“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 »Harping on the vexed WI Test captaincy question; is Pollard the answer?
Five overs. For an ODI captain, those 30 balls are sometimes a real test. Think West Indies Test captain Jason Holder bidding just to keep the ball in the park when AB De Villiers took a liking to his bowling in the ICC World Cup in Sydney in 2015. Five …
Read More »Pollard, Holder, Pooran among 12 withdrawals from Windies’ Bangladesh tour, amidst Covid concerns
West Indies Test captain Jason Holder and One-Day International captain Kieron Pollard are among 10 cricketers who rejected call-ups for next month’s tour of Bangladesh due to ‘Covid-19 related concerns or personal fears’. The other players who ‘declined the opportunity to tour’ for similar reasons are: Darren Bravo, Shamarh Brooks, Roston …
Read More »West Indies T20 star Pollard not good enough? England’s David Gower fails QED test
“A Worrell innings knows no dawn. It begins at high noon!” “He never played an ungrammatical stroke.” Those two sentences describing the batting of the West Indies greatest ever captain Sir Frank Worrell were penned by Neville Cardus, the doyen of English cricket writers. “Clive Lloyd.” That, so the story …
Read More »Champs again! TKR firepower too much for game Zouks; sorry-for-self Sammy to soldier on?
Champions know that the time to be in front is at the end; three-time CPL winners the Trinbago Knight Riders arguably know it better than most. And therefore today went on to become four-time title-holders. The victory means that they did not lose a single one of their 12 games …
Read More »CPL 2020: TKR thump Tallawahs, ready to trample Zouks in Thursday’s final
“Dive, dive nah, boy!” I think I also heard an explosive expletive. The yeller is Dwayne Bravo, the bowler; the yellee is his younger brother Darren, who is at mid-off. The occasion? Tuesday’s first semi-final of CPL 2020 at the Brian Lara Academy in Tarouba between Kieron Pollard’s TKR and …
Read More »CPL 20: Can Zouks deny fans batting fireworks on offer in Thursday’s Tarouba final?
Lightning, we are told, does not often strike in the same place twice. In August 2018, the Jamaican Tallawahs’ Andre Russell blasted an unbeaten 121 off only 40 balls to stun the Queen’s Park Oval home crowd into silence. But weather-wise, this has proven to be an extraordinary year so …
Read More »Media Monitor: Pollard vs Holder: reporters mistake Mind Games Pt 6 for Fast and Furious
Not for nothing has television been dubbed the ‘boob tube’ or ‘idiot box’. And this, long before anyone was able to watch the sports news on TV6! Bad as it is, the CCN channel is not alone. Not just in vision but in the voice and print media as well, …
Read More »CPL: Tridents, Patriots outclassed as Pollard, Pooran provide virtual lessons at QP Oval
It is looking as if Kieron Pollard’s Trinbago Knight Riders will give the nation a belated but welcome Independence gift. As 2020 CPL action shifts back to the Brian Lara Academy in Tarouba tomorrow, TKR are firmly in the driver’s seat. For those fans with short memories, that is precisely …
Read More »Best: The Old, the Young, the Unwanted; time for WI to kill the fatted calf
With the wicked stepfather now out of the picture, the prodigal sons are back in the fold. And recent results suggest that the West Indies cricket family is once again not doing too badly, thank you. But Dwayne John Bravo seems not entirely sanguine about the status quo. Bravo’s younger …
Read More »Scalp by scalp, Walsh steadily stakes claim for T20 World Cup selection
Despite being a player on the regional scene since the 2011-12 season, Hayden Walsh jr had never really knocked on the selection door before the middle of the 2019 CPL season. In the third game of his debut regional season, he had impressed with returns of 4 for 47 against …
Read More »Best: Lil pin does chook hard; Walsh jr settles question of WI size
Hayden Walsh jr stands only 5’7” in his socks. But since last October, he has been steadily rising to the challenge of being a West Indian cricketer at last. But no matter how high he climbs, even if he were a 6’4” Alzarri Joseph or a 6’7” Jason Holder or …
Read More »