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 »Bravo and Holder are only Test inclusions, as CWI retains core from WI’s Bangladesh triumph
All-rounder Jason Holder and batsman Darren Bravo were the only changes to the West Indies Test squad, as the Cricket West Indies (CWI) selection panel kept faith with the core of its squad who participated in the 2-0 Test series win away to Bangladesh last month. West Indies are captained …
Read More »Harper: ‘Kraigg is the right man!’ Brathwaite replaces Holder as WI Test captain
Twenty-eight-year-old Barbadian batsman Kraigg Brathwaite was today confirmed as the 37th Test captain of the West Indies cricket team, after earning the nod of the Cricket West Indies (CWI) selection panel. Brathwaite deputised for former captain and compatriot Jason Holder in a tour of Bangladesh, earlier this year, and led …
Read More »Small margins, big hits, near misses, close calls and the trick S/Lanka spin played on WI
Outskilled! Thus did England Test captain Joe Root sum up the reason for his team’s 1-3 defeat in the recently concluded four-Test series at the hands of Virat Kohli’s India. West Indies white ball captain Kieron Pollard, whose team eked out a narrow 2-1 victory over Angelo Mathews’ Sri Lanka …
Read More »Gayle, Fidel and Akeal named in WI’s limited overs team; no space for Hetmyer, Narine and Cottrell
Veteran batsman Chris Gayle, 41, will wear the maroon strip next month, as he was recalled to the West Indies limited overs team, which will face Sri Lanka from 3 March at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua. Gayle joins experienced pacer Fidel Edwards, 39, as well as spinners Akeal Hosein, …
Read More »