After yet another dismal chase, the West Indies lost by 67 runs, but this time, they lost only 9 wickets as Darren Powell hit out for a superb and exciting 48* (36b). The only other shining light for the Windies was Ramnaresh Sarwan’s 92 in just 75 balls. This performance was typical of the West Indian effort of late with only one or two batsmen performing while the rest fell in a heap. 356 was never going to be an easy target to chase, but the West Indies could definitely have made a better chase of it.
West Indies next play Bangladesh followed by their last match against England. These will also be Brian Lara’s last two matches in one-day internationals. It is sad that a career as glittering as his didn’t have as many wins as it should have. He also stood out as a batsman because he played in the worst West Indian era ever. Despite that, however, he was miles ahead of his peers from around the world. Lara has come under fire for his captaincy and he has apologised for his team’s performance. “We are disappointed and we’re very sorry for the way we have performed over the World Cup and all we can do is to say sorry to our people. We have got to go out there now and play with pride and show that we’ve got the character to go out and perform,” he said.
For South Africa, this win was important as it puts them far ahead of England. They could still lose to New Zealand and be in a potential face-off with the English for a semi-final spot provided England can beat Bangladesh and West Indies. One hopes they can for it will stir things up considerably and make Bangladesh’s win over South Africa worth something.
West Indies captain, Brian Lara
On his disappointment for the Caribbean's
"We are very disappointed and we are sad that we have disappointed the people of the Caribbean and people who support us around the world. "We feel it a lot and we know that the man in the street is definitely disappointed. When we go to training we see people waving and we understand what cricket means to them and we would not go out, not wanting to perform. "It just happens that we have played bad cricket and we have to hold our hands up and say, yes, we played bad cricket and we don't deserve to be in the semi-finals and to our people, sorry about that and let's hope we can pick ourselves up,"
On his disappointment for not qualifying for semis
"It is definitely a huge disappointment. It is a situation where you are playing your last few one-dayers and you hope you are going to play in a World Cup semi-final or final, to me I am hugely disappointed.
On his career
"I've had a very fruitful career, I've enjoyed playing for West Indies in the one-day arena and I will continue to enjoy for the next couple of games.
