The Oval had plenty empty seats tonight. A man a couple rows behind me called Bravo almost to a T. He said he'll start well, think he's back in business and save himself for overs 18 and 20 only to go for about 20 each over. He was close. I said that if he went round the wicket we're in trouble and the next ball he did just that. I don't think he cost us the first two matches, but tonight he was the difference maker and not in a positive way. Remember that Fidel and Cooper went for 33 runs each while Benn and Badree were both economical (yet got 2 overs each).
We paced the innings okay, even if I felt we were a little too conservative at key times. Taylor looked to be trying to play himself into some form and Lil Bravo looks firmly out of it. I'm not sure what Pooran is doing that no one else on the team seems able to do. We lost by 5 runs when we allowed Jamaica about 20-25 runs more than they should have gotten. The team is not a bad one, we're just making some really bad mistakes and most of them are coming from guys who would have been on the team even in the old format.
I'll be there again on Friday. I hope that Bravo indeed bowls his overs before the 17th. I can't promise not to cuss if I see him running in after that.