ACS Overseas FIrst-Class Annual 2012

West Indies in 2011/12 West Indies finished the 2011/12 season just as they had 2010/11: seventh in the official ranking. Yet there were real positives during this period: the first Test wins since 2008/09 and some spirited performances even in series that were lost. Although West Indies continues to suffer from the unavailability of major players, there were some signs that the shrewd, pragmatic leadership of D.J.G.Sammy was forging a more focused and determined squad of players. Between May and July 2011, West Indies played home Tests against Pakistan and India (see the 2011 section). These were followed in 2011/12 by two Tests in Bangladesh (won 1-0) and three against India (lost 2-0): see the Bangladesh and India sections. Finally West Indies returned home for three Tests against Australia in which, as in India, they fought well but were defeated 2-0 by a clearly superior side. (The Tests against Australia were to have been preceded by a first-class match, but it lost that status when it was played XII-a-side). The Regional 4-Day Competition, which was played as a round-robin league followed by semi-finals and a final. Jamaica defeated Barbados in the final to register a fifth consecutive title, a West Indies record. But Jamaica’s triumph had seemed unlikely when Barbados claimed a first-innings lead in the final, enough to give them the title if the match finished in a draw. Forced to press for a win, Jamaica declared before lunch on the last day when only 229 ahead. This enterprise was rewarded as Barbados collapsed to 90 all out, an outcome that Jamaicans will insist was no more than justice following their side’s dominant record in the league stage of the competition. Guyana played all its games away from home because of a complex internal dispute in which the West Indies Board and the Guyanese Government had also become involved. The dispute also meant that the third Test against Australia, originally scheduled for Georgetown, was switched to Roseau, so the entire season passed with no first-class cricket at all in Guyana. Overall the 2011/12 Competition was notable for the success attending the bowlers. N.O.Miller, Jamaica’s left-arm spinner, took 49 wickets in the competition at a remarkable average of only 10.75. Even in the context of such a low-scoring season, Leeward Islands had a conspicuously miserable time with the bat, the nadir being a total of 39 against Combined Campuses, the lowest in first-class cricket in West Indies for nearly seventy years. Regional Four-Day Competition 2011/12: Final table P W L LWF DWF DLF Pts 12 0 4 6 3 1 Jamaica 6 6 0 0 0 0 72 2 Barbados 6 4 2 0 0 0 48 3 Trinidad and Tobago 6 3 1 1 1 0 46 4 Guyana 6 3 2 0 0 1 39 5 Windward Islands 6 2 3 1 0 0 28 6 Combined Campuses and Colleges 6 1 4 1 0 0 16 7 Leeward Islands 6 1 5 0 0 0 12 SEMI-FINALS JAMAICA beat Guyana by 133 runs. BARBADOS beat Trinidad and Tobago by 227 runs. FINAL JAMAICA beat Barbados by 139 runs. 593