Good start,poor finish

From 192 for 3 in 40 overs,West Indies finish at 240 for nine in the second ODI at Port of Spain.

He is not built as gigantically nor does he have that indomitable presence at the crease like his uncle,former West Indies opener Phil Simmons,used to have during his playing days.

Far from it in fact. Lendl Simmons instead is lanky and very light on his feet. Unlike his mentor,he doesnt bludgeon the ball either but rather caresses it,and is good on the eye when in full flow. The major drawback in the 26-year-old Trinidadian openers career,however,has been his inability to cash in whenever he has got off to a start.

On Wednesday,Simmons got off to a slow start once again,scoring only six runs off the first 22 balls he faced. But rather than throw it away after that with an innocuous shot,he walked down the wicket to Praveen Kumar and hit the ball over the bowlers head for his first boundary. Over the next 40-odd minutes,Simmons seemed in complete control of the innings,creating a perfect mix of caution and aggression against both pace and spin to notch up his seventh ODI half-century.

Having faced over 70 balls in his knock,the right-hander had laid the foundations for a huge score both for himself and his team. He looked set for it. But only to throw his wicket away for the umpteenth time by attempting a pre-determined ugly hoick and being stumped by Parthiv Patel off a wide.

Simmonss half-century was not the only false alarm for the world champions at the Queens Park Oval on Wednesday.

In Trinidad,the sun and the clouds seemed to be constantly jostling for space in the sky. And the busiest man at the Oval,apart from the ground-staff responsible for covering up the ground,was the plump gentleman in-charge of the stump microphone,who was made to run almost half a dozen laps to the centre to retrieve it as intermittent rain continued the dog the contest.

The sun shone brightly for most parts,but whenever it looked like having taken over control of the skies,the clouds returned from almost nowhere and it started raining. But on each occasion,only long enough for the players to step off the field and the covers to be brought on. And then the sun would start blazing down once again. Not once did it begin pouring violently like it can here.

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Following the same theme,the West Indian innings too flattered to deceive. With the score reading 192/3 with Ramnaresh Sarwan having nibbled his way to his second consecutive half-century,the home team looked well set for a 250 score,with the likes of Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard still lingering in the lower-order. Marlon Samuels had just a while earlier wasted a great opportunity to push the Indians onto the back-foot,being stumped out for a 32-ball 36. Sarwan was the first to go. Munaf Patel bowled five dot deliveries to him,before the West Indian veteran top-edged a high full-toss to be dismissed for 56.

Mishra in form

In walked Pollard,and the West Indians promptly opted for a batting powerplay. Facing his first delivery,the giant Trinidadian looked to hit Amit Mishra out of the stadium but failed. Two balls later,he was on his way back,trapped lbw for no score. The West Indies have averaged 196 in their last 15 ODI innings. And the batsmen looked intent on maintaining that average. Or so it seemed.

Four wickets fell for five runs in three powerplay overs,with Mishra being the wrecker-in-chief,accounting for three off those. And it was only thanks to skipper Darren Sammy,who it seems nobody in the Caribbean has too many hopes from,that the West Indies reached a final score of 240/9. Sammy hit two sixes and was unbeaten on a 19-ball 22,leaving India with yet another straightforward run-chase,weather relenting.