There was a time when I would have laughed it off. But the moment the story of Chris Gayle’s latest ‘I ain’t leaving’ tweet came up in my feed, I went to YouTube to listen to Andre Tanker. Smokey Joe play a big-time mas./Purple velvet and shining brass./He went to …
Read More »T2021 W/C PM: Six! The exhi-LARA-ting story of the peerless Prince of Port-of-Spain
Arithmetic and algebra are not two sides of the same coin. You can be great at one, a complete dud at the other. Take, for example, Roger Harper. In defending the selection of tearaway pacer Oshane Thomas, the West Indies lead selector identified him as ‘an X factor’. But in …
Read More »‘Reds’ and McWatt: WI must overhaul white-ball teams, starting with captain, coaches and selectors
“[…] The win-loss results of the Phil Simmons-led coaching staff also suggest they should be immediately replaced. Of the 36 T20 International matches played since Simmons’ October 2019 reinstatement as head coach, West Indies won 14 and lost 17 while five ended as no results! “[…] Our replacement suggestions would …
Read More »T2021 W/C Post-mortem: Solace for sad WI souls sunk by Pollard’s side’s six-seeking
When your World Cup ends prematurely, you’re in more hell than Brown. You looked at the West Indies line-up, boasting in excess of 1500 T20 matches, more than 20,000 thousand T20 runs and over a 1,000 T20 wickets. “If deh beat we,” you told yourself confidently, “deh eat we!” So …
Read More »T2021 W/C: ‘Reds’ and McWatt call for WI selectors, coaches and captain to pay for disastrous campaign
“[…] Prior to the World Cup’s commencement, West Indies selection panel chairman Roger Harper expressed his belief that the chosen 15-member squad was good enough to successfully defend their title as reigning champions. The actual results have now, however, clearly demonstrated the absolute lunacy of Harper’s thinking. “[…] The West …
Read More »Skerritt applauds departing Bravo’s ‘outstanding international career’, Gayle mum on own future
Cricket West Indies (CWI) president Ricky Skerritt has hailed 38-year-old all-rounder Dwayne ‘DJ’ Bravo on his ‘outstanding international career’, as the Trinidad and Tobago cricketer ended his West Indies career today at the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup. Playing against Australia, Bravo scored 12 with the bat and went wicketless …
Read More »T2021 W/C: Pollard promises collective soul-searching, as WI bow out with 8wkt loss to ‘Aussies’
West Indies’ disastrous 2021 ICC T20 World Cup campaign finally drew to a close today with an 8-wkt loss to Australia and a promised reboot from team captain Kieron Pollard. The ‘Men in Maroon’, Pollard admitted, came to Dubai with the intention of clobbering their way to success. The results, …
Read More »T2021 W/C: Romanticising Carlos Brathwaite; how 2016 torpedoed Pollard’s WI in UAE
History, they say, is written by the victors. For just over a week, we still enjoy the title of defending T20 World Cup champions. Let us, therefore, while we still can, rewrite history. Not, like Christopher Columbus and the Spaniards and all the self-serving colonial powers, with a view to …
Read More »T2021 W/C: If the ‘Boss’ could play, why not the Prince? Why Lara was, inadvertently, right about Gayle
It is an intriguing idea. But I reject it. Out of hand. There is, as the Americans, no there there, dear. Writing in April 2007, just before Brian Lara’s final white ball game for the West Indies in the World Cup of that year, under the headline ‘The last king …
Read More »T2021 W/C: Pollard: ‘[WI] lacked cricket smarts’; Hetmyer hits 81 in vain as S/Lanka k.o. champs
Twenty-five year old Sri Lankan pacer Chamika Karunaratne tapped his temple and then tapped his heart, after dismissing West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell for two runs in today’s ICC T20 World Cup contest. And, just to be sure nobody missed it, Karunaratne repeated the gesture. By then, West Indies were …
Read More »T2021 W/C: Lara’s peculiar choice: is Prince of PoS putting Gayle part before WI whole?
I do NOT know if Mark Nicholas is the racist I believe him to be. It matters not to me today. I do NOT know if Quinton de Kock is the racist I do NOT believe him to be. It matters not to me today. Neither man’s issue matters to …
Read More »T2021 W/C: ‘Mission Improbable’! ‘Reds’ and McWatt blame selectors for uninspiring WI showings
“[…] Thus far, the West Indies selectors’ most controversial picks, Messrs Chris Gayle and Ravi Rampaul in particular, have done absolutely nothing to justify the faith expressed in their respective abilities to perform with merit during the tournament. “[…] Some of the West Indies final XI choices were equally bizarre. …
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