Essex meek, SA squeak

What a day of cricketing contrasts! At Chelmsford, the Essex faithful witnessed one of the worst batting failures in modern history while in Cardiff, Duckworth-Lewis served up the cruellest of finishes for the West Indies and luckiest for South Africa.

The County Championship has produced mixed fortunes for Essex this season. When they were trounced by Northants earlier in the season, coach Paul Grayson humbly apologised. This evening the dressing room was in shock after Glen Chapple and Kyle Hogg ripped through the Eleven in barely an hour. Twenty all out is their lowest ever score in the competition and the lowest by anyone against Lancashire. In the days of black-and-white, a team might at least have had uncovered wickets as an excuse for such an appalling performance but the Chelmsford pitch was supposedly placid, the visitors having just racked up 398, with the aforementioned Chapple and Hogg each scoring half-centuries at the tail end!

Even more remarkable is that 75% of Essex's second innings came from boundaries, two of which were scored by Jaik Mickelburgh who came perilously close to carrying his bat for ten runs! Lancashire's innings victory takes them to second place and into strong contention for promotion. Essex remain in mid-table but their confidence must be zapped to pieces. Elsewhere in Division Two, Kyle Coetzer's career-best 219 was the cornerstone of Northants' massive score but rain helped Leicestershire survive. Hampshire accepted Gloucestershire's stiff final-day target of 411 after forfeited innings, but may have regretted it after falling almost 200 short.

In Division One, Yorkshire (easily) and Durham (in a nailbiting climax against Warwickshire) claimed their fourth wins of the campaign and occupy the top two slots, displacing Middlesex who were crushed by the White Roses.

So, back to Cardiff and that rain-truncated Group B game in the Champions Trophy. That there were enough hours between showers to have any real contest was a bonus but the way the game ended was remarkable. West Indies had already won the toss and put the Saffers in, but as Ingram, De Villiers, Miller et al stroked their way to 230-6 in the 31 allotted overs, it looked a difficult proposition. Buoyed by Dale Steyn's return to fitness, South Africa kept Johnson Charles fairly quiet although Chris Gayle had moved on to 36 before giving a leading edge catch off Morris. Samuels entertained for a while but, with the clouds amassing, most eyes were on the fluctuating D/L par score.

With Pollard and Dwayne Bravo at the crease, they were keeping pace until the former heaved at McLaren and was well caught at third man by Steyn. The clouds wept heavy drizzle and no sooner had Darren Sammy reached the middle the umpires waved everybody off. They were 190-6 and the D/L par score? 190! No further play was possible and so it ended a tie! With one point apiece, South Africa qualified for the semis on net run rate. Had Pollard not been out the previous ball the Windies would have won the game and AB's men would be on their way home. A tough way to go but big Kieron could not have predicted the imminent arrival of the rain.

So the Proteas squeak through, behind the Indians who are now guaranteed to play at Cardiff next Thursday. Glad I have that ticket! Who they play is anyone's guess. Sadly the weather forecasts for the weekend are dismal indeed, especially for the England v NZ clash. I'd say one of those two will win Group A, with Sri Lanka possibly joining them in the knockouts. India v Sri Lanka at Cardiff. That's a mouth-watering match if ever there was one.

What's Going On... with the West Indies?

This is a question which people have been asking for several years now. Especially by people - like me - who have been brought up on a diet of Calypso cricket for more than 20 years. Obviously the golden age of Lloyd, Richards, Holding, Marshall et al is long gone. Indeed, a whole generation has passed since Clive Lloyd retired and a barely credible 17 years since I heard on the radio that Brian Lara had scored 501 not out for Warwickshire.

Of course it is unfair to expect every young Bajan or Jamaican to stand up to the standard of past giants but there is nothing wrong with aspiring to be amongst the best in the world or at least in helping your team to compete with the top nations, whether it be in one-day or Test matches. Perhaps it is harder to expect the patriotism card to be played for West Indians than representatives of other cricketing citizens because the West Indies is not a country, just a loose federation of states like Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, Antigua and so on.

Perhaps the rot started to set in following the retirements of both Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose in 2000 and 2001. Lara carried the flag of world-class talent into the next decade but even by 2003, he was leading a side only eighth in the fledgling ICC Test rankings and sixth in the ODI table. Well, little has changed in the past eight years, as they now stand seventh and eighth, respectively. It has come to a sad state of affairs when to reach the World Cup last eight was seen as a success. Indeed, the Reliance ODI ranking points has them as far behind 7th place New Zealand as they are ahead of 10th placed Ireland - and their performances against Pakistan this week won't change anything.

Of course, a lot of the fault lies with competition for cricket in the Caribbean. Commentators have been bemoaning the rise in basketball there for years. The global (and financial) success of Jamaican athletes can't have helped. Sprinting's gain of Usain Bolt was to the detriment of cricket, as he was allegedly a fine junior player. However, the WI Board should never be allowed near firearms such is their tendency to shoot themselves in the foot. The 2007 World Cup was a fabulous opportunity to raise cricket's profile in the islands - just look at Bangladesh and Pakistan this winter - yet they got greedy and put sponsorship and high ticket prices ahead of developing popular support. Now they seem keen to get rid of the few players who can actually compete with the best in the world. Chris Gayle may not be the best role model, especially with his disdain for Test cricket, but he, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shiv Chanderpaul are still head and shoulders above the young guns, even if Chanderpaul is 36 and not the player he once was, especially in one-dayers.

The Bravo brothers are decent players, as is Darren Sammy, but they need some wise heads to guide them, both on and off the pitch. Kieron Pollard has a fearsome reputation in IPL as a huge hitter but, at only 23 years old, he has yet to play a single Test and even in T20 internationals, has a top score in 17 innings of only 38. His is a talent that should be nurtured for the good of all West Indians, not just the Mumbai Indians!

Andy Roberts is probably right to suggest those in charge should resign but who can take over and rebuild the side before another generation of potential cricket superstars is lost? The West Indies is not the only place where cricket and politics go hand in hand, and not for the greater good of the sport, but after a decade in the doldrums, Caribbean cricket needs a kick up the backside before it slips behind Ireland in those rankings and their players fade ever deeper in the long shadows of their illustrious forebears.