Turning around poor starts, and West Indies' slide

Stuttering starts
India may have won all three matches against Zimbabwe so far in the VB Series, but it hasn't quite been one-way traffic for them: at Adelaide, they squeaked through by three runs despite being reduced to 4 for 3. Not only was that India's worst start in an ODI (least runs scored for three wickets down), it was also the worst start by a team which has then gone on to win the match.

Turning around poor starts into wins against Zimbabwe is something that the Indians have done before, most famously in the 1983 World Cup, when Kapil Dev's glorious 175 not out pulled through an Indian team precariously placed at 9 for 4 and then 17 for 5. Both those scores remain the poorest starts - teams losing four and five wickets for least number of runs - by victorious teams. In both those games, India lost their openers for ducks. For those interested in trivia, here's one from the two matches: in the 1983 game, Sunil Gavaskar lasted two balls and Kris Srikkanth 13 - in the VB Series match, Sanjay Bangar lasted two minutes, Parthiv Patel 13.

Worst starts in victories

	Score	Team	Against	Won by	Venue, year
Three down	4	India	Zimbabwe	3 runs	Adelaide, 2003-04
	5	Sri Lanka	New Zealand	5 wickets	Dhaka, 1998-99
Four down	9	India	Zimbabwe	31 runs	Tunbridge Wells, 1983
	15	Australia	West Indies	5 runs	Mohali, 1995-96
Five down	17	India	Zimbabwe	31 runs	Tunbridge Wells, 1983
	21	South Africa	England	38 runs	Johannesburg, 1999-00

India had the ignominy of being reduced to 4 for 3, but teams have suffered worse plights - there have been three instances of teams losing their first three wickets without a run on the board. Pakistan have been on the receiving end twice - in the 1983 World Cup match against New Zealand and against South Africa in 1997-98 - while Bangladesh were at the wrong end of a Chaminda Vaas blitz in the 2003 World Cup. In all three instances, the teams couldn't quite recover from the early setbacks.

* * * * * *

From bad to worse
Meanwhile, for West Indies, the misery doesn't seem to end. After being thrashed in the Tests by South Africa, there was little to savour in the first one-day international either, when they were bundled out for their lowest ODI total of 54 (handily beating their previous lowest, 87 against Australia at Sydney in 1992-93). In the process they also suffered their worst-ever defeat - by 209 runs.

A look at some of West Indies' most comprehensive losses only confirms the woeful slide of what was once a great side - nine of their most humiliating defeats have all come in the last five years, during which period they have been dismissed five times for less than 150. West Indies' win percent since 2000 is a measly 45% - surprisingly, New Zealand, with a win record of just 42%, have an even worse record during this period.

West Indies' worst ODI defeats (in terms of runs)

Margin	Against	Opp score	WI score	Venue & Season
209	South Africa	263-4	54	Cape Town, 2003-04
138	Pakistan	255-5	117	Sharjah, 1999-2000
134	Australia	253-9	119	Sydney, 2000-01
132	South Africa	287-4	155	Grenada, 2000-01
130	Pakistan	260-5	130-9	Sharjah, 1999-2000

West Indies' worst ODI defeats (in terms of wickets)

Margin	Against	Opp. score	WI score	Venue & Season
10 wkts	England	171-0	169-8	Chester-le-Street, 2000
10 wkts	Australia	124-0	123	Adelaide, 2000-01
9 wkts	Sri Lanka	146-1	145	Sharjah, 1999-2000
9 wkts	Australia	236-1	234-8	Brisbane, 2000-01

Win-loss record of all teams since January 1, 2000

	Played	Won	Lost	Win %
Australia	115	87	23	79.09
South Africa	125	79	41	65.83
Sri Lanka	113	66	44	60.00
Pakistan	138	79	57	58.09
India	127	66	56	54.10
England	84	40	41	49.38
West Indies	95	41	50	45.05
New Zealand	113	46	63	42.20
Zimbabwe	114	30	80	27.27

Bangladesh have not been included in this table because they have not won a single one-dayer since 2000.

* * * * * *

The Nel-Lara monitor
Not only did South Africa maintain their stranglehold over West Indies, Andre Nel continued his dominance over Brian Lara too, albeit with some help from umpire Ian Howell, who adjudged Lara leg-before to a delivery which pitched outside leg. That was the sixth time Nel nailed Lara in nine tries - not bad for a bowler who wasn't even a regular in the team till a few months back.

Nel v Lara in 2003-04

Balls	Runs	Dismissals	Ave
237	99	6	16.50