Cricket

Both as batsman and as captain, Shoaib Malik eschews extravagance and unapologetically espouses a policy of risk reduction. It is a choice which, so far in 2019, has paid rich dividends. Additionally, swimming steadfastly against the regional tide, he has often opted for finesse over force, for six singles rather …

“GAW is far and away the best team in CPL 2019. But sport isn’t linear, and the best doesn’t always win the prize. […] I’d feel better about the Amazon Warriors’ chances in an NBA-style best of 5 maybe, not in a single game, because TKR could win a one-off, …

Understandably, Shoaib Malik and the Guyana Amazon Warriors management and supporters are currently cock-a-hoop. So I think it may be appropriate today to remind them all of what the then West Indies coach said to Brian Lara in Sydney in 1992. The Prince of Port-of-Spain had just completed the superb …

Half centuries by Lendl Simmons and Denesh ‘Shotta’ Ramdin led the Trinbago Knight Riders to their third win on the trot with a convincing victory over the St Lucia Zouks at the Queen’s Park Oval on a searing Sunday afternoon. The signs are ominous for the other teams in the …

No Bravo brothers. No Colin Munro. No problem! Last night, the two-time defending Caribbean Premier League (CPL) champions, Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR), eased to a convincing 22-run victory over the power-packed Jamaica Tallawahs outfit at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain. During an interview with the CPL commentary …

Prodigal son, Kieron Pollard, captained the Trinbago Knight Riders to a tense victory on debut with fellow debutant Jimmy Neesham, producing the all-round goods to deny the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in the Caribbean Premier League 2019 opener at the Queen’s Park Oval on Wednesday. Patriots won the toss …

CWI’s Interim Chairman of Selectors Robert Haynes and his merry men have named a minimally changed West Indies 13 for the Second Test against India, which starts in Jamaica tomorrow. I would say that the selected squad is nothing to write home about but is that really news? The squad …

No reports have so far emerged to tell us just how Jason Holder’s West Indies spent the bonus off-day they got on Monday following their 318-run four-day defeat by Virat Kohli’s India. But you don’t have to be a sceptic to doubt that some significant fraction of the extra 24-hour …

There is never, I don’t think, a good time to lose a Test match—especially if you really don’t have what Viv Richards liked to call the winning habit. But if learning is the name of the game, then the management of Jason Holder’s West Indies side should be grateful that …

Buoyed by the recent receipt of awards and bestowal on him of new accolades, Jason Holder may well believe that the home side he leads can match the visitors in the two-Test series which starts in Antigua today. I honestly hope he does not. Named West Indies Test Player of …

About a dozen runs and Shivnarine Chanderpaul. In Monday’s Express, Fazeer Mohammed raised the very pertinent question of who is calling the selection shots. Why is the 39-year-old Chris Gayle, he asks—who unretired towards the end of the 2019 World Cup—included in an ODI squad which, according to the coach, …

Writing on the same WhatsApp chat as his erstwhile captain, Valentino Singh, former QRC opener Zafar Khan opts not to focus on the tiebreaker and the seemingly unfair outcome. He does not say so explicitly but it is clear that he agrees with Singh about how unsatisfactory the eventual outcome …