Windies win first ODI in triseries

The curtain raiser of the Zimbabwe-India-West Indies saw the Windies go in without Brian Lara and Zimbabwe without Andy Flower.

And it's a measure of how personal fortunes change in world cricket, that you'd have to say that on balance, it was Zimbabwe that was really handicapped. Lara's form has been iffy, to put it mildly, for a long time now and in sharp contrast, Andy Flower has been batting in a style and with a consistency in keeping with his rating as the second best batsman in the world.

On a wicket flat as you like, Windies openers Darren Ganga and Chris Gayle got off to a shaky start against the Zimbabwe seamers who exploited the early morning conditions to get plenty of lateral movement. Chance alone ensured that the Windies openers survived to put together a 100-plus run partnership -- in the early overs, Gayle edged one past first slip for four, Darren Ganga got a leading edge to the vacant gully region, and Stuart Carlisle, a sure fielder in slips, put down an edge as Andy Blignaut with a slower ball out of the back of his hand got Gayle driving. Gayle, too, was lucky to survive a few close LBW shouts along the way, off both pace and early spin.

The Windies progressed to a nervous 36/0 in 10, but as the sun strengthened and the morning dew disappeared off the deck, their shot-making gained in assurance, with Gayle leading the way as the batting side progressed to 66/0 in 15 overs. One major reason for the Windies resurgence was Mluleki Nkala, who was particularly wayward in his opening spell, going for 20 in his first three overs.

Zimbabwe had to wait till the 25th over before separating the openers. Brian Murphy got Gayle, by then in overdrive, hoiking in a bid to clear long on. The ball was held back a bit, Gayle consequently played too early, and holed out to long on to end an innings of 53 off 76 balls. with 7 fours.

At 136/1 in 30 overs, the Windies were on course for a big score, more so with Wavell Hinds stroking smoothly since his entry. Murphy, yet again, pegged the batting side back when he got Ganga giving a flighted delivery the charge. The ball beat the batsman for flight, held its line and Taibu, debuting as keeper in the absence of Andy Flower, brought off a smart stumping to send Ganga back for 66 off 98 overs.

Hinds meanwhile had begun to threaten, yet looked a touch out of sorts in his understanding with Shivnaraine Chanderpaul. Shortly after a narrow escape, the Windies number three was caught short when, in the 38th over, Chanderpaul played one in front of cover. There was some stop-start stuff form the batsman, Hinds responded a bit too enthusiastically, and was well short of his ground when Chanderpaul sent him back to have Windies at 180/3, Hinds' contribution being a brisk 37 off 44 balls.

Windies headed into the straight well poised, at 193/3 in 40. Interestingly, a feature of the innings was the 88 singles the batsmen ran in that total.

Carl Hopper (29/29), like Hinds before him, seemed in supreme touch -- his dismissal, in fact, came against the seeming run of play when the Windies skipper pulled at a Streak short ball for Grant Flower, at widish long on, to dive headlong and pluck a spectacular catch off the grass at full stretch.

Chanderpaul, through judicious nudges and some well-timed shots, steered the Windies innings through the latter phase. Picking up the pace at the fag end of the innings, Chanderpaul tallied 51 off just 46 before holing out in an attempt to clear mid off in the final over.

Windies finished with 266/5 -- a very good target to set given Zimbabwe's loss of the in-form Andy Flower.

In the second half, Cameron Cuffy with his height and consequent extra bounce off the deck, and Reon King, the fastest of the bowlers on view today, opened against Alistair Campbell and Dion Ebrahim. The latter, who starting with the recent second Test against India has shown a penchant for attacking strokeplay, flashed at King and touched through to hand his side an early set back.

Campbell on the other hand seemed uncharacteristically steady, almost to the point of being subdued. Stuart Carlisle took the onus of rapid run-getting on himself, turning his attentions on Mervyn Dillon and clubbing the first change bowler for successive fours in the 10th over to get some momentum into the Zimbabwe chase.

Carlisle in fact was threatening to produce the kind of innings the batting side wanted when Carl Hooper took him out with an outstanding catch at short cover. The batsman drove a Dillon delivery outside his off stump on the up, the ball flew hard and wide of Hooper at short cover and the fielder produced a bit of left-handed legerdemain, pocketing what should have been a four to reduce Zimbabwe to 50/2 at the end of the 15th over.

From that point on, the Windies did everything just about right, bowling the three quarter length, and fielding reasonably tight to keep Campbell and Grant Flower on a very tight leash. At 65/2 at the end of 20 overs, and 90/2 after 25, Zimbabwe in fact were well behind on the run rate, needing to score at 7.1 rpo for the second half of their innings.

The home team's plight was due mainly to tight spin bowling by Nagamootoo and Hooper, and some very shrewd field placing that denied the fours while keeping the singles down to a reasonable amount.

The pressure produced the wicket. In the 27th over, Nagamootoo hurried one through with the arm and Grant Flower, cutting too close to the body, got the thick top edge for Jacobs to hold on the second attempt.

Andy Blignaut -- who, this morning, set new standards in hair-styling when he came out to bowl with his hair sporting streaks in the vibgyor palette and beyond -- was sent out, hair suitably covered with a helmet, to try and put the chase back on track.

Alistair Campbell, at one end, reined in his natural instincts and concentrated on holding his end up and keeping the board ticking over. Blignaut, meanwhile, took on the onus of strokeplay, with his willingness to hit through the line against pace and spin, and his bustling style of strokeplay. His cameo, though, ended in the 34th over when an awful mixup saw Campbell, yet again, send back a partner way too late, after Blignaut had guided one down to short third man.

Guy Whittall came in next, and picked up where Blignaut had left off. He was lucky to be let off, off a huge skier, but shrugged off that blemish and focussed on hitting the big ones and, in between, running hell for leather between wickets. His cameo 32 off 29 deliveries appeared to have brought his side back into the chase, when one big hit too many saw him hole out to Wavell Hinds.

An over later, in the 42nd over, Campbell's 108 ball vigil (68 runs) ended when he attempted to change tack and lift Dillon over long on, only to hole out. With the score at that point on 190/6 and with overs running out, the game was effectively over. Dillon kept up the good work with a spectacular delivery, angled in to Nkala then lifting and seaming to force the involuntary edge through to the keeper. 190/7 at that point, and the Windies bowlers and fielders merely needed to focus on the basics, from that point on, to seal the win and get points on the board.

Zimbabwe paid the price for a stop-start display with the bat, losing wickets at alarmingly regular intervals and as a result, never really managing to keep touch with the run rate.

The home side will now take on India, on Sunday.

Scorecard