as the Windies had Sri Lanka at 49/5 in their innings and the Windies were at one time 109/1 in chase of Sri Lanka's 235.Read more

The Windies have lost 4 matches on the trot to South Africa following today's 6 wicket loss in the first One Day International between the sides. This follows a tight 4 wicket loss on Friday in the second and final Twenty20 international in which South Africa successfully got 30 runs off the final 3 overs to chase a modest target 131. The earlier Twenty20, won by the West Indies, was played before the Test series in December. (Talk about a strange schedule). The next ODI in the 5 match series is set for January 25.Read more

Yesterday's commanding victory by the West Indies to seal the 3 match ODI series 2 - 1 must have been a joy to watch for West Indies fans all over the world. The scenes of jubilation by the players on the field and by West Indians in the crowd demonstrated just how much this win meant.

The 93 run victory marked the first series win for the West Indies in Tests or one day cricket since beating Zimbabwe and India in one day series in the West Indies last year and their first away series win since winning the ICC Champions Trophy in 2004.

One of the stark differences between the players in the limited overs series and their performances in the Test series must have been the unbridled joy that they showed on the field. To be true, there wasn't much to celebrate in the Test series, losing 0 - 3 with one loss being the largest ever margin of defeat for a West Indies Test team, but there certainly was a noticeable change in the level of energy and passion on display during the Twenty20 and ODI matches. The scenes of joy yesterday certainly capped off months of frustration. The ebullience of Dwayne Bravo, Fidel Edwards and yes even Mr Cool himself, Chris Gayle, were in stark contrast to the almost lack of effort that was seen at times in the Test matches. Why the change?Read more

On the eve of next week's Twenty20 Internationals and ODI series against England, the above scorecard from Cricinfo's Slogout must be any West Indian's dream. I can almost see the look on Monty's face as he gets hit for 196 runs off his 9 overs. Slogout's got some way to go, including making the players more life-like (how about some non-white players Cricinfo?), but if you've got a few minutes to spare, it's entertaining, at least until you get bored with its repetitive nature.

For years, the West Indies Cricket Board has pointed its finger of blame at its players for the continued decline of the team's fortunes. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that the Board's actions have been a farcical attempt to further its power and take advantage of its employees.

Today, the WICB had to recruit West Indian players from local leagues in England to fill in for the players called up for the One Day series in England due to mismanagement of travel arrangements. Injuries to members of the Test squad meant that there was a shortage of healthy players to cover for the late arriving players. Claims of indiscipled players have been rampant for the past few years, and many West Indians (myself included) have been all too willing to heed the WICB's accusations and lay blame at the feet of the players. Incidents such as this latest fiasco demonstrate that there is more going on in West Indies cricket than immediately meets the eye.Read more

[Austin Richards, Jr. courtesy of www.stanford2020.com]

The WICB have named a 14 member squad for the limited over matches in England and Ireland this summer. Presumably that includes the two Twenty20 internationals between the West Indies and England.

One notable inclusion in the squad is Antiguan opener Austin Richards Jr. Richards is a young 23 year old left handed opener who has played 10 first class matches since 2004 with and average of 37.88. In the past Carib Beer series, he slammed a maiden first class century of 183 against the Windward Islands. He is yet to make his debut for the senior West Indies team. Out-of-form Dwayne Smith has also found his name in the squad as well. Chris Gayle has been named the captain after the about-face by the WICB.

The squad:

Chris Gayle (captain), Shivanrine Chanderpaul (vice captain), Dwayne Bravo, Fidel Edwards, Runako Morton, Daren Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Austin Richards Jr, Darren Sammy, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Devon Smith, Dwayne Smith.Read more

In an about face, the WICB, according to CaribbeanCricket.com, will offer the ODI and Twenty20 captaincy for the current England tour to Chris Gayle. Previously the WICB's executice committee had rejected the selectors' choice of Gayle for stand in captain for the ODI and Twenty20 matches.

Apparently the WICB's executive committee led by President Ken Gordon wanted to clean house with the supposed "indisciplined" players. However, the selectors made it known Gayle has never been charged with "indiscipline" and that they would resign en masse if the board interfered with their decision. Good for them. Their job is to select the team and if the WICB doesn't like their performance then they should replace them when their terms are up, but stay out of the selection process, Mr. Gordon!Read more