West Indies cricket legend Jeff Dujon voiced strong displeasure with the decision taken by Cricket West Indies (CWI) to remove Andre Coley as the head coach of the West Indies Test team. CWI announced Coley's impending departure during a media briefing in St Vincent which was attended by President Dr Kishire Shallow, Directors of the Board and Miles Bascombe, the Director of Cricket.
Milton Pydanna, the former Guyana and West Indies wicket-keeper and was remembered as a very good cricketer and a wonderful gentleman, someone who contributed to the high standard of cricket in the region. This tribute came from Jeff Dujon, the most successful keeper in West Indies history, reflected on the playing career of Pydanna, an unsung hero of Guyana cricket, who passed away on Tuesday. He was 75.
The 27-years-old Hope was dropped from the team last year ahead of the West Indies tour of New Zealand. The decision followed several months of off-colour form, which saw the player return scores of 16, 9, 25, 7, 17, and 31 during the team’s three-Test tour of England in July. Overall, in Test cricket, Hope averaged 19.48 since December 2017 and just 14.45 since February 2019.
The decision to drop the player, however, still stirred vigorous debate around the region, with many arguing that he should have been allowed to play his way back into form. For his part, Dujon has backed the player to figure things out sooner, rather than later.
“There’s no question in my mind that he is the best batsman that we have,” Dujon told the Mason and Guest radio program.
“Technically he is very good, from the very first time I saw him, I thought he was very good and talking to him and getting to know him, I know he is smart enough to work it out when things aren’t going right,” he added.
“He might have gotten his technique a little bit mixed up because of the competitions he was playing in, but I don’t see that lasting very long because he has quality. You don’t go to England and be immortal and not be able to bat.”
Hope grabbed headlines around the world in 2017, becoming the first batsman to score twin hundreds in a match at Headingly in first-class cricket.