!Another Lost Battle!
2:14 AM Posted In Cricket Edit This 0 Comments »For the big time Windies fan... the result of the recently concluded series at home is not a big surprise! Its a trend that has remained constant for ages! But the average fan always hopes!
Though the series was conceded... the battle was well fought! There was a notable change in the attitude of this renascent side which had the Aussies sweat for victory!
The Aussies certainly deserve praise for managing triumph without the likes of the biggies Warney, McGrath, Gilly, Martyn and also Hayden, who was rested due to injury! They are never short of replacements, but surely they are not as invincible as they were! The really admirable feature of this team is that someone or the other steps to fore helming the team to a comfortable position! Even the Aussies had their moments of heebie-jeebies during the series but they never took it to their heads, and of course thats characteristic of a World Champion!
The Windies on the other hand had their moments of brilliance but such moments werent produced consistently enough! The past six months have been really heartening for the typical Windies fan... first ever victory in South African soil... a really good home series against the Lankans and now a not so bad series with the Aussies!
There was good promise shown by a few men who could have changed the fate of the series had they capitalized on the decent starts they had manged! Among the quickies it was nice to watch Edwards and Taylor amidst the wickets, but their opening counterpart Powell being less penetrative this time around! The current pace trio, cloccking good speeds have brought back some sting int the attack which was long missing! And there were noteworthy performances from Bravo and the new bloke Xavier Marshall! Marshall was really astonishing, never seemed like he was a new chap, beating back the attack! And Bravo much to the disappointment of fans couldnt convert any of his good starts into biggies!
The final words of this post are duly reserved for the old war horse Chanders! At the beginning, the series was perceived to be a stroll in the park for the kangaroos... But for this man, the series would have gone the perceived way! Throughout the series, Chanders lifting his bat, became rather a familiar site, invariably standing tall amidst ruins! And his inspirational knock in the second test at Kingston certainly needs mention, Lying unresponsive getting hit by a vicious Brett Lee bouncer... and later continuing with his song as if nothing had happened! He was notably the only one who had unendingly bothered the Aussies! Deservedly the Man of the Series!
The T20 and the ODI series are still at stake!
But I'm a typical Windies fan... So got no expectations, but always hoping!