Cover Points : West Indies

And then there were (n)one - Part 1 - The wins

arvi — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 02:10:00 GMT

Agatha Christie's famous novel did have one left in the end though the readers find that out only in the end. Similarly, when Edwards walked in,walked in the latest thriller @ ARG(ggg), England could have been forgotten for thinking that it was a...(read more)

Jamaica's fast men

dcsiva — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:06:00 GMT

Michael Holding and Courtney Walsh are surely among the greatest fast bowlers in the history of the game. Unsurprisingly enough both have been interviewed on the thorny subject of the decline of the West Indies as cricket team. Here's Holding—he of that over fame—from an interview a year ago on American sports, economic decline, and a mal-functioning Cricket Board:

The increasing popularity in the Caribbean of American sport is often blamed for the dearth of top-class youngsters, but Holding thinks this is exaggerated.

"I don't see any kids in the Caribbean playing baseball, or American football," he says. "It's only basketball, and the reason for that is that politicians are building basketball courts everywhere to get the kids off the streets. So we have to make cricket as accessible as basketball. Another factor is that the Caribbean economies are changing. When I was a young man, a lot of companies in Jamaica would hire sportsmen and give them time off to play or practise. They hardly worked at all. But that doesn't happen any more. And the other big factor, of course, is that the team is not doing well. Kids don't see anything they want to be a part of. But for the team to achieve success on the pitch, the West Indies Cricket Board has to sort itself out. For the last umpteen years it has been dysfunctional, to put it mildly."

And Courtney Walsh talking 5 years ago about coming out of retirement:

The decline of quality fast bowling in the Caribbean has hurt not only the fans, who still believe the fast bowler is king, but also those who proudly made the West Indies into the best side in the world.

"It has been a real disappointment to watch the way our guys have been performing," Courtney Walsh said when I caught up with him in Jamaica. "Our bowling is a real concern. We are not bowling anywhere near as well as we can. The potential is there but there has been a real lack of consistency. The word on the street is that Curtly [Ambrose] and myself should come out of retirement."

We laughed at the prospect. Walsh is enjoying retirement. The body is no longer the lean, mean bowling machine that claimed a record- breaking 519 Test scalps. The hips are wider and the hair around his temples now has a distinguished grey tinge to it. Our chuckling ended when he raised his head and looked me in the eye. "No they're serious," he said.

I have no wise words to say about the dearth of fast bowling in Jamaica and the West Indies generally. But surely the joy that watching this represents has something to do with it.

Ashes in the Caribbean

dcsiva — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:32:00 GMT

Is this a day for nostalgia and hoping for new beginnings? Patrick Kidd's guest Murray Hedgcock lists his Ashes Top Ten. And Patrick says that Ken Barrington is Ashes Hero no. 49 (just pipping Gary Pratt):

The craggy-faced Surrey batsman was a bit of a dasher in his youth but transformed himself by necessity into one of cricket's great stonewallers, the hardest man in the side to shift. And Down Under, where he averaged 70 in two series, he helped England to come away with a share of the spoils each time he toured.

On his first tour, the series was tied at 1-1 when England came to Adelaide for the fourth Test, with Australia looking to tighten the screw. Barrington top-scored with 63 in the first innings but England gave up a 62-run deficit and then, chasing 356 to win, were four for two before Barrington's four-hour 132 not out steadied the ship and secured a draw.

The Nation newspaper in Barbados is carrying a series of articles on the state of cricket in Barbados. First, on the Cricket Legends Bill the legislature just passed, why just cricket players? And, second, Philip Hunte on the need for long-term fixes of Caribbean cricket:

Now, we in the region are feeling short changed by our current representatives who are allowing cricket newcomers to visit these shores and humiliate our Caribbean people, literally rubbing our noses in their failures.

It is the type of situation that these opponents were longing and hoping for when the vintage team of Lloyd, Richards, Greenidge, Haynes, Roberts, Holding, Garner, Marshall (may his soul rest in peace) et al, ran rings around all and sundry.

It has been more than a decade that this humiliation and capitulation has been occurring and radical measures are needed to rectify the situation or else the team could end up in the Test cricket second XI, among the cricketing minnows Bangladesh and if allowed, Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe.

And, lastly, on cricket administration in the Caribbean:

CARICOM nationals, to whom cricket means so much, deserve to know more. Is the presidential election process flawed? Is the size of the board superfluous? Can WI cricket continue to afford a non-executive president, part-time administrators, a board whose membership is determined on a constituency representative basis, a system frowned upon ages ago by the late Sir Frank Worrell?

Surely, it is high time suitably appointed West Indies cricket executive offices were established in a selected Caribbean territory, where the president and executive staff are expected to reside.

Is not the ICC headquarters office located in Dubai? How much longer can CARICOM nationals and the nation be embarrassed because of a "hop-scotch" approach to our national sport?

Really? That the ICC is in Dubai is a good thing?

Chanders and big hitting

dcsiva — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:23:00 GMT

An astonishing result in the West Indies vs. Sri Lanka series, as Lanka collapse but keep going, and the Windies start slow, collapse, then recover with some big hitting from Chanderpaul. Island Express points to the beginning of the West Indies innings:

Yesterday, the struggle against the Vaasdomination continued, with Gayle prepared to leave almost everything outside off against Vaas, and continue his buccaneering ways against whoever was bowling at the other end. Vaas swung the ball, well into the second powerplay, and Gayle continued to wait, gleefully accepting his luck on the way. Amarasinghe got some stick and Gayle got himself a fifty in what was in the final analysis, a captain's knock.

Samir Chopra says it's the first time ever that a six was needed and delivered off the last ball:

Sorry, Pakistan fans, the Miandad six doesn't count. Four were needed then. And neither does the Mujtaba six. Seven were needed then.

The Atheist notes that Fifty50 might have some life left in it yet.