“[…] Foremost among the policies now obviously in need of desperate reform would be that of the fitness standards. “As numerous former players have suggested, the duplicity of allowing some players to be granted fitness exemptions while others are deemed to have failed to meet the required standards has to …
Read More »T2021 W/C: Hidden hazards; will what WI don’t see hurt our chances?
In Group 1 of the Super 12’s, Australia, England and South Africa await. When the 2021 edition of the ICC World Cup eventually bowls off in the UAE and Oman in mid-October, those three will lead the attempt to knock the crown off the head of Kieron Pollard’s defending champions. …
Read More »T2021 W/C: Polls apart? CWI and Wired868 panels agree on Gayle, differ on Bravo, Holder
Allyuh tink dis selection ting easy? Allyuh know who Joshua Bishop is? No? Well, the 21-year-old Barbados Royals’ rookie left-arm spinner’s name somehow ended up on a list of three dozen West Indies players named by the 12 panellists asked to select their WI dream team for the 2021 T20 …
Read More »Ex-West Indies star, Marlon Samuels, charged by ICC with four breaches of Anti-Corruption Code
Former West Indies cricketer Marlon Samuels has been charged by the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Anti-Corruption Unit for four breaches of Emirates Cricket Board’s Anti-Corruption Code. The charges are related to his participation in a T10 League in Abu Dhabi in 2019. The 40-year-old Samuels is accused of failing to …
Read More »T2021 W/C: Gayle’s last dance: in defence of the West Indies’ pick for the ‘Universe Boss’
“Yes, I want to play for West Indies—that’s where my heart is,” veteran West Indies cricket star Chris Gayle told ESPN, during an interview in March 2021. “I am never going to turn down anything pertaining to West Indies cricket at this particular time. “[…] Hopefully I can perform, help …
Read More »Flashback: Whispering hurts; Holding on WI’s Test shortcomings and Lara’s captaincy
The following column, written by Lasana Liburd, was first published in the Trinidad Express Sport Magazine on 29 July 2004: “I have heard people say that we cannot get any worse,” said ex-West Indies legendary fast bowler and Sky Sport TV commentator Michael Holding, “and that we have reached rock-bottom …
Read More »T2021 W/C: ‘The best of the available candidates’, you say?! Best on differing value of the Bravos
Darren Bravo is a gifted left-hander who, for years, was the best batsman in the region and a clone of his cousin, Brian Charles Lara, the best batsman the country has produced. But that was once upon a time. Darren Bravo vintage 2021 is not vintage at all. On merit. …
Read More »CPL 2021: How a Champion and a ‘Dom’ gave the Patriots their champagne moment
“[…] Then came the finale, the most thrilling CPL final in the tournament’s nine-year existence. The home upstarts SKN Patriots, representing the Leeward Islands against the dominant St Lucia Kings, representing the Windward Islands. “[…] Videos were out, shade being thrown by all supporters. Memes galore. So much fun and …
Read More »CPL 2021: Anatomy of a cricketing coup; an insider details how the Patriots became kings
“[…] In these smaller islands, the level of insularity in cricket and other sports means that opportunities for our players and athletes are inherently less than those of our more endowed larger island nations of the archipelago. “I was always one to support the underdog against all odds so now …
Read More »CPL 2021: Drakes leads Patriots to last-ball win, as hosts keep St Lucia Kings off the throne
For a brief moment, it looked like the umpiring, less than stellar throughout this year’s CPL played entirely at Warner Park in St Kitts and Nevis, would steal Man-of-the-Match Dominic Drakes’ thunder. But, in the end, justice was done. Mere moments after the 23-year-old left-handed son of former West Indies …
Read More »T2021 W/C: A reflection on selection, concussion and Romario’s extraordinary exhibition
For a selector, concussion is an occupational hazard. All the more, as Ken ‘Jaiks’ Jaikaransingh has already noted above, if you are a West Indian selector. Let me remind you of a truth every Trini sports fan knows: in T&T for certain, probably in the West Indies as a whole, …
Read More »CPL 2021: Evin Lewis spoils Hetmyer’s party; Patriots bid to stop Kings in first title battle
It was not even close. A no-contest. Shimron Hetmyer thumped a hat-trick of sixes in the final over to add substance to what would otherwise have been a very undaunting Guyana Amazon Warriors final score. And although it allowed Nicholas Pooran’s soldiers to troop off Warner Park in St Kitts …
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