Old enough to have been around when Kapil Dev ran halfway across Lord’s to pouch Viv Richards’ skier, I am scarred. Over four decades after that 1983 sinking of the West Indies’ Titanic, I remain a sceptic, at best a conservative believer in West Indies’ World Cup prowess. In hindsight, …
Read More »Open letter to Scyld Berry: does plucking feathers from Lara’s wing float your boat?
These growing feathers plucked from Lara’s wing Will make him fly an ordinary pitch. Who else would soar above the view of batsmen And keep them all in servile fearfulness? Dear Mr Scyld Berry, Beriberi, on the slave ships that sailed to the Caribbean, was not very kind to our …
Read More »Best: Fire in Babylon and fireworks under pressure—we love the way WI play
Bazball brings a broad smile to British faces. It brings back very happy memories, but not from before the last decade. Mention, however, the nameless West Indian brand or Barbados—or Babylon—and what we get is a scowl. Or a furrowed brow. Not easy to erase is the memory of what …
Read More »Best: Berry wide of mark for praising WI style, yet blasting Lara
History, we West Indians are acutely aware, is written for the most part by the victors. So, although the West Indies have only beaten England seven times in the last 11 series since the end of 2000, in mid-April, British cricket writer Scyld Berry brought the late Tony Cozier to …
Read More »Best: Why Windies should NOT bowl DreRuss at death; and lingering selection questions
Bitter experience is the best teacher. I know. Ever since Jason Holder’s West Indians unaccountably turned the tables on England at Headingley in 2017, I hate the taste of Brylcreem. And yet, here we go: I will eat my hat if Rovman Powell’s West Indies do not emerge victorious in …
Read More »To boycott or not to boycott? Boo, not bravo, to I-Sports’ birdbrained idea!
“People are like animals,” a long-running promo for the two weekly I-Sports programmes asserts, “and sometimes they need to be treated that way on I-Sports.” The Reckless One, who hosts the bi-weekly sessions, has launched a public campaign for us all to boycott this month’s two West Indies versus England …
Read More »Orwell’s take on Maxwell’s incredible no-foot batting, Cummins’ wotlissness and West Indian purblindness
The spirit of George Orwell lay heavy over Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday evening after favourites Australia got past underdogs Afghanistan in the 50-over World Cup match. Over the entrance to the losers’ dressing room, my mind’s eye saw, adapted, the legend from his Animal Farm: ‘Two legs good, no …
Read More »Kitchener and Sparrow not good enough for top ten? Ah wanna fall!
Is greatness, like beauty, in the eye of the beholder? The question is broached in a not-very-good Calypso History Month piece penned by Debbie Jacob in a recent Newsday article under the headline: ‘My top ten calypsoes’. Alas, she offers no answer. “When it comes to narrowing down all the …
Read More »Challenging Dr Rowley—after Colm doesn’t cough up cash for cricket clubs
Budget Day. As usual, many citizens are waiting to hear what goodies are coming their way this year. Most are focused on Finance Minister Colm Imbert. What, they are asking, will the Finance Minister deliver today? But some others, not so much. What ball, we untypical Trini cricket fans are …
Read More »Can Dr Rowley resurrect T&T cricket and keep self-help from wrecking the enterprise?
Booty, you have probably heard, is in the eye of the beholder. Ask Jack Warner. Haitian officials complained that the lion’s share of US$750m—sent to Warner-controlled accounts by Fifa and a presidential candidate for the world governing body—never made it to the impoverished island, who were desperate for relief after …
Read More »Dear Editor: Newspaper editors needed… and start at the Trinidad Express!
Trinidad Express Newspapers are in the market for an assistant night editor. Through you, I wish to make an application for the job. On the list of qualifications and experience required for securing employment in this position are nine items: At #7, ‘Proficient knowledge of the structure and content of …
Read More »Best: Will West Indies batsmen get IPL Easter resurrection lessons from mind coach Brian Lara?
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 …
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