“[…] Judging from [Roger] Harper’s statement before the New Zealand tour, one would have to assume that [Kraigg] Brathwaite’s batting performances on the England tour and the matches immediately preceding the New Zealand series were of concern to the selectors. “Given his scores in New Zealand, how does the move …
Read More »Best: Holder has to go but is captaincy really WI cricket’s problem?
A cricket match, a very wise man once wrote, is played in the minds of the opposing captains. The leader’s performance between the two sets of stumps may well contribute to the eventual outcome of any given match. But if he fails to perform consistently between the ears, his team …
Read More »Lyndersay: Where’s Brian? A review of 501 Not Out
“[501 Not Out is] a romantic reminiscence of the closing of a golden era in West Indies cricket, a sparkling reminder of the power of the region’s cricketers and the stunning individual achievement of [Brian] Lara at the wicket. “It’s also an odd little film, one that focuses almost determinedly …
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 »Clive Lloyd’s 1975-76 WI (Pt 5): How Lloyd transformed cricket and captivated a generation
The following is the fifth and final part of Owen Thompson’s recall of that unforgettable summer in 1976 which ushered in the West Indies cricket team’s glory years: That 1976 year of awakening went way beyond the boundary. Key to victory within the boundary was the pace formula. Clive Lloyd …
Read More »Clive Lloyd’s 1975-76 WI (Pt 4): What Marley’s marvellous, magical music meant for me
The following is the fourth part of Owen Thompson’s recall of that unforgettable summer in 1976 which ushered in the West Indies cricket team’s glory years: From the very first snippets we heard of the Rastaman Vibration album, the Queen’s Royal College Sixth Form, Upper and Lower, launched into fervent …
Read More »Clive Lloyd’s 1975-76 WI (Pt 3): Marauding ‘Mikey’ terrorises England
The following is the third part of Owen Thompson’s recall of that unforgettable summer in 1976 which ushered in the West Indies cricket team’s glory years: There was one final seminal moment to that summer. The Fifth Test, from 12 August to the 17th, was a metaphor in two halves. …
Read More »Clive Lloyd’s 1975-76 WI (Pt 2): How Vibratious Bob set tone for Windies’ England tour
The following is the second part of Owen Thompson’s recall of that unforgettable summer in 1976 that ushered in the West Indies cricket team’s glory years: While the events of that 1975-76 tour of Australia unfolded (between October 1975 and February 1976), a certain Robert Nesta Marley was getting ready …
Read More »Clive Lloyd’s 1975-76 WI (Pt 1): Viv, voracious and vocal
In 1976, Tobago-born Owen Thompson was but a boy of 14 when Greg Chappell’s Australia put a 5-1 merciless whipping on Clive Lloyd’s West Indian cavaliers. That turned out to be the last time for a long, long time. In those days, Thompson, who now works in film and television …
Read More »Best: Will resentment ruin redemption time for Holder’s men against ‘relentless’ England?
‘Resentful,’ yes. Try as I might, however, nowhere in the dictionary could I find ‘relentfull’ or ‘relentful.’ But if I were West Indies coach Phillip Simmons, I would have minted one or the other word to use in my post-match comments on the third day of the decisive Third Test …
Read More »Asterisks and parentheses; why we shouldn’t write off WI’s Wisden chances
That cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties is, though never irrelevant, a very tired cliché. That Test cricket is the most severe examination a player can get, though not clichéd, is not exactly new. West Indies did learn a new cricketing truth today, however. It is that, even when …
Read More »Best: Will West Indies keel over and die? Holder to the rescue against Root’s rampant England
Conventional wisdom holds that Stuart Broad’s Sunday evening new ball spell killed off the West Indies chances in the Second Test at Old Trafford. The truth, however, is that, had Jason Holder been at the top of his game on Monday morning, he might have found a pulse where the …
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