Happy Birthday, Rain No Play.
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!
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What has the ICC Come To?
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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Bucknor Out
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.
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Injuries Hinder Windies
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
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Highlights From First Test Victory
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.
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South Africa Grabs Advantage in Second Test
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
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Rain, No Play Downtime
We will be transferring Rain, No Play to a new hosting company in the coming days. We anticipate that there will be some downtime as we make the switch. Hopefully we'll have the move completed by the time the next Test match starts on Jan 2, 2008.
UPDATE (Jan 2): We're back up and running!
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1994/1995
1994/1995 in New Zealand. The West Indies were still kings of the cricket world having not lost a Test series for almost 15 years. The Australian juggernaut had yet to emerge as Australia were quietly plotting how they could dethrone the undisputed World Champions. Little did we know that the 1-0 series win in New Zealand would be the last time the Windies won a meaningful Test series away from home. (Sure they beat Zimbabwe 1-0 in 2003/2004, Bangladesh 2-0 in 2002/2003 and Zimbabwe again 1-0 in 2001, but those don't really count, do they?). In fact, New Zealand weren't highly fancied back then so really the last time the Windies won an away Test series against big time Test opposition would be back in 1992/1993 when the Windies beat Australia 2-1, which included the nail-biting 1 run victory for the Windies in the third Test with the Windies already down 1-0 and only 1 match to come.Read more
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VICTORY!!
May 29, 2005. That was the last time the West Indies cricket team celebrated a Test victory. 2 years and 7 months later they get to do so again. Finally, at long last, the Windies have won! In clobbering South Africa by 128 runs, the Windies have also notched their first ever Test victory in South Africa and their first Test win away from home since beating Zimbabwe in November 2003 as well as their first away Test victory against meaningful opposition (sorry Bangladesh and Zimbabwe) since beating England in June 2000. This was also the first ever Test victory for Dwayne Bravo (in his 24th match), Denesh Ramdin, Runako Morton and Darren Sammy.Read more
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Victory Wait, By the Numbers
A look at the Windies' drought in Test matches:
Time since last Test win - 2 years 7 months (May 29, 2005 vs Pakistan)
Time since last away Test win - 4 years 1 month 13 days (Nov 16, 2003 vs Zimbabwe)
Time since last away Test win against meaningful competition (excl Zimbabwe and Bangladesh) - 7 years 6 months 12 days (Jun 17, 2000 vs England)
*Windies need only 2 more wickets to break the drought with SA 237/8 chasing 389.
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