15th over: West Indies 53-4 (Carter 11, Simmons 5) Simmons moves to five with a quick single just wide of cover. Mohit is still finding a bit of movement here, away from the left-hander, whose expansive drive he beats once again. Another leaden-footed swish brings a single to wide third man; Carter doesn’t look like a man trying to rebuild an innings and consolidate a partnership here.
14th over: West Indies 51-4 (Carter 10, Simmons 4) A bit of turn here for Ashwin as he gets one to move away from Carter’s outside edge when the batsman goes for the big drive. A sweep for two brings up the Windies’ 50. Interestingly, Ashwin’s average against right-handers is double that against lefties. A shout for LBW as he gets one to go straight on and hit Carter on the pad, but it’s high and going down leg I’ll wager.
13th over: West Indies 49-4 (Carter 8, Simmons 4) Another form bowler comes on at the other end: Mohit Sharma and he gets one to hit Carter on the body when the later misses out with a pull shot. Much better a couple of balls later though from Carter as he rocks on to the back foot and pushes a nice drive through cover point for four. I’m pretty sure on Sky, Shane Warne has just said that Sharma has 15 wickets in the tournament; that can’t be right?! No, I’ve checked, it isn’t. He has five. A single to square leg completes the scoring for the over.
“India is one of those teams I still believe they haven’t come across tough opponents as yet,” writes Steve Mokoena. “The real test if you know what I mean. As for Indies, it wasn’t gonna be easy for them dropping wicket as early as over number five... Now India is all over them.” They beat South Africa! How tough do you want the opponents?!
12th over: West Indies 44-4 (Carter 3, Simmons 4) There is a change at the other end though, where Ravi Ashwin replaces Yadav. He’s been in excellent form so far, with eight wickets in the tournament at 21 and under four and over. Carter gets a single with an awkward thrash to mid-off, with his feet nowhere near the ball, before Simmons takes a single to (kind of) bring up quadruple Nelson.
11th over: West Indies 42-4 (Carter 2, Simmons 3) MS Dhoni might be reading the OBO because he has kept Shami on and is rewarded with a wide on height first up. A leg-bye rotates the strike, then Carter gets off the mark with a back-foot push into the on-side for a couple.
Not so much calypso cricket as 1 of those unlistenable industrial Lou Reed albums from the 70s. At least Lendl's got a brain. #INDvWI #CWC15
— Nakul Pande (@NakulMPande) March 6, 2015
This isn’t even Metal Machine Music. It’s not quite The Stone Roses (which is the single worst album of all time), but perhaps Definitely Maybe (also a dreadful album made for thick people).
10th over: West Indies 38-4 (Carter 0, Simmons 3) Lendl Simmons then comes to the crease with his side in bit of bother to say the least. Quite frankly, they’ve been terrible so far. India have bowled really well, but every wicket was through a bad batsman error including the run-out. There was a soupcon of swing for the Ramdin wicket, but it was another wild and needless shot. Simmons gets his first runs, three of them, with a clip through square leg. Carter plays the expansive drive, but can’t beat cover, then edges to third slip on the bounce. That’s the powerplay done; if I was MS Dhoni I’d keep the quicks on here.
Wicket! Ramdin b Yadav 0
Ramdin goes first ball! He looks to slap an expansive drive through cover as Yadav gives him a juicy half-volley, but only gets an inside edge off the toe-end of the bat into the stumps.
9th over: West Indies 35-3 (Carter 0, Ramdin 0) Dhoni has three slips in for Shami to Gayle. They’re not of much use as Gayle cracks a length ball over mid-on for four more to the longest boundary on the ground. Out goes third slip. Gayle then sprints down the track and misses out with another wild swing; this is gloriously reckless batting. Shami then gets called wide on height, slightly harshly as Gayle is tucked up. And then from the final ball he goes. Might I suggest a period of consolidation?
Updated
Wicket! Gayle c M Sharma b Shami 21
The short ball finall comes off for Shami: Gayle goes for the pull, finds it’s too close to the body and can’t free his arms. Up it goes, in comes square leg and pouches the catch.
8th over: West Indies 28-2 (Carter 0, Gayle 15) Samuels plays the strangest of shots to the first ball, backing away miles to leg and just pushing gently to cover for a single, but is then run-out with both batsmen stranded at the same end. Gayle then gets one in the slot and fires it over mid-off for four. This has been great bowling though and the Windies could really do with not donating wickets. Gayle is dropped again as he slices a drive up to wide third man; it’s hanging in the air but Shami can’t quite get round to it in time. The very next ball is straight, on a good length and launched miles over mid-wicket for six! Gayle is angry. You wouldn’t like him when he’s angry. 14-1 from a wonderfully thrilling over.
How do you play this?! Not sure I've seen such menace from an Indian opening pair since Srinath and Prasad...
— Lawrence Booth (@the_topspin) March 6, 2015
Wicket! Samuels comedy run-out 2
This is a shambles. Gayle mistimes another slog and it lands just short of Mohit Sharma at mid-on. Samuels sets off for a quick single from the non-striker’s end, Gayle isn’t interested and sends him back but by this time Sharma has had time to throw it to Kohli, backing up, and the latter jogged in to remove the bails.
7th over: West Indies 14-1 (Samuels 1, Gayle 2) Gayle looks to flay Shami through point but can’t reach it and Dharmasena calls a wide. The next ball sees the left-hander charge, swipe towards cow corner and miss the ball completely. Shami comes round the wicket and sends down another wide, down the leg-side this time and he’s struggling with the Freemantle Doctor, it seems. Oh and now Gayle is dropped by Yadav. He goes for the big hit and gets a massive edge to third man; Yadav dives to his right and takes the catch, but spills it when landing on the ground. Good effort, but you don’t get anything for that. Shami comes back over the wicket to Samuels, who runs a single down to third man.
6th over: West Indies 10-1 (Samuels 0, Gayle 1) It looks like Smith was trying to cut that one, or possibly run it down to third man. Honestly the bat was at such an awkward angle that it’s hard to tell. The ball was too close to the body for either shot and he misread the bounce too. Gayle finally gets off the mark from his 11th ball with a nudge for one. There’s a bit of variable bounce here for Yadav, who loses his line a touch when sending down a leg-side wide, and Samuels leaves the rest of the over alone.
5th over: West Indies 8-1 (Samuels 0, Gayle 0) Shami drifts on to the pads and it deflects round the corner to allow the batsmen a couple of leg-byes. He gets the next ball to move away though, against the doctor, and beats Smith once again. Sky are now showing a graphic demonstrating how much more the ball would have bounced in the West Indies than here at the Waca: I’m calling BS on them being able to predict that. Anyhow, Smith goes to the fifth ball of the over thanks to another horrible shot. In comes Marlon Samuels.
Wicket! Smith c Dhoni b Shami 6
Shami sends one down with a wobbling seam, it moves back in and Smith slashes at it with a horrible angled bat. Off he goes.
4th over: West Indies 6-0 (Smith 6, Gayle 0) Does anyone want to know what Shane Warne thinks? This is what Shane Warne thinks:
Another World Cup game in Perth today. WI won a good toss - 300 is a par score, should be an absolute nail biter this one !!!!!
— Shane Warne (@ShaneWarne) March 6, 2015
Both of the opening bowlers are finding good bounce and carry here. Looking at the replays of the final ball of the first over, I reckon Gayle probably did get the thinnest of tiny thin edges on it, but even Snicko barely registered it so you can understand the umpire missing it and India not wanting to risk the review. Yadav is bowling a wonderful line on around 5th stump here and it’s a second maiden. 13 dot balls on the spin now for India.
3rd over: West Indies 6-0 (Smith 6, Gayle 0) The first ball of the over is full-ish and Smith looks to carve it through cover, but an excellent diving stop prevents the run. Shami then hits him in the ribs with a well-directed bouncer: Smith has looked to pull everything short and has looked like getting out every single time. Another short one is gloved around the corner but the batsmen decline the single. When he bowls just a touch fuller, the ball is moving back in for Shami but, as Mikey Holding points out, that’s almost certainly being caused by the good doctor. Smith misses out on another pull and that’s a maiden.
2nd over: West Indies 6-0 (Smith 6, Gayle 0) Umesh Yadav, India’s quickest bowler, is on from the other end and he too induces the mistimed pull from Smith; this time the ball just looping into the space at silly mid-on. Smith tries to pull again next ball and misses completely. Sky are showing Smith’s “weak zone”; I’d suggest that’s a cricket pitch. A deflection down to third man gets him off strike and indeed brings the only run of the over.
1st over: West Indies 5-0 (Smith 5, Gayle 0) Smith’s average has actually gone up in this World Cup: it’s now a dizzying 18.77. Anyhow, here is he opening the batting against Mohammed Shami, the man with Ravi Bopara’s face on Sunil Gavaskar’s head. The camera work here is terrible, very high and moving all over the place. Smith pulls his second ball and it loops up in the air, dropping just wide of mid-wicket. Better from the third though as Shami drops short and wide and Smith cuts to fence at point. A clip to fine leg brings one more and Gayle on to strike. There’s a big appeal as the first ball to Gayle whizzes past his outside edge and there is the faintest notch in snicko. No review though and I doubt it would have been overturned.
“Is this for ordinary people as well or just the glitterati on twitter for the no comments guardian?” asks Lanky, emailing in a comment to complain about the lack of comments. For clarification, you can email in comments for publication, just like people have been doing for years.
Here we go then. Anthems are done and dusted, Gayle and Smith stride out to the middle. Every time the latter does that, we can all believe we have a future as an international cricketer.
The pitch is apparently hard and dry, so might well take spin later on. The weather is glorious – 33 degrees, bright sunshine and zero chance of any rain. Damn you, Australia.
Also the Windies probably need this drought to end.
The last time Chris Gayle scored ODI 100 v Ind 123 at Kingston May 2006 Since then 19 inn,450 runs,ave 23.68,S/r 93.17,50s: 3 #bingpredicts
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) March 6, 2015
Fun fact: No Indian bowler has been as expensive as the Windies’ most economical in this World Cup. My prediction: India by four wickets with nine over remaining.
So here are your teams in full:
India: RG Sharma, S Dhawan, V Kohli, AM Rahane, SK Raina, MS Dhoni*†, RA Jadeja, R Ashwin, MM Sharma,Mohammed Shami, UT Yadav
West Indies: DR Smith, CH Gayle, MN Samuels, D Ramdin†, LMP Simmons, JL Carter, DJG Sammy, AD Russell, JO Holder*, KAJ Roach, JE Taylor
The toss
The West Indies have won it and will have a bat first. The teams have made one change a piece: Mohammed Shami comes in for Bhuvi Kumar for India, on the West Indian side Kemar Roach replaces Sulieman Benn.
Preamble
Morning folks. We might talk about the group stages being pointless. We can pontificate over whether or not games like these have any meaning beyond determining quarter-final venues. After all, isn’t this just an undercard before the eight combatants we know will go toe-to-toe anyway play a match of any consequence at all?
Of course it isn’t! This is a big one folks: a start at a reasonable hour for your beleaguered OBOer a not-quite-but-almost-make-or-break match for the side with arguably the richest heritage in the game of cricket. Lose this and they face a hell of a fight to scramble through to the knock-out stages. Failure to do that would go beyond embarrassment: it would be an unmitigated disaster that precipitates an almighty shake-up. Upset the apple cart and win though, and they’ve taken a massive step towards safety.
An upset that would most certainly be. India arrived on these golden shores as a joke: a bunch of playboys and rock stars utterly incapable of either performing outside the comforts of home conditions. They couldn’t bat competently for an innings lasting longer than 20 overs and their bowlers were unable to grasp that they weren’t having a net anymore. They got pounded by everyone – even England, for god’s sake! I’m big enough to admit I wrote them off and you should be too.
Now though, they are a juggernaut. A relentless killing machine, the ODI equivalent of the head-chopping contraption from Caligula, if you will. Each and every one of their top six is in form and – and this is the biggie – their fast bowlers look fantastic: quick, accurate and capable of giving even the best batsmen the hurry-on. Just ask South Africa.
Win this, as they are the overwhelming favourites to do, and India are pretty much guaranteed top spot in Pool B. This is a bigger fillip than my disingenuous opening paragraph made out: the difference between first and second is the difference between a likely quarter final against England and one against a Full Member nation. They’re what? Ah ha ha ha... oh.
So yes, a fair bit riding on this one. On the face of it, the West Indies – embarrassingly outplayed by Ireland, pummelled to within an inch of their lives by AB de Villiers – shouldn’t get anything out of this. But then (a) they no longer have to face AB de Villiers and (b) they have Chris Gayle, who, when in the mood, does things that on the face of it are impossible for human beings to accomplish. India should win. But then again Manchester City should be beating Leicester City about 9-0.
Play begins at 6.30am GMT, which is 2.30pm for you lucky so-and-sos in Perth. I understand that cricket is quite popular in India too, so for those of you in Mumbai it’s midday. Don’t say I don’t do a lot for you. I’ll even bring you team and toss news when I have it.
In case this goes live before I make it to my desk here’s some early morning entertainment. You’re welcome.
Dan will be here shortly, with play due to begin at 6.30am GMT, 2.30pm local time at the Waca.
In the meantime, here’s the latest on Virat Kohli, who’s dominated the build-up to this game:
Virat Kohli has been warned by the Board of Control for Cricket in India that there must be no repeat of similar behaviour after his altercation with a journalist during a team practice session.
Kohli apparently acted on the basis of mistaken identity when he lost his cool with the reporter after nets as India prepared for their next World Cup match against West Indies in Perth. The batsman, who wrongly thought he was speaking to the author of an article which upset him, is urged to “maintain the dignity of the team at all times” in a press release signed by the BCCI secretary, Anurag Thakur.
It reads: “The BCCI has taken note of the incident that occurred at Perth a couple of days ago. The BCCI has been in touch with the Indian team management on this issue, and has advised that this kind of incident should not be repeated. The BCCI respects the role played by the media in covering and popularising the game of cricket, and acknowledges the support of the media, in its mission to administer and promote the game of cricket in India.”
India’s governing body has also made it clear officials have spoken directly to Kohli about the matter. The statement added: “The player in question has been told to maintain the dignity of the Indian team at all times, and avoid any such behaviour in the future. The BCCI would like to request the concerned parties to move on, and focus on the Indian cricket team’s campaign in the ongoing ICC CWC 2015.” India currently sip top of Pool B after their crushing nine-wicket victory over the UAE on Saturday made it three wins out of three in the tournament.
Meanwhile in the West Indian camp …
