Do the math. Kraigg Brathwaite’s West Indies were only half as good as Dean Elgar’s South Africa in the first innings of the Second Test match in St Lucia. Facing a 149-run deficit, WI will have to bowl out of their skins to avoid having a mountain to climb on …
Read More »Media Monitor: Badjohn big boys beating up on Biles and Osaka is just not cricket
If Paul Pogba had had the temerity to be the first to do what Cristiano Ronaldo did during his media conference, would the UEFA response have been as muted? The question lurked darkly in my mind as I watched the TV news reporting the UEFA warning to the players to …
Read More »Media Monitor: Minister’s mistakes and a mess of missed opportunities
CCN’s Anthony Wilson missed an opportunity to cover himself in media glory on Saturday. Responding to a question from the Express Business editor, Prime Minister Dr Keith Christopher Rowley asked rhetorically: “Yuh want somebody to blame? Blame me.” People knowledgeable about boxing might call that leading with your chin. But …
Read More »Best: Dr Rowley, UNC, Jackass and Demming; who against the Oxford comma?
‘My prime minister,’ writes Wired868 columnist Dennise Demming, ‘is talking to me about not jackassing the thing.’ I couldn’t disagree more. Now I am not suggesting that Dr Keith Rowley’s choice of language has always been appropriate. In the instant case, however, Demming is barking up the wrong tree. Dr …
Read More »Ambrose: West Indies’ glory days will come not back; why iconic pacer bowled a googly
Former West Indies pacer Curtly Ambrose was in the news last week. Speaking on the Talk Sports Live show in Antigua, he poured scorn on the notion of a possible return of WI cricket to its former glory. “Yes, we can be competitive and climb up the ICC rankings and …
Read More »Brathwaite leads from the front but WI bowling fails to break through against S/Lanka
After Kraigg Brathwaite West Indies’ largely encouraging First Test performance, the selectors surprised many with the XI they announced for the Second Test against Dimuth Karunaratne’s Sri Lanka. But the unchanged side earned an honourable draw, entirely justifying the panel’s faith in them and reinforcing the idea that the best …
Read More »Calling Roger Harper; reviewing Blackwood’s 29-ball first innings cameo
Hello? Roger Harper? Please hear me out. If Jermaine Blackwood is a Test batsman, then redwood is a cure for cancer and Covid, Idi Amin is King Henry the Eighth and I am Tiger Woods’ father. And son. Have you watched the shocking videotape of the 29-year-old Jamaican’s knock in …
Read More »Harper, Hope, Holder, Brathwaite, Blackwood, Bonner, Bravo, the baby and the bathwater
Kraigg Brathwaite’s eighth-ranked West Indies now look more likely to go on to lose the series against seventh-rated Dimuth Karunaratne’s Sri Lanka than to win it. And whether or not they do, some serious questions have to be asked of lead selector Roger Harper and his panel. And answered, one …
Read More »Media Monitor: Holding forth forever; will WASA main leak Badree please shut up!
“In the air… and out!” That’s Richie Benaud, the Voice of Cricket, describing a dismissal. Yeah, describing. Five words. More than enough. He is, you see, on television. The name Jimmy Magee probably does not ring too many bells. But he outdid Benaud. That came during Diego Maradona’s magical half-the-field-run-and-score …
Read More »Chasing rainbows; wind in WI ODI sails as long trip to India 2023 begins
WI are rounding the corner. But don’t start celebrating just yet. We are heading to Toco; the corner we are just rounding is Icacos Point. Like in the bad old days of the Middle Passage, we are in a row boat. Going east. Against the tide. There is good news, …
Read More »The Good, the Bad and the Polly; why Harper chose Kraigg Brathwaite
God alone knows what Roger Harper’s proclivities are as far as religion and politics go. There are, however, enough clues around, I submit, for West Indies fans to reach tentative conclusions about how the CWI lead selector’s cricketing mind works. Faith, says the Good Book, is the substance of things …
Read More »Beneath the surface; Baksh takes Best back in time and leaves him bleeding inside
Not unlike Shadow’s Bassman, Mystic Prowler in mih head, pleading with people to look beneath the surface. I have just read Vaneisa Baksh’s ‘Sins of the Father’ column. And not for the first time, I have told myself I’m not going to read her stuff. Not for the first time, …
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