Assistant coaches are the wretched of the earth; they may be called assistants but they offer little real help. Roddy Estwick is the assistant coach of the West Indies cricket team. According to Estwick, the West Indies’ 15-run defeat by Australia in last Friday’s crucial fixture, had “nothing to do …
Read More »Holder misleads West Indies and Aussies escape with a win
When the Jason Holder-led West Indians took on Australia in Nottingham yesterday, the five-times World Cup winners emerged victorious by a margin of 15 runs. Recovering from 58 for 4 and then 79 for 5, Aaron Finch’s Aussies went on to post a challenging 288. In reply, the West Indies …
Read More »Short on length, long on luck, West Indies blow away hapless Pakistan; but Bravo’s woes continue
On another day, it might have gone another way; the boot might well have been on the opposition’s foot. Yesterday, however, Jason Holder’s West Indies kicked some butt, embarrassing Pakistan with a rapid, convincing seven-wicket defeat. On a lively pitch in not unhelpful conditions, the West Indian pace attack exploited …
Read More »Confessions of a World Cup addict: can West Indies turn water into wine?
We’d love nine wins! But six wins and three losses would be enough; with that round robin tally, Jason Holder and his 14 acolytes can feed the millions of West Indian mouths which have long hungered for World Cup cricketing success. That would be a miracle, you say? And so? …
Read More »Holder in a monkey pants: West Indies is gouti, lappe or cockroach in fowl party?
When Jason Holder abandons the beaten track, it is to get back on to the main road. Conservative rather than adventurous, the West Indies all-formats captain opts for an oviparous style of captaincy, putting a premium on small gains and largely eschewing the daring that often yields success in shorter-format …
Read More »WI retooling? Holder finds only Allen key in bid to put spanner in Bangladesh works
“A man who took a wicket,” Richie asked, as West Indies captain Jason Holder summoned Fabian Allen to bowl over number 20 in Friday’s Tri-Nation Series final against Bangladesh, “to give himself a bowling average of 168 could be the key to Windies winning this?” “Crazy!!” he responded to his …
Read More »Holder’s men in Tri-Nation final: which WI will turn up, calypso or collapso?
Did you see Monday evening’s World Cup programme or last week’s promo for it? The one in which ex-WI captain Darren Sammy matter-of-factly asserts that ‘West Indies are winning the World Cup’? I mean, really matter-of-factly. As if he were saying ‘The sun rises in the east.’ Promo and programme …
Read More »Best sees WI World Cup squad as not looking world-class but asks: Who we go put?
Twok! Twok! Twok! Twok! Four remarkable, meaty blows that sent Ben Stokes’ balls sailing over the boundary and unexpectedly won the 2016 T20 World Cup for West Indies. So, heeding Ian Bishop’s order, I have remembered the name Carlos Brathwaite. Likewise, clearly, the selectors. Three years after that unforgettable April …
Read More »Media Monitor: Pitchoil on WI embers (Pt 2); Holder on high horse as Windies walloped again
Unlike his top batsmen, West Indies cricket captain Jason Holder appears to be quite upbeat; he’s feeling pretty good about himself, it seems. Not without reason, it has to be said. Tuesday’s Trinidad Express reports on Page 59 that he is “into bowlers’ top 10, third among all-rounders.” And twinned with …
Read More »Media Monitor: Indian press pours pitchoil on West Indies embers; Express fans the flames
Current West Indies captain Jason Holder was back in the headlines on Monday—not for the first time, for the wrong reasons! “Not Enough” the Express declared on its back page, with a strap saying “Holder blames the obvious as WI succumb in three days again.” Holder, cricket followers will remember, …
Read More »CPL 18: In defence of DJ Bravo (Part 3): Inside the mind of the TKR captain
Steve Smith had not bowled in a competitive match for at least two years before Barbados Tridents’ captain Jason Holder called him up to bowl in the August 22 game against the Jamaica Tallawahs. Smith claimed two crucial wickets, conceded a mere 19 runs in his three overs and thus …
Read More »Mind games: Why Holder’s Windies need men to lead them—on and off the field
If I didn’t so hate the taste of hair, I would recklessly have cocked a snook at Joel Garner and damblayed my much lamented, disastrous, so-far-off-the-mark post-First Test wager. At Lord’s, I was certain, Jason Holder’s West Indies were going once more to be blown out of the water. In …
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