The Caribbean ODIs: Wrapping up

Best bloody series result in six years, and they're still questioning my place!

-- The West Indies richly deserve the 4-1 result, they have looked to be steadily getting their house in order ever since Darren Sammy was appojnted in late 2010. The inclusion of Narine and Russell has given them a certain X-factor that's been lacking for a while.

-- Equally, I feel New Zealand deserved their loss, which was at least partly self-inflicted. After a good comeback in the third ODI, they got into identical winning situations in the last two (50 to get off 7 overs with 4 wickets in hand). Both games ended with a choke of South African proportions. If you can't win from there, I suppose you just don't deserve to win at all.

-- It's amazing that Darren Sammy's detractors continue to question his place in the side. Not only has he managed to keep  his side focussed (more than can be said for his predecessors Lara and Gayle), his bowling's been the ideal foil for Sunil Narine thus far. Ross Taylor would give his right arm for the Gavin Larsen-like efforts Sammy has been coming up with.

-- Mike Hesson has just been appointed as national coach by NZC, and will take over from Wright at the end of this tour. If I were him, the first things I would look at are 1) getting the top order to learn how to rotate the strike and 2) finding a bowler who can keep it tight in the middle overs; Rob Nicol and Nathan McCullum are not the answers.

-- I'd have to think really far back to remember a NZ lower-order looking this clueless. Jacob Oram and Kyle Mills are still NZ's most reliable one-day bowlers, but their batting skills seem to have deteriorated to the point where getting bat on ball is an achievement in itself – particularly tragic in the case of someone with five test hundreds to his name.

--  Great to see Tino Best become a regular fixture in this West Indian side. I love the spirit this guy injects into the proceedings and the effort he puts into bounding in with every delivery. A bowler who refuses to compromise on raw pace has got to be worth watching.

-- Given that Sunil Narine tormented Australia a fair bit earlier in the year, NZ couldn't be expected to fare much better against him. But I can't help thinking back to the days of Stephen Fleming when extensive planning was the hallmark of the NZ sides. Had a bit more effort gone into preparation, I'm sure the batsmen could have worked out a way to see him off for something like 1-32 in each game. Make no mistake, he will be a major threat in the tests too.

-- Captaincy is certainly having its effect on Ross Taylor. He seems to be playing far more responsibly - the 110 in a losing cause at St.Kitts was probably the best one-day innings I've seen from him. On the other hand, it seems to be getting him injured all the time, a la Martin Crowe!

-- The performances of BJ Watling and Tim Southee were two positives from this series. Watling will hopefully settle NZ's search for a new keeper-batsman, and Southee has amazingly jumped the queue towards a likely recall to the test side. While he was magnificent in the final three games - bowling with much hostility when swing was not on offer - Southee needs to do this more consistently. Here's hoping he turns the corner.