- DELLMAR (Red Stripe & Scotiabank)
Returning West Indies captain Brian Lara plays the ball to the on-side during his innings of 40 not out against Zimbabwe in the first one-day international at the Antigua Recreation Ground, yesterday. The West Indies won by five wickets. Looking on is Zimbabwe 'keeper Brendan Taylor.
ST JOHN'S, Antigua, CMC:
REINSTALLED WEST Indies captain Brian Lara says the regional side still has plenty work to do after it stumbled to an unconvincing five-wicket win over minnows Zimbabwe in the opening one-day international (ODI) of the Digicel Home Series at the Antigua Recreation Ground yesterday.
After restricting the visitors to 151 for nine in their 50 overs, the West Indies slipped to 77 for four before recovering to reach their target of 154 for five off 38.3 overs.
"We wanted to win it (game) in a much more authoritative fashion and we didn't. We have got to go back and work," Lara said in a post-match interview.
"The new-ball bowlers have to get more wickets early up and that's the sort of attack we have. We've got guys bowling 90 miles an hour, we want them to get wickets. These are areas we are going to talk about and work on," he said.
"I don't think it was as comfortable as it looked and Zimbabwe must be commended for the fight that they gave."
After winning the toss and inserting the southern African nation, the West Indies struck in the day's second over, when Piet Rinke fell for one with the score on five.
Nineteen-year old Justice Chibhabha struck 55, his first international half century and shared a stand of 64 for the second wicket with skipper Terrence Duffin (26), to restore order to the Zimbabwe innings.
OFF TO A BAD START
The West Indies got off to a bad start, losing Runako Morton without scoring in the first over with the score on one.
Chris Gayle (35), Ramnaresh Sarwan (14) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (three) all perished with West Indies still 75 runs away from their target. But Lara, who finished on 40 and Denesh Ramdin, who scored 37, added 44 for the fifth wicket to put the Windies back on course.
"(It was) a reasonable result. We set ourselves targets throughout this game (and) we did hit some, not all," Lara admitted.
"I thought that we needed a lot more wickets in the first 25 overs. The Zimbabweans did it, consolidated - didn't score many runs - but didn't lose any wickets.
"It's a situation like that when you are bowling first you would like to get more wickets. Batting last, we set ourselves the task of getting the runs in 35 overs which we failed to do."
Lara said there was also room for improvement in the team's fielding but believed it would get better as the series progressed.
The West Indies and Zimbabwe clash again today at the same venue in the second ODI of the seven-match series.
SCOREBOARD
Zimbabwe innings
P. Rinke c Smith b Taylor 1
T. Duffin c Ramdin b Smith 26
J. Chibhabha c Edwards b Smith 55
B. Taylor c Bradshaw b Bravo 25
E. Chigumbura run out 8
G. Strydom c Bravo b Gayle 8
K. Dabengwa c Chanderpaul b Bravo 5
B. Mahwire c Sarwan b Taylor 6
R. Higgins c Bravo b Gayle 0
P. Utseya not out 2
E. Rainsford not out 1
Extras (lb3, w10, nb1) 14
TOTAL (for nine wkts
- 50 overs) 151
Fall: 1-5, 2-69, 3-106, 4-121, 5-126, 6-135, 7-142, 8-142, 9-150.
Bowling: Edwards 9-2-23-0 (nb1, w1), Taylor 10-2-19-2 (w2), Bravo 8-1-23-2 (w4), Bradshaw 8-0-24-0 (w1), Smith 8-0-29-2 (w2), Gayle 7-0-30-2.
West Indies innings
C. Gayle c Chibhabha b Utseya 35
R. Morton c Higgins b Rainsford 0
R. Sarwan run out 14
D. Ramdin b Utseya 37
S. Chanderpaul c Taylor b Utseya 3
B. Lara not out 40
D. Bravo not out 9
Extras (lb1, w12, nb3) 16
TOTAL (for five wkts,
38.2 overs) 154
Fall: 1-1, 2-38, 3-71, 4-77, 5-121.
Bowling: Rainsford 6-1-25-1 (w3), Mahwire 7-1-14-0 (w6), Chibhabha 6-0-30-0 (nb1, w1), Utseya 10-2-35-3 (nb2), Higgins 6.2-0-36-0, Dabengwa 3-0-13-0.
Result: West Indies won by five wickets.
Man-of-the-match: Jerome Taylor.
