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November 15, 2009
'West Indies cricket is a mess, but I can help'
Posted 6 days, 4 hours ago in West Indies cricket
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Richards is prepared to put himself forward for the cause
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Over a rum punch in Docklands, representing his native Antigua at an international trade show organised by World Travel Market, Sir Viv Richards. casts an imperious eye across the modern game. He is not ecstatic. Speaking to the Observer's Kevin Mitchell, cricket's knight reflects on a lack of fight in the game, West Indies' decline and the Allen Stanford saga.
"It's sad ... it's very sad. To those of us who played at a time when things were good, it is crazy to know that these guys are sitting back and watching the goings-on, guys who could make a healthy contribution to West Indies cricket. Players now are a little shaky. They know the sacrifices people have had to make, they know about the legacy. It sends shivers through your spine. It's difficult to describe, a sense of anger."
November 3, 2009
Gayle an unworthy captain
Posted 2 weeks, 3 days ago in West Indies cricket
Peter Roebuck writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that Chris Gayle does not deserve to be captain of the West Indies squad heading to Australia.
Gayle is a busted flush. Sympathisers say he cares about West Indian cricket. If so, he has a curious way of showing it. Appointed on a wing and a prayer by authorities desperate to stop the inexorable slide in West Indian cricket, the languid Jamaican has been a profound disappointment. If nothing else, his abject performance during last winter's Test series in England ought to have cost him his job.
Given the honour of captaining the party and therefore following in the footsteps of Sir Frank Worrell, Sir Garfield Sobers and Clive Lloyd, the sunglassed opener promptly signed to play for the Kolkata Klowns (or whatever) in the IPL and arranged to join the team a week before the first Test. Eager to put even more plunder in his pocket, he lingered longer, played an extra match and arrived a couple of days before the series began. So much for leadership. So much for the tradition of West Indian cricket. So much for Test cricket.
September 15, 2009
West Indies cricket falls apart
Posted on 09/15/2009 in West Indies cricket
In the Trinidad & Tobago Express, Peter Simmons argues that West Indian cricket has become an international laughing stock, and that public disappointment and disdain is at its zenith.
When the players eschew the efforts of distinguished jurists from the Caribbean Court of Justice putting their skills and sagacity at their disposal as arbitrators acting in their personal capacity, we despair. Mind you, the cynics will say the players are behaving just like those governments which have failed to sign on to the court's jurisdiction. Monkey see, monkey do!
The over-arching incompetence of the board is demonstrated in the Viv Richards Stadium fiasco, the repeated tardiness in providing retainer contracts for the players or sending John Dyson a contract for signature with his predecessor's name and address. The overwhelming conclusion is that the board endorses the ethos that the way forward is through error compounding error.
September 13, 2009
Is it time to scrap 'West Indies'?
Posted on 09/13/2009 in West Indies cricket
The latest in the series of disputes between the West Indies players and the board has tested everyone's patience to the limit and perhaps it's time to show aggression, break up the entire system and have them play as individual islands, writes Peter Roebuck in the Witness. He adds that it's an insult to South Africa and the Champions Trophy to send the same second-string squad, which barely has any familiar names.
It’s over. Everyone is sick and tired of the West Indians. South Africa ought to withdraw its invitation to take part in the Champion’s Trophy. Let Ireland come instead — at least they want to play. West Indies have been treating cricket badly for years. It’s high time the favour was returned.
September 12, 2009
Hunte must go
Posted on 09/12/2009 in West Indies cricket
An editorial in the Jamaica Observer calls for West Indies board president Julian Hunte and his administration to step aside to make room for a complete transformation of the way cricket is run in the region. There have been positives in his tenure, like extending the first-class season with home and away games, despite the absence of sponsorship. But larger and more pressing issues still remain.
At bottom line, we believe, the WICB and its territorial affiliates, surrounded though they are by an increasingly professional world, have remained trapped in a culture of amateurism and insular parochialism. Hence that still officially unexplained disaster in Antigua earlier in the year when a Test match had to be abandoned in the first few minutes because the field was unfit for any kind of cricket - except the beach variety - and the countless gut-wrenching embarrassments such as the latest 'no contract' allegation reportedly made by the dismissed coach Mr John Dyson.
September 11, 2009
WICB right in playing hard ball
Posted on 09/11/2009 in West Indies cricket
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If the team current team, led by Floyd Reifer, has any measure of success it could spell disaster for the established players
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The West Indies Players' Association (WIPA) has actually done little to benefit players throughout the region, which is why Phillip Hackett in his blog on Cayman Net News is fully supportive of the strong stance that the West Indies Cricket Board has taken.
Had they picked the so-called first choice players, including Chris Gayle, Shiv Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, West Indies cricket could have been exposed to even greater embarrassment than what is anticipated in some circles given the perceived limitations of the team now in South Africa.
A repeat of the standoff in London that preceded our first ever tour to South Africa would have been quite likely given the break down in the mediation process over the past week. That would have most likely sparked a series of events even more intense than the current crisis.
August 23, 2009
Patterson report remains unimplemented
Posted on 08/23/2009 in West Indies cricket
PJ Patterson, former Prime Minister of Jamaica, submitted a report on West Indies cricket to the WICB in 2007, but he feels the board has not utilized the suggestions given by him and his colleagues in the report. In CaribbeanCricket, Patterson writes on how the board missed a chance to help build a great future for cricket in the West Indies.
We were forewarned, in the light of previous reports which lay buried, that our efforts would bear no fruit. Little did we realize that decisions on the most vital aspects would be taken, kept secret for a considerable period and then eventually obscured under the guise that approximately 47 of our 65 recommendations had been approved.
None of us was so beset with the sin of arrogance to believe that recommendations in our Report were “edicts or directives”, but we dared to hope that the “strong suggestions” we made, grounded on a process of full consultation, would have merited careful and serious consideration in charting the path for the early recovery and future growth of West Indian cricket.
August 11, 2009
Trinidad and Tobago's boycott of the WICB
Posted on 08/11/2009 in West Indies cricket
The Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) has boycotted an important meeting of the WICB. This is a clear indication that the TTCB has not fallen in line with the WICB's hardline position against the first choice players. CaribbeanCricket asks if this boycott could lead to many more boycotts from other islands, and if West Indies cricket is breaking into fragments.
Further it is no secret that the TTCB president, Deryck Murray – the former Windies wicketkeeper and vice captain – harbours ambitions to take over the WICB presidency. The Murray led boycott may have been engineered to demonstrate in no uncertain terms its unhappiness and disenchantment with Hunte’s leadership. However the boycott brings into focus a growing disinterest in West Indies cricket as a result of the WICB’s hard lined position against the players, particularly the established players.
David Hinds, also in CaribbeanCricket, writes on three major issues - Trinidad and Tobago's secession calls, the captaincy of West Indies and the importance of cricket outside the boundary.
August 9, 2009
Can West Indies cricket be salvaged?
Posted on 08/09/2009 in West Indies cricket
As a child, during cricket matches, Gary Peart could not be separated from his radio. He grew up during the now-called Golden Age of West Indies cricket when the West Indies won matches all the time. That is not the case now, and it saddens Peart. In the Jamaica Observer, he presents an appropriate sports business model on which he believes West Indies cricket should be governed in order to develop strong player development, discipline and education.
What is the West Indies cricket brand and what is its value? Consistent power batting and power bowling are two qualities that differentiated the West Indies cricket brand. A now-retired English player reflecting on the current state of disarray of the West Indies team reminisced, "The batsmen would come out and make 500 runs and the bowlers would come out and do the rest. You just remained glued to their performance to try to see how you could improve your own game. Those were exciting times." For the West Indies fan, the excitement was in the vanquishing of the opposing team, particularly when that team was the English.
August 5, 2009
The final nail in the Windies coffin
Posted on 08/05/2009 in West Indies cricket
The grimmest and bleakest aspect of the revelations and implications of the dispute between the West Indies Cricket Board and the West Indies Players' Association, and the resulting loss to Bangladesh, is that West Indies Test cricket is dead, writes Vaneisa Baksh on the CarribbeanCricket.com website.
Details of this particular scenario are even more annoying because the WICB shamelessly instructs the hapless young players to invoke the name of Sir Frank Worrell to support their stance, when they know full well that Sir Frank would more likely have supported the idea that the WICB needs to honour agreements, negotiate in good faith and plan its business with acumen and not cunning. Sir Frank as educator would not have wanted to teach young players to disrespect the spirit of the game, nor would he have encouraged them to break solidarity with players like themselves. What happens now to those players after their horrible initiation
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This generation is not interested in playing Test matches. They don’t aspire to careers as Test players. They’re smitten by the excitement of Twenty/20; they’ve sniffed its lucre and have been fondled by its promise of glamour. Their world is one of instant gratification and giddiness. I
July 25, 2009
WIPA, WICB should work on the root causes
Posted on 07/25/2009 in West Indies cricket
Bruce Aanensen, former CEO of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), agrees with Michael Holding that a short-term solution between the WIPA and WICB will do no good, and says there are deep-rooted issues which need to be settled. In an open letter to Shridath Ramphal, who was appointed arbitrator, Aanensen lists suggestions to end the impasse in CaribbeanCricket.com. The statement made by Michael Holding regarding short term solutions is also very valid. I will join this call and ask that you do NOT seek to address the current impasse in West Indies Cricket and attempt to resolve the “present issues” as articulated by the parties concerned. These current issues are but a reflection of the underlying fundamental problems that have caused similar standoffs over the years, and will continue to do so if long term solutions are not found. I would like to suggest, that rather than fill in the cracks, plaster over the top and put a new coat of paint, to make the relationship look new, that you ask for some time to deliver a LONG TERM solution to the problems, and ease the pain of die hard West Indies supporters like myself and many others who are hurting as a result of the present predicament in which we find ourselves.
July 20, 2009
The concept of a unified West Indies team
Posted on 07/20/2009 in West Indies cricket
The West Indies is not a nation, it is a team which brings together many countries. Kevin O' Brien Chang, in the CaribbeanCricket website, talks of the sense of belonging that cricket brings among people of all the islands. He then goes on to talk of the player strike, highlighting that rows between player and board were present even in 1948 and 1953.
It’s a curious thing, ‘Westindianness’. When the Trinidad and Jamaica football teams face off, fans taunt each other and abuse opposing players. Put those same spectators together to watch the West Indies, and they hug each other with joy at each West Indian triumph, no matter if it was Yardies or Trinis or Bajans responsible.
July 19, 2009
Is there a cancer in West Indies cricket?
Posted on 07/19/2009 in West Indies cricket
Observing the behaviour of the West Indies Cricket Board and players in the last few years one might very well ask if there is a cancer in West Indies cricket. So says Rudi Webster, the Grenada-based psychologist, in the Trinidad Guardian.
Like the cancer, selfish and greedy motives have become their first important priorities. As a result, good performance and the growth and well-being of West Indies cricket have been displaced way down their list of important priorities. In adversarial situations, participants often believe that by proving their opponents wrong, they automatically prove themselves right.
In the Trinidad and Tobago Express Marlon Miller writes that the WIPA and the WICB are "just a pair of lame-brain, egotistical authorities who really need to step aside and let someone else sort out the mess they have produced."
July 16, 2009
Feud puts Windies dignity on the line
Posted on 07/16/2009 in West Indies cricket
The dispute between the West Indies board and the players' association shows no signs of ending, forcing the Caribbean selectors to pick a weakened side for the second Test in a row. An editorial in the Barbados Advocate says that both the feuding parties must introspect, and that their relationship should be re-configured to ensure the least friction. This may entail the termination of the current employment relation and the creation in its place of a status whereby on selection to the team a player will adhere to the contract for that year agreed to in advance between the WIPA and the WICB under arbitration. Alternatively, a player may be contracted to the team for a term of years under conditions similarly agreed to by his agent with the WICB.
Second, both organisations must indulge in some serious introspection. The WICB, to its credit, has already done such, with the team led by Mr. P J Patterson. However, the resulting report’s most celebrated recommendation, that of reforming the WICB itself, has understandably not been acted upon. We are not aware that the WIPA has undertaken any such self-analysis. But, for the end of regional cricket, we would urge its soonest adoption.
July 13, 2009
From hopeless to expensive
Posted on 07/13/2009 in West Indies cricket
The situation in the West Indies is past ridiculous and beyond mockery. The status and performance of the team does not point in a new direction and with the WICB pursuing authority at all costs and the WIPA committed to money before all else, it is no surprise that cricket itself suffers. Read on in the 'Immovable Farce' post on the BC Raw blog.
The West Indies Cricket Board, not content with having the worst cricket team in the world, last week sent a second string worst team in the world to play Bangladesh. That’s like deciding to send Salman Rushdie on a goodwill tour of Iran but, at the last minute, replacing him with George Dubya Bush.
July 11, 2009
West Indies cricket in a hole
Posted on 07/11/2009 in West Indies cricket
The ICC's Dave Richardson has proposed that Test cricket be divided into two tiers. Based on rankings and the current WICB and WIPA disagreement, it is quite possible that West Indies find themselves in the lower rungs of international cricket. Trinidad and Tobago Express reports.
The most highly-paid players ever in the history of West Indies cricket and, arguably, the greatest underachievers, are again at loggerheads with the administrative managers of the game here with money once again being central to the dispute, the latest incarnation of the WICB seemingly unable to arrive at a series of systems that would have forestalled the kind of international embarrassment occasioned by a players' strike at the onset of what was supposed to have been a team-fortifying tournament.
It cost the West Indies public millions of dollars to get the islands into shape to host the 2007 World Cup. Taxpayers' money runs West Indies cricket and the Jamaica Gleaner feels the boycott by the players and the inefficiency of the WICB is nothing more than an attempt to hold the game hostage.
Continue reading "West Indies cricket in a hole"
July 9, 2009
Groundhog Day for West Indies
Posted on 07/09/2009 in West Indies cricket
The West Indies board and players' association are at loggerheads once again over contracts and the team has boycotted the first Test against Bangladesh. In caribbeancricket.com, Lawrence Romeo calls it a Groundhog Day for West Indies fans, since, like in the movie starring Bill Murray, they find themselves in a repeat situation of what has happened several times before.
Do the leaders of their organizations, Messrs. Hunte and Ramnarine - even though they were once President and Director respectively of the WICB - know each other? Do they care about reaching a beneficial outcome? Have they considered moving beyond the initiation stage of the negotiation and onto the problem solving stage, and hopefully on to some resolution? If as leaders they cannot figure out the way forward beyond the never ending cycle of strike and temporary appeasement, then they are failing as leaders and must either agree to be led, or step aside. Who is the CARICOM leader responsible for cricket, and when is that person going to step up? Can CARICOM, in the face of the failure of all other efforts banish the WICB as an entity from doing business in the Caribbean and start afresh with a new managing organization?
May 6, 2009
Courtney Walsh still in love with cricket
Posted on 05/06/2009 in West Indies cricket
For 21 years, Courtney Walsh ran the equivalent of 1000 miles in first-class cricket destroying metacarpals and careers with his pace and guile. Like many great athletes, he possessed a rare physiology that allowed a strong work ethic and uncommon longevity, writes Kate Laven in the Telegraph.
Three years later against Australia at Perth, Walsh was captaining West Indies when he tore a hamstring. The team doctor took one look and signed him off but Walsh kept his physio up all night demanding more and more ice treatment. Most believed he would at best bowl a couple of overs off a short run but he amazed everyone by bowling 20 overs non-stop until West Indies had won. Unable to walk properly for two weeks, he maintained – and still maintains – that it was worth it.
May 4, 2009
Cricket, lovely cricket, take it or leave it
Posted on 05/04/2009 in West Indies cricket
In the Trinidad Guardian, Alvin Corneal looks ahead to what the next three months holds in store for West Indies cricket.
Even if we take a queue from the recent home Test series success against England, the flow of continued success can hardly be guaranteed, now that we are just a few days away from the first Test. For a start, our three key players, Chris Gayle (captain), Dwayne Bravo (star allrounder) and Fidel Edwards (most penetrative fast bowler), have all opted for the Twenty20 IPL financial extravaganza, with coloured clothing, white balls and dancing girls intermingling with hefty sixes and super catches.
The decision to split the England tour with the IPL was the ideal situation for the players’ pockets, but maybe not so healthy for the touring team in England. Already, we are hearing of the light ankle injury to Skipper Gayle just a few days before the Test match, immediately bringing memories of previous occasions when he had to opt out of matches because of injury.
May 3, 2009
Sarwan remains a big barrier to English success
Posted on 05/03/2009 in West Indies cricket
Nobbling the opposition’s best batsmen with cunning plans was one of several qualities England supporters took for granted when Duncan Fletcher was the national coach, writes Scyld Berry in the Sunday Telegraph.
Ramnaresh Sarwan was Man of the Series when England lost 1-0 in the Caribbean earlier this year, scoring more than twice as many runs as the next West Indian, with three centuries and a 90 in his six innings. England will not avenge their defeat if Sarwan is also the man of the two-Test series which starts at Lord’s on Wednesday.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul admits it's always about him against the rest of the world, whether it's battles with personalities, the media or leading the West Indies, writes Anna Kessel in the Observer
At the mention of KP, Chanderpaul's face grows very dark. On the recent West Indies tour Pietersen took a swipe at him, accusing him of "playing for himself". It was a comment that Chanderpaul did not take lightly.
"You can't assume or think someone's just playing for themselves. I don't know where he gets his stories from … I can't be playing for myself when I'm in Trinidad trying to save a match. Scoring 140 and I'm playing for myself?" Chanderpaul's expression is one of utter disgust.
Did Pietersen's comment make him angry? "What he said just motivated me more. It definitely made me better at what I was doing. If people come at me I just want to make sure that I can be out there even longer. You get angry and you just want to grind somebody out there longer, that's how I do my job." Chanderpaul folds his arms, his outburst a rare moment of expression.
April 24, 2009
Stanford 'living on charity'
Posted on 04/24/2009 in West Indies cricket
In an interview with the Independent, Allen Stanford's fiancée talks about life under siege with the billionaire fighting fraud charges. "We're lucky to be living on the charity of my family at the moment, but it has been overwhelming," Andrea Stoelker said. "We are very blessed to have a lot of people around us who are supportive, and some great former employees who are standing by him, but it is difficult to get up some mornings."
March 25, 2009
Seeking options for WI cricket
Posted on 03/25/2009 in West Indies cricket
The recent gifting away of the first one-day international to England by the management of the West Indies cricket team once again raises the question of the administration of the game in the Caribbean, says an editorial in the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian.
In some parts of the cricketing world, both Dyson and Khan would have been looking for jobs the following day. But West Indian fans have grown so used to the self-generated, off-field distractions from within the administrative ranks of the West Indies Cricket Board that it is no surprise that neither was called to account for their shortcomings in calculation. This, coming on the heels of the abandoned Test match in Antigua, was another well-directed bouncer at West Indies cricket which clearly struck the target. Such indiscretions continue the blunders of the current and past regimes of West Indies cricket and provide major challenges to the game in these parts.
March 21, 2009
Cricket and that striking non-action at Sabina Park
Posted on 03/21/2009 in West Indies cricket
HG Helps, writing in the Jamaica Observer, describes the scene outside Sabina Park where the striking Combined Campuses and Colleges team stayed in their team bus while their opponents Jamaica didn't even show up.
A call to one senior member of the Jamaica squad confirmed that the only way that the local cricketers would be at Sabina Park that day was if someone other than Allen Stanford arranged a winner-take-all US$10 million match.
The players refused to leave their hotel and there appeared to be an arrangement for their opponents not to go onto the field of play, as they could claim the points if the other team did not turn up.
February 20, 2009
Eight months later ...
Posted on 02/20/2009 in West Indies cricket
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And who's that lurking behind Stanford ...
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| This weeks’ cricket coverage has been dominated by stories about Sir Alan Stanford, often accompanied by pictures of his big day out at Lord’s last June when he and his new best friends at the ECB and WICB unveiled their brave new world. Standing among them were two other knights, Sir Viv Richards and Sir Ian Botham.
Eight months on and it’s all ended in tears. The media has savaged the boards for their involvement with Stanford and not scratching under the dollar-plated surface of his financial empire. While Richards has been quiet, not so Sir Ian.
“The sorry Stanford debacle leaves English cricket with nothing but egg on its face,” he fumed in his column in the Mirror “It has been a disaster for the Antiguan people, a disaster for West Indian cricket and a disaster for English cricket - and you cannot just let something as massive as this be swept under the carpet. Someone has to be accountable. [Clarke] was the one telling everyone Stanford was the way to go - and it has been a huge mess.
"They took the Stanford deal instead and now where are we? It is all well and good suggesting it was a collective board decision, but I seem to remember Clarke pushing very hard for it."
February 16, 2009
The folly of the ICC's ways
Posted on 02/16/2009 in ICC
Writing in the Times, Pat Gibson pretty much sums up what we all suspected about the reasons the unloved Sir Vivian Richards Stadium was ever built. And he is in no doubt where the blame lies – with the ICC, who imposed unworkable conditions in return for the Caribbean hosting the World Cup.
So millions were spent on a new stadium miles out of town that was never going to replace the ARG in the public’s affection any more than the new Trelawny and Providence stadiums in Jamaica and Guyana, which were also built for the World Cup, are going to supplant Sabina Park and Bourda.
Now we are seeing the stupidity of it all. Inside two days, the ARG groundstaff produced a pitch and outfield that mock the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, workmen cleaned up the dilapidated stands and the television company worked wonders in transferring its equipment to beam the evidence around the world.
February 13, 2009
Diabolical failures, gross neglect
Posted on 02/13/2009 in West Indies cricket
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Daren Powell points to a suspect part of the bowlers' run-up on a farcical day in Antigua
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| The influential and well-connected caribbeancricket.com website has launched a stinging attack on the West Indies Cricket Board in the aftermath of the shambles that was the ten-ball Antigua Test. As so many are doing, the article asks how the match was even allowed to start.
International cricket teams do not simply turn up on the morning of the first day of a Test match and find that the venue is wholly atrocious for any level of cricket. There are several standard checks and assessments which should have been put in place by the WICB to ensure that exactly what transpired at the Sir Viv Richards Stadium this morning never occur. There must have been a series of diabolical failures and gross neglect on the part of the assigned officer for it to have reached the stage where the Caribbean is left to suffer the utter humiliation now being rightfully dished out. What should have been those checks and balances? And who, specifically, was responsible?
The answer, according to the website, is chief cricket operations manager Tony Howard.
What was Howard doing? Was there a recce of the Sir Viv Richards Stadium? Who executed it? What was their report? Or was the recce a mere joyride around the Caribbean for Howard while he collected valuable per diem?
Angry stuff. But on a day the cricket in the Caribbean has been shamed, it is quite understandable.
In the Times, Mike Atherton says that heads must roll in the WICB after the latest shambles. He wonders why no match was played before the Test to test the suitability of the conditions at the ground.
Mike Selvey writes in the Guardian that the abandonment of the Test was "was not just a disgrace but another disastrous setback for the name of international cricket at a time, especially in the Caribbean, when it needs all the help it can get".
His colleague Andy Bull says that at a time when cricket needs an efficient Jeeves-like person in charge, it's left with a whole lot of bumbling Bertie Woosters. He suggests that the third Test should be moved to Barbados as the Antigua Recreation Ground isn't currently in a good-enough condition to host a Test.
The ICC and its match referee Alan Hurst are the subject of Martin Samuel's ire in the Daily Mail. He says it was more than a match that was abandoned in Antigua: it was the integrity of a sport, and the trust of the people who watch it.
Writing in Independent, Stephen Brenkley laments a crass decision by the WICB to build their new house on sand.
February 7, 2009
West Indies' millionaires reserved about their wealth
Posted on 02/07/2009 in West Indies cricket
There is anecdotal evidence that, within days of humiliating England in the Stanford Super Series Twenty20 showdown and earning $1 million (about £675,000) each, three young West Indies players were seen in an Antigua jeweller's buying Rolex watches worth $30,000 apiece, writes Pat Gibson in the Times.
Chris Gayle, who was strolling around like a millionaire anyway, long before he became captain, is significantly less flamboyant, unless you count the gold earring, designer jeans and skimpy vest that reveal his bulging, tattooed forearms. What he has done with his money is personal, he says, but he revealed on his website that his priority was to provide medical treatment for his father and one of his three brothers, who has a heart condition similar to the one for which he had surgery a few years ago.
February 5, 2009
A falling West Indies star
Posted on 02/05/2009 in West Indies cricket
In The Times, Michael Atherton took time out to track down Richard Austin, the former West Indies allrounder who was good enough to be signed up by Kerry Packer for his World Series Cricket venture in the late 1970s, but who is now living on the streets in Kingston.
The last time I saw Richard Austin he was living in a bush. Location, location, location, the estate agents say, and this was a well-positioned bush, to be sure, in the car park opposite the Hilton hotel in New Kingston. The Hilton hotel, you see, is where international cricket teams stay when they are in Jamaica - England are staying there now - and Austin had located on the principle that someone might just remember him and give him some money to feed his habit.
He has moved now - at least when you do not own a home, selling up is not a problem - and he inhabits the Cross Roads area of Kingston in a triangle between Tastee, the patty store, the Texaco garage and Union Square, sleeping rough, begging and, when he is flush, getting high. He is high a lot of the time, says the man who runs the garage where Austin hangs out, but people are fond of him and enjoy his company, unless he is so high that he starts talking crazy.
January 28, 2009
No Holding back
Posted on 01/28/2009 in West Indies cricket
England will do well on their 10-week tour of the West Indies, but they will be fortunate that they will not be up against a team that's at its strongest at the moment. The opinion voiced by Michael Holding is one of many during his interview to Laura Williamson in the Daily Mail.
He also speaks about a number of issues including England's team composition, the role of money, how vital cricket is to Caribbean culture and the dangers surrounding the game.
'Cricket is the only thing that brings us together. People from islands that never produce a West Indies cricketer, identify with the West Indies team because it's the region. And whenever that dies we have lost a great deal.
It's like the Obama thing here in America. Every African-American now feels as if he is worth something because Obama is now the president of the United States. In the Caribbean, we care about West Indies cricket. That's what West Indies cricket means.'
January 26, 2009
West Indies cricket in hard times
Posted on 01/26/2009 in West Indies cricket
Oliver Brett, writing for the BBC Cricket website, analyses the continuing decline of cricket in the Caribbean in the aftermath of the 2007 World Cup, reflected by the lack of sponsors in the domestic circuit and the sport's rapidly dwindling appeal among those who were once its most passionate patrons. He speaks to Tony Becca, one of the region's most well-known cricket-writers, and Donald Peters, the chief executive of the West Indies Cricket Board.
Tony Becca: "Cricket is really losing its appeal. I never believed it when people said soccer was pushing cricket into the background, but when you look at how many people support a big football match in Jamaica it's fantastic compared to the turnout for cricket.
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Donald Peters: "We know that we have not been doing too well, but with the right administration and plan we will address some of the difficulties."
Becca, in Sports Jamaica, emphasises the need for good leadership in West Indies cricket to bring about a reversal in fortunes
December 3, 2008
Bungling up in Barbados
Posted on 12/03/2008 in West Indies cricket
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Dwayne Smith proudly stands next to Barbados' flag
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Cricket in Barbados is currently facing retribution - a situation similar to the past 10-15 years. Mike Worrell, the former Barbados wicketkeeper-batsman, in the Nation News believes the dismal state has been due to a result of poor planning and decision-making by its administrators and poor selection policies.
The worst effort I thought was in the points system this year. I hope next season will see a revision to what is now in place. I hope that as a body the BCA can move away from the present system of electing board members, to one where the best people can be selected.
Also of concern is the selection of the national coaches. This year on two occasions the coach of Barbados' senior team put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the players in terms of their performances in regional competitions.
October 5, 2008
Justin Guillen's distinguished cricketing lineage
Posted on 10/05/2008 in West Indies cricket
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Justin Guillen will play for Trinidad and Tobago in the upcoming Stanford Super Series
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Roger Seepersad of the Trindad Express speaks to Justin Guillen, member of a distinguished cricketing family, who will play for Trinidad and Tobago in the Stanford Super Series next month. Justin is the great nephew of Simpson Clairmonte Guillen, also known as ‘Sammy’ Guillen, who was one of only 14 men to play Test cricket for two countries, having represented West Indies and New Zealand.
Justin only met his great uncle once, when he was ten, but was aware of his exploits as a Test player.
"At the time, I was not so serious about cricket as I am now," he noted, adding: "I played it for fun and I knew he had played for the West Indies and New Zealand and the most training I would have had with him, so to speak, was a bit of cricket in the back yard.
September 28, 2008
Development is more than just having a coach
Posted on 09/28/2008 in West Indies cricket
In the Jamaica Gleaner, Tony Becca says he agrees with thoughts expressed by Ian Chappell in a recent column.
As far as the West Indies leaders are concerned, the way to develop young talent, in the territories, is simply to employ someone, any one, to coach the young players whenever he has the time or the inclination to do so. And the way to develop a strong West Indies team is to employ a coach, from anywhere, a coach who works only when the team is preparing for a series.
Development, however, is more than that, much more than that, and until those in charge realise that, until they realise that as important as coaching is - good coaching that is, it is secondary to good facilities, to a good atmosphere, to good discipline, to motivation and inspiration and to good, strong competitions.
September 27, 2008
Sponsorship woes continue to hit Jamaica's cricket
Posted on 09/27/2008 in West Indies cricket
Writing in the Jamaica Gleaner, Anthony Foster looks at why Jamaica, even though they have produced more West Indies players than any other country in the region, still can't find a sponsor for its top-flight one-day tournament.
Foster speaks to Jamaica Cricket Association president Jackie Hendriks and profiles a few key players in the squad.
September 26, 2008
The rise of Stanford
Posted on 09/26/2008 in West Indies cricket
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Allen Stanford: Howard Hughes or colonialist
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In an in-depth profile on Allen Stanford, the business magazine Forbes looks at how he became a billionaire, his attempts to revive cricket in the West Indies and foster its growth in the United States. It also lists the controversies that have inevitably followed his success, and the mixed opinion people have of him. A friend calls him "a modern-day Howard Hughes without the weird stuff" while Antigua's prime minister casts him as a modern-day colonialist.
He wants to introduce a TV-friendly version of cricket (called Stanford 20/20) to the U.S. Stanford loves cricket now, but pleasure is only half of the equation here. He stands to bring in around US$10 million selling the international broadcast rights for this year's game, which could draw a global audience of 700 million viewers. He's also hoping to exploit cricket as an international branding tool for his company, Stanford Financial Group.
September 18, 2008
The importance of being Shiv
Posted on 09/18/2008 in West Indies cricket
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Chanderpaul has an iron will to succeed
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In keeping with the changing face of cricket, a few exponents of the modern-day game have defied all the rules on their path to glory. A.K.S Satish waxes eloquent on ICC Cricketer of the Year, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, in this piece in Gulf News.
It is common knowledge that a batsman should stick to the basic principles of cricket coaching of a side-on stance, head still and straight back-lift to be most effective.
However, the West Indian has not adhered to any of this - he has an open stance, shuffles from leg to middle as the bowler runs in, and his back-lift emerges somewhere from thirdman.
Yet, he is a success. A huge success.
September 13, 2008
Let's hear it for Chanderpaul
Posted on 09/13/2008 in West Indies cricket
The Barbados-based Nation praises Shivnarine Chanderpaul for being named the ICC Player of the Year.
At a time when he is surrounded by a crop of batsmen without class and consistency, it speaks volumes about his commitment, dedication, skill and determination. Considered a player of no more than average ability, Chanderpaul makes up for it with other qualities that are sadly lacking among his teammates.
His cramped front-on stance and unspectacular methods of accumulating runs are not exactly the most pleasing to the eye, but no one in the region knows the importance of valuing his wicket more than Chanderpaul.
Paul Burrowes looks at the remarkable Chanderpaul in the Jamaica Observer.
August 31, 2008
New West Indian heroes
Posted on 08/31/2008 in West Indies cricket
Sport in the West Indies has been given a whole new identity thanks to the spectacular performances of Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell, Richard Thompson and line of athletes from Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago who brought home medals from Beijing. While cricket continues to languish due to administration issues, a whole new generation of West Indians have something to cheer about, writes Tony Cozier in the Trinidad and Tobago Express. He wonders if many others with the advantages of Bolt's height, physique and athleticism will now follow his path to the track rather than seeking to extend the celebrated legacy of West Indian fast bowling.
There was a time when opponents cowered before the cricketing might of West Indies teams under Worrell and Sobers, Lloyd and Richards. Now it is the other way round and there won't be a revival until such insecurity is erased.
July 23, 2008
Reload the slings and arrows
Posted on 07/23/2008 in West Indies cricket
In the dispute between Digicel and the West Indies Cricket Board over the sponsorship of the Stanford All Stars match, Fazeer Mohammed wonders whether Digicel are farse and out of place to insist that their rights as official sponsors of West Indies cricket and the West Indies team are being infringed. Read on in Trinidad and Tobago Express.
Is this all part of a top-level powerplay in which Sir Allen who, having seen the phenomenal success of the first season of the Indian Premier League, is prepared to throw even more of his millions around to ensure that his name is reflexively identified with the increasingly popular Twenty20 version of the game?
Have the top administrators of the WICB been caught out of their crease in lunging at the tantalising delivery tossed up by the Texan billionaire, prompting the Irish-based telecommunications company to call for the third umpire?
July 8, 2008
Windies players need to change their approach, says Dyson
Posted on 07/08/2008 in West Indies cricket
John Dyson, the West Indies coach, has said that the West Indies players must realise that they have to curb the ‘natural West Indian way’ in order to achieve consistent success. He spoke on a range of issues plaguing West Indies cricket in the press conference after Australia swept the five-match ODI series. Read the full Q&A in the Caribbeancricket.com.
Unfortunately, we're getting players that have only played a handful of games in some cases that have been playing not a lot of cricket and I've got to say that some of the stuff they're bringing to us, we need to change dramatically. One person or one management team at this level can't change that overnight. We can make changes along the way but it does take time. To say 'we want to be from there to there in two or three months, it is totally unrealistic. Mathematically you can't do it. To change the habits of the players once they get to this team, overnight, it's just not going to happen. They need to start working on things before they get there.
June 23, 2008
Boys vs Women
Posted on 06/23/2008 in West Indies cricket
Ezra Stuart of the Nation thinks the Barbados women's team being allowed to play in an Under-15 schools competition is a bad idea.
While the women may benefit from match play prior to the regional tournament in Jamaica, it could be detrimental to the boys in the long run.
Just imagine, hard-back women playing against little first and second form boys. Will the lads handle the taunts from their peers after being struck for a number of fours and sixes or being dismissed for a "duck" by a woman?
This could have adverse effects on these boys and such an unnecessary development is one which school principals and parents should address, especially since Rule 20 of the competition states: "Only schoolboys under the age of 15 years on September 1 in the current year are eligible to play"
June 9, 2008
Barbados isn’t losing its religion
Posted on 06/09/2008 in West Indies cricket
Alex Brown, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, speaks to Sir Garfield Sobers in Barbados before travelling around the island looking for signs of the game’s health.
“I keep hearing this all the time, that people have lost the passion for cricket in the region," Sobers says. "But that's not what I see at all. Everywhere, the game is being played. If cricket is fading, I must be silly."
An interesting take, and indeed a different viewpoint to the widely held notion of Caribbean cricket losing its foothold in a region rapidly succumbing to Americanisation. Could Sobers be right? Have reports of cricket's demise in the West Indies been exaggerated? With curiosity piqued, you hit the road in search of Sobers' Barbados. And before you've reached Bridgetown's city limits, you suspect he might be right.
In the Jamaica Gleaner Tony Becca hails Shivnarine Chanderpaul, a special breed of batsman who is rarely mentioned as a West Indian great.
May 23, 2008
Curious fans request Woolmer hotel room
Posted on 05/23/2008 in West Indies cricket
In the Herald Sun, Ben Dorries reports from Jamaica that one year on from the death of Bob Woolmer, the place where he died has become something of a tourist drawcard.
Room 374 of the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston, Jamaica, has been refurbished since the Pakistan coach was found dead in its white-tiled bathroom. But that hasn't stopped curious cricket fans and business travellers from ringing the hotel and requesting to stay in the 12th floor executive room.
"We have had quite a few occasions where people have asked to stay in the Woolmer room . . . and others have asked to stay on the same floor," hotel manager Eldon Bremner said.
"Woolmer's death here has not affected business and bookings are high. We thought about closing the room or even dedicating it to Mr Woolmer. But I didn't think that was appropriate to his memory, and I also did not want to offend his family."
May 20, 2008
Bravo, here comes the hot-stepper
Posted on 05/20/2008 in West Indies cricket
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Star quality: Dwayne Bravo
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Dwayne Bravo made a rock-star entry into the West Indies-Australia series, landing in Jamaica on a private plane which was apparently arranged by his IPL team, AAP reports.
Bravo's appearance was restricted to a brief - albeit colourful - cameo as he arrived in designer clothes and Calvin Klein shoes, looking a million dollars, before retreating to the team hotel to try and escape any lingering jet-lag. The rumour he had been flown in via private jet after staying on to play for the Mumbai Indians on Sunday began to spread like wildfire around Sabina Park, with Sarwan eventually confirming the report.
"We actually knew it a couple of days ago," Ramnaresh Sarwan said. "He first mentioned it to me when I was in India, so I found it funny that he did actually want to come back on it.”
May 15, 2008
The downfall of Marlon Samuels
Posted on 05/15/2008 in West Indies cricket
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Marlon Samuels will not be seen in West Indies colours for at least two years
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The Jamaica Gleaner has carried an editorial about the disgraced Marlon Samuels, who has been banned for two years for giving team news to an Indian bookmaker.
For all his talent, Marlon Samuels remains a boy-man; someone who remains arrogantly juvenile, seemingly incapable of either understanding or coming to terms with his own talent. In that regard, he may mirror an image of a generation of politically and culturally estranged West Indians, about whom social scientists ponder so much. For this group, talent is a personal asset, a mere gift possessed by minstrels.
Jamaicans, unwittingly, perhaps, abetted in arresting Samuels' development. We not only forgave his many alleged disciplinary indiscretions, but usually cast any accuser in the role of villain.
May 13, 2008
Ray of hope from Samuels’ guilty verdict
Posted on 05/13/2008 in West Indies cricket
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Guilty: Marlon Samuels
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Jon Pierik writes in the Herald Sun that while the Marlon Samuels scandal is a blight on cricket, the guilty verdict is more a win than a loss.
It proves the ICC's anti-corruption unit is doing its job, despite there being few high-profile victims in recent years.
Ask any anti-corruption officer at an international match if there are investigations in progress, and most will suggest there are.
Pierik writes that while Samuels has been a failure with the bat, his greatest success may be now. “He has served as a warning to all cricketers to remain true to themselves, and their sport.”
West Indies selectors wasting time and money
Posted on 05/13/2008 in West Indies cricket
Writing in the Jamaica Gleaner, Tony Becca is baffled by the West Indies selectors.
I still believed, up to a few days ago, that a selector should travel with the West Indies team, that the regional selectors should travel around the islands to see the players in action, and that although he played for the West Indies while living in England, Lloyd, in spite of his greatness and his knowledge of the game, should not be a selector as long as he lives outside the region.
The reason why I have changed my opinion is that, based on the selection of the squad for the coming series against Australia, it seems, it is a waste of money flying the selectors around, paying their hotel bills, and offering them out of pocket expenses and whatever else they may get from a board that is short of money.
Apart from the waste of time and money to transport and to accommodate those who do not have the chance of a snow ball in hell to make the team, in selecting 17 players plus 'sure picks' Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo, the selectors have baffled the fans.
April 13, 2008
Mendis in a good way
Posted on 04/13/2008 in West Indies cricket
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Ajantha Mendis, Sri Lanka's young spin bowler
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West Indies clinched the series against Sri Lanka after they won the second ODI in Trinidad. But while revelling in the win, Jamaica Gleaner's Tony Becca is excited about Sri Lanka's young new bowler Ajantha Mendis:
With a smile on his face as he caresses the ball before delivering it, Mendis bowls the off-break, he bowls the leg-break, he bowls the googly, he bowls the flipper, he bowls a straight delivery, he bowls them with different grips and different actions, he bowls them with a different trajectory and at a different pace, he disguises them brilliantly. The result is that he mesmerises, or bamboozles, batsmen - as he did Chris Gayle and Daren Sammy on Thursday.
With the batsman groping forward, Mendis trapped Gayle leg before wicket just when the big right-hander appeared ready to open up. Then he bowled Sammy off-stump - the batsman, looking shocked and confused, playing beside a straight delivery after pushing forward and missing one that spun into the right-hander and one that spun away from him.
April 8, 2008
Genius of Brian Lara
Posted on 04/08/2008 in West Indies cricket
Writing in the Wisden Almanack, an extract of which is in the Times, Mike Atherton pays tribute to the cavalier genius of Brian Lara.
No other contemporary player, save perhaps Mohammad Azharuddin, could deflect the ball so finely and so powerfully with a turn of the blade and flick of the wrists. Lara had subtlety in an age of power and brute force.
This unrestricted repertoire, the widest of arcs being open to him, and the ability to hit good balls to the boundary made him uniquely feared by opposing captains. You might worry about Adam Gilchrist, say, butchering an attack and smashing a bowler to smithereens, but Lara made captains, not bowlers, look silly. If you knew you were going to die, you’d prefer a single bludgeoning blow to the head, or a quick bullet to the brain, rather than death by a thousand ever-so-precise cuts. Eleven fielders were never enough; there were always gaps to plug.
March 23, 2008
No ads, no crowds
Posted on 03/23/2008 in West Indies cricket
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Not many were watching as West Indies played their first Test at home this year
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Media promotion of the Test series between West Indies and Sri Lanka has been visibly lacking, reports Haydn Gill in the Nation.
However, series sponsors Digicel say a very "strategic marketing campaign" has been implemented. Quoting Digicel's head of sponsorship:
"We don't want to saturate the market too early – because there are so many games in more markets than before and because we were going across nine markets rather than six in previous years.
"The tour is quite lengthy . . . until July. When we go, we go with a big bang. The campaign has started. It has been going for weeks now."
March 9, 2008
Good luck Gayle, tough luck Sarwan
Posted on 03/09/2008 in West Indies cricket
Chris Gayle is back as the West Indies captain but Tony Becca, writing in the Jamaica Gleaner, wonders what happened to Ramnaresh Sarwan?
By removing Sarwan as the captain of the team without giving him a fair chance to prove himself, the selectors and the board have once again demonstrated one of the reasons why West Indies cricket is still, after so many, many years, languishing at number eight in both the Test and one-day versions of the game.
In the Trinidad Express BC Pires interviews Colin Borde, the new manager of the West Indies side.
There is no connection between youngsters in their twenties and the “West Indies”, writes Peter O' Connor in Trinidad's Newsday. What we have now is Trinis and Jamaicans and Bajans, being asked to subjugate their newly learned patriotism to a bygone West Indies.
March 2, 2008
We have lift-off
Posted on 03/02/2008 in West Indies cricket
Houston billionaire Sir Allen Stanford tells the Observer's Andy Bull how, from his base in Antigua, he hopes to revive Caribbean cricket and sell the game to middle America.
Stanford lives in St Croix in the US Virgin Islands, having moved to the Caribbean in the 1980s because of the tax breaks and the warm weather. He has been in the area long enough to know that 'when cricket, which is the glue that binds us all together, comes up, we go up with it, and when it sinks down we all sink with it. My initial thought was just to do anything to give West Indies a shot in the arm. But this thing was a lot more successful than any of us thought.'
Also read a story in the Trinidad Express on 83-year-old Ivan Johnson.
Johnson is passionate about cricket. He has been playing longer than he has been married. He has been in the game for the past 75 years, beginning at primary school, he was married in 1962.
February 27, 2008
Sad state of the Antigua Rec
Posted on 02/27/2008 in West Indies cricket
Antigua’s Recreation Ground was host to some of international cricket’s classic moments, from Brian Lara’s 400 to Viv Richard’s brutal 56-ball hundred. But now it lies forgotten and forlorn, a victim of the obsession with building new, largely characterless, stadiums for last year’s World Cup.
In the Daily Telegraph, Nick Hoult visited the ARG.
The once famous ground is now only used for local football matches, and even hosted a state funeral two weeks ago. The outfield is overgrown and the centre circle cuts across the pitch on which Lara twice set the record for the highest ever Test innings.
It is ironic that the construction of the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium has robbed the ARC of international cricket. The groundstaff for many years were inmates from the local jail, where Viv's father Malcolm was a warden.
February 3, 2008
Sarwan goes into hiding
Posted on 02/03/2008 in West Indies cricket
Ramnaresh Sarwan, the West Indies batsman, has gone into hiding in Guyana amid fears of escalating violence in the country.
Sarwan, who is currently training for the Stanford 20/20 tournament, abruptly left practice on Thursday after relatives called him and said that suspicious men were spotted in his neighborhood, said team manager Carl Moore and cricket board president Chetram Singh.
Caribbeancricket.com has more.
December 7, 2007
Dyson sets realistic goals
Posted on 12/07/2007 in West Indies cricket
In the Sydney Morning Herald Alex Brown speaks to the man he believes is taking on the toughest job in world cricket, John Dyson. Brown describes Dyson as "gruff as a nightclub doorman and every but as uncompromising".
He doesn't expect a return to the glory days of the 1970s and '80s. Consistency will suffice for now. But what Dyson will insist upon is personal accountability among the players, many of whom have established reputations for nocturnal profligacy that far outweighs anything they have achieved on the field.
"I'm not a big believer in putting the broom through a place upon arrival," he said. "And I don't expect people to compare this West Indies squad with those of the '70s and '80s. "What they did for international cricket was to introduce a form of professionalism and dedication never seen before. "These guys have to develop their own personality and see what brand of cricket they can play.
November 12, 2007
Will the Patterson Report be thrown to the bin?
Posted on 11/12/2007 in West Indies cricket
Will the Patterson Report be left to join the dusty archive of unexamined good intentions or will it set a new course to West Indies cricket? Ian McDonald, writing in the Jamaica Gleaner, urges the authorities to act upon the report.
Recommendations for a new structure of governance, much more reflective of the interests of all stakeholders in the region, are therefore set out in the committee's report. These recommendations lie at the heart of the report and deserve to be urgently considered.
October 27, 2007
Why not a West Indian?
Posted on 10/27/2007 in West Indies cricket
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John Dyson's appointment as West Indies coach hasn't gone down too well with fans
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Writing in the Jamaica Gleaner, Tym Glaser has criticised the decision of the West Indies Cricket Board to appoint Australian John Dyson as the national team coach, considering the failure of Benett King, also an Australian, when at the helm.
The WICB should well and truly have learnt the lesson by now that these Aussie imports simply don't get the Caribbean culture, let alone understand one word of Jamaican patois or the Bajan twang.
An editorial in the same newspaper, highlights the displeasure of the fans over an outsider being appointed as coach.
The West Indies has a long and rich history in the game, having produced a number of the world's greatest players. The West Indies team was once the best in the world and for a long time at that. The West Indies has produced two of the greatest captains the game has seen. In producing a former chairman of the ICC, they also produced administrators as good as any. The West Indies has also produced some of the world's outstanding professionals in other and various fields of endeavour. After playing the game at the highest level for 79 years, after being the best in the world, the West Indies must be able to find someone good enough to coach a cricket team.
Tony Becca says there is good reason for many to feel disgruntled over the appointment of a non-West Indian as coach, with the last major win for the team – the ICC Champions Trophy in 2004 – coming under Gus Logie, the last West Indian coach of West Indies.
October 23, 2007
One more insult
Posted on 10/23/2007 in West Indies cricket
The West Indies Cricket Board has named a new coach for the West Indies team and, as good or as brilliant as John Dyson may be, I do not agree with it, writes Tony Becca in the Jamaica Gleaner.
The employment of a foreigner, an Australian, to coach the West Indies team, suggests, at least it does to me, that despite the achievements of West Indians with bat and ball and as captain, and even though a West Indian has been the president of the ICC, the Board has no faith in its own people, not to do a heart transplant, not to rid the world of a plague, but to coach a cricket team - their own cricket team.
October 17, 2007
Robin Singh: Video data is available, use it
Posted on 10/17/2007 in West Indies cricket
Lawrence Romeo, of the Caribbeancricket.com, speaks to Robin Singh who has sought to make video and statistical analysis standard in regional First Class and List A cricket in West Indies.
Were you able to meet or work with Bennett King?
This was an unmitigated disaster, for myself and the video analysis program, after a ten minute meeting where I was taken aback by style and lack of class displayed by Bennett King, I knew we were in for a rough time in West Indies cricket.
Have you been able to have a direct impact on any player since you’ve been working with this program?
One of the most rewarding things about working in cricket is the friendships that develop, for instance in 2004 Trinidad were playing against Guyana at Albion. Imran Khan, then working as a sports writer for Stabroek news was Yelling "No ball" as Rayon Griffith was bowling. There was no doubt his action was flawed, the video evidence was there. I said nothing, but after the game I put all of his bowling on a CD and gave it to him along with my email and contact number in Trinidad, he contacted me 2 months later, we worked together for close to ten months to correct that action and in the process developed a strong friendship.
October 16, 2007
'A critical, inopportune loss'
Posted on 10/16/2007 in West Indies cricket
Tony Cozier looks back at the life of Stephen Alleyne who died a few days ago aged 47.
At a time when there is a distinct dearth of dynamic, dedicated leadership in Barbados, and the wider West Indies, not least in the one endeavour for which this region is most renowned, Stephen Alleyne's sudden death, at the age of 47, is a critical, inopportune loss.
Read the full story at Nation News
October 10, 2007
Cricket and higher education
Posted on 10/10/2007 in West Indies cricket
The inclusion of Combined Colleges and Campuses (CCC) in the KFC Cup, West Indies' 50-over domestic competition, has led to protests that there were too many teams in the competition which led to fewer matches for each side over the season. But Vaneisa Baksh believes there is an entirely different reason for the strong opposition to CCC's entry. She writes in carribbeancricket.com:
It is as if embracing young cricketers within academia is dangerous to the development of West Indies cricket.
The principal of the Cave Hill Campus pushed for this inclusion, not only at the regional level, but within the Division 1 level of Barbados cricket. His perspective encompassed the crisis of young males falling by several waysides, and sought to draw them into an environment that could give them two, three legs to stand on.
"At the moment, the Caribbean is the only place where young boys have to choose between education and cricket. It makes no sense," said Professor Hilary Beckles as he made his case.
October 6, 2007
Windies' coach should be one of us
Posted on 10/06/2007 in West Indies cricket
In the Jamaica Gleaner Tony Becca feels that the West Indies need a home-grown coach:
West Indies cricket and West Indies cricketers need a local coach, it is as simple as that, and whether it be Gus Logie or Roger Harper again, David Williams or Phil Simmons, Eldine Baptiste or Otis Gibson, James Adams or whoever, until that happens, until West Indies players are assisted by their own, West Indies cricket will never return to or even near to its former glory.
In the same paper Anthony Foster disagrees with the appointment of Chris Gayle as Jamaica's captain, saying Tamar Lambert would have been a better choice.
Also check out Vaneisa Baksh's piece in Caribbeancricket.com. She rewinds to 1932 when a ship carrying Learie Constantine returned to the West Indies.
Learie had foreseen the inability of Test cricket to fit practically in a world with less leisure time and more impatience. Aghast at his imaginings, he cast his not-quite-cricket thoughts aside, but he could not escape their unavoidable return.
September 2, 2007
Julian Hunte cops some flak
Posted on 09/02/2007 in West Indies cricket
It's barely been a month since Julian Hunte took over as president of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), but he's already facing some strong criticism.Tony Becca of the Jamaica Gleaner doesn't approve of the president's move to make Dinanath Ramnarine, the president of the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), a director of the WICB.
Hunte probably believes that move will make Ramnarine feel more a part of things and therefore make him less combative, there are many who, with justification, believe that is something that cannot work, and for the simple reason that Ramnarine, the president of WIPA, will know every move the board makes.
There are those who know that it is difficult to serve two masters and believe they know to which of his two masters Ramnarine will be faithful.
Becca also says that the decision to bring the Under-19s and the Combined Campuses and Colleges team into regional competitions "will prove a waste of time and money".
August 11, 2007
The tip of an ugly iceberg
Posted on 08/11/2007 in West Indies cricket
On caribbeancricket.com, Peter Montgomery makes a stinging attack on the West Indies team’s management and the way the players have been treated.
[Bennett] King has left the scene but the work environment within the team has not gotten any better under his right hand man and now head coach David Moore. If anything it has worsened considerably and is now fully endorsed by the team manager and the WICB.
Montgomery claims that players were abused and intimidated and that the training and match preparations during the recently-concluded England tour were a shambles.
The stories of the players, confirmed separately by other players, are so remarkable, they are shocking. It is as if the WICB has begun to run an almost slave-like operation. The players have no say, are consulted on nothing and are lorded upon without any recourse to objection. It is no surprise that Dinanath Ramnarine had to be as vigilant and militant as he has had to be. The man is fighting against the plantation mentality still firmly entrenched at the WICB.
This culminated in Chris Gayle being censured for a diary comment that was reportedly approved by the management before publication.
July 31, 2007
The elevation of Ramnarine
Posted on 07/31/2007 in West Indies cricket
The Editors of the Jamaica Gleaner doubt that the move by the new West Indies Cricket Board president, Julian Hunte, to include the West Indies Players' Association chief executive, Dinanath Ramnarine, in the WICB as a non-member director is going to make the WIPA "part of the solution instead of continuing to be perceived as part of the problem", as Hunte had said.
Mr. Hunte has merely advanced an approach by his predecessor, Mr. Ken Gordon, who had named Sir Alister McIntyre, former captain Clive Lloyd and Sir Granville Phillips as directors.
The editorial goes on to question the approach to the appointment:
The announcement suggests that Ramnarine named to represent WIPA, was specifically appointed. We would have expected that the offer would have been made to WIPA to name a representative and allow the membership or executive of that organisation to appoint the individual. Or, perhaps it is assumed that Ramnarine is the sum total of WIPA.
July 19, 2007
Greenidge returns...for Lashings
Posted on 07/19/2007 in West Indies cricket
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Gordon Greenidge makes his return
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Gordon Greenidge, the former West Indies opener who scored 7,558 Test runs, will don his whites (or, rather, "black and golds") for the charity side Lashings who face the club side Colwall on July 27.
Greenidge will be joined by Sri Lankan great Marvin Attapattu, as well as Richie Richardson, Gregg Blewitt, Hashim Amla, Alvin Kallicharran and Rashid Latif.
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Vasbert Drakes, Henry Alonga, Tino Best, Chris Harris and Nantie Hayward are set to be among the bowlers.
The match starts at 2pm and is preceeded by a Twenty20 game between a Hereord Cricket Board Chairman's XI and the Barmy Army - an England supporters' XI.
For more information call Gary King 01684-565071.
More information available at The Ledbury Reporter.
Ramnarine in the spotlight
Posted on 07/19/2007 in West Indies cricket
Amid all the flak flying between the West Indies board and its players, the WICB has found an ally in Jamaica Gleaner who have launched a stinging attack on Dinanath Ramnarine, the chief executive of WIPA, the players’ association.
Ramnarine used to play cricket and was a relatively decent leg-spinner at the regional level, playing for Trinidad and Tobago. Unfortunately, for the West Indies, his talent did not manifest itself at the level of Tests we now wonder whether the issue was talent or temperament.
Whatever the reasons why he never quite made the grade as a Test player, Mr. Ramnarine has transformed himself into a trade union leader, as the CEO of WIPA, negotiating on behalf of the players. His is a trade unionism of the old order; one encrusted, in our view, in an archaic confrontationalism rather than an attempt to build partnership and trust.
June 26, 2007
Excellence suffers in lurid pursuit of money
Posted on 06/26/2007 in West Indies cricket
In a typically impassioned article, the chief sports writer of The Times, Simon Barnes, hits out at sport's current obsession with money over excellence, citing the West Indies' miserable tour as a prime example.
So why was the series held? The reason, as Sarwan discovered through his damaged shoulder, was money. Well, I hear you say, all professional sport is about raising money in the end, isn’t it? Ah yes, but it’s a question of priorities. When raising money is more important than the pursuit and occasional capture of excellence, sport itself is destroyed.
June 20, 2007
A series best forgotten
Posted on 06/20/2007 in English cricket
Although England completed a 3-0 rout of West Indies at Chester-le-Street, the reaction in the media in the UK has been low-key, perhaps a reflection on the weakness of the tourists and an acceptance that India will be a completely different proposition.
Indeed, it’s West Indies that are the subject of much of the attention. In The Guardian, David Hopps writes:-
This has been an unmemorable, one-sided series in which a West Indies side disinclined to recognise the demands of the modern age have been predictably despatched. Perhaps it will goad them into rectifying their faults to know that the old colonial power, awash with condescension, is desperate for them to get their act together.
In the same paper Mike Selvey welcomes the end of the series, saying neither side emerged with much credit:-
It brought to an end quite the most drab, dismal, lacklustre, bland, interminable, uninspiring series in recent memory, with the general standard of play all too often plumbing the depths of acceptability for international cricket - and not all of it from the visitors either.
Shorn of its colour, the contest instead has been played out in widows' weeds to a soundtrack of volcanic grumbling from Sir Vivian Richards, who has been close to eruption about the level to which his once proud side have sunk. You would not, were you a West Indian cricketer of the current generation who valued his wellbeing, wish to cross Richards' path at present.
In The Independent, veteran broadcaster and journalist Tony Cozier was depressed but far from surprised:-
As disappointing as it has been, as embarrassingly mediocre as much of their cricket has been, the latest West Indies débâcle has come as no surprise. What is unacceptable is that standards have not improved one iota since England first asserted their superiority over their previous persecutors. The indiscipline, the lack of commitment and the inclination to fold at the first hint of resistance or aggression from the other side were again repeatedly exposed, as they were in each of the previous three series against their oldest opponents.
The disconcerting reality is that there is no quick way out. Sizeable investment in currently minimal facilities and the introduction of a domestic professional league to take the place of county cricket are urgently required to nurture available talent and retain public enthusiasm, understandably waning with every depressing defeat.
The newspaper reaction in the Caribbean has been muted, perhaps a reflection on the declining importance of the game in the region. That is underlined by an article in Jamaica’s Gleaner. On the day of a Test defeat, they carry an interview with Jack Warner, no role model himself, but the leading football administrator in the region. He says:-
"Many of them [governments] also too are still locked in a time warp of colonialism where they believe that cricket is the answer. I make no apologies for saying to you that cricket, as presently organised, is a dying sport and cricket has to revitalise itself and certain things have to be done to save cricket and governments can't save cricket by building fancy stadia all over the place which they can't maintain and which they say of course that football can use. It is foolish."
June 15, 2007
Nation on Film: West Indies 1976 tour of England
Posted on 06/15/2007 in West Indies cricket
A Nation on Film special on the BBC (UK) aired this evening, looking back at West Indies' tour of England in 1976.
Documentary about the 1976 Test series between England and West Indies; when the Caribbeans trounced the home nation and emerged as one of the greatest cricket teams to ever play the game. Before a ball had been bowled; the South African-born England captain Tony Greig declared that he intended to make the West Indies team 'grovel'; and the scene was set for a series that went beyond the boundary. Viv Richards; Michael Holding; Clive Lloyd; Tony Greig; Brian Close and Darcus Howe reminisce.
More details (and possibly "watch it again" clips) at BBC's website.
June 13, 2007
Where is the British West Indian fan?
Posted on 06/13/2007 in West Indies cricket
There has been a sharp fall in the number of British West Indian supporters in England grounds and David Conn of The Guardian believes cricket is certainly no longer the glue binding the community together. He quotes a fan:
I used to go to The Oval in the 1970s and 1980s and there were massed ranks of fans, banging tin cans and beating rhythms out, there for the love of the game and pride in the West Indies. We loved it, as second generation immigrants. We didn't quite fit in here, we put up with a lot of racism, and here was our team, coming over and stuffing England. I grew up with parents who called Trinidad home; maybe young black people now don't feel that same affinity.
June 12, 2007
Woolmer one of many Windies woes
Posted on 06/12/2007 in West Indies cricket
The news that Bob Woolmer was not murdered and died of natural causes adds to the woes of West Indies cricket, according to Jon Pierik in the Herald Sun.
In a sad way, the confusion around Woolmer's death is almost a representation of what's wrong with West Indies cricket at the moment. While the Test team finally showed some heart in the third Test against England this week, recent scorecards have been abysmal. Clearly, when it comes to all matters cricket, there is much work the West Indies must do on and off the field to repair their reputation.
In The Sydney Morning Herald, Phil Wilkins speaks to Mark Taylor about the difference between the current West Indies team and the outfit Taylor faced in the 1980s and 1990s.
June 9, 2007
Blame it on the idiot box
Posted on 06/09/2007 in West Indies cricket
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Sobers offers a distinctly different view on the West Indian decline.
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| In an interview to The Independent, Sir Garfield Sobers offers a new perspective on the reason behind the decline of cricket in the West Indies. Sobers states:
The idea that youngsters are playing basketball and baseball ... you know, Richie Benaud started that rumour some time ago and I'd like to stand up and put it to rest.
The great allrounder cuts straight to the point:
It's a myth. And if you look at the American basketball scene, can you name me two West Indian players?
Baseball, we know nothing about baseball. Soccer, yes. Over the last 15 years lots of soccer players have come to play in England. If someone said to me that soccer is the reason for West Indian cricket falling so low I might think about it. But the real problem, ladies and gentlemen, and it is a problem for sport around the world, is television.
West Indies stars to play in New York
Posted on 06/09/2007 in West Indies cricket
American cricket has had a boost of a kind recently and there’s more good news in store. An all-star cast of West Indian players is heading to New York to play a celebrity match as part of a celebratory Caribbean Week in the city. Joel Garner, Gordon Greenidge, Colin Croft and Larry Gomes are among those who will be turning out – although some may say they would be better served at Old Trafford this week.
June 1, 2007
'I never rated Lara as a leader'
Posted on 06/01/2007 in West Indies cricket
Brian Viner speaks to Michael Holding in The Independent.
In the Sky commentary box, Holding looks on aghast, or at least as aghast as his supremely unruffled demeanour will allow, as West Indies crumble to the heaviest Test defeat in their history, by an innings and 283 runs. When he has finished his stint at the microphone, I venture that quite such a steamrollering would not have happened had Brian Lara still been captain. Holding raises an elegant eyebrow. He sees the recently retired Lara as part of the problem. "The team needs leadership and I never rated Lara as a leader," he says. "You hear a lot about his selfishness. Ridley Jacobs said a lot about that when he retired, and people cursed him, saying he had no class. But Ridley Jacobs never did anything out of line as a cricketer, so I have no reason to doubt what he says. I have seen Lara's behaviour. And he was not good tactically. I saw him make a lot of mistakes."
May 30, 2007
The sweet Big Bird of youth
Posted on 05/30/2007 in West Indies cricket
The Guardian's Tanya Aldred reminisces about the 1984 West Indies tour of England, when she and her similarly agog brothers queued for the autograph of the mighty Joel Garner. How times have changed. Twenty-three years later, and there's no such interest in the sorry bunch of representatives from the Caribbean.
We collected cards of the players, as our dad dutifully visited every Texaco garage in Surrey to ensure four sets of dark green paper folders were filled. Desmond Haynes was particularly rare. It is hard to imagine the same fights going on today for a dog-eared card of Daren Ganga or Jerome Taylor.
May 29, 2007
Sarwan's injury opens a door
Posted on 05/29/2007 in West Indies cricket
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Ryan Sidebottom swung the ball with accuracy against West Indies at Headingley
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Brian Lara may have retired from international cricket but you can bet his name will come under consideration this week as the West Indies decide what to do about Ramnaresh Sarwan's shoulder injury, writes Simon Briggs in The Telegraph.
Also in The Telegraph, Martin Johnson says "No wonder England selected Ryan Sidebottom for this Test. When the chairman of selectors talked about the need to "add variety" to the attack, he wasn't so much talking about Sidebottom being a left-armer, as the fact that he was liable to confuse the West Indian batsmen by aiming the ball at the stumps."
"West Indies can cavil about their lack of preparation and the absence of Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, they can carp about the wintry conditions and they can even reason that some of these tyros are being exposed too early to Test cricket but what cannot be excused is the poor attitude, which was slapdash to the point of carelessness," says Steve James in The Guardian.
May 22, 2007
Bringing life to Lord's
Posted on 05/22/2007 in West Indies cricket
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Fun in the Compton Stand
© caribbeancricket.com
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| On caribbeancricket.com, Michelle McDonald leaves the confines of the media centre – “cocooned in that uninspiring press box high above the ground, far removed from any noise except the hushed tones of voices. It took me back to my post-graduate UK university days spent in the Library. Dull and dreary” – to join some of the West Indies supporters in the Compton Stand during the Lord’s Test.
Those seated around … included Nevisians, Jamaicans, Trinidadians, Barbadians, Haitians, and Guyanese. Allegiance to the West Indies team had to be pledged by anyone wanting to sit in that area, who did not appear to be West Indian. There were two England supporters of Asian descent seated in the front row. They were "allowed" to stay because they said they were enjoying the banter. They were also "allowed" to cheer, without harassment, when wicket after wicket fell for Monty Panesar.
Then enters the 'Big Man' himself, Ambassador Courtney Walsh. It was Bobby's chance to show off that one so great had come especially to see his group. Turning to the England supporters, Bobby quipped "You see? Michael Vaughan not coming up here to talk to you guys you know!" Of course, Walsh was bombarded by autograph seekers from neighbouring sections. Bobby facilitated the process until he felt that Walsh had signed enough. "I'm his agent. Sign off," then acquiesced to allow only females to get autographs.
May 17, 2007
Wither West Indies cricket
Posted on 05/17/2007 in West Indies cricket
Despite hosting the World Cup, West Indies cricket is struggling to fight off a decline. No longer is it the first-choice sport in the Caribbean where football shirts are as common as cricket shirts. In The Independent Angus Fraser tries to work out what has gone wrong.
Nobody with a genuine love for cricket will take any satisfaction from the current plight of the West Indian cricket team. There were aspects of the cricket they played in the mid-Eighties, when an attack containing four frighteningly fast bowlers was at its most brutal and unforgiving, that were unappealing, but cricket needs a strong and competitive West Indian side because no other team on the planet has the ability to thrill and entertain like they do.
May 2, 2007
Sarwan needs support, not targets
Posted on 05/02/2007 in West Indies cricket
The West Indies Cricket Board has given Ramnaresh Sarwan, the new captain, performance targets for the upcoming tour of England; what he needs is their whole-hearted support, writes Donald Duff in the Guyana based Starbroek News.
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April 21, 2007
Goodnight and good luck
Posted on 04/21/2007 in West Indies cricket
Brian Lara's announced his retirement two days ago but the tributes and opinions continue to flow in. Below is a round-up of what the West Indian papers had to say about their boy.
The Trinidad & Tobago Express reports what Lara's older brother, Mervyn Lara, and other people in his village Cantaro, Santa Cruz, feel about his retirement:
Mervyn thinks that his brother's decision to quit international cricket might help the family. "At least now people when they see me won't blame me when things go wrong. Brian did enough."
But also in the T&T Express, Garth Wattley speculates that Lara might have been given a nudge to go:
"It is understood that the West Indies selectors (Gordon Greenidge, Andy Roberts and Clyde Butts), who reportedly met with the WICB boss last week in Grenada, were of a different view and were not considering Lara for the Test and one-day tour of England next month."
The editors of Jamaica Gleaner write that Lara decided to quit at the right time. Also read the Gleaner's Vox Pop on whether it was a correct decision.
Unfortunately, Lara's genius with the bat did not translate into his captaincy, either on or off the field. Lara inherited a team that was in decline, but, wilful and self-absorbed, he lacked the skill to mould the replacement into a disciplined, coherent unit.
The Jamaica Observer editorial laments the burden that Lara has had to carry all these years - one that no other West Indies batsman since George Headley came on to the scene in the 1930s has had to bear.
Fatima College, where Lara studied, add their two-bit which can be read on windiescricket.com
Colin Croft, in his column for BBC Sport, says that Lara would have traded half of his runs simply to have been known as the successful leader that he has not been, something he craved.
So long, Brian
Posted on 04/21/2007 in West Indies cricket
The joy of Brian Lara's batting was tempered by his inability to succeed as captain, writes Greg Baum in The Age, a Melbourne-based daily.
In The Daily Telegraph former England seamer Derek Pringle salutes the greatest batsman of this generation.
Ricky Ponting may have the bigger Test average and Sachin Tendulkar the larger fan base, but Lara has won more matches, more often, and always with more style than any of his closest rivals.
The Times' Christopher Martin-Jenkins writes that Lara’s special talent has been to combine remorseless efficiency with an ability to be constantly entertaining.
Robert Craddock, writing in the Courier-Mail, looks at the career of Lara, a player the Australians rated incredibly highly.
No lesser judge than Steve Waugh, once asked which batsmen he enjoyed watching the most, didn't even have to contemplate the question before answering "Lara".
"He tries to play the same cavalier way no matter what the conditions and even though its almost impossible to pull off you have to admire him for trying," Waugh said.
Also read Cricinfo's tribute: Rahul Bhattacharya on the last king of Trinidad.
April 20, 2007
Lauding Lara at Lord's
Posted on 04/20/2007 in West Indies cricket
Following the announcement yesterday that Brian Lara will retire from international cricket, Charlie Randall informs us of an exhibition to be held at Lord's, in May, of the great batsman.
The MCC say the exhibition has been organised with input from Lara himself and will feature many cricketing artefacts and photographs from the Trinidadian’s astonishing career. On loan from Lara will be several bats used in historic innings, including the left-hander’s 501 for Warwickshire in 1994, the world record score in first class cricket, and the 400 against England in Antigua, the Test record score.
In addition, there are balls, stumps and clothing from other significant matches on view -- and the jacket given to him by Nelson Mandela, the BBC overseas sports personality of the year award, as well as family photos from his personal collection. To complete the exhibition will be the acclaimed MCC-commissioned portrait of Lara by Justin Mortimer.
April 19, 2007
A Caribbean malaise
Posted on 04/19/2007 in West Indies cricket
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Where did it all go wrong?
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West Indies have no hope of making it to the semi-finals of their own World Cup and their defeats agaisnt Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in the Super Eights have been so abject that Brian Lara was forced to make a public apology. S Ram Mahesh from The Hindu visits the grave of Frank Worrell, the man who moulded a bunch of brilliant indivduals into a team and wonders where it all went wrong?
It hasn't been right for a while, say most experts: the Champions Trophy triumph in 2004, the success against India, the defeat of Australia and subsequent run to final in the 2006 Champions Trophy were exceptions in a decline unchecked by an inadequate structure.
Deryck Murray, World Cup-winning 'keeper and head of Trinidad's cricket, says, "In the amateur days, people didn't realise the serious structure, albeit informal, that we went through. Our administrators didn't see it. They thought a Gary Sobers fell out of the tree."
April 2, 2007
Apathy in Antigua
Posted on 04/02/2007 in World Cup 2007
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Where is everyone?
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The economic importance of the World Cup to the Caribbean is unquestioned. But, as Simon Wilde in The Sunday Times comments today, “if West Indies do go out of the World Cup early, it will be a commercial disaster for the region”.
There was only one match of adult cricket taking place as well. That was on an ill-kept field less than a mile outside the village of Swetes, where Ambrose grew up and where his mother used to ring a bell every time she heard on the radio that her son had taken another Test wicket. Even from the boundary the pitch looked rough - and it certainly played rough. Balls flew through at varying heights, making it difficult for batsmen to play shots with any confidence. They took a few blows on the body.
Those waiting to bat sat on an old church pew and discussed, in patois, the merits of various West Indies players. But noone was listening to the radio for news of the progress of the West Indian reply to Sri Lanka's mammoth score. One of them wore an England shirt. I passed only one other cricket ground. Equally scrappy, it lay unused.
[…]
Interestingly, the cricket commentators on my car radio often distinguished the West Indies players by the islands from which they come. Chris Gayle was referred to as a Jamaican, Brian Lara as Trinidadian. Further evidence, perhaps, of the fragmentation of the West Indies as a unit.
March 27, 2007
So ... where is Ricardo Powell now?
Posted on 03/27/2007 in West Indies cricket
In an candid interview in the Jamaica Gleaner with Barbara Ellington, Powell talks about his career, future plans and reason for choosing to live in Trinidad.
The much talked about move to Trinidad was entirely Powell's decision. Many people think he moved there because his wife is Trinidadian.
"My life outside of the Jamaica Cricket Board and the West Indies Cricket Board was not respected. I was once suspended for indiscipline because during an out-of-town training camp, my wife came to spend a weekend with me that included Valentine's Day. I did not play much after that, I felt disenchanted and my career went downhill. I was making fairly good money but I could not get a mortgage without a contract," Powell said, adding that at the time he had a son on the way, a daughter plus a wife, and had to think of the future. "I decided to make it family first and now my priorities include our business."
But he said he had been getting offers from Trinidad before the move and continues to have tremendous opportunities in his adopted home. "I was welcomed with open arms. Don't get me wrong, cricket opened many doors for me for which I will always be grateful," he said.
March 11, 2007
Hanging out in Berbice
Posted on 03/11/2007 in West Indies cricket
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Rohan Kanhai gave all the East Indians hope
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The region of Berbice in Guyana is historical for the number of West Indies cricketers it has produced of East Indian origin - Rohan Kanhai and Shivnarine Chanderpaul to name a few. Rahul Bhattacharya, the acclaimed author of Pundits from Pakistan spent a week there in the beautiful flat mud villages, sampling the three essential passions of Berbician life: Hindi film and music, alcohol, and cricket.
Rahul also chronicles in brief, the history of the struggles of the East Indian inhabitants in the region, how cricket was the ultimate healer as well as the means of gaining the recognition they
deserved.
For the East Indians – “coolies, illiterate labourers; many of us went to school barefooted – Kanhai as well”, Kanhai's every stroke was a stroke of liberation. Against India his success was “a triumph over the pretentious, cruel rigidities of the homeland and its dubious obsessions with purity and cant”.
Read the full piece in The Hindustan Times
February 26, 2007
Barbados to Berkshire (and back again)
Posted on 02/26/2007 in West Indies cricket
The BBC have an interesting chat with Leo Jones, 75, who came to England in the 1950s...and is going back to his homeland in the Caribbean to follow West Indies host the World Cup.
"This is the first time the World Cup has been played in the West Indies," he told BBC Berkshire's Louise Chandler. "If they do get another one, I won't be around. So I can't miss this one. You have to be there."
Leo grew up in cricket-mad Barbados with the sport all around him.
"My uncles used to take me to cricket to watch them play and when I was about 12 or 13, I used to pray for one of the men not to turn up - if they were one short I'd get a chance.
Computer graphic of Kensington Oval, Barbados
"Cricket was a talent God gave to me. We had no training or anything like that, you'd learn by watching the strokes the players made and trying to imitate them."
January 22, 2007
Dead air another sign of the death of cricket?
Posted on 01/22/2007 in West Indies cricket
The gradual decline of the popularity of cricket in the Caribbean is highlighted by an article on caribbeancricket.com which reports on how the game is now being ignored by local radio in the region, for years the main way people followed the domestic game.
For the first time in memory, there is no coverage in Jamaica of that country's first class or limited overs matches. In Trinidad, former West Indies paceman Colin Croft commented that he had to search the airwaves to find the cricket, eventually finding coverage only on one weak station with poor reception. The situation doesn't seem to be much different in Barbados, where commentator Andrew Mason noted that the first round match between Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago came very close to not being broadcast because of a lack of sponsorship.
December 11, 2006
There's still no place like home
Posted on 12/11/2006 in West Indies cricket
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'The Cup is much wider and bigger than anything we've done. It is almost two weeks of carnival' - Viv Richards on Antigua hosting the World Cup
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| He learned to play cricket on the beach - his talent took him around the world. But for the legendary batsman Viv Richards there's still no place like home. Click here for the interview by Kieran Falconer in The Independent.
I know a visitor like Beefy would appreciate the local bars too. I mean the real local bars, in St John's. Places like Points or Villa. There are lots of places where you can drink rum by the water. You don't have to be in the best environment, or in the greatest or most refined buildings, but you can just watch the life go by. These bars have character. There's always guys dancing, smashing down dominoes, watching telly, and the radio would be on as well, with high talk into the night. I take him to a place of locals, mostly my friends, and he is comfortable in that environment. Some would be drinkers and they would have heard about his feats of drinking and want to take him on.
A fillip for cricket tourism
Posted on 12/11/2006 in West Indies cricket
Last weekend was a good one for for cricket tourism, writes Tony Becca in the Jamaica Gleaner:
Hopefully years from now, when sports tourism has really and finally taken off and bringing in millions of dollars into the national coffers, it will be remembered as the weekend, or one of the weekends, when it all started.
November 2, 2006
Lara seen in a better light
Posted on 11/02/2006 in West Indies cricket
After years of underperformance as a captain, wasted, unsatisfying years spent talking the talk and not doing the deed, Brian Lara has led his team selflessly and intelligently, writes Peter Roebuck in The Witness.
September 25, 2006
World Cup 'no' to sex workers
Posted on 09/25/2006 in World Cup 2007
The build-up to the World Cup continues to throw up issues … will the grounds be ready, will the infrastructure cope? But a row has broken out in Antigua over a proposal to license sex workers in the region in time for the tournament.
If people thought that being accosted by one of the ICC’s zealous anti-branding rottweilers was an issue, the Antigua Sun put them straight.
Under the Immigration and Passport Act, if an immigration officer suspects that a person is coming into the country to behave in the manner of a prostitute the officer has the authority to refuse entry.
Moves are being floated to recriminalise prostitution in time for the event – although surely the ICC should investigate the apparent links between cricket and sex – but Clyde Walker, Antigua’s chief immigration officer, had a serious warning that security officials had enough to cope with trying to "keep out terrorists, deportees, travelling criminals, and undesirables".
September 1, 2006
It's not just cricket's attitude that stinks
Posted on 09/01/2006 in Miscellaneous
In The Times, former Wisden editor Tim de Lisle highlights the fact that cricket's international merry-go-round is not only hard on the players, it's also pretty environmentally unfriendly. He recalled that while editing Wisden Cricket Monthly a few years ago, he commissioned an investigation into the mileage of top players:
"We named the first winner — Australia's Ian Healy, who had done, from memory, about 70,000 miles. Within a few years, the winner (by then Stephen Fleming, of New Zealand) was doing 100,000 miles. International cricket’s total emissions, for a relatively small sport, must be colossal."
He then points out that the English county circuit is strewn with sponsored cars flying up and down the country's motorways. And then there is Asia.
"Open an Indian magazine and the chances are you will see Sachin Tendulkar sharing a little of his personal cachet with a motorbike. And administrators in the subcontinent still think it’s OK to give the man of the match a bike or even a car. Not even the umpires are immune. Fly Emirates, say their shirts, which is demeaning to them and damaging to the planet."
August 10, 2006
Interview with Ken Gordon
Posted on 08/10/2006 in West Indies cricket
Ryan Patrick, who runs CaribbeanCricket.com, wrote in to point out his interview with Ken Gordon, president of the West Indies Cricket Board. It's worth a read.
But, you had a January deadline. Then another deadline in March. Then another. And another. And they all come and go without agreement. Why should anyone believe that August 31 will be different?
You need not believe it. You have two weeks to wait to find out. Insofar as the ongoing problems that arise with the players, as long as they remain, we'll continue to have serious gaps in acceptance by the fans. We have an understanding with WIPA that these [public] conflicts are not in the best interest of West Indies cricket and we've resolved to honour all agreements. We have to give ourselves some time to go through everything in detail and work [with WIPA] to get everything signed and implemented.
August 4, 2006
Lara apologises, but what's next?
Posted on 08/04/2006 in West Indies cricket
Brian Lara has apologised. The question, though, according to Tony Becca, is what next?
What next? As far as appropriate action is concerned, nothing, it seems. As far as Lara is concerned, however, it could be that he is on the verge of getting what he has always wanted, of getting whatever he wants, and to becoming El Numero Uno in West Indies cricket.
July 21, 2006
Lara: 'Test cricket is my game'
Posted on 07/21/2006 in West Indies cricket
Brian Lara is in Dubai while West Indies take time out from the international merry-go-round, and while there he talked to local journalists about his views of the modern game, making it clear that Test cricket was where his heart lay.
“Test cricket is my game. It is a game I really love to play. Before being asked to captain the team for the third time, I tried to guide my career in the direction of playing more Test cricket and less one-day games."
He also gave his views on Twenty20.
"I don't think it tests the ability of players like Tests do. But it is good for the crowd. You are playing a sport, and sport is all about spectators."
July 16, 2006
No longer a Grade A tour
Posted on 07/16/2006 in West Indies cricket
In the midst of all the uncertainty surrounding West Indian cricket, the A team are embarking on a tour of England, one that, Tony Cozier feels, is likely to be as pointless as a club jaunt.
July 13, 2006
Tributes for Carew
Posted on 07/13/2006 in West Indies cricket
Several top former West Indies Test cricketers and administrators have paid glowing tribute to Joey Carew for his service to West Indies cricket. Read them in The Trinidad Guardian.
"I believe that his departure will leave a void that will be difficult to fill"
June 26, 2006
Crossing the line
Posted on 06/26/2006 in
Post-match press conferences are usually fair routine affairs. Occasionally - when David Gower left one early at Lord's in 1989, for example - something happens out of the ordinary.
But caribbeancricket.com reported that during the 3rd Test, one reporter - Val Thomas from St Kitts-Nevis - tried to use the question-and-answer session to make some fairly cheap points about insularity and favouritism in team selections.
Thomas is a disgrace to the profession. A parochial, narrow-minded individual who decides to be disruptive because it serves his own insular interest.
And Vanesia Baksh, writing on the same site, commented on Thomas, who having asked Daren Ganga about his role in the side, then rudely asked "Who is your godfather", implying that his place wasn't down to merit.
"It was a question designed to embarrass, and it did. It embarrassed the media. It annoyed the WICB's media liaison Imran Khan, and there was a heated exchange. What escaped him as he ranted and raved loudly and interminably while others tried to work, is journalistic professionalism. Moreso, and this is a point that relates to any profession, there is no call to behave obnoxiously to anyone in the line of duty. No profession requires that of its practitioners."
June 4, 2006
The Best of the West
Posted on 06/04/2006 in West Indies cricket
V Ramnarayan looks back at the West Indies in their prime, and the joyous impact of cricket on their ever-faithful supporters. Read the full piece in The Indian Express.
To me, the golden period of West Indies cricket was not the era of Lloyd, Richards and the four-man pace battery, but the journey that began with Worrell’s historic tour of Australia with his gallant men, and ended with Kanhai and Sobers (almost) bowing out in style with individual scores of 157 and 150 not out in the Lord’s Test of 1973.
May 31, 2006
Jamaican cricket - no longer No 1 but still alive and well
Posted on 05/31/2006 in West Indies cricket
In the Jamaica Gleaner, Tony Becca reflects on the status of cricket on the island.
“In years gone by, in the days when almost every boy played the game in the backyard, in every open space, even in the streets and on hillsides, cricket was king. In those days, club matches in the city were well attended, village matches in rural Jamaica were well attended, matches involving Jamaica were well attended and there was no room at Sabina Park when a Test match was on.
“Today, however, that is not so. Today, all over Jamaica, football pitches outnumber cricket pitches, in contrast to cricket which attracts a few dozen spectators at local matches, football attracts thousands, and there is no comparison between a cricket match involving Jamaica and a football match involving the Reggae Boyz.”
But, Becca explains, that does not mean that cricket is dying on its feet, as many old timers might suggest.
“It is simply that football, like track and field, has become, as it has around the world and probably because of high-powered marketing, more popular over the years.”
And to underline his point, he cites examples that show the game is alive and well, albeit existing with a slightly lower profile.
May 25, 2006
Oh, but there's always Lara
Posted on 05/25/2006 in West Indies cricket
What makes the West Indies Cricket Board revert to Brian Lara as captain each time? Tony Cozier finds out, in The Sportstar. Cozier also recounts the circumstances leading to Lara's previous appointments.
So Lara is now back to where he started. Many, like Sir Everton Weekes, will say where he belongs. "He's an intelligent player, he's an intelligent person, and if I were the selectors, I would offer him the job", Weekes, one of the legendary Three Ws, said during the period of conjecture.
May 21, 2006
Foolproof squad for Windies
Posted on 05/21/2006 in West Indies cricket
Tym Glaser, in the Jamaica Gleaner, presents his World Cup squad.
May 9, 2006
Lara appointment causes bitter divide
Posted on 05/09/2006 in West Indies cricket
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Ken Gordon: going it alone
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| The reappointment of Brian Lara as West Indies captain did not go down well with everyone, and it has now emerged that Ken Gordon, the West Indies cricket Board chairman, made the announcement without the approval of the board.
According to caribbeancricket.com, Gordon was summoned to an emergency telephone conference immediately after the announcement where he was asked to explain why he had overstepped his authority.
A source close to Gordon made clear the frustration with the cumbersome committee structure.
"Sometimes, you just have to make a decision and move forward but every asshole has an opinion. They sit around, questioning everything. Sometimes, you need someone to just take the bull by the horns and get the job done. These directors have been there for years and all they did was run the board into bankruptcy."
May 3, 2006
Lara reappointment 'lacks vision'
Posted on 05/03/2006 in West Indies cricket
Brian Lara’s reappointment as West Indies captain has not gone down well with everyone. An editorial in the Guyana-based Stabroek News is less than enthusiastic.
“It proves that the decision-makers still lack vision or are too timid to make the hard decisions and prefer to be politically correct instead. If you add a touch of insularity one cannot go too wrong either.
“It is said he has the experience and maturity to take the team through the World Cup and beyond, but those qualities do not automatically translate into tactical awareness and motivational skills on the field of play.”
April 30, 2006
But where are the women?
Posted on 04/30/2006 in West Indies cricket
One of the admirable sponsored coaching programmes in this country is open to young boys and girls in its first two phases. But, regardless of how well a girl performs, she is not allowed to go past that. The programme does not cater for the participation of girls after a certain stage. What is the message?
Vaneisa Baksh asks the uncomfortable question.
April 26, 2006
Murray 'still in the game'
Posted on 04/26/2006 in West Indies cricket
David Murray, former wicketkeeper of West Indies, had fallen on hard times but wants everyone to know he's still a "tough guy" and despite the many challenges he has faced in life, he's still "in the game".
Click here to read the article by Philip Spooner in the Daily Nation.
April 10, 2006
One happy family
Posted on 04/10/2006 in West Indies cricket
Utopia in the stands - Watching the multi-racial supporters in the Carib Beer semis at Guaracara Park, Fazeer Mohammed in the Trinidad Express gives a glimpse of the social makeup of Trinidad.
In a country fighting a guerrilla war with itself and so often pulled in different directions on the basis of race and political preference, sport continues to unite and show a way out of the senseless, inane debates.
April 5, 2006
WI waiting for next Richards: Lara
Posted on 04/05/2006 in West Indies cricket
Brian Lara talks about his form, and about various issues plaguing West Indies cricket in an interview with the news channel CNN-IBN.
I think in the West Indies, we just sit back on our rocking chairs and think that we are going to churn out the next Vivian Richards or Gary Sobers. But we do not have to do anything. That is not the case anymore. We are a lot more disciplined, there is a lot more technology in sport and a natural talented player is now coming back to the field. This is the area I think that we'll have to look at.
March 31, 2006
Sir Trevor of Trinidad
Posted on 03/31/2006 in West Indies cricket
Sir Trevor MacDonald, the veteran ITN newsreader, talks to the Daily Telegraph about his love of cricket which, he claims, "developed in the womb ... like a West Indian contagion".
"I remember, in Trinidad, playing from the age of four, hammering in stumps in neighbours' backyards and fashioning bats from the branches of coconut trees.
"There is a natural bend in that type of wood that can explain the tendency of many Caribbean cricketers to go for the hook stroke."
March 22, 2006
Waiting for the Caribbean flair
Posted on 03/22/2006 in West Indies cricket
Some day, it'll just not be worth it. The huge amount of ink spilt to make sense of it all will have been archived into obscurity, the heart would have numbed, the pages devoted to the West Indies' decline will be buried in newsprint devoted to modern cricket's instant dramas.
Nandita Sridhar in The Sportstar sums up the sorry plight of West Indies,at the same time longing for a romantic turnaround.
March 5, 2006
Directionless Windies
Posted on 03/05/2006 in West Indies cricket
Chris Cairns reviews West Indies' performance in the ODI series in New Zealand and feels that the problem starts right at the top:
This West Indian cricket team currently seems like the geographical location of the Islands they represent - spread out, isolated and individual ... There has been talk of Shivnarine Chanderpaul's leadership but remember he doesn't choose to be captain - he is appointed. The appointment is wrong.
February 8, 2006
On the verge of quitting
Posted on 02/08/2006 in West Indies cricket
In 2002 former West Indies allrounder Rawl Lewis was seriously thinking about packing in cricket. At the time he was playing in New York and the chances of any international future appeared non existent. In an excellent interview on caribbean cricket.com, Michelle McDonald charts Lewis's stop-start career and how this month, more than seven year after his last international appearance, he will be travelling to New Zealand as one of the West Indies squad.
He had stopped bowling; he was skylarking in the leagues in New York and was just waiting on failure with the bat to say "right, that's it." But his natural gift as a cricketer didn't allow that to happen, even as he paid little or no attention to his game.
January 30, 2006
Hinds makes history
Posted on 01/30/2006 in West Indies cricket
Ryan Hinds has achieved a remarkable feat: he is the first batsman in the history of West Indies cricket to make more than 150 in both innings of a first-class match.
In marching to another commanding 150 to add to his 168 in the first innings, Hinds became the first batsman in the long history of West Indies cricket to make more than 150 in both innings of a regional first-class match.
"It is a great achievement. I told myself just hang in there and get another hundred. I didn't know I would get 150. Praises to God for guiding me through this day. I'm very grateful," Hinds told NATIONSPORT.
[via Ryan]
November 30, 2005
Unity needed to revive Windies
Posted on 11/30/2005 in West Indies cricket
Mike Coward feels that West Indies cricket has learned so little from history its future remains uncertain.
Meanwhile Peter Roebuck observes the return of fire in the Australian side and says, "Ricky Ponting and his men have resumed playing the hard game they learnt with their mother's milk."
Also check out Vaneisa Baksh's review of West Indies' performances on the tough tour.
November 28, 2005
Loving and lauding Lara
Posted on 11/28/2005 in West Indies cricket
Two days after Brian Lara passed Allan Border’s world record Mike Coward writes in The Australian about the day Lara laid himself bare.
Tony Cozier gives a West Indian angle in the Trinidad & Tobago Express while the report from The Observer in England is here.
Cricinfo’s appreciation of Lara’s achievement starts with a piece by Vaneisa Baksh.
November 21, 2005
Shot in the arm from a student of Tranquillity
Posted on 11/21/2005 in West Indies cricket
Peter Roebuck celebrates Dwayne Bravo's century at Bellerive Oval:
Bravo chose a fine time to produce the performance of his career ... West Indies needed someone to raise their spirits. An entire cricket community was suffering. Bravo met the challenge with style and composure.
Also read Chloe Saltau's take on the unlucky life of Brian Lara.
November 18, 2005
A West Indian nadir
Posted on 11/18/2005 in West Indies cricket
As West Indies floundered at the Bellerive Oval, Peter Roebuck and Mike Coward bemoan the fall of a cricketing pillar.
Also read Andrew Ramsey's piece on Brian Lara's struggles on the current trip. Cricinfo's Peter English had his views on the same topic as well.
November 8, 2005
Gayle force or flop?
Posted on 11/08/2005 in West Indies cricket
Chris Gayle, the West Indies enigma, is the subject of Peter Roebuck in The Age. Roebuck writes he currently lies between a liability and a leader. “Compared with Clive Lloyd, Gayle is a lightweight. In its impoverished state, West Indies cricket must take whatever the Jamaican offers, yet the path to recovery can be cut only by those prepared to put themselves on the line.”
Another player under pressure is Australia’s Simon Katich and Ricky Ponting admits to “carrying” him in The Courier-Mail.
November 3, 2005
Reflecting on a rich past
Posted on 11/03/2005 in West Indies cricket
As West Indies and Australia begin their 100th Test, Tony Cozier celebrates the glorious rivalry over the years.
Update: Mike Coward writes on the West Indians, who have been cheered to the echo by fans captivated by their natural athleticism and spectacularly expressive cricket.
October 20, 2005
Calypso sweat
Posted on 10/20/2005 in West Indies cricket
West Indies arrive in Australia next week for three Tests and the tour previews are already starting. Apparently fitness is an early concern and the The Courier-Mail reports a local trainer has been appointed to get them in shape.
Brian Lara is mentioned as preferring skills work to push-ups and he gets top spot in Cricinfo’s list of the most celebrated Test losers.
October 11, 2005
A Caribbean Kerry Packer or the region's saviour?
Posted on 10/11/2005 in West Indies cricket
A week ago billionaire Allen Stanford announced a $28 million investment in Caribbean cricket, mainly via a prestigious new Twenty20 series, but as the reality sets in, the debate has started.
In The Jamaica Gleaner, Tony Becca writes:
Twenty20 cricket is not first-class cricket, and yet West Indies cricket is about to find itself in a position where, for example, the first-class champions of the region collect a paltry US$7,500 and the Twenty20 champions a whopping one million US dollars.
But in the Barbados-based Nation, Vaneisa Baksh disagrees:
Cleverly sensing the powerful attraction of Twenty20 cricket to this generation, Stanford has affixed his programme to its rapidly spreading culture. Purists may argue that it is not cricket, but the truth is that although it might be a different ball game, it may yet provide the nurturing ground for building the skills required for Tests ... it can become a critical educational tool for young cricketers, teaching them how to focus their minds, and to feel the immediate consequences of lapses.
The Jamaica Observer describes Stanford as the "Caribbean Packer", and asks for more clarity:
We believe that there is need for more, and better, particulars from Mr Stanford and his associates ... it all has a ring of Kerry Packer's cricket, which, at the time split the international game between the official teams and the superstars who migrated to World Series Cricket. That turned out to be a nasty affair which was pathetically handled on both sides. We hope this is not a case in which history is attempting to repeat itself.
September 30, 2005
Good spirits in Barbados
Posted on 09/30/2005 in West Indies cricket
West Indies are soon to take on Australia in a three-Test series and, while some are writing them off, others say it could be a close contest. "It could be interesting, really interesting", writes Tony Becca in the Jamaica Gleaner.
September 25, 2005
Let's hear it for schools cricket
Posted on 09/25/2005 in West Indies cricket
In the Barbados-based The Nation, Tony Cozier celebrates the revival of schools cricket in the island. He describes the occassion:
Family, friends, teachers and past and present pupils were there by the score to cheer them [the two teams] on. But the euphoria extended way beyond the immediate supporters to the wider cricket community, indeed to the community as a whole. It came at a time when there is great pessimism over the future of our youth and, by extension, the national sport.
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