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Pinnacles and troughs featured heavily on the West Indian cricket landscape in 2004. Two home series against England and then Bangladesh produced spectacular steeples and mortifying challenges. England’s long tour, from March to May, started with crushing win in the first Test at Sabina Park where Steve Harmison announced his arrival with 7 for 12 as West Indies crashed to a demoralising 47.The second Test at Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad ended with team manager, Ricky Skerritt, quitting in despair and calls for captain Brian Lara’s resignation. The third Test at Barbados saw England replanting its flag amidst a Matthew Hoggard hat-trick. Only two runs separated the teams in the first innings but West Indies were bowled out for 94 in the second and England reached the target with the loss of two wickets. Antigua provided magic turf for the retrieval of the world record from the beleaguered Lara as he constructed an incredible innings of 400 not out to repeat his feat of ten years before at the same ground. It went a long way to restoring some face to West Indians apprehending a whitewash on home turf.The seven one-dayers to follow were reduced to four after unseasonal rains washed out game after game, leaving the West Indies Cricket Board more than US$1million short of gate receipts and the scores tied at 2-2.By the time Bangladesh arrived in June, there were complaints of weariness, which may have contributed to the lacklustre performance at Beausejour Stadium in St Lucia that saw Bangladesh pile up a first innings total of 416to the West Indian 352 and left the match drawn, despite Chris Gayle’s 141 and 66 not out. Lara was criticised for doggedly persisting with spinners on the fast track, although it was felt he was protesting the selectors’ choice of a spin-oriented attack. The Windies won the second Test at Sabina Park, after scoring 559 for 4 declared, and Pedro Collins taking six for 53.But a depressing whitewash followed during the long and arduous tour to England. The batting continued to cave in and Engalnd needed only a run in their last innings to notch up their seventh straight Test win.That humiliation complete, the West Indies moved on to the NatWest series with England and New Zealand, after twice beating England with Ramnaresh Sarwan scoring 89 and Gayle 132 not out to take them to meet the winners, New Zealand in the finals, which they lost.

All the while, the cacophony of West Indian voices quarrelling and venting solutions to the zigzags of the team filled the air. It took the ICC Champions Trophy to distil some harmony. A team more carefully blended withexperience and youthful potential came together to work its way steadfastly into a final showdown with England. During a thrilling encounter with Pakistan Lara was floored by a Shoaib Akhtar neck jab that left him frighteningly stillon the ground for long moments, Wavell Hinds took two wickets in four balls and Sarwan carried the team home with a beautifully played unbeaten half century.The September 25th final was intense and unpredictable, teetering this way and that until it all seemed decided with West Indies at 147 for 8 chasing 218. Under gloomy skies like hangovers from the hurricanes that had devastatedGrenada and other parts of the Caribbean, the last, improbable stance was taken by the ninth-wicket partnership of Courtney Browne and Ian Bradshaw who put on 71 runs to lift the trophy to an astonished world.As the year looked to end on a high note, another snag hit the fan. This time it was off the field as preparations for the 2005 VB series in Australia began. The West Indies Cricket Board changed its major sponsors from its long time partner, telecoms giant, Cable & Wireless, to its newestCaribbean rival, Digicel. New contracts provided the ammunition for a battle between the WICB and the players’ association, WIPA, as the two sides squared off over contentious clauses relating to endorsement agreements andindividual deals with the former sponsor C&W. The matter was eventually put into the hands of an arbitrator, who has somewhat smoothed the situation but not enough to make it clear if the tour to Australia is on or not.In April it was heavy rains and brilliant sunshine, and September was certainly one to remember, but 2004 will go down in memory like the hurricane season, full of extremes.Top performers:Chris Gayle dominated matches with powerful strokes and exciting batting, while his bowling was tidy and effective, making him a thrilling and consistent performer.Ramnaresh Sarwan has tempered some of his recklessness and is playing with more consistency and class, carrying responsibility with more aplomb and ease.

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Kent batsman David Fulton took his season’s tally to 1,892 runs to boost his side’s third-day fightback against Division One strugglers Northamptonshire in Canterbury.The 29-year-old Kent opener hit his ninth century of a prolific summer and was just four short of his second double ton when his six-hour stay came to an end to possibly the worst ball he had faced.Attempting to flat-bat a wide, short ball from Michael Strong he could only pick out Graeme Swann at cover point who claimed a good low catch to send Fulton on his way.Fulton’s demise also ended a Kent record sixth-wicket stand worth 219 in 74 overs with Mark Ealham, who went on to score a 264-ball century – his first in Canterbury since 1997 – to finish unbeaten on 109.Together the pair had wiped out Northamptonshire’s first innings lead of 249 and helped the hosts to relative riches in reaching 463 for six at the close for an overall lead of 214.With nine centuries to his name, Fulton is now aiming to become the first Kent bat since Frank Woolley to hit 10 in a summer.Any dampness in the pitch that enabled Northamptonshire to dismiss the hosts for 108 in the opening session of the game, has long since disappeared and Northamptonshire’s bland attack struggled to prevent Kent’s comeback.John Blain took his match tally to nine with the wicket of Matthew Walker in the seventh over of the day, while Strong sent back Paul Nixon just before lunch, but the visitors were thwarted throughout the mid-session when Fulton and Ealham dug in.

Orissa, served well by most of their top order batsmen, were in a position of considerable strength at stumps on the second day of their East Zone Ranji Trophy league match against Assam at the Tinsukia District Sports Association stadium on Friday. Replying to Assam’s first innings total of 167, Orissa were 302 for seven off 77.2 overs at stumps.The second day’s play started only at 12.25 pm due to the wet condition of the pitch following overnight rain. Resuming at 99 for two, Orissa enjoyed a fruitful day. First, RR Parida (75) and Sanjay Satpathy (41) added 75 runs for the third wicket off 16 overs. Veteran left arm spinner Sunil Subramaniam broke the stand by having Satpathy leg before. Satpathy faced just 39 ballsand hit six fours. Parida fell a little later. He faced 151 balls and hit six fours and a six. Mullick (5) did not last long and suddenly Orissa had slumped to 198 for five.However, Sanjay Roul (45) and P Jaychandra (13) initiated a recovery process by adding 37 runs for the sixth wicket off 12 overs. Roul, who made a valuable 45, was seventh out at 264. He faced 66 balls and hit five boundaries. The rest of the day belonged to Gautam Gopal who cracked an unbeaten 53 off just 36 balls with nine fours and two sixes. He dominated an unbroken eighth wicket partnership of 38 runs off 8.1 overs with Debasish Mohanty (7) to push the Orissa score past the 300 mark by close. Ganesh Kumar was the pick of the bowlers with three for 64 off 17 overs while Subramaniam picked up two for 90 off 18 overs.

Matt Finnigan of Ladbrokes previews the NatWest Triangular One-Day series between England, Australia and Pakistan.If the one-day series proves to be as exciting as the two Tests between England and Pakistan, we are in for a real treat. At lunch on Monday, Ladbrokes priced the Test match at 9/4 England, 8/15 the draw and 5/1 for a Pakistan victory.Ladbrokes make current World Champions Australia favourites at 4/5 to win the series. I believe Steve Waugh’s team will win the series, but at 4/5 there is no value backing them.My advice would be an Australia series double (Triangular/Ashes) at just over 6/4 with LadbrokesThe series curtain raiser is between England and Pakistan on Thursday at Edgbaston, and as with the Test series Ladbrokes cannot split the pair. They are both 5/6 to make a winning start.With a number of England batsman already amongst the runs this summer, top bat for the first one-day game poses many questions. An obvious choice would be Graham Thorpe and Michael Vaughan after they made impressive hundreds in the second Test. However Marcus Trescothick was outstanding last summer in the One-Day Internationals and at 4/1 could well be worth a flutter.My advice is Marcus Trescothick to be England top bat at 4/1 for the first one-day internationalLadbrokes have also released series specials on top run scorer and top wicket-taker.If Marcus Trescothick gets off to a flyer on Thursday there could be no stopping him and at 9/1 he represents very good value. As always Australia have a strong batting line up, and as they are most likely to reach the final it may be worth siding with one of their batsman.My advice is Mark Waugh to be top series run scorer at 5/1Choosing a bowler to be top wicket-taker can be a bit of a lottery, as many wickets can tumble if the team chasing a total needs to up the run rate. With this in mind, considerations should be made on bowler that bowls well with both new & the old ball.My advice is Wasim Akram to be top wicket-taker at 10/1Click on the logo below to place your bet, and to claim a free bet of up to £20 for new users.

Usman Afzaal advanced his claims for a place in the Third Test at Trent Bridge next week with a century as he and John Morris slaughtered the Derbyshire bowling.Afzaal, who played in the First Test at Edgbaston, made 138 and shared a stand of 316 in 63 overs with Morris who followed his decision to retire at the end of the season with a brilliant hundred.It was the 51st of his first-class career and the second against Derbyshire, the county he played for from 1982-93.Derbyshire could not contain him on a flat pitch and he and Afzaal raced along at five an over as the temperatures rose into the eighties.They came together just before lunch and were not parted until deep into the final session when Afzaal pulled Rob Bailey’s gentle off-spin into the hands of mid-wicket.Afzaal had earlier offered two hard chances but Morris did not put a foot wrong as he cruised to his hundred which came off 116 balls and contained 14 fours and two sixes.A third six, driven over long on off Bailey, brought up his 150, easily his best score for Nottinghamshire, and he advanced to 170 before he was run out by Dominic Cork’s throw from mid on.The 37-year-old had batted for 248 minutes, hitting 22 fours and three sixes in an innings which earned him a standing ovation and put the visitors in complete control of the game.Although Kevin Pietersen was lbw without scoring shortly before Morris was dismissed, Nottinghamshire were 478-6 at the close.

A fighting 70 by P Patel helped Saurashtra come good in their secondinnings and salvage a draw against Gujarat in their West Zone LeagueUnder-14 tournament match at the Gujarat Stadium in Ahmedabad on Monday.Opting to bat on the opening day on Saturday, Gujarat amassed 357 runs, thehighlights being that three batsmen got into the eighties. Opener S Patel(89) was the first significant contributor. He shared a opening stand of 59runs with A Padhya (13) and then a second wicket stand of 66 runs ensuedbetween S Patel and M Patel. The second batsman to be dismissed in theeighties was F Guard (87). He put on 124 runs for the fifth wicket with TBrahmbhatt (86). Thereafter none of the other batsmen made any substantialcontributions and the innings folded up in the 121st over.Saurashtra’s response was a disaster as Guard (4 for 51) and Sunny Patel (3for 13) ran through the side. The topscorer in the total of 143 was P Patelwith 34 runs to his credit. Saurashtra followed on, 214 runs behind. On thefinal day, however they put up a gallant fight even after losing an earlywicket, that of S Jackson (0) trapped leg before by S Patel in the first over.Then the other opener K Makwana (53) was joined by V Rajan (61) andtogether they took the score to 101. After their dismissals, P Patel (70not out) and R Dave (35) took the score along to 192. But it was P Patelwho saved the day for Saurashtra as he remained unbeaten at the end whilesharing an unbeaten 63 run stand for the fifth wicket with P Parmer (21 notout). During his 179-minute stay at the crease, Patel faced 159 balls andhit eight boundaries as Saurashtra closed at 255 for four wickets.

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‘Live for moments like these’ – Standford

USA’s best bowling and fielding performance of the tournament was followed by a match-winning 66-run partnership between Man of the Match Nicholas Standford and Alex Amsterdam as they blew past Hong Kong by seven wickets at Clontarf.Three run-outs and and a game-changing spell from medium pacer Japen Patel restricted Hong Kong to 125 for 7. Then USA’s batsmen were able to polish off the game with 11 balls to spare.For Hong Kong though, the defeat brought back memories of their inept show in their tournament opener against Jersey. And it would hurt them even more considering they defended 129 against Ireland only yesterday.They had the chance to pierce through USA’s shaky middle order with the score on 37 for 2 in the chase. Akeem Dodson had been run out following a calamitous mix up with his opening partner Fahad Babar while Japen Patel’s dangerous cameo was cut short at 17 off nine balls. But errors in the field put paid to hopes of a fightback.USA had made only two runs off the bat in the first 10 balls after Japen’s wicket when Amsterdam, who was yet to score, lofted seamer Tanwir Afzal to 17-year old debutant Giacomo Lamplough at long-on. But the simple waist-high chance was spilled and Amsterdam went on to make an unbeaten 43. Amsterdam should have been out on 9 in the tenth over as well but Kinchit Shah misjudged a catch on the cover boundary off Anshuman Rath and the ball wound up going over his head, landed just inside the rope and bounced away for four.Hong Kong bucked up as seamer Irfan Ahmed trapped Babar lbw for 15 off 26. USA might have felt a touch nervous at 62 for 3 in the 11th over, considering their history of middle-order collapses. But Standford took charge and finished that 11th over off with a monstrous six over the sightscreen. Irfan, who had been the catalyst for Hong Kong’s victory over Ireland with 3 for 11, came in for some heavy punishment from Standford and finished with 1 for 33 in 3.1 overs.With 32 needed off five overs, Hong Kong took a punt and asked Mark Chapman to bowl his first over of the tournament and it nearly worked. Standford, on 16, punched Chapman’s left-arm spin but the bowler wasn’t able to hold onto a tough overhead catch.Alex Amsterdam contributed to USA’s chase with an unbeaten 43•ICC/Sportsfile

Amsterdam was on 41 at the time and Standford caught up with three big blows in the next over. Irfan, who was the bowler, conceded a pair of sixes over long on and then a pulled four through square leg. Standford smashed another four over the leg side off the first ball of the 19th over from Irfan to clinch victory and finished with 40 not out in 25 balls.The platform for victory though was set up by USA’s seamers who kept Hong Kong’s batting in check. Captain Muhammad Ghous, who had opted to bowl after winning the toss, opened with a maiden and got the initial breakthrough in the third over. It might have been a lucky one; he trapped the left-handed Rath lbw while darting in his offspin over the wicket. But the batsman did shuffle across his stumps and was looking to flick behind square.Left-arm seamer Naseer Jamali bowled a tight three-over spell in the Powerplay and conceded only 12 runs but Ghous was hit out of the attack by Irfan and Nizakat Khan. They swept and flicked a pair of fours before turning their attention to the off side. A cover drive raced to the boundary and took the score to 23 for 1 after five overs.Nizakat fell to seamer Adil Bhatti’s first ball, in the seveth over, as a flat-footed swish outside off took the edge and was well taken by wicketkeeper Dodson diving to his right.Irfan was then run out by the bowler Hammad Shahid after a miscommunication with Chapman to end the tenth over with Hong Kong at 54 for 3. Hong Kong increased that tally by 29 runs to be 83 for 3 after 14 overs. Though the run-rate wasn’t great, they had wickets in hand.That’s when Japen struck. He responded to being smacked to the point boundary by Chapman by dismissing the batsman the very next ball. Cramped for room, the glide to third man found the keeper’s gloves instead. In his next over, Japen went full and straight to beat Babar Hayat’s slog, and picked up one more in the 19th when Tanwir’s hoick was skied to Timil Patel at point.That was the first of four wickets off the final nine balls for Hong Kong. An alert Dodson denied a leg bye and ran Aizaz Khan out. Then Timil induced a mistimed drive from Haseeb Amjad to long-off, where Naseer Jamali took a good, running catch. Jamie Atkinson, the top-scorer with 34, was run-out off the final ball and USA went into the innings break with a spring in their step.Now for USA to reach the playoffs, they must beat Papua New Guinea on Sunday and have two other results go in their favor. Ireland must beat Jersey and Namibia has to beat Hong Kong to put USA on six points to Hong Kong’s five and Jersey’s four while Nepal has already been eliminated from contention for a top-four spot by finishing on three points.

Jerome Jayaratne, Sri Lanka Cricket’s head of coaching, has been appointed interim head coach of the Sri Lanka team for the upcoming home series against West Indies. Jayaratne’s appointment came four days after Marvan Atapattu had resigned as the national team coach.Jayaratne was appointed SLC’s head of coaching in 2008, a role that did not extend to the national team coached at the time by Trevor Bayliss. Jayaratne has coaching certificates from Cricket Australia and the ECB, and previously held the posts of manager-coaching as well as coach of the SLC academy squad. He also played 22 first-class matches between 1990-91 and 1995-96.Atapattu had quit after Sri Lanka lost Test series to Pakistan and India, only the second time they have lost two home series in a year. He had officially held the position since September last year, but had effectively been head coach since April 2014, after Paul Farbrace’s departure. Before that, Atapattu had worked as batting coach of the team since 2011.

Despite the loss of a wicket close to stumps, Western Australia remains well and truly in control of its first-class match against the West Indies at the end of day one at the WACA ground in Perth.The Warriors, having earlier ended the visitors’ innings at a score of 132, will head into the second day trailing by just twenty-two runs with eight wickets still in hand, with Test batsman Justin Langer (40*) and nightwatchman Matthew Nicholson (0*) at the helm.After a woeful batting performance marred their opening first-class match of their new Australian tour, the West Indian bowlers did well to capture the scalp of the dangerous Adam Gilchrist just nine overs into the home team’s innings.It was a good start from the visitors, who had minutes before suffered a huge blow with the news that Kerry Jeremy had sustained a broken jaw while batting and might need to be sent home. To their credit, they were able to get some of their own back when they had the Warriors’ keeper caught behind off Mervyn Dillon. Gilchrist, who had taken five catches during the West Indian innings, was dismissed for 14 off twenty balls.Despite the fiery nature of the WACA wicket, the tourists found it hard to break through Western Australia’s batting. Mike Hussey (41) and Langer forged a solid partnership of seventy-six, before the opener was brilliantly caught down the leg side by wicketkeeper Courtney Browne off the bowling of Marlon Black. The dismissal was particularly satisfying for the bowler, who had been struck for four through gully only three balls before.Black proved to be the most efficient of the West Indian bowlers, returning figures of 1/26 off his eleven overs. The other wicket taker, Dillon, finished with 1/33 off ten overs, while Colin Stuart was the most expensive, conceding thirty-four runs from his six overs.Earlier in the day, the West Indian batsmen had been given what might well shape as a taste of things to come when they were reduced to 4/18 at one stage on their way to their paltry total.But for the resistance offered by their last three batsmen – Jeremy (who retired hurt on 7 when a dogged eighty-five minute stay was ended by a nasty bouncer from speedster Nicholson), Black (11 in thirty-eight minutes) and Stuart (15 in thirty-two minutes), the tourists would not have even avoided the ignominy of being bowled out for less than 100. They must surely be hoping that the addition of Brian Lara to the lineup will add the much needed respectability by the time that the first Test begins in Brisbane a fortnight from now.For the moment, they will just hope to bowl as best as they can and try to limit Western Australia to a manageable total and provided a platform from which their batsman can make a more positive fist of things at some time on Saturday.

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Pankaj Singh grabbed four wickets as Central Zone shot out England Lions for 155 and gained a healthy 115-run first-innings lead. Central, though, lost two wickets in the seven overs they had to face before stumps on the second day in Vadodara.In the morning session, Central, resuming from 238 for 7, could only add 32 runs to their first-innings effort before being bowled out. Alan Richardson, the right-arm medium pacer, took two more wickets to be the Lions’ most successful bowler with four wickets.The Lions’ batting effort got off to a poor start with Joe Denly, winner of the NBC Denis Compton award for four successive years at Kent, falling to Pankaj, who was part of the Indian squad that toured Australia recently, in the first over. Michael Yardy, the Lions’ captain, was Pankaj’s next victim, managing only 5. After some brief resistance, both Michael Carberry and Ed Joyce fell in quick succession to leave the Lions at 66 for 4.Uttar Pradesh’s left-arm spinner Praveen Gupta ably assisted Pankaj as the Lions were unable to put together any partnerships of note, tumbling to 120 for 8. It was thanks to No. 7 Adil Rashid’s 40 that the visitors managed to post their modest score – their innings ending when Sanjib Sanyal struck twice in the same over. Pankaj finished with 4 for 43 while Gupta had returns of 3 for 32 in 23 overs.