Mid-April, the 53rd anniversary of the declaration by Dr Eric Williams’ embattled government of T&T’s first state of emergency, and two voices are in my head. One is real, the other imagined. Neither will go away. “Power alone will never make us strong. The heart must also sing the human …
Read More »Saluting Sir Garry Sobers (Pt 3): A second look at one of WI’s most controversial captains
Calypsonians are as cantankerous as they come. So when Relator suggests that Sir Garfield Sobers was no great shakes as a captain, we have to take that with a pinch of salt. Yet it is there, on the record, in his 1972 hit “Gavaskar”. So we have to deal with …
Read More »Saluting Sir Garry (Pt 2): Batting for Collie—the monkey Sobers carried on his back
Twenty-six centuries and 30 half-centuries. That, according to the official record, is what the legendary left-handed batsman Garfield St Aubrun Sobers has produced for West Indies. But in Sobers’ mind, his record of achievement with the bat is seven 100s and nine 50s, less than half of what the record …
Read More »Saluting Sir Garry Sobers—Post-script: Have WI given the legend his just deserts?
“Did I entertain?” Garry St Aubrun Sobers never asked his fans that question. The answer would indisputably have been an emphatic, unanimous, unqualified yes. Those three words actually came out of the mouth of Brian Charles Lara at the end of a stellar 18-year career. Sobers, a West Indian sporting …
Read More »Saluting Sir Garry Sobers: Happy birthday to cricket’s unique ‘six-tool player’
Born 86 years ago today on 28 July 1936, Garfield St Aubrun Sobers became simply, as Sparrow sang, “the greatest cricketer on Earth or Mars”. Hyperbole? Calypsonians, we know, are so prone. Still, it isn’t easy to dismiss the claim made by the Calypso King of the World on behalf …
Read More »King keeps it simple as Maroon Men romp to 5-wkt win and 2-0 series lead over Netherlands
In Game Two of the three-match ODI series against the Netherlands at the VRA Ground in Amstelveen today, Brandon King kept his head while other West Indian batsmen around him were losing theirs. The talented right-hander reaped multiple rewards: an unbeaten 91 to go with his 58 not out in …
Read More »WI back to winning ways; Player-of-the-Series Brathwaite warns against complacency
One brilliant one-handed catch from former captain Jason Holder. Some 60-odd deliveries with the ball, eight of them from lead pacer Kemar Roach that yielded two wickets. Just about 30 deliveries with the bat, 21 of them yielding 20 runs for skipper Kraigg Brathwaite. That was all the West Indies …
Read More »Da Silva goes all the way for WI, then ‘Midas’ Mayers leaves England on the brink
At the Masters in Georgia, they call Saturday ‘moving day’. At the National Stadium in Grenada today, a masterly maiden Test century by wicketkeeper/batsman Joshua Da Silva first moved Kraigg Brathwaite’s West Indies into the saddle of the Third Apex Test. Then, with the first innings lead 93, allrounder Kyle …
Read More »Determined Da Silva’s fighting half-century gives WI slim first innings lead
Joshua Da Silva had a steely glint in his eye as he acknowledged the plaudits of the crowd on Day Two of the Third Apex Test at the National Stadium in Grenada today. The wicketkeeper scored a critical, unbeaten, rear-guard 54 to push Kraigg Brathwaite’s West Indies past the 204 …
Read More »Mayers rocks England top order but WI fail to skittle tail on Day One of Third Test
For a session and a half on the opening day of the Third Apex Test at the National Stadium in Grenada today, Kraigg Brathwaite’s West Indies were firmly in the driver’s seat. But by the end of the day, with numbers 10 and 11 their top scorers, Joe Root’s side …
Read More »Marathon man Brathwaite holds off England again, winner-take-all in Grenada finale
Led by another immense feat of endurance and concentration from skipper Kraigg Brathwaite, the West Indies earned a second honourable draw in the Second Test of the three-match Apex Series at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados today All three protagonists played their part to ensure that the predictable outcome was …
Read More »Brathwaite’s 489-ball century keeps England close, as WI head into Day Five
When bad light ended play at the end of Day Four of the Second Apex Test at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite’s led all scorers with a 710-minute, 489-ball 160. But all the other numbers seemed to say a draw. There were three sessions …
Read More »