St John’s: West Indies have announced their squad for the 3^rd ODI against India and have given Dwayne Bravo the permission to rest by leaving him out of the team. Chris Gayle again misses out. India have a 2-0 lead and look set to clinch the five-match series on Saturday.

WICB, after alleging that Chris Gayle was cold-shouldered by the Board during a recent injury crisis, is yet to meet officials and sort out his differences.

Bravo has yet to recover his form, following the knee injury, and his replacement, Jamaica allrounder Danza Hyatt, could make his one-day debut in the third ODI at Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground.

Fast bowler Kemar Roach is also in to give Ravi Rampaul a break. Rampaul has been effective so far and it remains to be seen if Roach can recreate his own deadly magic.

Former captain Chris Gayle continues to be overlooked by the selectors until he meets with officials of the team and West Indies Board.

Squad: Darren Sammy (captain), Carlton Baugh, Devendra Bishoo, Darren Bravo, Kirk Edwards, Danza Hyatt, Anthony Martin, Kieron Pollard, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lendl Simmons

Colombo: Sri Lanka’s opening batsman Upul Tharanga will face an inquiry by the International Cricket Council after he tested positive for a banned substance at 2011 World Cup.

Tharanga, who has reportedly been afflicted with asthma, was tested positive for prednisolone, a drug that is used to treat asthma, the report said.

“The ICC will not comment on this as per World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) regulations,” an ICC spokesman said. Sri Lanka Cricket authority in the country too has refused to comment on the incident, saying that they have not been informed of any violations from any agency.

The 26-year-old left-handed opening batsman scored two centuries in the 2011 World Cup tournament, one against Zimbabwe and the other against England in the semi-final match.

West Indies: C Gayle has paid the price for his radio interview in April — he stands ignored for the first 2 ODIs of West Indies against India starting next month. Kieron Pollard has made the cut. Gayle, who earned the Orange Cap in IPL for scoring most number of runs, has not been included for either the ODIs or the 12-man squad for Saturday’s Twenty20 match against India in Trinidad.

The only change from the West Indies XI that humbled Pakistan in St Lucia last month is the inclusion of uncapped left-arm Jamaican speedster Krishmar Santokie. There was no place for Pollard and Dwayne Bravo as they had been out of touch with the T20 format. They had missed most of the recent Caribbean Twenty20 tournament, which is part of the WICB selection criteria.

Gayle’s open war with the board became his undoing. His expressive remarks on radio, describing his displeasure at not being included in the squad for the Pakistan series, did not go down well with the WICB. Gayle, who has spent the past six weeks playing in the IPL with Bangalore and was named as the Player of the Tournament, will not be considered for selection to the West Indies team before an intended meeting with the selection committee. “The selection committee views this meeting as necessary as a result of Gayle’s comments in a widely publicised radio interview in Jamaica,” WICB management and West Indies team management said..

Following Saturday’s Twenty20 in Trinidad, the two sides will lock horns in two ODIs at the same venue, before heading to Antigua to continue the series.

West Indies Twenty20 squad: Lendl Simmons, Andre Fletcher (wk), Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Danza Hyatt, Darren Sammy (capt), Christopher Barnwell, Andre Russell, Ashley Nurse, Devendra Bishoo, Ravi Rampaul, Krishmar Santokie

West Indies Squad for first two ODIs: Lendl Simmons, Kirk Edwards, Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Darren Sammy (capt), Carlton Baugh (wk), Andre Russell, Anthony Martin, Devendra Bishoo, Ravi Rampaul

India Squad for ODIs: Suresh Raina (capt), R Ashwin, S Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh (vc), Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Amit Mishra, Munaf Patel, Parthiv Patel (wk), Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Manoj Tiwary, Shikhar Dhawan

India Test squad: MS Dhoni (capt), VVS Laxman (vc), M Vijay, Abhinav Mukund, Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, S Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel

South Africa won the opening Test at Warner Park inside four days and a win in the second Test will not only give them a series win in the three-Test series, but also push them to the top of the ICC Test team rankings.

“We are looking forward to the Test, where we know we have to look for a victory and stay in the series,” Gayle was quoted as saying by Sky News. “As I said before the start of the series, it won’t be easy for us. The South Africans are an experienced team, and they are playing well at the moment. But we have to believe in ourselves and play good, hard cricket.”

Gayle said it was poor batting in the first innings of the first Test that cost “us the game very quickly”.

“We are in the rebuilding process, and we asked a couple of batsmen to bat at positions they are not accustomed to, but it is something in cricket and, as batsmen, whenever you get a chance, you have to make the best use of it,” he added.

The result meant that South Africa have now swept West Indies 5-0 in each of their last three bilateral ODI series. Last man Lonwabo Tsotsobe hit the winning boundary as the visitors sneaked to the victory target of 255-9 with two balls to spare.

JP Duminy (51), Hashim Amla (45) and Man-of-the-Match Jacques Kallis (57) paced the pursuit. Amla, who hit three fours and a six, ended the series with 402 runs and was the obvious Man-of-the-Series.

Captain Chris Gayle took 2-38 from 10 overs to lead the West Indies attack, while Kieron Pollard grabbed 2-42.

Earlier, the home team totalled 252-6 off 50 overs with Shivnarine Chanderpaul (67) and Narsingh Deonarine (53 not out) leading the way. Left-arm seamer Tsotsobe grabbed 2-31 off 7 overs.

South Africa appeared to be coasting at 163-3 in the 31st over but the home team rallied, with a vocal crowd of 7,000 behind it. Gayle took the crucial wicket of Kallis to shift the momentum. Kallis, who struck five fours off 55 deliveries, feathered an edge as he tried to force off the back foot.

Mark Boucher, in his first match of the series, soon followed for six at 175-5, slashing medium pacer Pollard to third man.

Duminy and Johan Botha rebuilt the innings with a sixth-wicket stand of 36 before pacer Jerome Taylor instigated Duminy to drag a pull onto his stumps. Duminy struck just one four in his 75-ball innings.

Botha and Ryan McLaren added 23 off 22 balls to push the visitors closer to victory. However, two wickets for one run tilted the balance back to the home team. Botha hauled Pollard on 24 to deep midwicket where David Bernard pouched a fantastic running catch while McLaren was run out for 12 at 235-8.

The Proteas needed 17 off the final two overs and Charl Langeveldt and Roelof van der Merwe took 10 runs from the penultimate over from Dwayne Bravo before Langeveldt was caught behind off the final delivery at 246-9.

Van der Merwe swung Pollard for a boundary over square leg to start the final over and added a single to long-off before No.11 Tsotsobe slashed through cover for the winning runs.

Earlier, Windies lost openers Dale Richards (19) and Gayle (12) early as it slipped to 45-2 in the 11th over. Richards struck two fours and a six before spearing a catch to slip off Tsotsobe. Gayle followed when he dragged a pull at McLaren to mid-on.

Chanderpaul shared restorative stands with the Bravo brothers – Darren and Dwayne. The experienced left-hander scored 51 off 83 balls with left-hander Darren and then 41 off 58 deliveries with Dwayne. Darren laboured to 17 off 47 balls before he lofted to extra cover, where regular wicketkeeper Boucher leapt and pouched a magnificent catch bowled by Van der Merwe. Dwayne, who hit 26 off 33 balls, was bowled by a Tsotsobe beauty.

When Chanderpaul fell at 161-5 in the 40th over, leg-before, off the bowling of Botha, the innings was in danger of stalling. But Narsingh Deonarine (53 not out), with assistance from Kieron Pollard (25) and Darren Sammy (19 not out) lifted the tempo in the closing stages.

West Indies seized 82 runs off the final 8 overs.

Match Summary:-

South Africa 255 for 9 (Kallis 57, Duminy 51) beat West Indies 252 for 6 (Chanderpaul 67, Deonarine 53) by one wicket.

Player of the match: JH Kallis

Player of the series: HM Amla

“I’m basically disappointed that we’ve lost so many games but, generally, everyone gets on well with each other,” Gayle said after the fourth ODI which his side lost off the final ball. “The one downside is to get that win, but we’ve worked extremely hard, preparation-wise. It’s just unfortunate that we are not getting the results out there in the middle.”

That defeat was West Indies’ fourth consecutive loss in the ODI series, following a 2-0 drubbing in the Twenty20s. Gayle felt his side was doing the basics right, but was struggling with the mental aspect of the game. “It is a mental situation we’ve actually reached now, but we have to come out of the situation as quickly as possible because, unfortunately, losing is becoming a habit and it’s a bit difficult to get out of. That means that you don’t know how to win games anymore, so we need to try and turn things around.”

There was speculation that the side’s excessive partying had a part to play in the poor on-field displays, but Gayle denied the claim. “Those days are over, to be honest with you. We are playing so much cricket, we don’t really have time to do that,” he said. “But guys need to be free. We don’t want to put any burden on anyone.”

“All of them are big men and we don’t want to treat them like kids, but at the same time, the conditions are very hot and you don’t expect anyone to be partying,” Gayle said. “We are past that stage. We have been criticised for that over the last couple of months and years and we’re just trying to turn things around. We are making a lot of sacrifices in every department.”

Despite the run of losses, Gayle was happy leading the side, but admitted it was time to start grooming a successor. “At the end of the day, the way I look at it, I’m not going to be captain forever. At some stage, you are going to have a new captain, but I’m going to look at the situation. It’s just one of those things and I’m sure they will be looking to groom someone at some given time. I’m not sure when (but) I’m really all for it and giving it my best shot.”

The 25-year-old fast bowler’s career-best helped disrupt the Windies’ pursuit of South Africa’s modest 224 all out off 47.2 overs. The home side was bowled out for 157 off 38 overs.

Charl Langeveldt supported Morkel well by taking down captain Chris Gayle on his way to 3-30.

Earlier, A.B. de Villiers’ topscore of 70 off 80 balls anchored South Africa’s total.

The West Indies, sustained by its disciplined bowling and fielding, lost Gayle at 29-1.
Dale Richards (28) and veteran Shivnarine Chanderpaul (24) shared a stand of 30 for the second wicket to keep South Africa at bay. Morkel changed the direction of the game with the wickets of Richards and Darren Bravo in his first two overs.

Richards edged a back foot stroke to first slip where Jacques Kallis pocketed the second of two sharp catches. In his first match of the series, Bravo played across the line and was evidently leg before at 63-3.

Kallis kept the Proteas on top with the wicket of Chanderpaul, who edged to wicket-keeper de Villiers. Dwayne Bravo fell to a bouncer delivered by seamer Dale Steyn, leaving the West Indies in dire straights at 93-5.

All-rounders Kieron Pollard and Darren Sammy offered slight relief to West Indies; however, it was short-lived as Langeveldt eliminated both to virtually seal the result.

Right-hander Jerome Taylor added to the gloom when he nonchalantly trotted through for a single and was run out by Steyn’s direct hit from mid-on.

Left-handers Sulieman Benn and Ravi Rampaul were taken out by Morkel, thus finishing off the contest.

Earlier, de Villiers struck two fours and a six to set up South Africa’s total.

The Proteas got another enterprising start from openers Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla, who scored 53 within the first 10 overs. Amla stroked five fours in 34 off 28 balls before he under-edged a cut at Benn, who claimed 2-43.

Smith was the first of two scalps for Bravo (2-40). The left-hander came too far inside his stumps and was plumb leg before after amassing 29 off 41 deliveries.

Benn added the crucial scalp of Jacques Kallis (31), who slashed a cut to backward point to make it 113-3.

De Villiers and Alviro Petersen shared a stand of 40 for the fourth wicket before Petersen fell to spark a sharp decline. Petersen (16), trying to dab to third man, dragged onto his stumps at 153-4.

Johan Botha, forced to retire hurt by Ravi Rampaul after a ball squeezed through the grille of his helmet, came back to score 18 off 25 balls towards the end.

Morne Morkel struck two fours in 14 off 13 balls.

De Villiers’ topscore was ended by a brilliant direct hit run-out by Benn from long-off. The last five South African wickets crumbled for 18 runs.

Medium pacer Pollard took 3-27.

Match Summary:

South Africa 224 (de Villiers 70, Pollard 3-27) beat West Indies 157 (Morkel 4-21, Langeveldt 3-30) by 67 runs.

Player of the match: AB de Villiers

Amla anchored the top half of the South African batting with 102 from 109 balls, and de Villiers kept the ball rolling with the same score from 101 balls, as the Proteas, put in to bat, reached 280 for 7 from their rain-reduced 48 overs. West Indies struggled in pursuit of its slightly adjusted Duckworth/Lewis target of 282 and was bowled out for 215 off 44.1 overs.

With 3 wickets for 40 runs from 8 overs, Morne Morkel was the most triumphant South African bowler, while Dale Steyn, Ryan McLaren and Johan Botha collected two wickets each.

All-rounder Dwayne Bravo removed Graeme Smith for 18 and Jacques Kallis for 1 in consecutive overs as the Proteas dipped to 57-2 after having being put into bat. Smith nicked one to the wicket-keeper whereas Kallis slashed to third man.

But Amla, later named man-of-the-match, scored his second ODI hundred from 106 balls and added 129 runs for the third wicket with AB De Villiers, who later reached his seventh ODI hundred from 99 balls, to resurrect the South African innings.

After Amla was dismissed, de Villiers added 54 for the fourth wicket with left-hander JP Duminy. South Africa, however, lost four wickets for 40 runs from the last 41 deliveries of their innings, to wind up at 280 for 7.

Bravo was the most successful West Indies bowler, with three wickets for 40 runs.

Chasing 282 to win, Steyn set West Indies back early when he had Andre Fletcher caught at slip for four in the third over. However, SA were put on the defensive when Gayle launched an attack against the Proteas bowlers but Ryan McLaren had Dwayne Bravo caught behind for 15, and Morkel had Gayle caught in the deep, leaving West Indies 69 for 3 in the 13th over.

The South Africans then saw Ramnaresh Sarwan make 38, and his left-handed compatriot Narsingh Deonarine make 26 to stage a recovery with a stand of 61 for the 4th wicket. Botha took out Deonarine at a top-edged sweep and Morkel returned to capture Sarwan, who dragged one onto his stumps at 140-5.

Kieron Pollard offered a glimmer of hope with 44 from 37 balls, sprinkled with five fours and a six. He added 52 with Denesh Ramdin before both were knocked out within five runs of each other to end the challenge.

Steyn forced Ramdin to chop onto his own stumps on 17 while Pollard holed out to long-on for Morkel’s third wicket.

Windies captain Chris Gayle, whose 45 from 39 balls was the home team’s top score, felt disappointed by the batting again. “It’s one of those things that we can’t seem to catch a break with our batting, so we will have to go back to the drawing board,” said Gayle. “We are not going to give up. We know that we are not playing good cricket now.”

“We want to play well, and we want to win this series,” said South Africa captain Graeme Smith after the win. “We want to have a very successful tour of the Caribbean. I have said this a number of times. We have a lot of bouncing back to do, following the Twenty20 World Cup, and we want to do it well. This is just the first match, and the matches are very close together, so recovery is going to be important to us being successful.”

Match Summary
(48 overs) – South Africa 280 for 7 (Amla 102, de Villiers 102, Bravo 3-40) v West Indies 215 (Gayle 45, McLaren 2-37)

Player of the match: Hashim Amla

“It is a pressure situation,” Gayle said. “The mindset is just not right. They’re maybe a bit too worried about the position.”

South Africa finished with a modest 120 for 7 but West Indies struggled from the start, losing Gayle for a duck, and the rest of the batsmen never quite got going. With 15 needed from the final over, Darren Sammy managed two boundaries, including an all-run four thanks to some loose fielding, but Ryan McLaren held his nerve to leave West Indies a run short.

“It’s blatant,” Gayle said. “It’s not right. We need to have discussions on it. The guys need to free up and go out there with a free mind to play some good cricket. We should have won that game…no doubt about it. To chase 120 runs, I don’t see why we shouldn’t get it, but we didn’t get it.”

It was the second straight game in which the West Indies batsmen failed to perform. On Wednesday, they lost by 13 runs, chasing 137 to win.

“It’s very disappointing but credit must go to the bowlers. I thought they bowled well on an on-and-off pitch,” Gayle said. “In the end, we allowed the run-rate to climb up a bit too much. We should have tried to take a few more chances.”

He denied experience was the problem, saying, “We have quite a few experienced guys in the team, guys who have been in big situations before. Experience is not a problem.”

The problem, according to him, lay with individual players, who need to start taking responsibility for their performances. “It’s up to the individual. They have to look into themselves and try and redeem themselves as quickly as possible. I can’t do it for them. I have a lot to think about as well. It is up to the individuals to try and get over these situations as quickly as possible.”

In contrast, South Africa’s captain Graeme Smith was full of praise for his team’s ability to keep calm in the clutch, although he couldn’t resist a wry comment on the team’s history of coming up short in high pressure situations.

“It was a bit tense at the end so we had to find somebody to remain calm, and Ryan kept a good sensible head, although we had a few guys running all over the place. It was an exciting finish, and nice again to get over the line,” he said. “We have performed well enough in tense situations like this before, although our record in such situations in competition play is quite poor, but we have performed really well again under pressure in a game that we probably shouldn’t have won, so it’s to our credit, and the confidence is definitely growing.”

A staunch critic of cricket’s slam-bang format, Holding said he did not bother to watch the World T20 even though it took place in the West Indies.

“Not one ball. I don’t watch Twenty20. It is dumbing-down cricket. They should find another name for it,” said the 56-year-old Jamaican, who was called ‘Whispering Death’ in his playing days for his quiet approach to the bowling crease.

Holding wasn’t in a mood to mince any words saying that T20 specialists like Kieron Pollard cannot be called cricketers. “Pollard in my opinion is not a cricketer,” Holding told The Times, alluding to the fact that 25-year-old all-rounder, who is the costliest player on the IPL roster, may be a T20 star but is yet to make his Test debut.

Post-retirement, the outspoken Jamaican quit ICC Cricket Committee, the West Indies board and Allen Stanford’s league after falling out with the authorities.

Appalled at players chasing easy money, Holding blamed cricket boards and the International Cricket Council (ICC) for not guiding the youngsters. “I can’t say to a young man ‘don’t make a living’, but they need responsible guidance,” he said.

“It is your parents who guide you and in cricket the parents are the boards and the ICC. They need to show some leadership. It saddens me that the West Indies captain is allowed to show up one day before a Test series because he is playing for the IPL,” he said, referring to Chris Gayle’s late turning up in England last year after completing his IPL commitments.