West Indies: Chris Gayle (captain), Sulieman Benn, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Andre Fletcher, Wavell Hinds, Nikita Miller, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Darren Sammy, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Jerome Taylor.
WI are self explanatorily holding the home advantage as they are obviously the hosts of the ICC World T20 2010. The support and conditions should be in their favour as they will be looking for glory on home soil. The last real triumph for the Windies in a major cricketing event was in September 2004 where they won the ICC Champions Trophy on a chilly early Autumn Saturday at the picturesque Brit Oval ground when they won from the jaws of defeat following this heroical 9th wicket partnership. Could 2010 be their next global cricketing triumph? Certainly this isn't out of the question one shall feel.
As far as the team's performance in the T20 WC is concerned they have produced mixed results. In 2007 they were surprisingly eliminated in the first round of the tournament having lost to the RSA and Bangladesh. Who would have thought this would be the case when Gayle scored a breathtaking century at the Wanderers Johannesburg, many would have been saying that WI were serious contenders when this was taking place in the opening game then! But, as it turned out they were amazingly knocked out a few days later, astonishing!
In 2009 they were on fire and beat the likes of Australia, England and India to find themselves earning a well deserved place in the semi finals! There Angelo Matthew's opening over broke their hearts as they ended up losing to the finalists, the Lankans in a rather one sided encounter.
WI have some star attractions in their ranks such as the skipper, Chris Gayle, a flamboyant free scoring opener who has got an excellent T20 record and his game is highly suited to the format and he's an occasional offspinner too if needed! Darren Sammy has a T20 5for under his name all beat it that it came against the minnows, Zimbabwe. He was also the MOM is the one-off Stanford T20 match against England in 2008. He has a growing reputation in the game with his seamers and is an entertaining and energetic pumped up cricketer who is good to watch with both ball and actually bat in his hand too! On top of this they have the experience of the world class batsmen in Chanderpaul and Sarwan whose experience could come invaluable in certain situations especially against the stronger sides. Kieran Pollard has been a sensational find with his all-round credentials as an explosive batter, acrobatic fielder and wicket taking medium pacer, he in one to watch out for and has developed into a real potential "matchwinner " for WI in years to come. Big Ben is a top specialist in the format and someone the skipper could rely on to produce the goods with his slow left arm.
WI are a capable unit and if their players deliver the goods and come to the party they could be in with a top shout of going the distance I optimistically conclude upon.
Strengths: Star performers
Weaknesses: Too much reliance on individuals...
Prediction: Super Eights
Key Players: Pollard and Gayle
3 comments:
i am looking forward to Kieron Pollard.. he will definitely have a huge part to play with both bat and ball and watching him perform in the latter part of the IPL has certainly made me intrested in his style of both batting and bowling.
He (Pollard) has been highly impressive for sure.
Any team should look at spinners bowling to Pollard as he can be vulnerable against them otherwise look for the ball somewhere on the road or maybe the nearby church in the Caribbean.
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