Off-spinners Marlon Samuels and Shane Shillingford celebrated their return to the West Indies side by combining to wreck Zimbabwe’s first innings batting in the first Test on Tuesday here. Samuels, in his first international match of the year since recovering from a serious eye injury, finished with career-best figures of 4-13, while Shillingford, recalled after nearly a year, claimed 3-58, as the Zimbabweans plunged to 211 all out on the opening day at Kensington Oval.

Kyle Jarvis then struck two blows late in the day, removing opener Kieran Powell for five and night-watchman Kemar Roach for a duck from successive deliveries to leave West Indies on 18 for two.

West Indies will look to call the shots and continue their dominance over Zimbabwe when the two teams meet in the opening contest of the two-match Test Series on Tuesday at the historic Kensington Oval. A victory over the visitors would make it five Test wins in a row for West Indies following last year’s triumphs over New Zealand in the Caribbean and overseas over Bangladesh.

West Indies beat New Zealand by nine wickets at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua last July and a week later won by five wickets at Sabina Park in Jamaica. Last November, they beat Bangladesh by 77 runs in Dhaka and then had an easy 10-wicket victory in Khulna.

World T20 champions West Indies had things all their way for the second day in a row as they easily beat Zimbabwe by 41 runs to win the second T20 International on Sunday. Man-of-the-Match Samuel Badree took a career-best 3-17 off four overs as the Windies won the weekend doubleheader 2-0 at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground.

Watched by a colourful crowd, which included the great Sir Vivian Richards, the West Indies provided quality entertainment as they rattled up 158-7 off their 50 overs. Opener Lendl Simmons continued his good form with 41 and Kieron Pollard hit an 45 not out off 24 balls.

Lendl Simmons demonstrated his might with a brilliant display of six-hitting on Saturday as West Indies beat Zimbabwe by eight wickets in the first T20 International. The opener cracked six towering sixes in a match-winning 63 not out as the world champions took a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.

The 28-year-old brought great excitement to the fans as the Windies easily reached 131-2 to win with 23 balls to spare. This was after the bowlers restricted the visitors to 130-8 off 20 overs on a good batting surface at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground. For Simmons it was his third half-century in this format and earned him the Man-of-the-Match award on his return to the team. He peppered the leg-side boundaries, sending five of his sixes in the arch between deep midwicket and long-on.

West Indies again outplayed Zimbabwe to win the third and final One-Day International and secure a 3-0 series clean sweep on Tuesday. Darren Bravo made a classy, unbeaten 72 to lead the home side to a comprehensive five-wicket victory at the Grenada National Stadium.

The Windies finished on 215-5 in reply to the visitors’ 211-9, winning with 22 balls to spare. The home side won the opening match by 156 runs on Friday and followed up with a seven-wicket victory in the second match on Sunday.

The West Indies Cricket Board’s Selection Panel has named the 13-man squad for the upcoming two-match T20 International Series as the World Champions take on Zimbabwe. The matches will be played on Saturday and Sunday at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua. First ball is 2 pm (1 pm Jamaica Time).

The team will be led by Darren Sammy, who was at the helm when the West Indies won the ICC World T20 title in Sri Lanka last year. There is a first-time call-up in this format for fast bowler Shannon Gabriel and a recall for allrounder Christopher Barnwell – who were along the leading performers during last month’s Caribbean T20 tournament.

Fresh from his magnificent, match-winning century on Sunday, Ramnaresh Sarwan is looking for more “significant contributions” as he continues his return to the game at the international level.

The experienced 32-year-old was recalled for the recent five-match One-Day Series in Australia but he found the going tough. However, he responded with an impressive batting display on Sunday to guide West Indies to a seven-wicket win over Zimbabwe at the Grenada National Stadium. The result gave the home side an unassailable 2-0 lead in the International Home Series 2013. The Windies won the opening match by 156 runs last Friday and the two teams will meet in the final match on Tuesday at the same venue.