ACS Overseas First-Class Annual 2018

West Indies in 2017/18 While one should perhaps not make too much of it, West Indies could for once fairly claim to have emerged on the credit side of the Test ledger in 2017/18 and 2018, with four wins as against three defeats in the nine matches played. A win and a draw in Zimbabwe early in the 2017/18 season were followed by two severe defeats in New Zealand, and up to this point it would be fair to say that West Indies’ performance was unspectacular. But two home rubbers in the 2018 ‘off’ season brought slightly more encouragement. The first Test against Sri Lanka, indeed, was an outstanding result by West Indies’ recent standards: a thoroughly convincing win against opponents fresh from beating Pakistan and Bangladesh and putting up a stout fight against the might of India. The second Test was memorable for the penalty imposed on Sri Lanka for ball-tampering as well as for the superb fast bowling of Shannon Gabriel, who claimed the exceptional match figures of 13-121; but it was not enough and in the end it was the visitors that were pressing for victory before the rain and Kraigg Brathwaite forced a draw. And in the low-scoring final Test Sri Lanka, facing a first-innings deficit of 50, routed the home side for 93 to secure a four-wicket win and a drawn rubber. But even if the eventual outcome was a little disappointing, the rubber had offered some real positives for West Indies. And the final two Tests of 2018, against Bangladesh, brought more good news. No longer can easy wins against Bangladesh be taken for granted as they were a few years ago; least of all by West Indies, who had headed the Asian side by only a single ranking point at the end of 2017. So it was essential that West Indies assert themselves from the outset. In the first Test Bangladesh, put in, were blown away for their lowest Test total, 43, in only 112 deliveries. Kemar Roach claimed the exceptional figures of 5-1-8-5 before being forced from the attack by a damaged hamstring. From this there was no way back from Bangladesh, and the second Test, although somewhat better contested, also resulted in a comfortable win for the home side. In terms of the ICC Test table, West Indies remained in eighth place but had at least put a little daylight between themselves and Bangladesh in ninth. Domestically, Guyana were the pre-eminent side beyond any question or doubt. Not only did they win the Four-Day title for the fourth season in succession; they went through the season undefeated, winning seven of their ten games with a tie and two draws in the other three. Barbados, a distant second in the table, could point to only three wins compared with two defeats. Apart from the 30 matches of the Four-Day competition, there were no Tests in 2017/18 but there was some international cricket as the West Indies A team played three matches at the start of the season against Sri Lanka A (won 2-1 by the visitors), and three more at the other end of the season against England Lions. All the matches against the latter opponents were won, with particular plaudits due to Jomel Warrican of Barbados, whose slow left-armers brought him 31 wickets in the three games at the splendid average of only 8.96. The only other match of the 2017/18 season came at the very end, as the MCC’s annual game against the English county champions, played in the UAE in recent years, on this occasion took place in Barbados. The MCC side, a blend of youth and experience, proved far too strong for the champions, Essex. Warrican’s deeds against England Lions lifted him to the top of the season’s bowling aggregates, with a total of 67 wickets at 16.26. Off-spinner Rakheem Cornwall of the Leeward Islands was next, with 58 at 25.63. The only other bowler with a half-century of wickets was another spinner, 575