(Part 45.) Turner turns up again. With only six days to go to the 50th anniversary of the West Indies victory over Australia in the 1975 World Cup final, and having put the focus on the Caribbean side’s surprisingly easy defeat of the ‘Aussies’ on the last day of group action …
Read More »1975 CWC: The day that Windies stopped being ‘Calypso Cricketers’
(Part 42.) “West Indies surely now cannot win!” Television commentator and former Australian captain and leg-spinner Richie Benaud’s crisp, precise tone had pronounced on the West Indies’ fate against Pakistan at the 1975 World Cup. Keith Boyce had just dragged a delivery from seamer Naseer Malik onto his stumps to …
Read More »1975 CWC: One for the ages—Murray and Roberts pull off sensational recovery against Pakistan
(Part 41.) Deryck Murray, Andy Roberts save the day. With 10 days to go to the 50th anniversary of the West Indies victory over Australia in the 1975 World Cup final at Lord’s, Tony Cozier reports on the Caribbean side’s second Group B match against Pakistan in Birmingham, which was carried …
Read More »1975 CWC: Australia and New Zealand open with statement wins
(Part 39.) Winning starts for Aussies and Kiwis. They may be neighbours and both former British colonies in the Southern Hemisphere, but there is a world of difference between Australia and New Zealand; on and off the field of play. Brash and confrontational to the point of being obnoxious at …
Read More »1975 CWC: New Zealand, Pakistan and the chasing Cricket World Cup pack
(Part 29.) Contenders and pretenders. With 22 days to go to the 50th anniversary of the West Indies victory over Australia in the 1975 Cricket World Cup final, and having examined the credentials of the Caribbean side in great detail before considering the prospects of Australia and hosts England, let’s …
Read More »Reds: CWI dropped ball on Alzarri; and Pakistan will test his self-control
“[…] The West Indies board may have, as I wrote, taken Alzarri Joseph out of the England series and provided him with professional help, so he might have been able to come back and go to Pakistan in a much better mental place. But that was not done. “They felt …
Read More »Pakistan complete T20I sweep of gutsy WI with record 208 run chase, despite 64 from Pooran
West Indies produced their best batting performance of the Homage Series today, after setting Pakistan a total of 207 for 3 in their T20 International at the Karachi National Stadium—just hours after the Cricket West Indies (CWI) and Pakistan Cricket Boards agreed to postpone the remainder of the white ball …
Read More »King, Shepherd shine with bat but makeshift West Indies fall to Pakistan in final over
The West Indies cricket team conceded their three-match T20 International series away to Pakistan today, losing their second match in as many days at Karachi National Stadium. An improved bunch with bat and ball today, stand-in captain Nicholas Pooran’s troops did not do quite enough to snatch a win, losing …
Read More »Pooran’s makeshift WI XI flattened in Karachi, as Pakistan win opening T20I by 63 runs
West Indies started their tour of Pakistan this morning with a 63-run defeat this morning, captain Nicholas Pooran’s experimental team put to the sword by the hosts at the Karachi National Stadium. Spinner Akeal Hosein removed Pakistan captain and star batsman Babar Azam for a duck with just the fourth …
Read More »Battling Covid-19 and Azam in Karachi; things look brown for Pooran’s green Maroon Men
And then there were 12. The 2012 and 2016 T20 World Cup champions West Indies will start a 3-match T20I series against Pakistan with a team which sees several different names on the team sheet when compared to the team which represented the region in such eminently forgettable fashion at …
Read More »T2021 W/C: WI batsmen smothered in 7-wkt warm-up loss to Pakistan, despite late Pollard cameo
In Dubai today, in the first of two warm-up games before their opening T20 World Cup cricket contest, Kieron Pollard’s West Indies failed to get going. In a comprehensive defeat to Pakistan, they managed only 130 for 7, going down by six wickets with 27 balls to spare. The ‘Maroon …
Read More »T2021 W/C: Message from ‘Mike’; Pollard’s WI troops must strike blow for ‘marginalised’ cricket nations
“Mike,” Bruce Patterson writes in a comment appended to a piece headlined ‘The Big Squeeze’ in Friday’s London Times, “this is career-defining work. Brilliant insight into how greed and poor governance is killing the game we all love.” “The game of cricket needs more prominent figures (like you),” adds P …
Read More »