West Indies U20 - S52 and Beyond

[Jujoh]

Player ratings

Player of the tour
Vibart Warrington - Vibart's selection wasn't a given, but he stepped up in unfriendly conditions, both with the bat and the ball. He was our team MotM in the three games he played, with two threefors, a fifty and three catches. Warrington actually became league champion on fantasy points (38 ahead of no 2).
Stats:
Batting 3 inns, 1 no, 90 runs, 1 fifty, HS 64
Bowling 3 inns 7 wickets for 122 runs @17,43 and 4,36 RPO, 2 three wicket hauls.

Quality
Sam Panda 178 runs @59,33. Panda's U20 form is amazing and he kept it going during the tour with a lowest score of 46.
Bro Bartlett 147 runs @73,50. A late addition to the squad, Bartlett solidified his spot with two big fifties.
Roger Dervish 4 wickets @ 27,75. The pick of our seamers, and really the only one who showed some form.

Forgettable
Errol Bagot 24 runs in 3 inns was a horrible tour for one of the batsmen that will have to carry our T20 world cup hopes.
Ronald Walters 27 runs in 3 inns isn't much better, as Walters didn't get past 13.
Hilton Pearce 88 runs in 4 inns for Pearce, with a high score of 32, is not what we expected from our would-be best batsman. His average of 62 in friendlies is in stark contrast with 16 in tours.
Courtenay Birkett 0/176 in 3 games. Fast but not so furious, Birkett succumbed under pressure. His nickname Biscuit will be the fondest memory of this tour.
Edwin Lashley 1/153 in 3 games. A late addition to the squad after decent friendlies, Lashley showed signs of ability but in the end was toothless even in suitable conditions.

[Jujoh]

Graduation
After this tour, we say goodbye to the following players:
Batsmen
Oscar Graham
Ronald Walters
Hilton Pearce

Wicketkeepers
Hughley Marshall

Allrounders
Vibart Warrington

Bowlers

[Jujoh]

We are touring in Zimbabwe for U20 T20 div 2.

Batsmen
Bagot - time to perform!
Bartlett - two fifties in the previous tour make him one to watch
Panda - averaging over fifty in U20 ODs, but made a duck in the warmup T20
Michael - the man in incredible form: 737 runs @ 147 in YOD (4 100s, 4 50s and a low score of 44) and 274 @ 45 in YT20 this season
Casimir - solid in YODs, but can he do it in T20s?
Jaggernauth - got picked up by some UAE club for big bucks this week
Phillips - more spin please

Keepers
Ramgobin - the final tour for our primary keeper of the past season or so
Rowe - young gunnnnn

Allrounders
Alexander - dibbly dobbly hasn't taken a wicket since the end of May
Asgarali - half a million dollar man, going for another half a million tonight?

Bowlers
Bynoe - rawl talent
Birkett - don't leave biscuits in the rain, they'll go soft
Francis - he is now the pack leader
Dervish - big ole Rog is more of a T20 player
Beginner - yet to debut in the team, Turn that wrist around!
Benn - love to see a googly
Motie - T20 specialist

[Jujoh]

S58 T20 Tour recap
We went into the tour with a relatively spin heavy team, with our four best bowlers spinners. We were dealt a decent hand with the pitches, as two dry and two uneven pitches spread out across the week allowed us to play fresh bowlers every day without straying too far from the optimal balance.
In the end the tour could've gone every way, and it fell ours! Ups and downs and in the end we had slightly more ups than downs, which means we promote to Div 1 for next season. We've also qualified for the end of season World Cup.

Game 1 v Pakistan Sunny/dry
We won the toss and bowled. We managed to smother the Pakistani batters who never really got going. The seamers were taken for some, but the spinners were very tidy and took wickets, although the RR was their main feat. Out bats were solid and a hint of aggression from Casimir and Ramgobin was enough to get us home with 7 balls to spare.
Notable performances:
Asgarali 2/17 (MotM)
Motie 1/16
Casimir 35 (30)
Ramgobin 22 (10)

Game 2 v New Zealand Sunny/hard
We opted to bowl again, but the bowling wasn't tidy enough against Cullen Haggie (113 off 60) who started his tour with two fours off the first balls and went on to score over 300 runs in three innings. Biscuit Birkett took his first competitive international scalp after a shocking previous tour. He was the only bowler with a decent result, as all others went for over 11 an over in batting conditions. In our reply we played a solid innings but never got the turbo going as the books were closed at 202/7. Jaggernauth nearly got to a 2 runs-a-ball century .
Notable performances:
Birkett 1/28
Jaggernauth 95 (49)
Casimir 40 (26)

Game 3 v South Africa Cloudy/uneven
Another won toss and again we put in the opponents. This time, with conditions favouring our seamers were solid and kept SA to 123. They were helped by two runouts - only 4 wickets taken by the bowlers showed our lack of strike bowlers again. Birkett took another one though, and with only 15 runs against him he is getting into his stride and will be our strike bowler in the world cup. Roger Dervish took three vital wickets in the middle overs to limit SA's hitting potential. In tricky conditions we were never in a commanding position, but Bagot and Phillips played a solid good cop bad cop partnership to take us home in the final over, as they both reached their maiden international 50s.
Notable performances:
Dervish 3/25 (MotM)
Birkett 1/15
Bagot 51 (51)
Philips 50 (38)

Game 4 v Zimbabwe Cloudy/dry
Zimbabwe had looked a solid team in previous games. They lost narrowly to NZ who were now 3 from 3 and looking set for promotion. This looked like a must-win game to promote. In ambiguous conditions we went for two allrounders to bolster our batting. We were put in and after a golden duck for Michael, Panda and Bartlett took us to 61/1. Then they both succumbed as did others as we fell to 75/5 and failed to capitalise on our start. It didn't help that Zimbabwe managed to keep (bowler) Francis at the wicket at the death through a series of five great fielding checks. Still, we were in the game with 131 to win for Zim. They had a lot of bats chip in with runs, but Asgarali and Alexander kept us in the game through tidy bowling. In the end it was their 6th wicket pair that brought them home with a 42 run partnership as we didn't take the breakthrough wicket.
Notable performances:
Panda 33 (29)
Ramgobin 28 (21), 2c, 1st
Asgarali 12 (15) & 2/22
Alexander 0/15

Game 5 v Kenya Cloudy/uneven
We could back ourselves for this one and we had to. We could still promote or relegate if Pakistan won against Zimbabwe. Thanks to solid bowling and catching in the field we kept Kenya to 126. Francis was the pick of the bowlers with two wickets in the 18th and 15 against in four overs. As Pakistan had scored over 150 in the same conditions we had everything to play for. Our batting went good, then bad, then good and then bad again as Virgil Michael fell for a second consecutive duck. It left us at 62/4 with 65 to win off 11, Panda at 24 (10) seeing them as watermelons and Ramgobin in a bit earlier than hoped.

Panda opened the end game with a six, but then it swung back to Kenya. Panda managed just 5 off the next 15 balls, Ramgobin fell for 19 off 23, and we needed 34 off 4. Meanwhile Pakistan had dismissed Zimbabwe for 90 opening the possibility of passing Zimbabwe on NRR even with a close win.

Three fours by Panda in the next over swung the game back our way, then Alexander fell, Birkett and Panda scored a few, 17 off two required. Terrific fielding (3/3 checks) in the 19th over meant we had two runouts and just four runs off it, but Panda was on strike for the make or break final over. 13 required off 6 balls, 8 wickets down. Arap Choge (RFM Slower ball) to bowl.

Ball 1: Panda flicks it for a square leg boundary. 9 off 5 required
Ball 2: Slight mishit to midwicket, but they come back for 2. 7 off 4 required
Ball 3: Another attempt at a double, but Dervish can't make it home and goes for 0 off 0. No. 11 Bynoe on strike. 6 off 3 required
Ball 4: Bynoe slashes a wide ball for a 2. 4 off 2 required
Ball 5: Bynoe hits it back past the bowler, but he doesn't get it to the boundary. They run 2. 2 off 1 required.
Ball 6: Arap Choge attempts the Slower Ball to cause Bynoe to mistime, but it's just a bit too full and Bynoe creams it back past the bowler and into the sightscreen!


Notable performances:
Francis 2/15
Dervish 2/22
Bynoe 2/25 and 8(3)
Panda 59 (41) (MotM)
Ramgobin 19 (24) and 3c


A nailbiter to finish, which sees us promote with a negative NRR and Kenya relegate with a positive NRR. Had Bynoe been out on that final slower ball trigger, it would've been the other way around.

[Jujoh]

Player ratings

Player of the tour
One player was essential in all three games we won and that was Roger Dervish. He had solid returns with the ball (0/25 in unfriendly conditions, 3/25 MotM performance and 2/22 including a death over) and was the captain in the three games we won. Battingwise: he didn't face a ball, but managed to get out anyway!
Stats:
Batting 1 inns, 0 balls, 0 runs, 1 wicket!
Bowling 3 inns 5 wickets for 72 runs @14,40 and 6 RPO, 1 three wicket haul
One catch

Quality

Sam Panda 116runs @38,75. Kept us in the final game with an unbeaten 59 off 41 and was positive in the other innings. Panda remains our batting mainstay and will be so in the tour and WC to come.
Clement Ramgobin 85 runs @42,50, 5 catches and 1 stumping in 4 games. Ramgobin scored valuable runs down the order in every game he played and was solid with the gloves.
Courtenay Birkett 3 wickets for 70 (RR 5.83) in 3 games. He did play in suitable conditions, but showed a huge improvement in form and was at times unplayable.
Linden Asgarali 4 wickets for 88 in three games. He didn't have a great game on Hard, but delivered the goods on Dry twice.

Honorable mention
Jaggernauth, Bagot and Philips with 50s

Forgettable
Brian Alexander 5 runs in two innings and no wickets in three games.
Virgil Michael made some runs in his first two innings but got consecutive ducks afterwards
Vicary Beginner 88 runs against in two games

[Jujoh]

Graduation
After this tour, we say goodbye to the following players:
Batsmen
Joseph Phillips (3 games, 1 fifty)
Brian Jaggernauth (8 games, 2 fifties)

Wicketkeepers
Clement Ramgobin (10 games, 1 fifty, 11 dismissals)

Allrounders
Linden Asgarali (5 games, 5 wickets)

Bowlers
Rawl Bynoe (6 games, 6 wickets)
Roger Dervish (6 games, 9 wickets, 2 3fers)
Edwin Lashley (3 games, 1 wicket)

[berksowl]

Ramgobin the keeper is a big loss though Rowe is a great prospect.

[Jujoh]

S58 OD tour 2 recap
After the winless relegation in the previous tour, we found ourselves in div 3 with England, Kenya, Ireland, Pakistan and the USA. We took three spinners on tour although we would play hard, uneven and even. Our spinners (Bicknell, Motie and Benn) were looking a bit better than our seamers though. In the end, we won 3 games and lost to England and Kenya, the teams that promoted. We are probably on the edge of the top 10-12 and will need some success next season to play the WC.

Game 1 v Kenya Cloudy/hard
Our Boundary Hitters Bagot and Panda fell cheaply, but Casimir (95) and Gonsalves (87) played a solid innings. We were on track for a big score, but wickets fell regularly. In the end we only managed 270/9. That was never enough and Kenya made it in 43.1 overs for 3 wickets.
Notable performances:
Casimir 95 (95)
Gonsalves 87 (107)
Alexander 34 (32) & 1/60 (10)
Birkett 1/31 (7)

Game 2 v USA Windy/hard
We were put in again. This time our entire top order made scores, with the Boundary Boys each making 50. Virgil Michael scored a golden duck which is becoming something of a problem. Apparently he doesn't like playing in the middle order. Gilkes and Rowe both chipped in a fifty in their first competitive U20 innings. We made a record score of 383/8.
In reply we couldn't really take wickets, but we kept the run rate in check as USA reached 305. The exemption was Bicknell, who followed up a quick 45 with 2/47 to take the MotM award.
Notable performances:
Bagot 64 (56)
Bartlett 45 (48)
Panda 76 (50)
Gilkes 61 (65)
Rowe 51 (43) & 2 c
Bicknell 45 (28) & 2/47 (10) (MotM)
Benn 2/56 (10)

Game 3 v England Cloudy/even
Up against the league bullies (what were they doing in div 3?) and hosts England, we were going to have a hard time either way. Due to the imbalance in the selection and bad luck with conditions we played three spinners. Bowling first we actually managed to bowl England out in 45 overs, but their opening pair had put up 134 to give them a launching pad. Bicknell, Motie and Patoir picked up three wickets each. 298 was more than enough for the English, as we were bowled out for 214. The middle order was decent but only Gonsalves got past 40.
Notable performances:
Patoir 3/56 (8)
Bicknell 3/75 (10)
Motie 3/58 (9. & 13* (15)
Gonsalves 68 (75)
Busby 38 (52) & 3 st & 1c

Game 4 v Ireland Sunny/uneven
We had to win the final games to have a shot at promotion and for rating points. Ireland managed 251/6 thanks to no. 3 Delaney anchoring the innings with a not out ton. Medium pacer Alexander 2/38 was the pick of the bowlers while our second line FMs Evans and Patoir were a bit toothless. The boundary boys had been rested in the previous game and that paid off, as they raced to a record 173 partnership. Panda fell just short of his maiden ton, while Bagot was a bit more defensive and did reach his century. Casimir supported with 42 no to hand Bro Bartlett a Thank You For Coming award (no innings, no dismissals, no overs bowled).
Notable performances:
Alexander 2/38 (10)
Bagot 100* (130) (MotM)
Panda 99 (113)
Casimir 42* (36)

Game 5 v Pakistan Humid/uneven
We required a big win to promote but these were not the conditions to bat very aggressively. We had some well rested batsmen though, who delivered. Panda, Gonsalves and Busby all made scores, but the best was Gilkes with 94 off 96, not out. 259 turned out to be more than enough, but that was mostly thanks to Glen Francis. The best of our seamers for the past half season finished his U20 career with 6/17 off 7 - the second best figures for WI U20 ever. The 94 run wasn't enough to get our NRR past that of Kenya and Ireland though.
Notable performances:
Michael 49 (69)
Gilkes 94* (96)
Francis 6/17 (7) & 2c (MotM)
Patoir 2/24 (8)

[Jujoh]

Player ratings

Player of the tour
Our best batsman this season has been Sam Panda and he showed it again this tour. With two fifties and 214 runs in total he was our top run scorer. A pity he didn't reach his maiden ton, let's hope he does so in the T20 world cup. He ends his U20 OD career with a whopping 56 run average.
Stats:
Batting 4 innings, 214 runs @53,50
1 catch, 1 runout

Quality
Glen Francis - he was the best bowler accross this tour but that was mainly thanks to his amazing 6/18 performance in the final game. Nevertheless, 8 wickets @ 15,62 in three games is a great return for the leader of our attack.
Courtenay Birkett - he is an atypical fast bowler: better at keeping the runs down then taking wickets. He had a good tour with 3 wickets @37 in three games, with an economy rate of 4.3
Odwin Gonsalves - 195 runs in three innings with 2 fifties, Gonsalves has a full season in U20 ahead of him. After a mediocre start in the friendlies he has turned up this tour.
Herbert Gilkes - 184 runs in three innings with 2 fifties. Gilkes is another fresh bat that will feature for a while and showed the goods with a debut fifty.
Errol Bagot - a golden duck, a solid fifty and a not out century. Bagot showed himself to be a true opener.
Tommy Bicknell - an allround MotM winning performance v USA and a 3for against England.

Honorable mention
Casimir (95 and 42*), Rowe (fifty on debut), Busby (3 stumpings and a catch in one game), Motie and Patoir (3fors)

Forgettable
Gregory Evans - 2/124 in 20 overs - although he was decent in the field and with the bat, he did not look dangerous
Kamal Breese - 0/139 in 30 overs - nothing to note

[Jujoh]

Graduation
After this tour, we say goodbye to the following players:
Bowlers
Emelda Benn - RWS, 5 games, 7 wickets. Emelda had some bad luck with conditions but didn't make the impact we hope for from a wristy
Glen Francis - RFM, 13 games, 17 wickets. Francis featured in last season's world cup and has been our best quick on paper since. He delivered but made sure of a spot in our memory with a devastating 6/17 in his final U20 game.

[paulc]

Seems very quiet here but maybe someone can help me with what to do with this guy:

amsterdammer >> Anderson Nurse >> Details
Player Info
16y0w | 28,800 rating | $1,041 wage (5% discount)

Right hand batsman | Right arm Fast

Talents Skilled (Bowling)
Nationality West Indies West Indies
Form reasonable
Fatigue rested
Experience poor
Captaincy capable
Skills Summary
Batsman ordinary
Bowler ordinary
Keeper ordinary
Allrounder ordinary
Skills
Batting ordinary Endurance average
Bowling ordinary Technique average
Keeping reasonable Power reasonable
Fielding poor

Ignore the Keeping and go fast bowler?

[Bustergut]

Seems very quiet here but maybe someone can help me with what to do with this guy:

amsterdammer >> Anderson Nurse >> Details
Player Info
16y0w | 28,800 rating | $1,041 wage (5% discount)

Right hand batsman | Right arm Fast

Talents Skilled (Bowling)
Nationality West Indies West Indies
Form reasonable
Fatigue rested
Experience poor
Captaincy capable
Skills Summary
Batsman ordinary
Bowler ordinary
Keeper ordinary
Allrounder ordinary
Skills
Batting ordinary Endurance average
Bowling ordinary Technique average
Keeping reasonable Power reasonable
Fielding poor

Ignore the Keeping and go fast bowler?

With skilled bowling, I think I'd be tempted to go fast bowling. But with only 2,800 spare ratings, there's a good chance that sub-levels in bowling are fairly low. I'd put him on fielding and see if he pops in week 1 or 2. Week 2 would be a green light for bowling. Week 1 means, bowling is probably fairly low & it's a coin flip.

[paulc]

thanks I like the logic, probably if fielding doesn't pop he's on the market.