Rain, No Play

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.

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.

Irish cricket continued to make impressive strides when they comprehensively defeated Bangladesh today in Barbados. The Irish were cheered on by thousands of supporters, including a strong contingent of locals. Electing to bat first on a bouncy wicket, the Irish built a competitive total of 243/7. The foundation for the total was laid by openers, William Porterfield and Jeremy Bray, who put on 92 for the first wicket. Man of the match Porterfield made 85. The Irish were aided by dropped catches and missed run out chances by the Bangladeshis who were ragged in the field. Even with the missed chances the Bangladeshis still were able to record 4 run outs as the Irish pressed for twos and quick singles when the boundaries dried up in the middle of the innings. A quick fire 48 off 44 balls by Kevin O'Brien and 30 off 23 by captain Trent Johnston revived the innings at the end and helped Ireland to post the challenging score.  read more »

A stunning 67 run victory by Bangladesh over South Africa has opened the door for the West Indies to make the semi finals. This result means that if the West Indies were to win their three remaining matches, the worst they could do is a tie for fourth with the net run rate to determine the semi finalist.

South Africa won the toss and inserted the Bangladeshis. Openers Tamim Iqbal (38) and Javed Omar (17) put on 42 for the first wicket with Tamim being adventurous in his strokeplay. This eventually cost him his wicket as charged down the wicket to Andre Nel and top-edged a bouncer to the 'keeper. The Bangladeshis sat at 179/6 after 42 overs, but instead of collapsing under the pressure as they have done so often in the past, Mohammad Ashraful (87 off 83 balls) and Mashrafe Mortaza (25 off 16 balls) accelerated the scoring to take Bangladesh to 251/8. Ashraful played some audacious strokes including a scoop shot to fine leg which he played with great success several times. After scoring several boundaries with that shot, he played it once too often as he scooped an Andre Nel delivery straight into the hands of deep fine leg. Nel made a case for his continued selection, taking 5 for 45 off 10 overs while Makhaya Ntini struggled with his length to return figures of 1/61 off 10 overs.  read more »

In a match reduced to 21 overs a side by numerous rain stoppages, Bangladesh defeated Bermuda by 7 wickets. The result means that India are officially out of World Cup 2007, which is not a bad thing according to the BBC's Mukul Kesavan

In Trinidad, Bermuda, sent in in overcast conditions were disrupted 4 times due to rain. The final interruption resulted in the match being reduced to 21 overs, with Bermuda on 45/4. Some hefty hitting by Lionel Cann, in particular, helped Bermuda reach 94/9. Bangladesh lost three early wickets to Saleem Mukkudem, but had little trouble in getting the necessary runs.  read more »

In probably the most stunning day of cricket in World Cup history, Pakistan crashed out of the 2007 tournament at the hands of associate nation Ireland and favourites India were cut down by unfancied Bangladesh. India are now in serious danger of bowing out in the group stage.  read more »