Alarm bells have long been ringing in the Caribbean over the West Indies’ chaotic buildup to the Cricket World Cup and those fears were realized yesterday when they slumped to a four-wicket loss against Ireland in Nelson, New Zealand.
Coming off a thrashing by England and an embarrassing scare against Scotland in the warmups, the wheels well and truly fell off at Saxton Oval as Ireland’s batsmen reeled in their first innings total of 304-7 with over four overs to spare.
Few expected the West Indies to seriously challenge for the title, but their opening loss could leave the twice world champions in danger of not making it through to the quarter-finals from Pool B.
Photo: AFP
Associate teams have made a habit of upsetting Test-playing nations at the World Cup, with West Indies’ loss to Kenya in 1996 a case in point.
However, the Ireland defeat has reinforced perceptions of a team on the verge of collapse and lacking the motivation to do anything about it.
The West Indies had already been in disarray well before the tournament, with a crippling contracts dispute between players and the board scuttling what would have been a lucrative tour of India.
That dispute cost regular captain Dwayne Bravo, the players’ spokesperson, a place in the World Cup squad along with big-hitting batsman Kieron Pollard.
The captaincy was handed to a rookie in fast bowler Jason Holder, a 23-year-old with about 20 one-day internationals to his name.
Worse was to come with leading spinner Sunil Narine pulling out of the tour, citing a lack of confidence in his bowling action after being cited during a club tournament.
Narine was free to play at the World Cup, having not breached the guidelines at any International Cricket Council tournament.
Holder has struggled to convince he is leading a united team at the global showpiece and was nowhere to be found at the post-match news conference.
Instead it was teammate Darren Sammy facing the inquisition.
Sammy began by apologizing for cursing himself with a crude word that was picked up by the stumps microphone during his innings of 89.
“Yeah, today we took them for granted as we fielded,” he told reporters.
“Our bowlers have been going for some sticks over the last few games and today was no different against an experienced Irish team where you know they had a game plan and they stuck to it,” he added.
Though Sammy and Lendl Simmons (102) combined for a 154-run sixth-wicket partnership to rescue the West Indies’ innings after it had slumped to 87-5 in the 24th over, the bloodless display in the field would have been galling for home fans.
After seamer Jerome Taylor captured the fourth wicket of Andy Balbirnie with Ireland still needing 20 runs for victory, none of his teammates celebrated the dismissal.
“When things are not going your way, it’s always difficult to motivate yourself,” Sammy said. “I will always try to be positive in my approach, help our young captain Jason and hopefully the rest of the team could follow.”
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
RSS