Rain, No Play

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 »

Photo courtesy of dee m.

Today, Rain, No Play turns 1. Our first post was on the Windies' 30 man team for the World Cup on January 16, 2007. Though the Windies' losses have been more than their wins over the last year, it still has been fun blogging about Windies cricket. Hopefully we'll have some more wins to write about in 2008!

Windies win

SA win

Tie

Steve Bucknor has been removed as an umpire from a Test match because one of the teams complained about him. Bucknor made many mistakes and has been on the decline for some time, most notably with the fiasco at the World Cup final. But stop and think about it. India complains about an umpire in a Test match it is scheduled to play and the ICC bows to their request a day after saying that there would be no change in the umpires. What kind of precedent is that? So India can only have umpires that they favour in Test matches? Umpires have always made mistakes. The Windies had a tour to Australia a couple of years ago after which the ICC had to admit that the standard of umpiring slipped. The Windies didn't get a change of umpires for their matches. This is all about money and the ICC being afraid of the millions that the game would lose if India went ahead and abandoned the remainder of the tour. Utterly pathetic and not surprising given the blind greed that has characterised the ICC in recent times.  read more »

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Steve Bucknor may have umpired his last Test match. And if indeed Bucknor's umpiring career is over, then it was a horrible way for one of the more respected umpires over the last 15 years to go out. Bucknor's reputation as an elite umpire has been steadily eroding as age caught up to him, but some of his decisions in last week's India-Australia Test shown in the video above were absolutely shocking. Malcolm Speed, head of the ICC has said that Bucknor would not be removed from future consideration from Test matches, but it is entirely possible that Bucknor would have umpired his last Test. That Bucknor has been removed is further evidence of the weakness of the ICC as it bowed to the wealthy Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as the Indians had threatened to withdraw from the remainder of the tour.

South Africa have taken firm control of the second Test in Cape Town after taking a 78 run first innings lead and then reducing the Windies to 96/4 at stumps on Day 3. The Windies were hindered in their quest to claim a winning 2-0 series lead by key injuries. On yesterday's day 2, the Windies lost pacer Fidel Edwards due to a hamstring strain in his fifth over. Without Edwards, captain Chris Gayle had to rely on spinners Rawle Lewis and Marlon Samuels to complete the second day's overs after South Africa had been reduced to 131/5 in their first innings. Dwayne Bravo picked up some of the slack with an inspired spell, finishing with figures of 4-82 off 37 tight overs, but Ashwell Prince (98) and Mark Boucher (59) led South Africa to 321 for their 78 run lead. One wonders if the Windies had the raw pace of Edwards if they would have been able to finish off South Africa after they were pinned at 131/5.  read more »

As promised. Video of the final minutes of last week's historic Test win against South Africa.

   

   

Other highlight videos of the First Test between South africa and the Windies are available here.

South Africa fought back today to grab the advantage from the Windies on the first day of the second Test at Cape Town. Electing to bat, several Windies batsmen got starts but none so far has carried on to make the big scores necessary to post a formidable total. At stumps the Windies were 240/8. Half way through the day's play things looked promising for the Windies with Marlon Samuels (51) and Shiv Chanderpaul (64n.o.) in the middle of a 106 run fourth wicket stand. However a quick double strike by Makhaya Ntini (2-63) removed Samuels and Dwayne Bravo at 183/4 and 185/5 respectively. A 35-run 6th wicket partnership between Denesh Ramdin (21) and Chanderpaul raised hopes that the pair would bat until the close of play, but 3 quick wickets by Dale Steyn (4-60) at the end of the third session assured that South Africa had the better of the first day's play.  read more »