A sparkling, free-spirited, two-runs-a-ball century partnership between Faf du Plessis and Roston Chase on Saturday gave Dwayne Bravo’s St Kitts and Nevis Patriots little chance to extend their unbeaten run to six games. The margin of defeat was a massive 100 runs. On a flat Warner Park track, the St …
Read More »CPL 2021: Best holds his hand on Bravo vs Pollard—but not on Holder
You don’t have to be a film buff with a preference for watching westerns to know the meaning of ‘to holster’. But if you’re not a cricket fan with a preference for watching West Indies matches, you probably do not know the meaning of ‘to holder’. Born about a decade …
Read More »T2021 W/C: Lord sees value in Cottrell, Fletcher and Narine for WI dreams; but wary of dot balls
“[…] I want at least six bowlers in my XI; you never know when somebody will have an off-day and be offering lollipops to the opposition like if it’s Christmas or Easter or somebody’s birthday. “[…] If Sunil Narine is available—he is featuring in the CPL so…—there is no chance …
Read More »CPL 2021: Fletcher’s unbeaten 81 in vain as Pollard’s TKR avenge surprise loss
One day fuh police, they say, one day fuh tief. Cricket does not always work that way but on Tuesday at Warner Park in St Kitts, it did. Faf du Plessis’ St Lucia Kings, victors when they stopped Kieron Pollard’s Trinbago Knight Riders five runs short of their 157 for …
Read More »CPL 2021: CT scan of a WI cricketing brain: how Royals’ Raymon Reifer tamed Tallawahs
Just before the 2016 ICC T20 World Cup knockout round began, England’s Mark Nicholas dismissed the West Indies as no-hopers on the grounds that West Indians ‘have no brains’. It is a view that hardly flatters the other teams; the record shows that Daren Sammy’s WI went on to win …
Read More »CPL 2021: Kings hit back with exciting 5-run win as Pollard’s TKR tally 60 dot balls in second loss
So often the hero for Trinbago Knight Riders, Colin Munro could not buy a boundary on a difficult pitch at Warner Park in St Kitts on Sunday morning. And in the end, it cost the defending champions, who went under to lowly St Lucia Kings by five runs in Match …
Read More »T2021 W/C: Thompson has Gayle, Fidel and McCoy in dream WI team—but wary about too many lefties
Let me say from the outset, like Michael Holding, I think the only thing missing from a T20 match is (in our case) a case or two of Carib and a pot of pelau, some bottle and spoon and a DJ, plus some ‘winer gyul’ (the IPL & the CPL …
Read More »T2021 W/C: With unselective six-seeking, Pollard’s ‘Fab Four’ musketeers can go wrong—Best’s WI dream team
Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D’Artagnan. Remember them? One for all and all for one? French figments of Alexandre Dumas’ fertile 19th Century imagination. How many of us have seen ourselves in these swashbuckling heroes? Sixty thousand Frenchmen cannot be wrong, right? Dwayne Bravo, Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell. …
Read More »T2021 W/C: ‘Fab Four’ (Pt 2)—Roneil picks Hetmyer, Pooran in dream WI’s XI to counter spin threat
Now that the West Indies’ ‘Fab Four’, the ‘Real McCoy’ and Fabian ‘Bucket Hands’ Allen are out of the way, let us take a close look at the composition of the rest of the WI T20I squad. Unlike in the Test arena, where WI seem to be on a never-ending …
Read More »T2021 W/C: Jackman calls for DJ Bravo as pinch-hitter, Ramdin in reserve and Gayle exit
“[…] Let me here recall the late Sir Alf Ramsey’s explanation of how he managed England to their only major football title, the 1966 World Cup. The former wing-back said he did not have the players to fit any existing system so he developed one to fit his players. “[…] …
Read More »Pakistan assured of share of T20I series as second West Indies match washed out
The nine overs completed in Wednesday’s First T20I between Pakistan and the West Indies at Kensington Oval in Barbados did not seem like a lot then. On Sunday at the National Stadium in Providence, Guyana, they did as the two teams were unable to get in as many as nine …
Read More »West Indies flatter when they bowl but Proteas flatten them with the ball
Kieron Pollard’s West Indies came roaring back to restrict South Africa to 167 for 6 in Sunday’s second T20I at the Grenada National Stadium. It was a few runs more than the target to which they cruised for the loss of only two wickets and with five overs to spare …
Read More »