ICC 2005 Super Challenge - Part Duex

[Noble One]

Do it for Lara

After the unsuccessful attempt by all challengers to take Bangladesh to the 2007 World Cup Final, the difficulty has been lowered. Can you take charge of the West Indies and bring home the World Cup for Brian Lara at home in the Caribbean?

Anyone who owns a copy of ICC2005 is free to join the challenge, and we will play up to the end of the 2007 World Cup in West Indies. No ultimate goal is currently planned, other than to prove yourself an able 'Cricket Captain' by guiding West Indies over the next two years and potentially achieving World Cup glory. After the failure by all who attempted the initial ICC Super Challenge, you may be the inaugural winner of this prestigious competition.

Normal difficulty level applies. To increase the challenge for those who like to play fair, please only use existing West Indies players (i.e no regens).

Please feel free to provide an update on the progress of West Indies at the conclusion of each tour.

 

[_Ed_]

This should be a good challenge.

My slightly controversial first squad:

C Gayle
M Ventura
K Arjune
V Browne
B Lara
S Chanderpaul
R Sarwan
C Baugh
R Hinds
D Bravo
C Tuckett
R Cunningham
D Mais
I Bradshaw
K Jeremy

 

[Noble One]

Interesting selection to pick Ventura.

I'm planning to approach this challenge from a different angle to the Bangladesh attempt. My idea is to devote all my training slots to technique training for the best West Indies talent of a trainable age. Long term view that World Cup victory is the only goal. I will likely auto-simulate Test matches and only play the ODI's (to work out decent tactics for the World Cup).

Sifting through the players I want to retain currently. Batting depth is terrible. Hoping Lara will stick around until 2007.

 

[Somerset]

Played the Pakistan series tonight. Went with a fairly conventional squad without any bolters, just to get an idea of how the main players are performing. ODI series went well, 2-1 win with the loss by just one wicket. Lost both tests but really should've won the first one - we had a 249 run first innings lead. Devon Smith then played one of the more bizarre innings in the second test, reaching 55 without scoring a boundary.

 

[_Ed_]

That's an impressive start!

I will likely auto-simulate Test matches and only play the ODI's (to work out decent tactics for the World Cup).

That's a good idea. I might do the same actually.

 

[Howe_zat]

Will be just spectating for this one fellas, I've never really got the hang of ODIs. will be happy to join in a test challenge next time though. Best of luck.

 

[Noble One]

Placing high hopes that the following group will be ready in 2007:

1. Gayle
2. Graham *
3. Lara
4. Chanderpaul
5. Sarwan
6. Hinds *
7. Baugh
8. Bravo *
9. Benn *
10. Jaggernauth *
11. Taylor *

Fudadin *
Richards *
Jeremy
Cunningham

Players with a * are receiving technique training. Taking a gamble on who I think are the best bunch of West Indies youth.

I have reached the tour of New Zealand. Results have been absymal as expected, but I like the look of a couple of youngsters. Full update to follow when I get the time.

 

[Somerset]

How have you found Bravo so far, Noble One? I was expecting him to dominate but he didn't take a wicket in the 3 ODIs and 1st Test against Pakistan and his batting was hardly worthy of a place on its own. The rest of the big names, besides Bravo, stepped up for the most part in my first series.

 

[Noble One]

Season One Summary

Pakistan in West Indies

Pakistan win the ODI series 2-1

1st ODI
Pakistan: 5/257 (Hinds 2/74, Bravo 1/42)
West Indies: 9/233: (Sarwan 94, Chanderpaul 52)

Pakistan won by 24 runs

2nd ODI
Pakistan: 9/207 (Hinds 3/45, Taylor 3/56)
West Indies: 204 (Graham 51, Lara 51)

Pakistan won by 3 runs

3rd ODI
West Indies: 7/208 (Graham 71, Gayle 60)
Pakistan: 201 (Jeremy 3/53, Bravo 2/28)

West Indies won by 7 runs

Comments
Pleased with the start of my West Indies career. As already mentioned, my aim over the next two years is to focus on training up the 'best' of the West Indies younger players and hope they are peaking by 2007. Some of the younger players impressed, I like the look of Graham who has a Very Attacking mentality.

Test series tied at 1-1.

Comments
Simmed both games, not concerned about results.

West Indies in Sri Lanka

Test series won by Sri Lanka 2-0

Sri Lanka beat India in final of ODI Tournament

1st ODI v India
West Indies: 7/237 (Baugh 62, Graham 40)
India: 2/238 (Benn 1/58, Hinds 1/40)

India won by 8 wickets

2nd ODI v Sri Lanka
West Indies: 8/213 (Lara 80, Graham 44)
Sri Lanka: 6/214 (Hinds 2/30, Bravo 3/54)

Sri Lanka won by 4 wickets

3rd ODI v India
India: 4/255 (Bravo 1/30, Benn 1/55)
West Indies: 122 (Graham 29, Chanderpaul 18)

India won by 133 runs

4th ODI v Sri Lanka
West Indies: 5/177 (Lara 89, Hinds 57)
Sri Lanka: 2/178 (Bravo 1/23, Hinds 0/26)

Sri Lanka won by 8 wickets

Comments
A terrible showing in the tri-series. Dominated in every game and suffered from massive struggles with both bat and ball. I'm starting to see the impact of not placing any players on form training. The majority of my squad played out the entire series on 0 stars, even Don Bradman would struggle to score runs with that little form.

West Indies tour of Australia

Australia win Test series 2-1

West Indies progress through ODI tri-series and defeated 3-0 in final by South Africa.

1st ODI v Australia
West Indies: 6/200 (Lara 54, Richards 54)
Australia: 170 (Taylor 4/26, Jaggernauth 2/24)

West Indies won by 30 runs

2nd ODI v South Africa
South Africa 8/199: (Bravo 3/34, Taylor 2/41)
West Indies 2/203: Fudadin 51, Lara 87)

West Indies by 8 wickets

3rd ODI v Australia
Australia 9/208: (Bravo 4/45, Taylor 3/32)
West Indies 6/209 (Chanderpaul 61, Hinds 41)

West Indies by 4 wickets

4th ODI v South Africa
South Africa 5/292: (Gayle 2/42, Benn 1/38)
West Indies 9/247: (Jaggernauth 47, Chanderpaul 43)

South Africa won by 45 runs

5th ODI v Australia
Australia 9/225 (Bravo 3/32, Hinds 3/49)
West Indies 6/226 (Lara 57, Hinds 51)

West Indies won by 4 wickets

6th ODI v South Africa
South Africa 6/219 (Hinds 2/42, Taylor 1/31)
West Indies 5/208 (Lara 62, Graham 57)

South Africa by 11 runs

1st ODI Final v South Africa
West Indies 6/208 (Chanderpaul 74, Graham 37)
South Africa 2/212 (Benn 1/62, Jaggernauth 1/50)

South Africa won by 8 wickets

2nd ODI Final v South Africa
West Indies 7/225 (Gayle 57, Lara 67)
South Africa 1/226 (Bravo 1/37, Hinds 0/43)

South Africa won by 9 wickets

3rd ODI Final v South Africa
South Africa 6/253 (Hinds 2/33, Benn 2/55)
West Indies 4/250 (Fudadin 117, Graham 69)

South Africa won by 3 runs

Comments
A very good series that was spoiled by two poor showings in the final against South Africa. Defeating Australia in all three ODI's was a massive achievement. Fudadin is the massive find from this tournament. He has been a member of every squad thus far, and I'm hoping that the intense technique training has made him into a decent batsman.

West Indies tour of New Zealand

New Zealand win the Test series 2-0

New Zealand win the ODI series 3-0

1st ODI
New Zealand 5/260 (Taylor 2/38, Hinds 2/66)
West Indies 213 (Chanderpaul 74, Gayle 31)

New Zealand won by 47 runs

2nd ODI
West Indies 9/201 (Lara 34, Bravo 34)
New Zealand 4/203 (Cunningham 2/37, Jaggernauth 2/31)

New Zealand by 6 wickets

3rd ODI
West Indies 9/223 (Fudadin 85, Lara 49)
New Zealand 9/225 (Emrit 3/39, Hinds 3/52)

New Zealand by 1 wicket

Comments
A terrible series and a real backwards step. The likes of Chanderpaul, Gayle and Sarwan need to step up. Placing this result down to no players with form. Auto-simming the Test series and not training players has a massive impact on form.

India tour of West Indies

India win Test series 3-0

West Indies win ODI series 2-1

1st ODI
India 9/207 (Hinds 3/55, Bravo 3/45)
West Indies 9/192 (Fudadin 70, Graham 32)

India by 15 runs

2nd ODI
India 7/215 (Bravo 2/43, Jaggernauth 2/38)
West Indies 4/217 (Lara 101, Graham 36)

West Indies won by 6 wickets

3rd ODI
India 7/268 (Taylor 3/59, Hinds 3/52)
West Indies 8/269 (Chanderpaul 87, Graham 47)

West Indies won by 2 wickets

Comments
Nice to finish the season with an ODI series victory.

Season End

ODI Stats - Batting
Lara 951 runs @ 50.05
Fudadin 460 runs @ 41.82
Chanderpaul 647 runs @ 40.44
Graham 643 runs @ 29.23
Bravo 312 runs @ 28.36
Gayle 275 runs @ 22.92
Richards 204 runs @ 20.40
Hinds 314 runs @ 18.47
Sarwan 107 runs @ 17.83
Baugh 235 runs @ 14.69

ODI Stats - Bowling
Bravo 31 wickets @ 28.74 (ER 4.42)
Taylor 27 wickets @ 29.18 (ER 4.93)
Hinds 32 wickets @31.62 (ER 4.65)
Benn 12 wickets @ 62.83 (ER 4.46)
Jaggernauth 9 wickets @ 87.78 (ER 4.22)
Cunningham 5 wickets @ 38.60 (ER 4.82)
Jeremy 6 wickets @ 33.50 (ER 4.39)

Tests
Everyone was garbage, Lara scored 874 runs @ 43.70. Bravo lead the wicket takers with 62 @ 30.02.

Looking ahead
I like the base of this squad, and it is going to be a challenge to take them to a World Cup. I am using the same tactic as with Bangladesh. Bowl first, if lucky Bravo and Taylor can take early wickets and then apply the choke with the spinners. If I can restrict the batting team to 200 then we should win, anything beyond 220 becomes a struggle.

Not going to change anything next season. Will continue to simulate the Tests, place technique training on the same eight players, and hope to see some improvement in ODI results come the end of Season 2.

 

[Noble One]

How have you found Bravo so far, Noble One? I was expecting him to dominate but he didn't take a wicket in the 3 ODIs and 1st Test against Pakistan and his batting was hardly worthy of a place on its own. The rest of the big names, besides Bravo, stepped up for the most part in my first series.

Bravo has been awesome with the ball and useful with the bat.

My experience with Bravo in ICC2005 fluctuates. In one of my other saves, Bravo has played over 150 Tests and has a decent bowling average in the low 30's and a batting average in the mid 20's. In another save, Bravo averages low 40's with the ball, and bats in the high teens.

 

[_Ed_]

Pakistan ODI series:

1st ODI
West Indies 149 (Baugh 53, Lara 27)
Pakistan 150-3 (Hinds 2-36, Bravo 1-30)
Pakistan won by 7 wickets


2nd ODI
West Indies 277-6 (Lara 122*, Gayle 49)
Pakistan 241 (Bravo 3-58, Hinds 2-46)
West Indies won by 36 runs


3rd ODI
West Indies 257-8 (Lara 63, Sarwan 44)
Pakistan 257-5 (Bravo 2-43, Hinds 1-30)
Tie (Pakistan apparently win on wickets remaining)


I'm happy with that start - I'm calling it a 1-1 series (that 3rd ODI was a tie, damn it! None of this wickets remaining nonsense in bilateral series). The 1st ODI was a disaster, but it was good from then on after Lara smashed us back into the series. Hero.


THE BOLTERS:
M Ventura - 18, 26, 4
V Browne - DNP, 13, 41
K Arjune - DNP, DNP, DNP
D Mais - DNP, DNP, 0-39
R Cunningham - 0-22, 2-54, 1-56

 

[Somerset]

2-0 loss to Sri Lanka in the test series (although Ryan Hinds took 8 wickets in an innings), and just one win from the four tri-series matches (against SL). Batting's strong enough but having real problems on the bowling front, even with 3 spinners (Cunningham, Hinds and Mohammad) in helpful conditions.

 

[Noble One]

Somerset, I see you are using Tino Best. Have you had much success with him?

I am currently relying upon the pace pairing of Bravo and Taylor. They complement each other well, and Taylor is capable of taking two or three quick wickets at the start of the ODI.

 

[Somerset]

Best has been the best of the pace bowlers I've tried, hes a little expensive but was very good at taking wickets in the Pakistan ODIs so I've stuck with him. Taylor's been terrible for me so far and I also tried Jeremy who was economical but not threatening.

 

[Noble One]

I have Jeremy as my first choice backup seamer. Very economical, but not enough wicket taking ability to displace Taylor.

Jeremy ended up one of the worlds best bowlers in a previous ICC save.

 

[_Ed_]

An infuriating triangular tournament:


West Indies 220-4 (Browne 60*, Ventura 47)
India 221-1 (Hinds 1-43)
India won by 9 wickets


West Indies 267-9 (Lara 112, Ventura 44)
Sri Lanka 264-8 (Bravo 2-43, Bennett 2-46)
West Indies won by 3 runs


India 254-4 (Bravo 1-51, Cunningham 1-55)
West Indies 196 (Ventura 74, Bravo 39)
India won by 58 runs


West Indies 250-9 (Gayle 100, Sarwan 52)
Sri Lanka 250-7 (Jeremy 3-39, Bennett 2-55)
Sri Lanka got the points (wickets remaining)


West Indies 274-7 (Gayle 81, Sarwan 52*)
India 274-6 (Bennett 3-62, Jeremy 2-47)
India got the points (wickets remaining) (FFS! )


Missed out on the final. Would have got through if I'd won those two ties, or even if the game split the points for them. Pretty angry, tbh.

But there were some positives - Lara and Gayle were awesome, Ventura's starting to come good, and Bennett looks promising.

 

[Noble One]

Decent effort in the tri-series Ed. What do Ventura's statistics look like at this point? He looks such an interesting choice, terrible first class record, brilliant ODD record, and a decent 2nd XI record.

 

[_Ed_]

Yeah it was his 2nd XI record that really clinched it for me. Here are his stats so far.

 

[Somerset]

Wow, three ties in a season Ed! Always hated the "win/loss on wickets remaining" rule that ICC uses.

 

[Noble One]

Season Two Summary

Zimbabwe in West Indies

West Indies win the Test series 3-0

West Indies win the ODI series 3-2

1st ODI

West Indies 5/225 (Hinds 77, Lara 75)
Zimbabwe 4/226 (Jaggernauth 2/39, Hinds 2/44)

Zimbabwe won by 6 wickets

2nd ODI
Zimbabwe 183 (Taylor 3/60, Hinds 3/39)
West Indies 2/184 (Lara 99, Chanderpaul 44)

West Indies won by 8 wickets

3rd ODI
Zimbabwe 116 (Hinds 4/18, Benn 4/23)
West Indies 1/118 (Fudadin 53, Gayle 46)

West Indies won by 9 wickets

4th ODI
West Indies 5/257 (Lara 108, Graham 65)
Zimbabwe 7/259 (Hinds 3/40, Benn 2/52)

Zimbabwe won by 3 wickets

5th ODI
West Indies 7/246 (Lara 71, Gayle 49)
Zimbabwe 211 (Hinds 3/41, Taylor 2/24)

West Indies won by 35 runs

Comments
Pleased to win the series, but I was aiming for 5-0. The major disappointment was the lack of output by my younger players. I expected the likes of Graham, Fudadin, Jaggernauth and Richards to dominate. All struggled to make much of an impact.

West Indies in Pakistan

Pakistan win Test series 3-0

West Indies win ODI series 4-1

1st ODI
Pakistan 9/198 (Taylor 5/53, Benn 2/33)
West Indies 1/201 (Lara 93, Gayle 93)

West Indies won by 9 wickets

2nd ODI
Pakistan 7/215 (Bravo 4/36, Hinds 2/57)
West Indies 7/217 (Fudadin 42, Baugh 41)

West Indies won by 3 wickets

3rd ODI
Pakistan 6/298 (Bravo 2/56, Taylor 2/76)
West Indies 135 (Baugh 38, Gayle 32)

Pakistan won by 163 runs.

4th ODI
Pakistan 4/238 (Benn 1/39, Bravo 1/50)
West Indies 7/242 (Bravo 45, Graham 41)

West Indies won by 3 wickets

5th ODI
Pakistan 8/290 (Bravo 3/58, Hinds 2/50)
West Indies 5/292 (Gayle 104, Sarwan 104)

West Indies won by 5 wickets

Comments
My best ODI series win thus far. It was pleasing to see the team win from a variety of positions. Sarwan has made his first contribution under my captaincy, good timing as some of his younger replacements have been terrible.

Australia in West Indies

Australia win the Test series 2-1

West Indies win the ODI series 5-2

1st ODI
Australia 7/256 (Hinds 2/46, Bravo 2/43)
West Indies 87 (Hinds 28, Lara 23)

Australia won by 169 runs.

2nd ODI
Australia 9/166 (Taylor 2/36, Benn 2/37)
West Indies 1/167 (Lara 69, Graham 49)

West Indies won by 9 wickets

3rd ODI
Australia 8/164 (Taylor 2/29, Bravo 2/32)
West Indies 2/169 (Graham 77, Gayle 74)

West Indies won by 8 wickets

4th ODI
Australia 5/260 (Bravo 2/54, Hinds 1/50)
West Indies 5/261 (Gayle 90, Sarwan 90)

West Indies won by 5 wickets

5th ODI
Australia 7/219 (Benn 3/43, Hinds 2/40)
West Indies 3/223 (Hinds 90, Sarwan 79)

West Indies won by 7 wickets

6th ODI
West Indies 4/317 (Gayle 155, Graham 94)
Australia 6/318 (Jaggernauth 2/64, Ben 1/51)

Australia won by 4 wickets

7th ODI
Australia 8/213 (Taylor 3/54, Benn 2/40)
West Indies 1/214 (Gayle 87, Graham 93)

West Indies won by 9 wickets

Summary
5-2 over Australia is a brilliant end to the season. The West Indies batting was awesome throughout the ODI series.

Season Two Stats

Batting
Sarwan 278 runs @ 139
Gayle 1010 runs @ 72.14
Graham 547 runs @ 68.37
Baugh 189 runs @ 63
Lara 634 runs @ 42.27
Hinds 332 runs @ 33.20
Chanderpaul 112 runs @ 22.40
Fudadin 158 runs @ 19.75
Bravo 75 runs @ 18.75
Richards 25 runs @ 12.50

Bowling
Hinds 32 wickest @ 23.31 (ER 4.59)
Bravo 19 wickets @ 28.74 (ER 4.67)
Taylor 27 wickets @ 31.07 (ER 5.31)
Benn 23 wickets @ 32.48 (ER 4.39)
Jaggernauth 9 wickets @ 56.44 (ER 4.23)

Settled upon X of the first choice XI. The second spinners spot has yet to be decided. Jaggernauth continued the trend of being economical and lacking as an attacking threat. The other candidates in Cunningham and Ramnarine didn't perform much better. Interesting decisions to make, excited to see how this squad performs.

The World Cup now awaits....