Cable and Wireless ODIs: It's win or die

Port-Of-Spain - The facts of the matter are simple.

West Indies must beat Pakistan in back-to-back matches at the Queen's Park Oval this weekend to become champions of the Caribbean's first-ever triangular limited-overs competition.

Defeat on Wednesday at Kensington Oval, their first in seven matches under new captain Jimmy Adams, has given Pakistan a significant advantage in the three-match finals.

'The challenges are on for these next two games,' Adams admitted. 'And I am looking forward to the entire team rising to this challenge.'

It is a case of do-or-die, he said.

'We have no choice but to (fight back). This is what we call crunch time.

'If we don't do it in this next game, that's it. We want to and we intend to win this One-Day tournament.'

West Indies find themselves in this position after their 17-run loss at Kensington in a match they appeared to be on course to win once they had reached 99 for one in search of 198 for victory.

There was a dramatic collapse, with seven wickets falling for 47 runs.

'It was an experience for the entire team and one that I am certain we are going to learn from and try and gain as much from this experience and put things right for the next two games,' Adams said.

The West Indies captain avoided blaming any of the players for the defeat or saying exactly where the team fell down.

'Collectively, we didn't get 200 runs, which is where I'm going to leave it at this point in time. When you start getting down on specifics, that has to be done inside the team forum,' he said.

It was the first time the West Indies had batted last in the series. Likewise, it was the first time Pakistan had batted first and captain Moin Khan said they tended to perform better when they were defending runs.

'When he batted first in the Sharjah tournament, we did quite well there. I believe in my bowling. That's why I decided to bat first (in Wednesday's match),' he said.

It is likely that Pakistan will want to do the same thing today on a pitch which might become worse as the match progresses.

Should they complete a victory in either match, it will round off a satisfactory month in which Pakistan also won the Sharjah Champions Trophy just before coming to the Caribbean.

Their success here has been achieved without key players such as experienced opener Saeed Anwar, all-rounder Azhar Mamhood, exciting fast bowler Shaoib Akhtar and off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq, who arrived in the Caribbean on Tuesday.

If they win, it will also be another case of history repeating itself.

In this competition, they came in at the finals after losing both preliminary matches against the West Indies.

Three years ago at the World Series Cup in Australia, they lost three of their four early matches to the West Indies, but turned the tables in the two-best-of-three finals by easily winning the first two matches.

Queen's Park Oval, the largest of the venues in the Caribbean, is expected to attract crowds of more than 20 000 in both matches this weekend.

Even if Pakistan wrap up the championship today, the third final will still be played tomorrow.