Pacing an innings

The innings started with Michael Holding stating that the Sabina Park wicket is a beauty to bat on. Inzi won the toss and elected to field as he expected some help for his bowlers early on. Lara was of the opinion that the wicket may slow down later in the day and the slower bowlers will come to play.

A wicket for everyone- so to speak !!!

Here is the breakdown of the West Indies innings on a 5 over basis which illustrates the stop-start-stop nature of the West Indies innings.

5 overs 22/1
10 overs 40/1 18/0
15 overs 54/1 14/0
20 overs 69/2 15/1
25 overs 77/3 8/1
30 overs 101/3 24/0
35 overs 137/3 36/0
40 overs 156/3 19/0
45 overs 184/6 28/3
50 overs 241/9 57/3

(23*4, 7*6) 134 runs of the 241 in 4s and 6s!!!

Except for the slog at the end, the West Indies were not really able to stamp their authority on the game- even with wickets in hand. And the slog might have not come about if Inzi had not brought his quicker men on- but that is a matter of conjecture.

Looking at the Windies batting card- lots of double figures, but no one really going on to make a big big score.5 scores between 15 and 50 and one score above 50 but less than 100 tells its own story.

One thing that impressed me was that when Marlon Samuels was going hell for leather ( a calculated ploy if there was one), Inzi surprisingly did not do the sub continental thing and push his field back. Nice!!!

Another was the Brian Lara late late cut to score his first boundary - off Danish Kaneria. I cant stop gushing about it. My first reaction was that the ball had come off the handle of the bat - so late it was played. A thing of beauty!!!

BTW, I did not notice a ball change for discoloration during the course of the innings- maybe I missed it, but if there was no ball change- that is interesting!!!

Coming back to the Windies innings, I cannot but think back to the Indian innings against the Netherlands- the pattern is eerily similar.

So- 242 to win for Pakistan in 50 overs- should make for an interesting chase.