History, they say, is written by the victors. For just over a week, we still enjoy the title of defending T20 World Cup champions. Let us, therefore, while we still can, rewrite history. Not, like Christopher Columbus and the Spaniards and all the self-serving colonial powers, with a view to …
Read More »T2021 W/C: Pollard: ‘[WI] lacked cricket smarts’; Hetmyer hits 81 in vain as S/Lanka k.o. champs
Twenty-five year old Sri Lankan pacer Chamika Karunaratne tapped his temple and then tapped his heart, after dismissing West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell for two runs in today’s ICC T20 World Cup contest. And, just to be sure nobody missed it, Karunaratne repeated the gesture. By then, West Indies were …
Read More »T2021 W/C: Is West Indian mindlessness a mere figment of Mark Nicholas’ imagination?
Tuesday morning in the Caribbean. South Africa are on the verge of victory in the second of the West Indies five Super 12 games in the 2021 World Cup. England’s Mark Nicholas is saluting the pair at the wicket, whose 83-run partnership will soon steer the Proteas to their crushing …
Read More »T2021 W/C: If WI ever needed you is now; Pooran makes Best change his tune
October, which sees the start of the 2021 T20 Cricket World Cup, is also Calypso History Month. So it makes sense to me, if we are going to be clear about what this is all about, to allow David Rudder to tell us. In his ‘Rally’, he has found just …
Read More »T2021 W/C: WI batsmen smothered in 7-wkt warm-up loss to Pakistan, despite late Pollard cameo
In Dubai today, in the first of two warm-up games before their opening T20 World Cup cricket contest, Kieron Pollard’s West Indies failed to get going. In a comprehensive defeat to Pakistan, they managed only 130 for 7, going down by six wickets with 27 balls to spare. The ‘Maroon …
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 …
Read More »T2021 W/C: Abdulah wants Chase, Akeal, Rampaul in his dream WI XI; Gayle, Ramdin get in 15
“[…] At number three, my choice is Roston Chase. He is showing that he can hold an innings together—which is crucial in a team of big hitters—and his run rate is not bad at all. He has good technique, which is crucial in all formats of cricket, T20 included, and …
Read More »T2021 W/C: Lord sees value in Cottrell, Fletcher and Narine for WI dreams; but wary of dot balls
“[…] I want at least six bowlers in my XI; you never know when somebody will have an off-day and be offering lollipops to the opposition like if it’s Christmas or Easter or somebody’s birthday. “[…] If Sunil Narine is available—he is featuring in the CPL so…—there is no chance …
Read More »CPL 2021: Pooran’s Warriors seal double over Pollard’s TKR in Super Over thriller
Akeal Hosein thought he had won it with a magnificent, one-handed catch on the cover boundary in the 18th over of the second innings of regulation play. Shimron Hetmyer thought he had lost it with a fumble on the mid-wicket boundary on the fourth ball of the super over. In …
Read More »T2021 W/C: MPD selects Hope to open with Lewis in WI XI but Gayle goes only as mentor
“[…] Age catches up with the best of us. In [Chris] Gayle’s case, that has meant waning hand/eye co-ordination, considerably less energy in the field and greater proneness to injury—all factors that have led to inconsistency in scores and fewer innings of note. “The Australia half-century—his first since 2016!—was nothing …
Read More »T2021 W/C: Hope, Hetmyer, Walsh are in Persaud’s WI dream team but Simmons out starting XI
“[…] My opening batsmen will be Evin Lewis and Shai Hope. I say with utmost confidence that no one will argue with my selection of Lewis to lead the charge. The left-handed opener has the proven capability to destroy any bowling attack that he may be faced with. “The right-handed …
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