Cricket

T20 Champs West Indies awaits Champions Trophy conquerors

It would be a major surprise if the Sabina Park and Queen’s Park Oval crowds prove as patient and as tolerant in the face of inclement weather as was the largely Indian Edgbaston crowd yesterday. “England rains,” wrote one Twitter user, “but India reign.” There were jokes aplenty before India sneaked …

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T&T Red Steel vows to overcome talent drain

Having already lost power-hitter Kieron Pollard and mystery spinner Sunil Narine, Trinidad and Tobago continued the haemorrhage in the June 5 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) draft in Montego Bay in Jamaica. That does not seem to bother officials of the local franchise, the Red Steel, who claim not to be …

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Ramdin, Broad and the anti-West Indies agenda

A white ’ooman name Miss Black, a black ’ooman name Miss White, a red ooman name Miss Green is the funniest ting I’ve seen. A narrow-minded referee name Chris Broad… The calypsonian did not actually sing those lines half-a-century or so ago. But if, like me, he has followed the …

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Captain Caribbean: Bravo’s blueprint for brilliance

Not for nothing were West Indian teams prior to Kerry Packer’s crucial intervention in the late 1970’s ritually called “Calypso Cricketers.” Sparrow’s “Slave” contains a line that perhaps epitomizes the regional attitude to the game. In that classic tune, the Calypso King of the World as first person narrator describes …

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Denesh delusions: Talk to the Shotter, Bravo

The conspiracy theorists are having a field day; according to them, India’s easy win on Tuesday was set up by the two-match ban on West Indies wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin. I have heard no suggestions about the use to which the sanctioned wicketkeeper’s match fee has been put but I feel …

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Yea, Denesh, Talk nah!

A still tongue, Denesh Ramdin would have heard over and over after the 2012 Test versus England in Birmingham, keeps a wise head. I confess that, with my “Yea, Denesh, Hush Nah” and “A Right Royal Ramdin Ruckus” articles in the July and August editions of the Trinidad and Tobago …

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T&T first-class cricket success can boost Windies

Two characteristics noticeable in the legendary cricket teams of the post-World War II era were depth and the predominance of one territory in each nation, which usually became the core of their first XI. The first great West Indies team from 1963-68 had a strong Barbadian influence and was captained …

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Thanks and goodbye to Sammy and silent WI selectors

In Charlie’s Angels, an American television series later adapted into a movie, three attractive private investigators work for a boss that they never met and who gives instructions through speaker phone. It is tempting to believe that the West Indies cricket team shares a similar relationship with its selection committee, …

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