Pakistan’s 7-run win over West Indies in the second T20I at the National Stadium in Providence, Guyana, on Saturday turned on six elements: Pakistani skipper Babar Azam’s beautiful batting, rain’s inopportune 17-minute interruption, Man-of-the-Match Mohammad Hafeez’s miserly bowling, Evin Lewis’ untimely injury, WI skipper Kieron Pollard’s uncharacteristic lack of timing, …
Read More »T2021 W/C: Tino Singh names nine batsmen, including Gayle and Hetmyer, in his dream WI XI
“[…] I strongly feel the under-rated off-spin of the ‘Universe Boss’ will be a back-up weapon and will work in WI’ favour. “I am bold enough to predict that [Obed] McCoy will emerge as one of the leading wicket-takers in the tournament. He is one of the most improved bowlers …
Read More »Pooran, Holder half-centuries help West Indies hold off Aussies and draw level at 1-1
Needing only 188 to win Game 2 in the three-match ODI series against Alex Carey’s Australians, the West Indies seemed headed for a second successive shipwreck at Barbados’ Kensington Oval on Saturday. But a solid 93-run sixth wicket partnership between vice-captain Nicholas Pooran and former captain Jason Holder steadied the …
Read More »Best: Is Holder’s unbirthday gift enough to take Brathwaite’s WI over the line?
Joshua da Silva had a birthday on Labour Day, Day Two of the Second Test between West Indies and South Africa. His former skipper Jason Holder will turn 30 on November 5 so yesterday would have been his unbirthday. He celebrated it in style, giving the side he once captained …
Read More »De Kock, S/African pacers shine as Proteas make light work of woeful WI
Dean Elgar’s seventh-ranked South Africa needed only seven sessions to coast past Kraigg Brathwaite’s feckless West Indies in the First Test in St Lucia on Saturday. Well-deserved five-fers by the frontline quicks in both innings and a long-awaited, well-paced century by former South Africa skipper Quinton de Kock made the …
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 »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 »West Indian winning, winners and madness of persistent perversity; Best changes for 2nd Test
A winning team. You could safely describe Clive Lloyd’s late Seventies and early Eighties West Indies team thus. Perhaps the tag is also applicable to Vivian Richards’ 1980/90s team which indisputably had what their skipper called ‘the winning habit’. A team that won. That tag befits Kraigg Brathwaite’s second-string side …
Read More »Vaneisa: What trust can do; the rebuilding of West Indies cricket
I’ve been restraining myself from writing about cricket although I have been following our regional matches closely. There seems to be a gradual shift in the approach that makes me hope that something different is seeping in to the culture which has plagued the game for so long. After the …
Read More »Dear Editor: WI could do with more Hope in ICC Test Chase against Sri Lanka
“[…] The three-member CWI selection panel has been doing a creditable job and the 13-member squad they have chosen to face Sri Lanka will, I think, give a good account of itself. “Even without Shai Hope and Roston Chase. But that does not, in my opinion, justify their exclusion. I …
Read More »Bravo joins party as WI sweep Sri Lanka in ODI series, Hasaranga heroics for nought
West Indies openers Shai Hope and Evin Lewis put just 24 on the scoreboard today before they were separated. No matter, as Darren Bravo delivered in the middle order with his fourth One Day International century, to help the hosts to a 3-0 whitewash of Sri Lanka at the Sir …
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 »