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April 13, 2008
Posted 4 weeks ago 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Posted on 07/19/2007 in West Indies cricket
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Gordon Greenidge makes his return
© Getty Images
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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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
Posted on 04/19/2007 in West Indies cricket
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Where did it all go wrong?
© TigerCricket.com
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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
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
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
Posted on 03/11/2007 in West Indies cricket
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Rohan Kanhai gave all the East Indians hope
© The Cricketer International
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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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Posted on 05/21/2006 in West Indies cricket
Tym Glaser, in the Jamaica Gleaner, pre |
