KINGSTOWN, St Vincent,  CMC – West Indies will chase their fourth win in a row today when they face Zimbabwe in the final One-Day International of the five-match series.

With their early series slump now seemingly over, the regional side will be backing themselves to see off the tourists who have proven a feisty unit, especially with their clever spin-based attack.

West Indies took an unbeatable 3-1 series lead on Friday when they won by four wickets but will want to maintain a winning streak which did not seem likely after they lost the first two matches of the tour.

Zimbabwe, meanwhile, will be hoping to end their tour in the same vein in which it started – with a victory over the hosts – but that prospect now appears slim especially if Arnos Vale produces another seamer-friendly pitch.

On Friday, the Windies’ faster bowlers all reveled in the generous pace, bounce and movement the wicket served up and if this is the case again, Zimbabwe are likely to struggle.

They will be disappointed by the series result especially after they started with a shock 26-run win in the one-off Twenty20 International in Trinidad and Tobago and followed that up with a tense two-run triumph in the first ODI in Guyana days later.

The African side, pushing for a re-entry into Test cricket soon, can take heart from the fact they have pushed the Windies on every occasion.

West Indies will want to use this final ODI to brush up on their batting which has been a let down in the series.

They failed miserably to overhaul Zimbabwe’s 254 in the first game, struggled to an unimpressive four-wicket win with 13 balls to spare in chasing down 206 in the second game before scrambling 245 for nine in the third match batting first.

Set a paltry, 142 to win the fourth game on Friday, West Indies made heavy weather of the run chase before winning by four wickets.

The Windies have suffered from an impotent middle order. While the top order with captain Chris Gayle, Adrian Barath and Shiv Chanderpaul have been among the runs, the other batsmen have failed to live up to expectations.

Gayle has been the leading batsman with scores 57, 88, 33 and 32, teenaged opener Adrian Barath has gotten starts with knocks of 50, 7, 35 and 25 while the experienced Shiv Chanderpaul has gotten two half-centuries in four innings.

Apart from left-handed Narsingh Deonarine who has twice anchored West Indies victories in the series, the middle order has been hugely disappointing.

The big-hitting Kieron Pollard has managed just managed just 51 runs from four innings while Denesh Ramdin has scores of 8, 19 and 12 and all-rounder Dwayne Bravo has scored just 24 and 6 in his two innings on return from injury.

New coach Ottis Gibson will hope his batting can fire at Arnos Vale and end the series on a high.

Zimbabwe’s batting, too, has been their let down. Their leading batsmen Vusimuzi Sibanda, Hamilton Masakadza, Tatenda Taibu, Brendan Taylor and Stuart Matsikenyeri have all struggled badly.

It has left all-rounder Elton Chigumbura as one of the more dependable players with scores of 27, 50, 10 and 42 in the four games to date.

A strong batting effort, coupled with the steady slow stuff from off-spinning captain Prosper Utseya, leg-spinners Graeme Cremer and Greg Lamb, left-armer Ray Price and googly bowler Timycen Maruma, could dent Windies hopes of closing out with another win.
SQUADS:WEST INDIES – Chris Gayle (captain), Adrian Barath, Sulieman Benn, David Bernard, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Nikita Miller, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach and Darren Sammy.

ZIMBABWE – Prosper Utseya (captain), Hamilton Masakadza, Elton Chigumbura, Charles Coventry, Graeme Cremer, Kyle Jarvis, Greg Lamb, Timycen Maruma, Shingirai Masakadza, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Chris Mpofu, Ray Price, Vusi Sibanda, Tatenda Taibu and Brendan Taylor.