Windies try again to end losing streak

ST LUCIA: IF they are to keep the series alive, the West Indies would need to end a seven-match losing streak in one-day internationals, when they oppose Pakistan this morning in the second Digicel series in St Lucia. And if Shahid Afridi gets going with the bat, the Windies’ woeful streak could very well be extended and the series lost. St Lucia hosts the contest between Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s battered team and Inzamam-ul-Haq’s side which are riding high after the beating they handed out to the regional side in the first one-dayer on Wednesday. That match was a low-scoring affair as the West Indies fell 59 runs short of Pakistan’s 192 in St Vincent. 

The Windies yesterday took a unique approach in trying to solve their major batting problems with the top-order batsmen secluding  themselves from the rest of the team and management personnel, to come to a consensus on what was needed to be done to transform the fortunes of the side. “The main batsmen in the side had a meeting after the match in St Vincent the other day and we have another one scheduled for today,” West Indies captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul told reporters yesterday. “We want to see what we can get out of it. We just discussed basic things that we should have done in the last game. We will have some more discussions and make some plans.”

“It’s just that we are not executing our plans at the moment and we need to devise a way in which we can start doing this,” Chanderpaul added. “We have to concentrate more when we are batting, and let’s hope that the batting up the order can lay a foundation.” Chanderpaul is fully aware that there is plenty riding on the outcome of this weekend’s matches and he remains confident his side can turn things around. “It’s important to win any game that we go out there and play,” he said.  “We have a Test series after this ODI series. It would be a good boost to come out with two wins this weekend and win the series to take that confidence into the Test series. We just have to go out and play some tough cricket to win these two games. We have to look at the areas in which we are going wrong and correct them,” the experienced Guyanese said. 

One of the ideas that have been put on the table outside of the team has been for Chanderpaul to open the batting.  He was non-committal with his answer to that question, but hinted that young opener Xavier Marshall was being groomed for the position, and might be persisted with for the two matches. In the four of the five matches at Beausejour Stadium, Chanderpaul has opened the innings and West Indies have won on each occasion, with him posting a hundred, a half-century, and scores between 30 and 50 in the other two innings. Pakistan will clearly be looking to complete a clean sweep of the series and heap more scorn on the West Indies. 

They too, would like to follow in the footsteps of South Africa and become the second visiting side to win all the matches in any kind of international series in the Caribbean. Coming off a near two-month layoff, the Pakistanis should have cleared away the cobwebs that might have entangled their batsmen in St. Vincent, and should provide much greater entertainment. On the evidence of the first match, they have also shown that their bowlers are quite capable of putting severe pressure on the inconsistent West Indies batting.  The weather on the eve of the match was boiling hot from brilliant sunshine, and the pitch looked like it may contain just a bit more life than in previous matches. (CMC)