By Wallace J A

February 11, 2006 – After chasing down a huge total against South Africa U/19 on Friday February 10, and snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, the Windies were today ‘steam-rolled’ by India U/19, loosing their quarter final game in the ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka in humiliating fashion.

Batting first, India had a blazing start and amassed a total of 284 runs in their allotted 50 overs. Indian openers, Gaurav Dhiman (74) and Chateshwar Pujara (97), went on an early run spree - thanks to poor bowling from the Windies – and were able to pile on a massive 110 runs in just 14 overs. Only J. Searles of the West Indies was able to show some character and he had match figures of 6-68. Searles, however, had a disastrous first spell and bowled 15 wides in the match, which included 5 wides in the very first delivery of the game.

The Indian bowlers then came back with the ball and made quick inroads into the Windies batting attack. At one time, the Windies were 41-6 and it was just a matter of time before they succumbed to the superb Indian bowling. The West Indies concern at that time was to avoid the humiliation of being the team to be bowled out with the lowest score in the tournament – 74 by Uganda versus Pakistan – and add some semblance of respectability to their total. They were finally bundled out for 158 runs in a mere 38.5 overs, falling short of their target by 126 runs. Andre Fletcher top scored with 44 runs for the Windies U/19. V. Yomahesh (4-25) and G.Dhiman (3-27) were the top bowlers for India.

India now moves on to the semi-finals of the U/19 Cricket World Cup, playing England in a day / night game on Wednesday of this week. The Windies will be coming up against Bangladesh in the first Super League lower –place semi-final on the same day.

It is interesting to note that at present, three West Indian cricketers are ranked in the top ten batsmen with the most runs: J. Mohammed is ranked 1st with 178 runs from 3 matches and has a healthy avg. of 89.0; W.Perkins is ranked 2nd with 164 runs from 3 matches and he has an avg. of 54.6; and G. Singh is ranked 7th with 132 runs and he has an avg. of 66.00. The highest-ranking Windies bowler in the tournament is K. Roach and he is presently ranked a distant 15th. No other West Indian bowler is within close proximity of him. The message here for the regions’ cricketing officials is that they need to focus extra attention on the bowlers in the region and implement some comprehensive program with a view to bringing them up to world standard.