 West Indies will take on South Africa in the fourth ODI of the series at the same ground in Dominica, but with the series already lost, there is only pride
to play for the West Indies. The South Africans crushed the opposition
to a 67-run defeat in the third ODI, and that meant that the visitors had won
the five match series 3-0, and despite the series gone, the hosts still have a
lot to play for in the remaining two matches.
Click for Live Score Card of West Indies Vs South AfricaWest Indies' basic problem continues to be their batting and that is where
they need to improve by leaps and bounds. The issue is that the batting continues
to be brittle and in the absence of someone to anchor the innings throughout,
the side has struggled to make any headway. This has also meant that the team
isn't getting even close to the South African total, except in case of a freak-innings
like it was in the second ODI.
West Indies need to have Chris Gayle batting well. Currently, he is
playing far too many shots and far too quickly, and that is where he needs to
cut his risks down. Without his batting, the things become difficult for the
side, and that causes the rest of them to wince and collapse as well. The time
has come for Gayle to take much more responsibility of the batting, not only
as the captain of the side but also as the senior batsman, apart from Shivnarine
Chanderpaul.
The fourth ODI should also see the West Indian side sending both, Kieron Pollard and Sammy up the order, because one gets the sense that at numbers
six and seven, the damage is far too great for them pair to do anything. Instead,
they need to be sent out at five and six respectively.
The South Africans have had a good series so far, and there cannot be too much
doubt that they will be looking at making it a 5-0 verdict for themselves. But
in order to do that, they will need to continue playing the quality cricket
that they have been doing so far. That includes batting much better than the
manner in which they batted in the third match, as they lost their way rather
badly in the second half.
Of course, it is their far superior bowling that is seeing them through to
the wins, but I wonder whether the bowling will continue to bowl with the same
control and quality if they were to be bowling first.
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