Covid-19 has forced the postponement of the ODI half of the West Indies’ 2021 six-match Pakistan tour, six players and three team officials being required to withdraw into quarantine. We know eight names: Roston Chase, Sheldon Cottrell, Kyle Mayers, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Justin Greaves, assistant coach Roddy Estwick and …
Read More »McWatt and Reds: Brilliant Permaul, stubborn Blackwood and SOS for a leg-spin coach after Sri Lanka series
“[…] The very first order of business […] must be for us to immediately place our order for a very large double serving of curried crow, with some Guyanese plain rice on the side […] following the totally unanticipated, on our part at least, outstanding Second Test bowling performance of …
Read More »B&B (Trailer): ‘Reds’ Perreira says West Indies players prematurely rewarded for Bangladesh Test win
Renowned West Indies commentator Joseph ‘Reds’ Perreira suggests that the Cricket West Indies (CWI) acted prematurely in offering two-year contracts to players in the wake of the Test series win away to Bangladesh, but still sees the makings of a competitive team there. Look out for Perreira’s full interview on …
Read More »Pakistan roar back to level at 1-1 with easy 109-run win over West Indies
A T20-Powerplay-style opening partnership between Abid Ali (29 off 23 balls) and Imran Butt (37 off 44) on Monday afternoon pushed the door open for Babar Azam’s Pakistan to level the two-match Test series at 1-1 at Sabina Park on Tuesday. But it was Man-of-the-Match (10 wickets for 94 runs) …
Read More »Best: Brathwaite’s West Indies lose it; whom the gods wish to destroy?
Just after 11.30 am with lunch approaching, Kyle Mayers, on 34, tried to club Kagiso Rabada over midwicket. A problem? Well, the ball was just short of a good length and, more importantly, well outside off-stump. It was not the first time; in the second innings of the First Test, …
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 »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 »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 …
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