West Indies head coach Phil Simmons reiterated the Cricket West Indies (CWI) will not “beg” anyone to represent the regional team, as questions persist about the absence of experienced practitioners like Sunil Narine, Evin Lewis, and Andre Russell. The Maroon Men face New Zealand today in Kingston, Jamaica for the …
Read More »CWI confirms Sarwan exit for ‘personal reasons’; ‘instinctive’ Pooran ready for WI captaincy debut
Former West Indies cricket star Ramnaresh Sarwan has quit his post as West Indies Senior Men’s and Youth Selector after just five months on the job. A Cricket West Indies (CWI) release stated that Robert Haynes, the current head of the Men’s Youth Selection Panel, will ‘act as replacement until a …
Read More »McWatt: Hetmyer keeps WI flag flying in IPL 2022 but Pollard is struggling
The 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL) is now well under way with approximately one-third of its scheduled matches having been completed. Now in its 15th season and universally regarded as global cricket’s most prestigious T20 franchise tournament, the 2022 IPL with its roster of ten participating teams commenced on March …
Read More »Orin: How the IPL complements West Indies cricket rather than detracts from it
“[…] For two months’ work in India, Guyanese allrounder Romario Shepherd, in what will be his first IPL tournament, will take home a salary of just over US$1m before taxes and other deductions for local cricketing entities. “Other players are making more—we’ll get to that in a while—but Shepherd had …
Read More »Alzarri, Evin, Mayers, Odean and Rovman drafted as 17 West Indians get IPL deals
Seventeen regional cricketers will line up in the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 competition this season—although almost one-third of them are not in the current West Indies squad. Jamaican bowling allrounder Odean Smith was today drafted by the Punjab Kings, coach Anil Kumble suggesting that he was suitably impressed …
Read More »Khan, Furlonge grumble as T&T Red Force stumble past Jamaica; Guyana and Barbados eke out wins
The Trinidad and Tobago Red Force became the first team to win a fixture in the 2022 West Indies Championship, seeing off the Jamaica Scorpions today at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba. But, as the Red Force stumbled clumsily over the finishing line, it is anyone’s guess which …
Read More »Write Start (11-15): Nishka Basdeo swings for the hills, as she tries to impress Sunil Narine
“[…] My heavy breathing continued. It increased with every passing second. As I grasped the bat in my hand I gazed at the crowd surrounding me. “The sight of opposing players poised in their game positions conjured feelings I did not know existed. But nothing compared to the sight of …
Read More »T2021 W/C: If the ‘Boss’ could play, why not the Prince? Why Lara was, inadvertently, right about Gayle
It is an intriguing idea. But I reject it. Out of hand. There is, as the Americans, no there there, dear. Writing in April 2007, just before Brian Lara’s final white ball game for the West Indies in the World Cup of that year, under the headline ‘The last king …
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: Narine shows what WI will miss as post-CPL lessons continue in IPL play-offs
It would not be accurate to say that West Indies off-spinner Sunil Narine almost single-handedly put the Kolkata Knight Riders into the IPL semi-final on Monday. Why? Because accuracy requires that we say ‘former West Indies off-spinner Sunil Narine’. Mr Roger Harper and his selection panel were well aware that, …
Read More »T2021 W/C: A tale of two Gayles—veteran’s IPL exit might make Harper’s defenders blush
He was once the best of them. But don’t blush, baby! He may now be the worst of them. Or close to it… The day was 21 September 2021 and the self-proclaimed ‘Universe Boss’ Chris Gayle was celebrating his 42nd birthday. It was the first game of the re-started IPL …
Read More »T2021 W/C: In spin-friendly conditions, will WI miss Hosein? Did Ramdin pay for ‘un-West Indian approach’?
It is time, some say, for Romario Shepherd to be on the side. Some suggest that he should have got the nod over Ravi Rampaul, a soon-to-be-37-year-old seamer whose once-blossoming international career nose-dived in the wake of injury and weight issues. That was then. Now he is back, in a …
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