Recently retired former West Indies ODI captain Dwayne Bravo is not happy with the way CWI does business. “From top level, he explained to SportsMax in a post-World Cup interview, “the politics is so strong. It doesn’t matter who is the president or who is the CEO, they have the …
Read More »Media Monitor: Why CWI Media’s Covid-enforced changes would not have cramped Cozier’s style
Kraigg Brathwaite embarrassed us all in the second innings of the Second Test in Sri Lanka last month but few seemed to notice. The West Indies Test skipper finished with 1/11 in his five overs after ending a troublesome 51-run sixth wicket partnership by having Ramesh Mendis caught by Kemar …
Read More »T2021 W/C PM: Why Carlos Brathwaite puts the peerless Prince in 2nd place
We does win, dem does lorse. Mathematically, defending champions West Indies were knocked out of the 2021 T20 World Cup when they failed to beat Sri Lanka on Thursday 4 November. In fact, Kieron Pollard’s side were effectively out of the World Cup after they could only muster 55 in …
Read More »T2021 W/C PM: Six! The exhi-LARA-ting story of the peerless Prince of Port-of-Spain
Arithmetic and algebra are not two sides of the same coin. You can be great at one, a complete dud at the other. Take, for example, Roger Harper. In defending the selection of tearaway pacer Oshane Thomas, the West Indies lead selector identified him as ‘an X factor’. But in …
Read More »T2021 W/C Post-mortem: Solace for sad WI souls sunk by Pollard’s side’s six-seeking
When your World Cup ends prematurely, you’re in more hell than Brown. You looked at the West Indies line-up, boasting in excess of 1500 T20 matches, more than 20,000 thousand T20 runs and over a 1,000 T20 wickets. “If deh beat we,” you told yourself confidently, “deh eat we!” So …
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 »Was Shakib Al-Hasan a better all-rounder than Sobers? Gomes counters with list of cricket’s top all-action men
“[…] An all-rounder (according to Anantha Narayanan’s first definition) is someone who could be selected as a batsman, batting at six or higher, or a bowler—one of the top three choices… But only eight players qualify on the basis of this definition: Keith Miller, Shakib Al-Hasan, Imran Khan, Ian Botham, …
Read More »Best: Long WI cricket history, short memories, success, succession and the easy solution illusion
“At a time when aggressive, proactive international captaincy is in short supply,” writes Ian Chappell, in discussing Ajinkya Rahane’s leadership in the absence of Virat Kohli, “India are fortunate to have two leaders who both understand the value of taking wickets over containing the opposition.” At a time when aggressive, …
Read More »Best: WI cyar find a West Indian batting coach? Ting really so bad in cricket?
Since taking over the Cricket West Indies reins last March, new boss Ricky Skerritt has added real value to the West Indies brand. So far, he has talked good West Indies talk and walked the West Indies walk. However, the long-hoped-for turnaround remains elusive—and I am not merely talking about …
Read More »BC Lara’s Great GOAT Debate: Everyone loves a winner; why calypso shunned the Prince
On his first overseas tour as West Indies captain in 1998-99, Brian Lara took action on behalf of the players and forced the now late Pat Rousseau’s and the WICBC’s hand. Where, pray, were the calypsonians? Beginner and Maestro had already passed on but Sparrow and Kitchie were still with …
Read More »BC Lara’s Great GOAT Debate: Sachin statistical score settled, Bradman left a little bit behind?
“In all,” observes Jon Hotten in The Meaning of Cricket, “he faced 19, 753 balls in Test cricket and another 13,086 in one-day internationals before he retired in 2007. Only 483 of those resulted in his dismissal, so 32,356 did not. “Put differently, just 1.47 per cent of the deliveries …
Read More »Calypso cricket; Sparrow, Shadow and Shannon’s Sunday slog
Out of the woodwork they have come in their numbers, rushing to the defence of poor Shannon Gabriel whose unsurprising eleventh hour Sunday evening brain fart handed Pakistan the Third and final Test in Dominica two weekends ago. But what know they of Caribbean cricket, to misquote CLR James, who do …
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