Playthrough: West Indies after Walsh

[Aislabie]

​

Hello everyone; if you find yourself in this particular forum then you're no doubt familiar with my passion project over the last couple of years where I rebuilt English Test cricket from 1990 to the early 2000s (so far). That continues to be my favourite project I've ever done on PlanetCricket, and I don't plan for it to go away, but I also want to turn my hand to something a little different, which is where this comes in. Inspired by the retirement of the GOAT Phil Tufnell from my England playthrough, I am taking over stewardship of the West Indies beginning on 1st June 2001, shortly after West Indies finished their home series against South Africa in which the great Courtney Walsh retired from international cricket.

This will be different to the England playthrough though: this won't be about big match reports or righting wrongs, but will instead be more about riding the roller coaster and seeing where it takes me. There will be elements - some of them quite significant to the story - that will be RNGed, and these will happen often. I do intend to explain those as they come up.

Index
Career statistics of active West Indian players - updated to end of 2001 season
World Cup and Champions Trophy formats announced
2001 season summary

Upcoming Series
2001-02 Season
Sri Lanka vs West Indies (3 Tests)
LG Albans ODI Series ()
Pakistan vs West Indies (2 Tests)
Pakistan vs West Indies (3 ODIs)

 

[Aislabie]

Coca Cola Cup selection meeting

So, it's time to put together the ODI squad for the Coca Cola Cup, where we will be taking on India and Zimbabwe. Before we put together the full squad, there are no fewer than four RNGs that need doing.

Brian Lara Hamstrings RNG
Brian Lara has been managing an ongoing injury to his right hamstring for roughly the last year, with the selectors deeming him too important to leave out of the side.
1-30 - Lara has to withdraw from the series to rehabilitate his injury.
31-100 - Lara will play through the pain.



Brian Lara is out of the Zimbabwe tour! He will miss both the Coca Cola Cup and the two Test matches that follow. This is a big blow for the West Indies, who find themselves without one of their leading batters.

Ottis Gibson Recall RNG
Ottis Gibson hasn't played domestic cricket in the West Indies for some years now, instead plying his trade in South Africa. However, the retirements of Ambrose and Walsh have left real gaps in the bowling ranks, and there is a strong feeling amongst the selectors that Gibson could be the man to fill one.
1-50 - Gibson accepts the recall and returns to play in the West Indies.
51-100 - Gibson declines the recall and continues to play wherever he can earn the best living (usually South Africa or England).



Ottis Gibson returns to international cricket for the first time since 1999! The veteran Barbadian quick has been hand-picked by the selectors as the crucial missing ingredient for this team.

Secret RNG #1
1-98 - ...
99-100 - !!!

...

Secret RNG #2
1-98 - ...
99-100 - !!!

...

Neither Secret RNG outcome has occurred at this time. Now to move on to the selection meeting proper.

Spoiler: Most of the picks for this squad are pretty straightforward

Carl Hooper

Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Chris Gayle
Wavell Hinds
Ricardo Powell
Marlon Samuels

Ridley Jacobs
Junior Murray

Cameron Cuffy
Merv Dillon
Ottis Gibson
Reon King
Laurie Williams

Dinanath Ramnarine

However, it's time to introduce the final mechanic for this playthrough: The Chairman's Pick. If there's one thing that's always true in West Indies cricket, it's that there's always political interference in selection and this playthrough will be no different. In this case, it will take the form of adding every player who appeared on my longlist while assembling the squad, and then running them through Random.org to decide who will be the final addition to the main squad. So:


The least likely player on the list - Goldwyn Prince receives a shock call-up! The 26-year-old Antiguan quick has 19 List A wickets at 15.38 apiece across the last two seasons as well as 24 first-class wickets at 32.29, so it would be hard to argue that this isn't a deserved call-up. So the final squad for the Coca Cola Cup is:

Carl Hooper

Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Chris Gayle
Wavell Hinds
Ricardo Powell
Marlon Samuels

Ridley Jacobs
Junior Murray

Cameron Cuffy
Merv Dillon
Ottis Gibson
Reon King
Goldwyn Prince
Laurie Williams

Dinanath Ramnarine

 

[Welwyn]

RNG's are interesting.

 

[Aislabie]

Zimbabwe vs West Indies, Coca Cola Cup (Match 1)

Prior to today, 13 ODI hat-tricks have been taken in the entire history of the format. Today, two were taken in consecutive overs by West Indian fast bowlers as Zimbabwe collapsed from 264 for four to 265 all out in the space of nine balls. Let me repeat that, two hat-tricks occurred in consecutive overs:


And honestly, that flurry of wickets could have been the difference between a West Indies winning or losing this game. The difference between chasing 260 and chasing 280 is huge, and West Indies captain Carl Hooper stood up to be counted with a stunning unbeaten 91 off 77 balls, making up for the deficit left by Wavell Hinds' 106-ball 63 at the top of the order. Marlon Samuels also played a fine hand with a 41-ball 55 at number five that can only strengthen his standing in this side.

 

[Aislabie]

ICC Global Events Announcement

On the eve of the ICC Trophy, the ICC will be announcing the formats of the two upcoming ICC events. The ICC Trophy will be acting as a qualifier for both upcoming ICC events, so it is crucial that both formats are announced before that event begins.

2002 ICC Champions Trophy, Sri Lanka
The prior two editions of this tournament have been held as the KnockOut Cup. Will the 2002 edition mark a change?

1-40 - 12-team knockouts (top four seeded straight to QF)
41-60 - 16-team knockouts
61-80 - 12-teams, four groups of three
81-90 - 8 teams, two groups of four
91-100 - 8 teams, with qualifying round for four teams to take last spot (BAN, KEN, ZIM, +1)



The 2002 ICC Champions Trophy will be the biggest edition yet with 16 teams contesting the straight knock-out tournament!


2003 ICC Cricket World Cup, South Africa
The 1999 edition was the first to ever feature a "Super" stage. Will it be kept for 2003?

1-20 - 12 teams - two groups of six, followed by a Super Six
21-40 - 12 teams - two groups of six, followed by knockouts
41-60 - 14 teams - two groups of seven, followed by a Super Six
61-80 - 14 teams - two groups of seven, followed by knockouts
81-100 - 16 teams - four groups of four, followed by knockouts


The ICC has announced a 14-team Cricket World Cup for 2003, featuring two groups of seven followed by a knockout round.

This means that the top three teams at the ICC Trophy will qualify for the Champions Trophy and Cricket World Cup, with the fourth and fifth placed teams joining for only the Champions Trophy. The ten Full Members, plus Kenya, will all qualify for both tournaments automatically.

Spoiler: The results of the ICC Trophy will be:

1st - Netherlands - qualify for both events
2nd - Namibia - qualify for both events
3rd - Canada - qualify for both events
4th - Scotland - qualify for Champions Trophy
5th - United Arab Emirates - qualify for Champions Trophy

 

[Aislabie]

Match Two: India beat Zimbabwe by 9 wickets

Match Three: India beat Zimbabwe by 4 wickets


India vs West Indies, Coca Cola Cup (Match 4)
So after that win against Zimbabwe, we made only one change: Laurie Williams came into the side to replace Merv Dillon, who was out of sorts against Zimbabwe and conceded just over seven runs per over. Unfortunately, India are a much stronger side than Zimbabwe and on this occasion we couldn't force a win. Both Chanderpaul and Samuels made nice half-centuries, but it was clear that our batting wasn't as good as theirs this time out.

 

[Aislabie]

Zimbabwe vs West Indies, Coca Cola Cup (Match 5)
For this must-win match (if West Indies win, they are guaranteed a berth in the final), Wavell Hinds found himself benched after two slow innings at the top of the order. Ridley Jacobs wins a promotion to opener, while Dinanath Ramnarine came in to offer an extra spinning option. The extra bowler made a big difference: the 20 overs of proper specialist spin combined for two wickets at a cost of only 58 runs, which was absolutely massive.

Jacobs also did his job as an opener in a makeshift chase, so he might hold onto that spot until the other side of the Kenya series now. But all credit has to go to Shiv Chanderpaul, who was absolutely stellar.

 

[Aislabie]

Match Six: India vs West Indies

With both sides' places in the final assured, they both experimented. Goldwyn Price got to make his ODI debut, but he struggled and conceded 49 runs from seven overs, although he did claim the wicket of his chief tormentor Hemang Badani for a bruising 75. Regardless, I don't think we expect him to play in the Final. 295 to win was a big target, but Chris Gayle played an innings that will surely announce his arrival at international level: his maiden century off 128 came off just 103 deliveries as made it his mission to take down the spin of Harbhajan Singh.

Whilst out of character I'm a little disappointed (as the idea of Gayle just never quite making it was very funny), in character I am delighted to think we might have found a long-term opening batter here.

 

[Aislabie]

Final: India vs West Indies

And now we come to the final of this prestigious ODI tournament, both teams will be looking to go into this match at full strength and really stamp their authority over this. And wow, Cricket Captain surely does love to throw up an ODI hat-trick, doesn't it?


Not that it really mattered all that much because it turned out that India had already scored more than enough runs by that point. Indeed, the West Indies got just over halfway on a very difficult pitch, and ultimately couldn't find a Gayle- or Hooper-shaped hero to weather this particular storm.



I'll update the player stats before we get on to the Test series.

 

[Aislabie]

Zimbabwe Test Series selection meeting

First things first, some RNGs.

Secret RNG #1
1-98 - ...
99-100 - !!!


... (Oh my goodness that was close.)

Secret RNG #2
1-98 - ...
99-100 - !!!


...

Neither of the Secret Events will happen before the Zimbabwe Tests. Also, if you look carefully you can see pretty much the exact time I fell asleep last night.

Finally, it's time to see who the Chairman's Pick will be for this series:



31-year-old Antiguan batter Dave Joseph gets a surprise recall to the Test squad, with selectors saying that this is a reflection of his "stellar recent performances for Antigua and Barbuda and obvious leadership qualities." Whether he will be able to break back into a relatively settled middle order is quite another matter.

That gives us the following 18-man squad:

Carl Hooper

Sherwin Campbell
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Chris Gayle
Wavell Hinds
Dave Joseph
Marlon Samuels
Ramnaresh Sarwan

Ridley Jacobs
Junior Murray

Corey Collymore
Cameron Cuffy
Merv Dillon
Ottis Gibson
Reon King
Franklyn Rose

Neil McGarrell
Dinanath Ramnarine

 

[Aislabie]

Zimbabwe vs West Indies, 1st Test

With the conditions promising a turning wicket in Bulawayo, I made room for both McGarrell and Ramnarine in the playing XI, alongside Carl Hooper as an all-rounder. This gave us a really varied attack that was able to exploit the conditions well, and our seamers (Reon King and Ottis Gibson) took only three wickets between them in the Test. With the bat, there was one obvious performer: Chris Gayle continued what has been a breakout tour for him with a maiden Test century at the top of the order. Given that he was not a certainty for this tour until he hit his ODI hundred the other week, this is absolutely massive for his career.

Anyway, a nice easy win. Something tells me that Zimbabwe may not be the biggest challenge we'll face as a team.

 

[Aislabie]

Zimbabwe vs West Indies, Second Test

Looking at a much flatter pitch in Harare, West Indies brought in an additional seam bowler to replace Neil McGarrell. As it turned out though, Dinanath Ramnarine was again their most incisive bowler, which may lead some to question whether McGarrell might not also have been similarly effective given the chance. Not that he needs to worry: with West Indies' next five Tests being scheduled in the Subcontinent, he can expect plenty of game time. Ottis Gibson also took an impressive four-wicket haul in the second innings, which will certainly build his confidence in the longest format.

Speaking of building confidence, we also saw something even less likely than two hat-tricks in consecutive overs:


One big worry though will be the fitness of captain Carl Hooper, who went down like a sack of spuds after being struck by a Blignaut bouncer. It is possible that he may now not be able to make it on the Kenya tour that immediately follows this Test assignment. His injury also derailed a potentially exciting run-chase; with only Jacobs and the bowlers to come, they decided to shut up shop and settle for a draw.

 

[Aislabie]

Kenya ODI Series selection meeting

With the assignments in Zimbabwe all finished, West Indies have three more ODIs in Kenya before their tour is over. So who will be selected for that series? First of all (as always), we have RNGs and admin.

Brian Lara Return RNG
Brian Lara's recovery has apparently been going well, but will he make himself eligible for selection for this tour?
1-20 - Yes, Lara is very keen to play in this ODI series.
21-60 - No, Lara has recovered, but he would prefer to continue his training schedule to build up for the upcoming Subcontinent tours.
61-100 - No, his hamstring still isn't sorted yet.



Brian Lara is still not fit for selection. We will check in on him before the Sri Lanka tour.

Carl Hooper Injury
Not an RNG this one, but the results of Hooper's scan have come back.


So, when is nine weeks from now? Carl Hooper is out of action until Tuesday 2nd October. This means he'll be fit for selection for the Sri Lanka tour; all is well.

Secret RNG #1
1-98 - ...
99-100 - !!!

...

Secret RNG #2
1-98 - ...
99-100 - !!!+

...

Neither Secret RNG outcome has occurred at this time. Now to move on to the selection meeting proper. Who is the Chairman's Pick?



Ridley Jacobs

Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Chris Gayle
Wavell Hinds
Ricardo Powell
Marlon Samuels
Ramnaresh Sarwan

Keith Hibbert

Cameron Cuffy
Merv Dillon
Ottis Gibson
Reon King
Laurie Williams

Neil McGarrell
Dinanath Ramnarine

Ridley Jacobs will stand in as captain, following a successful domestic season as Leeward Islands captain. All other changes should be fairly self-explanatory

 

[Aislabie]

Kenya vs West Indies, 1st ODI

As one might expect, I played quite an experimental team here for the first ODI. Jacobs continues as an ODI opener for the time being, with Sarwan taking Hooper's vacant spot at number four. Elsewhere, Keith Hibbert has been handed an ODI debut and is expected to play in all three matches. The batting was a little concerning, with only Shiv (72), Sarwan (56) and Hibbert (40) passing 20, as the rest of the side found ways to get out to darted off-breaks.

Ultimately, that was still plenty of runs though: the pace of Merv Dillon and Ottis Gibson was plenty too quick for the Kenyans, as the new ball pair took five for 51 between them. Elsewhere, every one of the four spinners used was able to pick up at least one wicket, and Kenya were bowled out 66 runs short of their target.

 

[Aislabie]

Kenya vs West Indies, 2nd ODI

So this was a pretty fun innings, headlined by Ricardo Powell's big hitting 70 from number six. He belted his runs from 40 balls, and thoroughly left Marlon Samuels's unbeaten 98 in the shade. A very solid total of 305 for six would surely be out of reach for the Kenyan batters, right?

Right. Although there were a couple of unexpected happenings; firstly, Ridley Jacobs chose to bowl some of his off-breaks in the middle overs (he finished with none for 28 from six overs) and Neil McGarrell took some real punishment from Ravi Shah before finally taking the opener's wicket for an impressive 90. That was also the wicket that turned out to be the final nail in the coffin of Kenyan hopes, and West Indies sealed the series 2-0.