The 2004 Cable and Wireless One Day Series ended all square at 2-2 as England progressed to a comfortable victory over the West Indies in the seventh international match at Kensington Oval in Barbados, eventually winning by five wickets with sixteen balls to spare.

Thus England ended their long tour of the Caribbean on a high note after their young new-look one day side avoided a series defeat after their senior team had performed so admirably by whipping the West Indies 3-0 in the five day version of the game.

As far as the one day game is concerned, there are plusses to be taken by both sides after this well contested and hard fought series which had unfortunately been reduced to a four match affair as particularly unseasonal weather had rained out three of the games in Trinidad (2) and Grenada.
England's one day squad has a far different look than the Test side, particularly in the middle order batting. After Englands seemingly permanent five day and one day openers, captain Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick, the middle order of relatively new names on the international scene has a rather inexperienced look about it, and indeed, to some extent, this proved to be the case in this series as the English middle order struggled for consistency. Players like Paul Collingwood, Andrew Strauss, Rikki Clarke and Ian Blackwell are still striving to claim a permanent place in a side which feels the need to play a lot more cricket. All have talent, no doubt about that, and Strauss and Collingwood in particular look like they could become , with a little more international experience, permanent fixtures in this England one day team. Nonetheless, to this observer and others, there looks to be a crying need for one more man of experience to help solidify the middle order. The suprising thing, or perhaps the amazing thing, is that this man is right there within the England five day ranks in the person of Mark Butcher. In the past two years particularly, Butcher has performed magnificently in the Test arena, and the aggressive batting of this experienced warhorse within the middle order of this present England one day squad would give it the stability which is lacking at the present time. One feels that he must surely be included in the England squad for the forthcoming triangular series in England this summer, when England, New Zealand and West Indies will do battle in a ten match series, which promises to be a cracker, and which includes a final at Lords.
The West Indies, too, have introduced some new and exciting players in their present one day line up and a lot of Windies fans will be looking for youngsters Dwayne Bravo and Dwayne Smith to come good again in the forthcoming home series of three matches against Bangladesh. This is an excellent opportunity for the two Dwaynes to do well and further develop their confidence for the tougher times ahead in England this summer. Ravi Rampaul, too, could well use the Bangladesh series to gain more confidence. All three of these newcomers undoubtedly have the basic talents and are each exciting prospects in their own way.

Nonetheless, it was a disappointing performance by the Windies team in letting this last game slip away from them in Barbados, especially after having played so well in the first three, losing the first one only narrowly and scoring two excellent victories in St.Lucia last weekend. Batting first, a final score of 261 for 6 by the Windies looked like a reasonably challenging total, especially after struggling to push the scoring along at 94 for 4. Vice captain Ramnaresh Sarwan, however, played a particularly classy one day innings finishing on 104 not out. The wicket however, looked good and by the time England went into bat, it was looking better. England's victory was set up, in the end, by two factors. Marcus Trescothick's rocket-fuelled innings of 82 from 57 balls and by some very sloppy West Indian fielding, which was particularly disappointing considering they had fielded so impressively in the three other matches, especially in the two in St. Lucia where they had been brilliant in this department on a very fast outfield. The bowlers, too, performed poorly in this final outing and Mervyn Dillon in particular was back to his old inconsistencies.

Nonetheless, a 2-2 shared series was a true reflection of the abilities of these two one day squads. It will be harder in English conditions in the summer, and the much improved New Zealanders must not be underestimated as the possible winners of this promising triangular affair. If the Windies one day squad can continue with the improvement they have shown in three and a half of the four matches played in this present series, then some good cricket could be in store in England in June and July.

David Kenworthy

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