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West Indies overcame a testing bowling display from Zimbabwe to scale down 142 and seal their first ODI series win in nine attempts. Narsingh Deonarine scored a fortunate 32 to thwart a Zimbabwean comeback following an aggressive start led by Chris Gayle, and backed up an impressive effort with the ball from Dwayne Bravo and Ravi Rampaul that had limited the visitors to a paltry score.

West Indies recovered from dispiriting defeats in the Twenty20 international and the first ODI to win three consecutive games and take an unassailable 3-1 lead, marking a positive, though unconvincing, start to a fresh phase under the supervision of newly-appointed coach Ottis Gibson.

Over the weekend Michael Clarke will provide more proof that he has the attributes to be Australia’s next Test captain. During the past five days Clarke has been everywhere but with his team. Instead his relationship with his fiancée Lara Bingle forced him home to Sydney, where every facial expression is being interpreted by gossip columnists and sports followers.

The liaison has been on and off more than a thigh pad according to the rumours, but what matters to Clarke and his cricket is when he gets to New Zealand. By making it there in time for next Friday’s opening Test in Wellington he will re-affirm his credentials to be Ricky Ponting’s eventual replacement. If a 28-year-old vice-captain can tidy up this sort of mess he can deal with anything that happens in the game.

Match facts
Friday March 12, 2010
Start time 9.30am (03.30GMT)
Big Picture

It’s been so far, so good for England in Bangladesh, albeit with the occasional fright along the way in the one-day series and a troublesome list of injuries to their quick bowlers. Even though their strike power has been reduced they should still have too much class for the home side over this short series, but it’s unlikely that success will come in the form of three-day thrashings.

A day after carrying out the most comprehensive player cull in Pakistan cricket in recent memory, the PCB remains tight-lipped about the nature of charges laid against senior players and the procedure followed in punishing them.

Seven senior players were punished by the board following an inquiry committee report into a disastrous tour of Australia. Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Shoaib Malik were handed bans, while the Akmal brothers and Shahid Afridi were handed fines.

Match facts
Friday March 12, 2010
Start time 9.30am (13.30GMT)

Big Picture
The fourth game gives West Indies the chance to wrap up the series after their resounding 141-run win on Wednesday, which represented a palpable shift in momentum between the two sides. Importantly for the home side, the win was built upon a solid team effort, lead by Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s patient fifty and Darren Sammy’s superb use of the conditions, as Zimbabwe unravelled completely after a promising start to their chase.

The Chappell-Hadlee Trophy has remained in Australian hands after Ricky Ponting and Cameron White led their team to a six-wicket win that secured the series 3-1. Rain played some part in the outcome but it was mostly New Zealand’s watered-down batting display that left their fans feeling gloomy and consigned Saturday’s fifth match in Wellington to dead-rubber status.

The hosts had only themselves to blame for failing to bat out their overs and after rain reduced the target from 239 off 50 overs to 200 from 34 overs, Australia found their way home with 17 balls to spare. Cameron White and Michael Hussey completed the chase, which was set up by Ponting and Shane Watson, and despite a couple of quick wickets in the middle from Daniel Vettori the visitors were on track for most of the evening.

Within 80 balls in to the chase, it was all but over. A penetrative spell from Darren Sammy, in which he took three wickets from his first three overs – later adding one more to his tally – left the Zimbabwean top order reeling in their chase of 246 at Arnos Vale. The visitors had thrown in the towel at 58 for 5 went on to concede the game by a massive 141 runs, which gave West Indies a 2-1 lead in the series.

Match Facts

Thursday, March 11
Start time 1400 (0100 GMT)

The Big Picture

The most important match of the series, as the players described it, went to Australia. They now hold a 2-1 lead with two matches to play and victory in Auckland will ensure they retain the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy that they won at home in December 2007 and retained through a drawn series in Australia last February. Their win on Tuesday in Hamilton was easily their most complete performance of the tour as their bowlers fired early and dismissed New Zealand, before the top-order batsmen clicked and a centurion was found. Michael Clarke’s dash home to see his fiancée didn’t upset their balance and they will be looking to turn the final game in Wellington into a dead rubber.

The PCB has struck against its players with a venom unseen in recent memory, carrying out the deepest cull of a senior cricket team in many years and banning and fining seven of its top players after the side’s disastrous, winless tour of Australia. It has banned Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf, from playing for Pakistan in any format for an indefinite period, while handing out one-year bans to Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan. Shahid Afridi and the Akmal brothers were fined Rs2-3 million [$24,000-35,000] for various misdemeanours and put on six-month probations.

Brad Haddin’s second one-day international century gave Australia a 2-1 lead and the most one-sided victory of the tour, as they chased down their target with 16 balls to spare. Haddin’s 110 was his highest ODI score and he ended Daniel Vettori’s hopes of winning what he said before the match was “the most important game of the series”.

Ricky Ponting was annoyed in the opening two games at his batsmen’s inability to capitalise on their starts, and they resolved that problem at Seddon Park. Ponting made 69 and combined with Haddin for a matchwinning 151-run partnership that justified Ponting’s rare decision to send New Zealand in. It is a gamble he has taken 24 times in his ODI captaincy career for a remarkable 20 victories.