West Indies’ disastrous 2021 ICC T20 World Cup campaign finally drew to a close today with an 8-wkt loss to Australia and a promised reboot from team captain Kieron Pollard. The ‘Men in Maroon’, Pollard admitted, came to Dubai with the intention of clobbering their way to success. The results, …
Read More »T2021 W/C: Romanticising Carlos Brathwaite; how 2016 torpedoed Pollard’s WI in UAE
History, they say, is written by the victors. For just over a week, we still enjoy the title of defending T20 World Cup champions. Let us, therefore, while we still can, rewrite history. Not, like Christopher Columbus and the Spaniards and all the self-serving colonial powers, with a view to …
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: Pollard: ‘[WI] lacked cricket smarts’; Hetmyer hits 81 in vain as S/Lanka k.o. champs
Twenty-five year old Sri Lankan pacer Chamika Karunaratne tapped his temple and then tapped his heart, after dismissing West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell for two runs in today’s ICC T20 World Cup contest. And, just to be sure nobody missed it, Karunaratne repeated the gesture. By then, West Indies were …
Read More »T2021 W/C: Lara’s peculiar choice: is Prince of PoS putting Gayle part before WI whole?
I do NOT know if Mark Nicholas is the racist I believe him to be. It matters not to me today. I do NOT know if Quinton de Kock is the racist I do NOT believe him to be. It matters not to me today. Neither man’s issue matters to …
Read More »T2021 W/C: ‘Mission Improbable’! ‘Reds’ and McWatt blame selectors for uninspiring WI showings
“[…] Thus far, the West Indies selectors’ most controversial picks, Messrs Chris Gayle and Ravi Rampaul in particular, have done absolutely nothing to justify the faith expressed in their respective abilities to perform with merit during the tournament. “[…] Some of the West Indies final XI choices were equally bizarre. …
Read More »T2021 W/C: ‘DreRuss’ delivers, Pooran, Holder shine as WI keep hope alive, after last-ball scare
With his team bidding to overhaul a West Indies total of 142 for 7 to win today’s do-or-die ICC T20 World Cup clash, Bangladesh captain Mohammad Mahmudullah needed four runs off the last ball of the innings. He swung at a full Andre Russell delivery just wide of off-stump. And …
Read More »T2021 W/C: S/African hypocrisy? WI put eggs in one basket and retain un-Chase batting line-up
If Mark Nicholas, of these West Indians ‘have no brains’ fame, were an active cricketer representing one of the teams in the 2021 T20 World Cup, I feel certain he would have no problem taking a knee. Quinton de Kock does. He declined to comply with the South Africa Cricket …
Read More »T2021 W/C: Holder is in! Former WI captain can face Bangladesh, after replacing McCoy
Former captain Jason Holder has been added to the West Indies’ World Cup team and is eligible to play against Bangladesh at the Sharjah Stadium from 6am on Friday, after the Cricket West Indies (CWI) selection panel this evening named the talented all-rounder as a replacement for injured left-arm fast …
Read More »T2021 W/C: Is West Indian mindlessness a mere figment of Mark Nicholas’ imagination?
Tuesday morning in the Caribbean. South Africa are on the verge of victory in the second of the West Indies five Super 12 games in the 2021 World Cup. England’s Mark Nicholas is saluting the pair at the wicket, whose 83-run partnership will soon steer the Proteas to their crushing …
Read More »T2021 W/C: WI in trouble after 8-wkt loss to S/Africa despite de Kock pull-out after refusing ‘the knee’
South Africa star Quinton de Kock’s refusal to take the knee today in a now commonplace gesture against racism, even at the expense of his place in the squad, is likely to have a long-term effect on his team’s chances at the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup. Today, though, the …
Read More »T2021 W/C: Are Pollard’s men finally ready to change the tune, after ‘collapso’ mess?
At 25 for 1 in the fourth over of England’s pursuit of 55 in the West Indies’ opening match of the 2021 T20 World Cup campaign, Win Predictor gave Kieron Pollard’s side a 1% chance of victory. On commentary on television at the time, former England captain Michael Atherton questioned …
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