Sporting history is replete with examples of if not famous last words, at least famous statements, good, bad and ugly, by famous sportsmen, for the most part good. Of recent vintage are two by former Olympian Ato Boldon which provoked a third from newly minted Commonwealth Games 100m gold medallist, …
Read More »Monitoring Me 2: Sport as nirvana; Football’s Lord, Cricket’s Prince and the Calypso King of the World
Happiness, for this West Indian cricket lover, is an 80″television set. Or larger. With Lara, Brian Charles Lara—no longer “live” but in living colour—in full flow. Nirvana? In the terms of Edward Fitzgerald’s “Omar Khayyam:” A stack of Tapia/Review, complete somehow; More, Sparrow, More; Beyond a Boundary and thou before …
Read More »From West Indies to Windies (Pt II): Fourth Rising? Where has the ‘natural talent’ got us?
The following is the second part of the text of a speech delivered by Charles Wilkin on the occasion of the launch of the latest book by Professor Hilary Beckles towards the end of last year. The book carries the title “Cricket Without a Cause—Fall and Rise of the Mighty …
Read More »From West Indies to Windies: Oh, how have the mighty fallen! Ten theories of decline
“As far as I can tell there are not many other people working effectively to [restore the soul of West Indies cricket and point the way forward] as the political directorate is missing in action and the current board charged with responsibility for our cricket is a waste of time …
Read More »Failure is NOT an option! Local supporter calls on WI players to step up for World Cup
More from Wired868 1975 CWC: Windies omit Greenidge for five bowlers, in opener against Sri Lanka (Part 36.) Down to business. After all that build-up, with historical context, player profiles and a few other bits and Read more 1975 CWC: From Ollivierre to Sobers—Fazeer reviews WI’s first 12 England visits …
Read More »Windies won, yes, we won! Best changes tune after 5-wkt win and a Brylcreem sandwich
Spflflflflflflflflflflflflflflflflflfllflflflflllllllllllll! Oh, I beg your pardon; that was my last mouthful. Even with a liberal coating of Brylcreem, hair doesn’t taste too good—although, given a choice, I’d take it any day over KFC. And cold turkey. And boy, am I ever glad I got rid of my maroon Richie Richardson …
Read More »Media Monitor: Whoa, whoa, woe! West Indians wince as WI walloped
“The loudest sound in current West Indies cricket is the sigh people emit when they talk about the old days.” That’s a quote from Jarrod Kimber, whose 2,300-word story about the dark day/night test that the Cricket West Indies XI failed abjectly contains a kind word or two—although you might …
Read More »Best to Big Bird: Stick to tweeting; only weather will stop WI whitewash
A little birdie told me that nothing could be more certain than that Jason Holder’s West Indians will “get their arse properly wash up in England—whitewash in the three Tests! If deh lucky, deh might get a bligh in the T20 but deh cut-tail book in the other games.” “Big …
Read More »CPL 17: Trinbago Knight Riders look to double up; bid to down Sammy’s Stars again
They’re back! And they’re bidding to do better than they did last year! When Dwayne Bravo’s Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) take on Darren Sammy’s St Lucia Stars (SLS) in an early return match at the Queen’s Park Oval this evening, they will be at almost full strength. Missing from the …
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 …
Read More »PITT STOP: ODI numbers don’t lie; WICB must stop running its own cricket team out!
“The supply of cricketers is not nearly as great here in the West Indies as in Pakistan, say, with its almost 195 million or India (1.2 billion) or even England (55 million). “Inexplicably, however, we have found a way to reduce the supply of players available for international cricket by …
Read More »PITT STOP: The long and short of it all; West Indies’ T20 cricketers deserve a fair shake
The West Indies is the region which is the chief victim of old-fashioned thinking about the game of cricket. It has always baffled me why in the 21st Century influential cricket people in the region have been unable to recognize how invidious distinctions between the long and shorter versions have been …
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