zimcricketnews.com

Missed this one as I haven't been well, but West Indies 'A' completed a series sweep over Zimbabwe with a 4-wicket win in the second Twenty20 match between the two sides on Saturday past. Zimbabwe completed their innings on 124/8, not a bad total overall (Chamu Chibhabha top-scored with 33 off 34 balls, while that man Shillingford again did the business with the ball taking 4/16), but Imran Khan, batting at 7th for the Windies, single-handedly saved his side - they were at 36/5 when he arrived at the crease, but he saw the match out, blasting and unbeaten 60 from just 33 balls to secure the win. Full scorecard below the cut.
Zimbabwe 124/8 (20 overs; Masakadza 27, Shillingford 4/16), West Indies 129/6 (18.3 overs; Khan 60*, Price 2/16). West Indies 'A' win by 4 wickets.

West Indies 'A' overhauled a small Zimbabwe total with just two balls to spare yesterday to sneak a narrow win in the first of two Twenty20 matches between the two sides. Batting first, Zimbabwe again suffered the batting woes that have been typical of the side lately, posting a meagre 113/8 from their 20 overs. Brendan Taylor was the only player to manage a decent individual score, adding 37 from 38 balls, with Proser Utseya's 15 not-out being the best of the rest. Andy Blignaut, the big-hitting hope for the side in the upcoming World T20, managed only a 5-ball duck. Shane Shillingford, who had impressed in the four-day match between the two sides, again caused problems for Zimbabwe, taking 3/14 from his 4 overs.

West Indies didn't get an easy ride in reply, though, and were behind the required run-rate for most of the innings as Zimbabwe worked hard to restrict the home side's scoring. Expenside one-over spells from Andy Blignaut (1/12) and Chamu Chibhabha 0/13) may have handed the game to the Windies, though, while Travis Dowlin's 49 not-out from 47 balls was the knock that saw his side to victory.

Full scorecard below the cut. The second Twenty20 is on Saturday.
Zimbabwe 113/8 (20 overs; Taylor 37, Shillingford 3/14), West Indies 114/5 (19.4 overs; Dowlin 49*, Blignaut 1/12). West Indies 'A' win by 5 wickets.

Half-centuries from Kirk Edwards and Kraigg Brathwaite gave West Indies 'A' an easy six-wicket win against Zimbabwe in their four-day match in Grenada, with Zimbabwe's first-innings collapse to just 183 all-out giving the visitors an uphill battle from the start. Only three players reached double figures, with Tatenda Taibu's 86* being the only knock to save Zim from an even worse total, as Shane Shillingford (4/48) and Nelon Pascal (3/28) took chunks out of the Zim lineup. West Indies, in reply, posted a decent 280, but their innings also saw the beginnings of Zimbabwe's fightback as Chris Mpofu claimed a mightily impressive 7/37.

Zimbabwe's batsmen were also much improved in their second innings, with Andy Blignaut (72), Tatenda Taibu (59) and Craig Ervine (58) all claiming half-centuries, but Blignaut's dismissal off the first ball of the final day was the beginning of the end of their resistance. With Shillingford again proving to be a problem for Zim's batsmen to deal with, taking 4/109, Zim were bowled out for 351, leaving the Windies chasing 255 to win on the final day.

Justin Guillen and Brathwaite kicked off the chase, adding 36 for the opening wicket before Guillen holed out, but Brathwaite held on with substantial partnerships for the second and third wickets. He eventually fell caught-behind to Chris Mpofu, but by then the home side were well on course to victory, with Kirk Edwards (top-scorer on 72 not-out) and Shane Dowrich finishing off the job.

Full scorecard below the cut. The sides go on to play two Twenty20 matches, on Thursday and Saturday.
Zimbabwe 183 (60.5 overs; Taibu 86*, Shillingford 4/48) & 351 (95.3 overs; Blignaut 72, Shillingford 4/109), West Indies 280 (109.5 overs; Dowlin 84, Mpofu 7/37) & 257/4 (81.3 overs; Edwards 72*, Chibhabha 1/26). West Indies 'A' win by 6 wickets.

West Indies’ selectors have announced a 13-man team for West Indies A’s match against the touring Zimbabweans in Grenada. A media release from the board said they would name captains for the squads in the coming days. Here's the list:

Brandon Bess, Kraigg Brathwaite, Travis Dowlin, Shane Dowrich, Kirk Edwards, Assad Fudadin, Shannon Gabriel, Justin Guillen, Jason Haynes, Jason Holder, Imran Khan, Nelon Pascal, Shane Shillingford.
wicricnews.com - West Indies announces A-team squad

Zimbabwe's fixtures against West Indies 'A' have been confirmed - what had been expected to be 2 four-day matches has now become one four-dayer and two Twenty20s, but it's still better than nothing. Here are the dates:

16-19 April 2010	West Indies 'A' v Zimbabwe	St George's, Grenada
22 April 2010		West Indies 'A' v Zimbabwe	St George's, Grenada
24 April 2010		West Indies 'A' v Zimbabwe	St Andrew's, Grenada

The Barbados Nation reports that Zimbabwe are set to face West Indies 'A' in two 4-day matches ahead of the World Twenty20. The matches were confirmed to the paper by West Indies coach Otis Gibson:

"There are a lot of plans at the moment with regards to West Indies cricket that would be unrolled in the next couple of months. One of them is an "A" team. We met with the selectors yesterday (Saturday) to pick an "A" team because Zimbabwe is coming back in about two or three weeks to play two four-day games against a West Indies "A" team."

It's turning out to be a busy few months for the Zimbabwe side. Thanks to @WICRICNEWS on Twitter for the tip-off.
Barbados Nation - 'Stay in shape'

West Indies completed their series against Zimbabwe yesterday, taking the series 4-1 - but once again, Zimbabwe's spinners made sure the Windies had to work for their win, even when chasing a well below-par total after Zimbabwe's batting imploded once again. Having won the toss, West Indies put Zimbabwe in to bat, and were immediately in the wickets as Hamilton Masakadza went without scoring. He was the first of a procession of wickets, with Darren Sammy (3/33) leading the carnage - Zimbabwe were down to #6, Charles Coventry (56), before they found someone able to put down some roots, and by then the side's chances of posting a competitive total were long gone. Coventry's departure signalled the beginning of the end, and Zimbabwe were bowled out for 161 on the final ball of the innings.

That left the West Indies with what should have been a fairly straightforward chase, on paper, and the opening pair of Adrian Barath (16) and Chris Gayle (63) led the charge, with the Windies putting on 96 runs in 15.2 overs befoew Gayle finally departed. Zimbabwe's bowlers clearly weren't going to simply lie down, though, and when Gayle, Deonarine (3) and the Bravo brothers (14 & 0) fell in quick succession there was a glimmer of light for Zimbabwe. With Gayle's early onslaught having reduced the required rate to just over 2/over, though, Zimbabwe really needed to bowl the Windies out to secure a win - but the arrival of Kieron Pollard (36 from 22 balls) signalled the end of Zimbabwe's defiance, and the winning runs were knocked off in the 28th over.

Now, if that match report sounds vaguely familiar, it is: it's a copy'n'paste of what I wrote for the 4th ODI, with a few names & scores changed. In broad strokes, though, both the 4th and 5th matches followed the same, depressing script, and that's possible the most damning indictment of Zimbabwe's performance in yesterday's match: nothing appears to have been learnt. If Zimbabwe are truly planning to return to Test cricket before the end of this year, as David Houghton has indicated, then some serious soul-searching is required as to what went wrong with this series after Zimbabwe's stellar start. Full scorecard below the cut.
Zimbabwe 161 (50 overs; Coventry 56, Sammy 3/33), West Indies 165/6 (27.4 overs; Gayle 63, Utseya 2/41). West Indies win by 6 wickets.

West Indies secured the series win against Zimbabwe today, leading the series 3-1 with one to play after a 4-wicket win - but once again, Zimbabwe's spinners made sure the Windies had to work for their win, even when chasing a well below-par total after Zimbabwe's batting imploded once again. Having won the toss, West Indies put Zimbabwe in to bat, and were immediately in the wickets as Hamilton Masakadza went without scoring. He was the first of a procession of wickets, with Chris Gayle (4/21) leading the carnage - Zimbabwe were down to #8, Elton Chigumbura (42), before they found someone able to put down some roots, and by then the side's chances of posting a competitive total were long gone. Chigumbura's departure signalled the beginning of the end, and Zimbabwe were bowled out for 141 in the 49th over.

That left the West Indies with what should have been a fairly straightforward chase, on paper, and the opening pair of Adrian Barath (25) and Chris Gayle (32) led the charge, putting on 46 runs in the first six overs. Zimbabwe's bowlers clearly weren't going to simply lie down, though, and when Gayle, Chanderpaul (2) and Barath fell in quick succession there was a glimmer of light for Zimbabwe. After Gayle's departure, the combined spin attack managed to choke the flow of runs once more - but with Gayle's early onslaught having reduced the required rate to just over 2/over, Zimbabwe really needed to bowl the Windies out to secure a win - but only three more wickets fell before the home side knocked off the required runs, and secured the series, in the 35th over. It was a brave effort by the bowlers, led by Graeme Cremer's 3/34, but the damage to the cause had already been down by Zim's earlier batting collapse.

Another disappointing loss, then, but still some hope that Zim can pull off one more good performance in the final match on Sunday. Full scorecard below the cut.
Zimbabwe 141 (48.2 overs; Chigumbura 42, Bravo 4/21), West Indies 142/6 (34.3 overs; Gayle 32, Cremer 3/34). West Indies win by 4 wickets.

A change in scenery for the 3rd ODI earlier today, as the sides moved from Guyana to St Vincent - a move that also brought a change in conditions that seems to have knocked Zimbabwe's gameplan for six, at least for today, as the Zimbabwe Collapse™ took over from the Calypso Collapso as the main event of the day. Having won the toss, Prosper Utseya inexplicably decided to put the West Indies in to bat on a pitch that was expected to favour the side batting first. The plan was as before: use Zimbabwe's spin barrage to wrap up the Windies. Today, though, the Windies weren't playing ball - while Zimbabwe were able to keep the lid on the West Indies for most of their innings, even removing dangermen Gayle (33) and Chanderpaul (58) before they could do too much damage, the final ten overs of the Windies innings proved horribly expensive. At 40 overs, the home side were on 153/4; at the close, they'd added a massive 92 runs to reach 245/9 at the close. Zimbabwe were taking regular wickets throughout this period, but that didn't seem to bother the tail-enders, who laid into the bowling with abandon. On a pitch where 220 would have been a decent total, West Indies went beyond to give themselves a good safety margin.

Not that they needed it in the end, as the Zimbabwe Collapse™ kicked in to ruin Zimbabwe's chances. The 3rd-ball dismissal of Vusi Sibanda was the first warning, and while Hamilton Masakadza (35) and Brendan Taylor (19) when on to build a decent 2nd-wicket stand of 51, it was all downhill from there, with a steady stream of wickets - mostly inflicted by Darren Sammy (career-best figures of 4/26) and Kemar Roach (3/28) - seeing Zimbabwe fall to a very poor 104 all-out and in the process posting the lowest ODI score at Arnos Vale ("beating" Pakistan's previous record of 117). That gave the Windies a 2-1 lead in the series and a serious shot in the arm ahead of the next match on Friday, while for Zimbabwe it's back to the tactical drawing board - and hopefully into the nets for the batsmen, who once again have let the side down. Full scorecard below the cut.
West Indies 245/9 (50 overs; Chanderpaul 58, Chigumbura 2/43), Zimbabwe 104 (31.5 overs; Masakadza 35, Sammy 4/26). West Indies win by 141 runs.

The pressure was all on the West Indies ahead of the 2nd ODI in Guyana today. Zimbabwe played out of their skins to win the T20 and 1st ODI, and with conditions as Providence again set to favour spin the early indications were that the Windies would have another fight on their hands - and with Zimbabwe winning the toss and opting to bat, the visitors had the chance to set the early running. Unlike the first ODI, though, shaky batting and some decent West Indies bowling made life difficult, starting with the loss of Vusi Sibanda (5) in the first over. The third-wicket partnership of Brendan Taylor (47) and Tatenda Taibu (31) eventually got things going, and while the run-rate was never anything to write home about, that pair and later Greg Lamb (23) and Elton Chigumbura (50) were able to push the side on to 206 before the side were bowled out with one ball remaining. Nikita Miller led the West Indies bowling figures with 4/43.

Prosper Utseya had suggested during the previous match that 240-250 was the target score for the Guyana pitch - that call had proved correct then, and that meant that Zimbabwe were 30 or us runs light this time around. While Zimbabwe's spinners can work miracles when the conditions suit them, there are some tasks beyond even them - and when Windies captain Chris Gayle came out swinging during the early overs if his innings it looked that the home side were going to strut home. The spin quartet of Utseya, Ray Price, Graeme Cremer and Greg Lamb were able to turn the screws, though, restricting the West Indies batsmens' ability to play - at one point, a full 30 overs passed without a boundary being scored as the required run-rate crept towards 7/over, a period where Zimbabwe appeared to be in full control of the match. In the 37th over, though, Gayle decided that he'd had enough of playing the waiting game, and with a mighty six, and a four off the following ball, signalled the beginning of the West Indies' fightback. His new-found aggression proved his undoing in the 42nd, as a swing & miss saw Cremer claim his scalp for an impressive 88, but some of his desire had already rubbed off on partner Narsingh Deonarine (65*) who went on to seal the victory with 13 balls to spare. In truth, Gayle and Deonarine were the only two players to show any capability of dealing with Zimbabwe's "death by spin" approach, and Deonarine was helped in the closing overs by some puzzling bowling decisions by Utseya that played into the West Indies' hands, but between the two of them they were enough to be Zimbabwe's undoing.

And so the sides head to St Vincent with the series ties, and Zimbabwe's chances of pulling ahead again most likely resting on the conditions of the St Vincent pitches. But Zimbabwe but up a hell of a fight here (in truth they probablbly should have won), once again signalling that they're no longer with whipping boys of world cricket. Full scorecard below the cut.
Zimbabwe 206 (49.5 overs; Chigumbura 50, Miller 4/43), West Indies 208/6 (47.5 overs; Gayle 88, Price 2/31). West Indies win by 4 wickets.