WI win 14 of 19 One-Day clashes

AFTER an unconvincing but nevertheless winning performance in the preceding two match Test series the West Indies now takes on Zimbabwe in five One Dayers.

The team registered a huge seven-wicket win in the warm-up match against Zimbabwe A with two batsmen retiring in the 60s. Let us not let this performance deceive us though. They did similarly well in the first warm up match only to falter in the first Test. The Africans have already proven that the boys can never just turn up and expect victory. So far the two teams have squared off 19 times with the West Indies taking 14 of those and Zimbabwe the other five. The highest WI total is 287 for five made at Chester-le-Street. However the Windies lost that match as the Zimbabweans overhauled it to get their highest score against the Caribbean men — 290 for four. Their other two scores over 250 are 256 for four and 255 for five. The Windies have four other scores exceeding the 250 mark, 280 for three, 266 for five, 264 for eight and 258 for five.

Zimbabwe has some rather embarrassing scores against the Windies, falling for 99, 134 and 138 but the Windies take the prize for lowest total getting only 91 when they needed 139 to win in Sydney two years ago. So that 138 by Zimbabwe did turn out to be a winning effort after they stuck to their guns in the field. Windies batsmen have four centuries, led by Wavell Hinds’ unbeaten 116 at Sabina Park. The others were by Gordon Greenidge (105) in the 1983 World Cup and two by dodgy Sherwin Campbell (105 and 103). Only Murray Goodwin has triple figures for the Zimbabweans with his 112 in that solid run-chase at Chester-le-Street. Merv Dillon has traditionally done well against the Zimbabweans bagging 12 wickets from eight  matches while surprisingly, part time off-spinner Marlon Samuels lies second on the list with 11.

Zimbabwean captain Heath Streak though, has been the most productive bowler when the two sides met taking 18 wickets but from 14 matches. Of his 18 One Day International wickets Mluleki Nkala has taken ten against the West Indies. West Indies captain Brian Lara, not to anyone’s surprise, is most destructive with the bat accumulating 493 runs at an average of 49.3. Grant Flower is the only other batsman from either side to have passed the 400 mark getting to 407. He is followed by his brother Andy on 397 and Sherwin Campbell (388) Alistair Campbell (379) Hinds (327) and now out of form opener Chris Gayle (326). Gayle and Hinds both have very hot averages against Zimbabwe at 40.87 and 40.75 respectively. The Zimbabwean averages are not as impressive, Grant Flower (31.30), Andy Flower (30.53) and Alistair Campbell (29.15). The West Indies have never really performed at their premium against the Zimbabweans and if they were to sink into complacency again they already know how the Zimbabweans can exploit it. They will need to treat the Zimbabweans with respect and then they just might make the 5-0 sweep that can atone for a sketchy showing in the Tests.