Story A West Indian Dream. 1st Test Match, Close of play, Day 1

[Pakistani Army]

West Indies Cricket: A West Indian Dream​

The "early" years of cricket were dominated by the batsman who posessed high calibre skills and the bowlers who were heart-tremblingly accurate. In fact, a West Indian cricketer would without a doubt slot perfectly into each of those categories.

With batsman such as Clive Lloyd and Gordon Greenidge it was hardly suprising to say the least that the West Indies piled on runs at a rapid rate. To secure victory, bowlers such as Michael Holding and Joel Garner brought their 6 foot plus frames to the poppin crease at a frightening speed. This was the equation which won the West Indies the opening and the second Cricket World Cups aswell as continuing the trend with additional series victories.

Those were the "golden days" of West Indies cricket. 30 years on, West Indies Cricket is in a poor position, being ranked 8th out of a possible 9 teams in the test arena aswell as being ranked 8th out of a possible 12 teams in the One-day International format. Since the "golden days", West Indies cricket did accomplish a memorable feat in the ICC Champions Trophy hosted in England in 2004 where a 9th wicket stand between Courtney Browne and Ian Bradshaw saw West Indies Cricket achieve victory in an ICC International tournament after 25 years.

West Indies' main International accomplishment since the 1979 Cricket World Cup ​

The time is now for West Indies to adapt their strategies and again, find the winning formula in time for the 2011 World Cup held in the Sub-Continent. Their following series will test the West Indies team as a unit as they take the trek to Australia for 3 Test matches followed by 5 One-day Internationals aswell as the singular Twenty20.

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(Credit Pranav)​

 

[Aditya]

Nice to see you starting a new story Arslaan. Nice start to the story. Best of luck for this story.

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

Sweet and simple writing

 

[Ollie_H]

Sweet and simple writing

Have you come from the leagues section? If you have, can you stop posting a load of carp! I hate reading it and it's brings the quality of this section down.

Arslaan you are a fantastic writer, and always a big fan of your stories, you should see if you can get Lara out of retirement to play in a big series and get the West Indies back to their best.

 

[Highlander999]

You're even more agressive moderating Ollie, then I used to be and I thought that would be quite hard to achieve. I salute you

Will be following Arslaan, don't you worry

 

[Amiya]

Great to see another story from you. As usual quality start. Go Arslaan and go Cricket 2005.

 

[Pakistani Army]

Frank Worrell Trophy
1st Test Match
Brisbane Airport, 13:00​

West Indians Arrive on enemy soil
​

The West Indian 16-man squad led by their six foot skipper Chris Gayle strolled into Brisbane looking seemingly refreshed after their 9 hour flight from the Caribbean. The conditions in contrast, were not that different than what it is like back home. Despite it being November, temperatures were already reaching 30 degrees celcius inside the airport.

Earlier, the West Indian Cricket Board (appreviated as WICB) had discussed in great depth the 15-man squad to send for the 3 Test matches. Knowing it will be a challenging tour, President of the WICB Dr Julian Hunte exclaimed that there would be a shortage of youth in the squad.

"West Indies Cricket's main aim is to re-build its way back as a Test playing nation."​

Touring Australia is always an uphill challenge right from the start. It takes time for the players aswell as the staff to get accustomed to the conditions and how the pitch plays. Due to this, we have decided to include a handful of youngsters to tour Australia in accordance for the Test matches. West Indies Cricket's main aim is to re-build its way back as a Test playing nation and due to this, we may be more leniant with the One-day international and Twenty20 selections.

The following was announced a couple of days later following the arrival of the West Indies camp.​

West Indies 15-Man Test Squad
Chris Gayle (Captain)
Denesh Ramdin (Wicketkeeper)
Sulieman Benn
Darren Bravo
Dwayne Bravo
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Narsingh Deonarine
Wavell Hinds
Brendan Nash
Ravi Rampaul
Kemar Roach
Daren Sammy
Ramnaresh Sarwan
Shane Shillingford
Jerome Taylor​

​

Looking at the squad, there were a few suprises. Dr Hunte had mentioned earlier in a press conference that West Indian Allrounder may be called up to play in his first test match aswell as first test series. Unfortunatly for him, his long wait for his opening test cap continues.

In addition, Batting Allrounder Wavell Hinds was also called up to total up more experience aswell as ability in the batting line-up. Also, a string of sucessful performances for West Indies "A" caused the inclusion of Offspinner Shane Shillingford. Shillingford had been taking wickets a plenty during the "A" tour. He could provide another spin option for captain Gayle if the West Indies do wish to play 2 spin bowlers in Benn and Shillingford.​

That is all from Channel Nine. Stay tuned for the latest updates every hour, only on Channel Nine!​

 

[shantanu_rooney]

So you are finally back mate. Its always been great to read your stories and I am sure this is also going to be a cracker of a story. So PC has got Tom and Arslaan back.

Thats a the best squad West Indies can play hopefully they can get something against the Aussies becasue I cant see that happening.

 

[nitish99]

I have read your Pakistan story and it was awesome. I am hoping this one will be as good as it was. KIU mate looking great till now.

 

[Gaurav_7]

Wow, nice to see another story by someone who knows a thing or two about this section. I'm going to follow this for sure.

 

[Shaun Tait]

What a great start to the story cant wait for more

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

Darren Bravo in the side and now West Indies have a strong Middle Order

 

[Pakistani Army]

Frank Worrell Trophy
1st Test Match
1st Test Match, Preview​

West Indies look to re-build​

As Dr Hunte had told the press in the press conference held yesterday, it is vital that West Indies look to re-build against a tough Australia side. As stated, it will be difficult for a sheepish West Indian side holding bags of experience. The question remains, can the players holding the bags of experience finally fire?

The West Indies have had fluctuating form in the Test arena. A 1-0 series victory against England would have certainly boosted the low morale of the West Indian supporters aswell as the team itself. In New Zealand, they did not fair that badly with the two Test series being drawn at 0-0.

"We must not be intimidated"​

I understand it is always difficult to face Australia in any format of the game especially in their own back yard. We as a team will have to put the hours of effort put in at the nets onto the cricket field. The main aim is that we as a team must not be intimidated by the crowd aswell as the big occasion in front of us.

"We will not let them settle"​

The West Indies have a lot of good players who on their day can challenge and be a thorn in any team's side. It will be our main priority to not let the main players settle and get into their stride early on. I feel we can definatly give them a run for their money.

In a suprise decision by the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) All-rounder Andrew Symonds has been recalled back into the test arena. The All-rounder was discarded by the ACB last year and was left out of the 2009 Ashes due to numerous incidences of misconduct. His addition further strengthens the Australian squad. However, he has been out of action for four months. It is highly unlikely he will feature in the starting XI for the first Test match starting tomorrow at the Gabba' in Brisbane.

The following are the probables for tomorrow's opening Test match.
Australia: 1) Simon Katich 2) Shane Watson 3) *Ricky Ponting 4) Michael Hussey 5) Michael Clarke 6) Marcus North 7) +Brad Haddin 8) Steven Smith 9) Micthell Johnson 10) Ben Hilfenhaus 11) Doug Bollinger

West Indies: 1) *Chris Gayle 2) Shivnarine Chanderpaul 3) Ramnaresh Sarwan 4) Narsingh Deonarine 5) Brendan Nash 6) Dwayne Bravo 7) +Denesh Ramdin 8) Daren Sammy 9) Jerome Taylor 10) Sulieman Benn 11) Kemar Roach

Thats all for the preview. Join Slats and the team tomorrow at 10:30am AST for the pre-match chat, only LIVE on Channel Nine.

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Great presentation as usual Arslaan. West Indies have put forward their best 11 but I feel the Aussies are way stronger than them. Hopefully the Windies could prove me wrong.

 

[Highlander999]

Kemar Roach will just scare the crap out of Ponting and bounce him out so that's one less worry for the Windies Lovely works as per usual mate, kiu