Allen Stanford, remember that name? No? Not a surprise really. When West Indians are focused on the biggest party in sport, who has time to remember a man who was a party to the biggest fraud ever perpetrated on West Indian sport? On Republic Day, a lady who lives on …
Read More »RBCPL24: Are WI being served? Wired868 looks back at CPL24
“Yuh tink is so de ting does work?” Calypso History Month has just begun and the 2024 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL), the biggest party in sport, has just ended. How are they connected? Well, if you know where to look, you can find several through-lines. There’s no Lying …
Read More »Vaneisa: Under the crescent moon—the good, the bad and the ugly of the CPL
The day after the end of the T20 World Cup, my daughter and a friend of ours were at my home, and as I was talking cricket, he suggested we have a lime to watch the final. I burst out laughing, explaining that the final had already gone and the …
Read More »RBCPL24: Roger that, Coachman! Chase and Jones flip final script for SLK after warning
Five overs to go, six wickets intact and 66 runs still needed for victory. Saint Lucia Kings (SLK) are chasing their first-ever Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) title. Before a partisan crowd at the National Stadium in Providence, Guyana on Sunday evening, the right-handed pair of Roston Chase and …
Read More »RBCPL24: Aaron Jones steps up as SLK deny defending champions GAW the double
The deed is done. The defending champions have been defeated. By six wickets. And on their third attempt—having repeatedly discussed the distinct possibility of a double Lucian celebration this year after Julien Alfred’s sprint gold in Paris in the summer—the Saint Lucia Kings finally have their first title. On Sunday …
Read More »RBCPL24: Feeling the fielding—how David Wiese leads Kings’ bowlers’ support staff
A cricket match, a cricket sage once wrote, is played in the minds of the opposing captains. Were he writing in the post-20th century T20 world and thus disposed to making the compulsory compromises imposed by today’s audience of e-literates, he might not have stopped there. But, I imagine him …
Read More »RBCPL24: How ‘hit-and-hope’ Hetmyer overhauled his game to pace GAW
Shimron Odilon Hetmyer warmed the West Indies bench throughout the recent T20 World Cup staged in the West Indies and the USA, unable to land a place in a team that clearly was not playing its best cricket. Yet, mere months later, in the 2024 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League …
Read More »RBCPL24: GAW coast into Sunday’s final after Royals collapse
When Ramon Simmons bowled Shai Hope for 56, the Guyana Amazon Warriors had not yet overhauled the modest target set them by the Barbados Royals. They still needed two runs. From 35 balls. And they got them to seal an 8-wicket win and secure the second spot in Sunday evening’s …
Read More »RBCPL24: Tahir’s googlies turn back hands of time and give GAW hope of repeat
Siuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu! Tim Seifert turned Moeen Ali’s off-spinner off his toes in the direction of backward square-leg where Guyana Amazon Warriors captain Imran Tahir had stationed himself. It was over number ten of the second innings in Match 29 of the 2024 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and the Saint …
Read More »Time to hold CPL to account for T20 management; CPL: We followed ICC-approved rules
“[…] What has been the real economic benefit and value to the Caribbean people of the CPL? We have given so much yet receive so little. “While all of this is happening, under the CPL, territorial rivalry has grown to dangerous proportions, with violence breaking out at matches and the …
Read More »RBCPL24: Johnson Charles paces Kings into final; defending champs, GAW, try again on Friday
At 124 without loss in the 12th over of Qualifier 1 in the Republic Bank 2024 Caribbean Premier League (CPL), Faf du Plessis’ Saint Lucia Kings were sitting pretty. Du Plessis and Johnson Charles, SLK’s unchanged opening pair, had powered their way to a score that put them in position …
Read More »RBCPL24: Kings veteran, Johnson Charles, learns new tricks in 12th season
Saint Lucian blood runs in my best friend’s veins. And he graces almost all international and regional cricket at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy (BLCA) in Tarouba with his presence. Religiously. So he has just a little trouble keeping his JCs apart. Let’s call him Christian, shall we? He is …
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