West Indies limited overs captain Kieron Pollard became only the third person in international cricket to score six sixes in a single over, as he blasted Sri Lanka spinner Akila Dananjaya for a record spell at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua. Pollard finished with a match-winning 38 runs from …
Read More »Best: Gayle forces his way back into T20 team; is tail wagging the West Indies dog?
Christopher Henry ‘Universe Boss’ Gayle, born 21 October 1979, contrived to pass a fitness test that Shimron Hetmyer, born 26 December 1997, failed—as did Barbadian all-rounder Roston Chase, 27, and Jamaican pacers Oshane Thomas, 23, and Sheldon Cottrell, 31. All four of those who failed have been active in the …
Read More »Hetmyer, Da Silva, Chase named in 26-man shortlist for WI ‘Best v Best’ Test warm-up
Guyana batsman Shimron Hetmyer, Trinidad and Tobago wicketkeeper/batsman Joshua Da Silva and Barbados pacer Chemar Holder were among 26 players named by the Cricket West Indies (CWI) selection panel for a four-day practice match, named ‘Best v Best’, in preparation for the upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka. The match …
Read More »Pollard’s Reds attack with full force; toothless Jaguars prove easy game
Losing cricket teams have been out-thought, out-gunned, out-batted, out-bowled and generally out-played. But yesterday in the Super50 Cup final at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua, for the first time Kieron Pollard’s Red Force simply out-talented the Guyana Jaguars by 152 runs. The game was essentially over once Lendl Simmons …
Read More »Gayle, Fidel and Akeal named in WI’s limited overs team; no space for Hetmyer, Narine and Cottrell
Veteran batsman Chris Gayle, 41, will wear the maroon strip next month, as he was recalled to the West Indies limited overs team, which will face Sri Lanka from 3 March at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua. Gayle joins experienced pacer Fidel Edwards, 39, as well as spinners Akeal Hosein, …
Read More »Best: Clive Lloyd puts GOAT mouth on Holder’s time as WI leader; will Pollard replace him?
Ahnhahn! “If I were a selector,” said Sir Clive Lloyd last week, “obviously Kraigg (Brathwaite) would be slightly ahead of Jason (Holder) because of what he has done with the team they have there.” “I’m sure Jason is not a guy,” he added, “who will say ‘I’ve got a bad …
Read More »Dear Editor: Hemraj, Chemar and Oshane get in my WI ODI XI; but no room for Jason Holder…
“[…] I would replace Jason Holder with Sunil Narine. Holder has not performed consistently with the bat since the 2018 ODI series against India, with the exception of a short cameo against Australia at the World Cup. And his bowling has been so non-aggressive that he has gone for a …
Read More »Dear Editor: How Hugh Brisse can help Hetmeyer; my Windies ODI Team for Sri Lanka
“[…] The selectors have no room for sentimentality; in order to qualify automatically for the October/November 2023 World Cup in India, we have to get the points against Sri Lanka. We must pick the best 18-man squad from among all the available players. “I would go with three openers: Evin …
Read More »Mayers? De Silva? Captain Holder or Brathwaite? Best muses over WI Test changes for S/Lanka Tigers
Nothing happened in ODI play in Bangladesh to warrant imminent adjustments to the pre-tour line-up. But that’s hardly the case with the Test unit where the successful second-string challenges to the incumbents are now being awaited with more than a little anticipation. And they will be welcomed. Why? Easy. Given …
Read More »Can any of Mohammed’s white-ballers get into Pollard’s squad? Best selects WI T20/ODI team
When the West Indies selection panel meets to name the squads for the three-format series against the Sri Lanka Tigers, there will be an enormous elephant in the room. And such is the interest created by Kraigg Brathwaite’s side’s completely unexpected 2-0 clean sweep in Bangladesh that many a fan …
Read More »Bonner, Cornwall, spinners in spotlight as Brathwaite’s mighty minnows make it 2-0
As expected, Kraig Brathwaite’s second-string West Indies completed a 2-0 win over hosts Bangladesh in four-days with an exciting 17-run win in Dhaka on Sunday. Not at all! Perhaps all the people for whom those first two words belong in that sentence were either on or near the Shere Bangla …
Read More »Dimanche Gras! Not deflated, not defeated, will Brathwaite’s WI double up in Dhaka?
A double-century on debut! And in Asia to boot! That’s the stuff of which West Indian boyhood dreams are made. As well as come-from-behind West Indian victories. Guardian cricket reporter Vinode Mamchan did not seem to know about these dreams. Or to care about them. On television on Friday evening, …
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