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West Indies welcome back calypso cricket

Carlos Brathwaite (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)
Expert
25th June, 2016
5

Jason Holder’s West Indians are into the final of the Caribbean Tri-Nations final against Australia at Kensington Oval, Barbados on Monday morning AEST.

And the Windies, ranked eight in the world, had to beat third-raked South Africa to achieve the feat without the services of Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Sammy, and Andre Russell thanks to West Indian cricket politics.

But they did it by a thumping South Africa by 100 runs in an extraordinary ODI.

Sent into bat, the Windies were on a collapso path when they lost 1-12, 2-12, 3-12, and 4-31 with their number one batsman Marlon Samuels bowled neck and crop first ball.

The destroyer was paceman Kagiso Rabada who sent Johnson Charles (4), Samuels (0), and Denesh Ramdin (4) packing at a personal cost of 3-9 off three.

In far too many past games, that was a sure signal for an on-going West Indian collapso.

But Darren Bravo and loose-cannon Kieron Pollard had other ideas.

Leftie Bravo batted superbly for run-a-ball 102, and Pollard (62) decided to use his undoubted ability for a change. They shared a record 156-run stand for the fifth wicket.

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It was calypso cricket that was instilled in skipper Holder’s 40, and Carlos Braithwaite’s unbeaten 33 that rolled the Windies on to 285 – a sensational performance after such a disastrous start.

That was a pretty reachable task for South Africa with their batting talent.

But the calypso cricket mode was taken up by the Windies’ attack, especially Shannon Gabriel.

He’s no Wes Hall, Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Curtly Ambrose, or Courtney Walsh yet, but he’s big and strong and hits the deck in the high 140s.

Gabriel ripped through the top order, following the path set by Rabada.

In four destructive overs, Gabriel captured 3-13 as South Africa wilted under the pressure to be 1-16, 2-24, 3-28, and 4-35.

Gone were Hashim Amla, dropped at two, gone for 16, Quenton de Kock (6), Faf du Plessis (3), and the world’s best ODI batsman AB de Villiers (2 ) back in the shed.

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Unlike the Windies, South Africa never recovered.

Among the top nine batsmen, only Amla (16), Farhaan Behardien (35), and Wayne Parnell (20) reached double figures.

It was left to the two tail-enders Morne Morkel, and Imran Tahir, to put some substance into the total.

They out on the best stand of the dig with 51 – Tahir out for 29 off 24, leaving Morkel unbeaten on 32 off 42.

Opposing speedsters Rabada’s 3-31 off 10, and Gabriel’s 3-17 off five were the leading candidates for man-of-the-match.

But the sole remaining member of the legendary 3Ws – Sir Everton Weekes – gave the award to Darren Bravo, and fair enough too.

That was a magnificent win by the West Indies, and the first time since the 2005-2006 season that South Africa failed to reach the final of a Tri-Nations tournament.

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That became an Australia-Sri Lanka decider, and the South African team was world class, far better than this one.

It was Graeme Smith (c), Boeta Dippenaar, Herschelle Gibbs, Mark Boucher, Ashwell Prince, Justin Kemp, Andrew Hall, Johan van der Wath, Johan Botha, and Charl Langveldt.

Monday’s final could be close, with Australian paceman Mitchell Starc the difference.

Every time Starc has played in this tournament, Australia has won.

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