Master of the chase

West Indies have a 31-16 win-loss record in the eight World Cups they've played so far, but nearly half of their wins came in the first three editions. At the end of the 1983 tournament, they had won 15 games and lost just two, but since then they have struggled, winning 16 times but losing 14. Thanks to their early successes, though, their win-loss ratio of 1.93 is third among all teams, behind Australia (2.35) and South Africa (2.11). (Click here for West Indies' record in each World Cup, and here for more stats on West Indies in World Cups.)

West Indies' recent ODI record isn't very encouraging either - in their last 20 games they have lost 11, and since their fabulous run in the Champions Trophy, they have lost six out of eight matches.

Their recent home record is slightly better - ten wins in their last 20 ODIs, but six of those wins were against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.

Much has been made of Brian Lara's decision to field against India recently at Nagpur, but here is a perfectly simple explanation - West Indies are much better at chasing targets than at setting them: out of their last 20 games, they have batted first seven times, and won just once. When chasing, on the other hand, they have won eight out of 13. Expect Lara to be putting the opposition in to bat if he wins the toss during the World Cup as well. (Click here for an overall summary of West Indies' last 20 ODIs.)

West Indies' problem in matches in which they've batted first has been their batting - they only score 24.4 runs per wicket, at a rate of 4.29 per over. When chasing, the average goes up significantly (32.5) as does the scoring rate (5.07).

One of the main reasons for the skewed numbers when batting first and second has been the form of the three main left-handers in their line-up. The table below shows how West Indies' main batsmen have fared when batting first and chasing. The numbers for Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Brian Lara explain the team's struggle when batting first.

With Gayle at the helm you'd expect a flurry of runs upfront, but in their last 20 ODIs, West Indies only average 4.50 runs per over in the opening 20 overs. In the seven games when they've batted first, that figure drops to a pathetic 3.79, while when batting second it's a more respectable 4.88.

With the ball, though, they've done fairly well at the start, conceding 4.54 per over in the first 20, and averaging 2.5 wickets per game in this period (in other words, opposition teams have an average score of 91 after 20 overs, for the loss of 2.5 wickets).

In the last ten overs, too, West Indies' batsmen haven't impressed, averaging only 5.70 per over in their last 20 ODIs. When bowling in the last ten during this period, they concede 6.99 runs per over, suggesting that the last ten overs of the game is an area they need to work on.

A line-up consisting of Jerome Taylor, Daren Powell, Ian Bradshaw, Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith, Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels provides Lara with varied bowling options, and this could be crucial in conditions which are expected to aid batsmen. The table below provides some pointers as to how Lara could use his bowlers - Bradshaw is at his best when used upfront, Dwayne Smith is more than handy in the early stages as is Gayle, while Bravo - with his clever changes of pace and slower balls - is the best bet when the heat of the slog overs is on.

The table below shows the average partnerships for each wicket for and against West Indies in their last 20 matches. What's noticeable is the meaty contributions of the first four wickets, but equally noticeable is how quickly the numbers fall away thereafter. Brian Lara and his team have given away a huge amount of ground through some insipid lower-middle-order batting - West Indies' sixth, seventh and eighth wickets have averaged less than 49 together; against West Indies, however, those three wickets average an impressive 82. Which means positions six, seven, eight and nine need to contribute a lot more with the bat for West Indies.