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William Perkins paddles a Brett Lee delivery over the keeper for 4. Image from Cricinfo match gallery.

In a carnival like atmosphere at the first ever Twenty20 International held on Caribbean soil, yesterday in Bridgetown, the Windies thoroughly demolished Australia. After rain had delayed the start of the match and eventually reduced the contest to 11 overs a piece, Australia were sent in to bat by stand in captain Dwayne Bravo. Both sides featured many young players making their Twenty20 International debuts and for some players it was their first times playing for the senior team. Such was the case for Aussie openers, Shaun Marsh (29 off 22 balls), son of Geoff Marsh, and Luke Ronchi (36 off 22 balls). Marsh and Ronchi put on 57 for the first wicket and led the Aussies to post a competitive total of 97 off 11 overs.

That total was simply too little, as Xavier Marshall at one point threatened to knock off the runs within 5 overs. Marshall belted 3 sixes and 3 fours in making 36 off only 15 balls. He was ultimately undone when he tried to paddle a slow full toss from Shane Watson behind him, only for the ball to ricochet off his shoulder and back onto the pitch. Marshall had set off for the run, not realising that the ball had gone straight back to the bowler. By the time Marshall turned back to get to his crease, Watson a swooped in and rattled the stumps with a direct hit. Debutante William Perkins (9) of Stanford 20/20 fame, Denesh Ramdin (8) and another debutante Andre Fletcher (7n.o.) each made single digits as captain Bravo (28 off 15 balls) finished off the innings. The match, like the World Cup final last year, ended in near darkness, as one continues to struggle to understand why the new stadia built for the 2007 World Cup across the Caribbean were not all fitted with flood lights.

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Excellent bowling and batting by the Trinidadians. Ganga made a great decision when he put in Jamaica. While Jamaica must be questioning themselves about Gayle's decision to come at number 5 as well as their pathetic batting against the spin of Mohammed and Badree. Dave Mohammed is my Man-Of-the-Match. Trinidad wins by 9 wickets after 9.1 overs and after bowling out Jamaica for only 91. A really stunning performance by Trinidad and Tobago and full congratulations to them.

ITS OVER! A big six down the ground as Trinidad wins! The stumps are grabbed as the Trinis erase the disappointment of the 2006 loss.

Perkins gets his 50 as he milks a single.

Smiles all round for the Trini players and fans.

Swept for four by Simmons! 87-1 off 9 overs. A six will finish it off now.

9 left to get as Miller appeals unsuccessfully for LBW.

FOUR! Short from Miller and dispatched!Read more

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The Windies have lost 4 matches on the trot to South Africa following today's 6 wicket loss in the first One Day International between the sides. This follows a tight 4 wicket loss on Friday in the second and final Twenty20 international in which South Africa successfully got 30 runs off the final 3 overs to chase a modest target 131. The earlier Twenty20, won by the West Indies, was played before the Test series in December. (Talk about a strange schedule). The next ODI in the 5 match series is set for January 25.Read more

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It's all set now. India will meet Pakistan in the first ever Twenty20 World Cup final. Today, Pakistan dumped New Zealand while India crashed Australia's party, sending them to their third loss of the tournament and back home. There are subplots to these two results namely New Zealand's failure again, following their semi final loss in the ODI World Cup, to make the big game, as well as Australia's stunning failures in a championship. The real story however is the big matchup between these two subcontinent foes, who earlier in the tournament played to a stunning tie that was decided in a bowl off which India won.

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This video of Yuvraj Singh's six sixes off England's Stuart Broad says it all. Yuvraj blasted his way to the fastest ever fifty in international cricket off only 12 balls, including the aforementioned 36 off Broad's 4th over. Yuvraj joined South Africa's Herschelle Gibbs as the only players to hit 6 sixes in an over in international cricket. Yuvraj's late innings heroics led to India's 18 run victory over England and set up a must win match Thursday against South Africa. A win by India would leave a three way tie atop Group E along with New Zealand and the net run rate will determine which two of the tree qualify for the semi finals. In Group F, Pakistan seem a lock for the semis with the other qualifier being the winner of Thursday's Sri Lanka-Australia World Cup finals rematch.

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Chris Gayle launched a massive onslaught against South Africa's bowlers today, making the first ever century in Twenty20 Internationals. His hundred came off 51 balls with 9 massive sixes and 5 fours. At 168/2 off 15 overs, the West Indies are threatening the highest ever score for a Twenty20 International (221/5). A word of caution though, the ground that this match is being played on is the same in which South Africa chased down 434 in a 50 over match in 2006.

UPDATE: Gayle was out for 117 off only 57 balls as the Windies made 205/6.

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*from the Jamaica Observer.

"West Indies would like to get hold of that trophy first." - Chris Gayle

"in Twenty20, you have to be attacking and flamboyant, and that's the way we like to play our cricket." - Ramnaresh Sarwan

With the opening match of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup just days away in South Africa, the West Indies' captain and vice captain have been talking up the team's chances. But should we really believe them? Didn't we hear this kind of talk before the 50 over World Cup this year in March, only to see the team flop when it mattered most at the Super 8s stage? Let's examine the possibility of a West Indies win.Read more

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It's been slow news in the world of West Indies cricket the last few weeks, with the Windies not playing any international cricket. But here's a run down of some of the happenings in case you missed them:

- Congratulations to Guyana, who have won the TCL West Indies Under 19 Challenge, their 13th victory in regional youth competitions. The limited overs competition follows in the coming week. One wonders though how a Trinidad team with the likes of Adrian Barath and Darren Bravo who have represented the all-conquering Trinis at the first class level, could only mange third place?

-South Africa, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Pakistan, England, India and Australia have all named their final 15 man squads for the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup which begins in one month on September 11. Many big names, such as Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, Kallis, Fleming, Yousuf and Razzaq have been left out of their respective squads for varying reasons. The West Indies, who play in the first match of the tournament, joins Scotland, Kenya and Zimbabwe as teams who have not yet named their final 15. I wonder if the Windies will have a training camp prior to the tournament? Information on the Twenty20 World Cup schedule can be found here.

- The WICB have finally advertised for a new head coach, 3 months after Bennett King stepped down. The closing date for applications is Aug 31, so rush in those applications! Incidentally, why does http://windiescricket.com lead to a page with "ws5"? Maybe a redirect to http://www.windiescricket.com/ would be in order?Read more

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Today's shocking and humiliating 51 run defeat by the West Indies at the hands of county side Derbyshire in a Twenty20 game is further evidence of the depths to which West Indies cricket has plunged. In fact, looking back at the futility of West Indies cricket over the last 2 years, at least in Test matches, shows an alarming resemblance to the futility of Test cricket's newest entrant Bangladesh.

A comparison of West Indies and Bangladesh's Test results since January of 2005.

Team	Wins	Losses	Draws
Bangladesh	1	9	2
WI	1	16	8

Now, the West Indies certainly don't match the Bangladeshis in terms of innings defeats, with Bangladesh suffering 6 of those over the period as opposed to only 2 of those for the Windies. However with six losses by 7 wickets or more and four more losses by more than 130 runs, it's easy to see that the West Indies are not far behind Bangladesh in futility.

With the West Indies not having won a single Test in the last 2 years now, (their one win since Jan 2005 was in May of that year), it may not be long before questions are asked internationally if the West Indies belong at the Test level, just as those questions are now asked of Bangladesh.

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[Austin Richards, Jr. courtesy of www.stanford2020.com]

The WICB have named a 14 member squad for the limited over matches in England and Ireland this summer. Presumably that includes the two Twenty20 internationals between the West Indies and England.

One notable inclusion in the squad is Antiguan opener Austin Richards Jr. Richards is a young 23 year old left handed opener who has played 10 first class matches since 2004 with and average of 37.88. In the past Carib Beer series, he slammed a maiden first class century of 183 against the Windward Islands. He is yet to make his debut for the senior West Indies team. Out-of-form Dwayne Smith has also found his name in the squad as well. Chris Gayle has been named the captain after the about-face by the WICB.

The squad:

Chris Gayle (captain), Shivanrine Chanderpaul (vice captain), Dwayne Bravo, Fidel Edwards, Runako Morton, Daren Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Austin Richards Jr, Darren Sammy, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Devon Smith, Dwayne Smith.Read more