Former West Indies captain, Clive Lloyd, believes the upcoming and current generation of fast bowlers will only reach their full potential if they spend more time thinking on the pitch.
For many decades the Windies was known for producing generations of fearsome fast bowlers. The likes of Joel Garner, Andy Roberts, Malcolm Marshal, and Michael Holding filled the hearts of countless opposition batsmen with fear for decades.
A new generation of Windies bowlers, led by Kemar Roach and Shannon Gabriel along with youngster Alzarri Joseph has shown some promise, in recent times, but are yet to scale the heights reached by the golden generation. Lloyd, who captained and played alongside many of the region’s top fast bowlers, has insisted the players had more than just pace.
“The thing with our fast bowlers is that they all did something different, it wasn’t just inswingers or outswingers. They bowled different things. So, when you came to bat against our players, you had to be at the top of your game and that’s why they were successful,” Lloyd told the Mason and Guest program.
“There was no let-up. We didn’t just have fast bowlers; we had thinking fast bowlers. They were not calypso cricketers,” he added.
West Indies captain for the Bangladesh series, Kraigg Brathwaite, is confident the second-string team will give a good account of itself, despite facing a difficult task.
The regional team, who are off to the third overseas tour since the sport was impacted by the pandemic, will be missing 12 first-team players. Team captains Jason Holder, Kieron Pollard, and Test vice-captain Roston Chase are among the players that opted out of the tour for health and safety concerns.
Brathwaite will be joined by in-form batsman Jermaine Blackwood and bowlers, Kemar Roach, Shannon Gabriel, and Alzarri Joseph as some of the available first-team players on the tour, but for the most part, the team will consist of fringe players and a few debutants. The stand-in captain, however, insists the Windies are up for the challenge.
“We are all up for the challenge… it will be a tough series in Bangladesh but we have confidence and we have belief that we will do very well,” Brathwaite said.
“We have some members of the squad who will be playing there for the first time so it will be something new to them, but they know they have the talent and are capable of performing at this level.”
The tour will comprise of two Test matches, as part of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) World Test Championship, and three One-Day Internationals (ODI) as part of the ICC’s Cricket World Cup Super League. The ODIs present the first opportunity for the West Indies to earn Super League points which count towards the pre-qualification for the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2023.
Legendary West Indies captain, Clive Lloyd, insists the current crop of players must learn to play in all conditions if the team is to eventually emerge from the doldrums of world cricket.
In the aftermath of the recent squad selection for the West Indies tour of Bangladesh, plenty of eyebrows were raised not only due to the absence of 12 first team players but following the non-selection of promising young fast bowler Chemar Holder for the Test cricket squad.
The team has the typical fast-bowling trio of Shannon Gabriel, Kemar Roach, and Alzarri Joseph but with captain Jason Holder opting out of the tour, many thought Chemar would have been a natural replacement, particularly after a promising debut in difficult circumstances last month.
Cricket West Indies chief of selectors Clive Lloyd, however, explained that the panel had chosen to include more spinners at the expense of Holder, due to the nature of spin-friendly surfaces in Bangladesh. Lloyd believes the decision could cost the young bowler valuable experience.
“These guys need to play in those countries where it’s not that helpful and you learn to bowl a better line and length,” Lloyd told the Mason and Guest radio show.
“On the dead pitches, someone like (Collin) Croft would still be disconcerting. He would be getting it up into your neck. The point is that our fast bowlers bowled well on any kind of wicket,” he added.
“Our bowlers were not deterred by slow pitches and that is what our youngsters have to learn, to bowl on pitches that are not responsive. Dennis Lille, when he realized the pitch was not helping, he would cut down his run and bowl a different kind of delivery, cutters, and so on and make you think about your cricket. So did Richard Hadlee, Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, all these guys would have learned to bowl on wickets that are not responsive. If we are just going to rest people because the wickets are not responsive then something is wrong.”
Wolmer’s Boys School will join forces with top locally based track club MVP in a bid to turn around its high school track and field program.
The 14-time Boys Championships winner last claimed the title in 2010, on the 100th year anniversary of the competition. Though being typically there or thereabout, the school has not been able to consistently compete for the Mortimer Geddes trophy.
The shakeup will see the school part ways with noted high school track and field coach Danny Hawthorne, who took over the job in 2016. The annual track and field event was cancelled last year, due to the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic, but the team has finished outside of the top five for the previous three years claiming 6th place positions in 2017, 2018, and 2019 editions. MVP club president Bruce James, a former student at the institution, confirmed the existence of the new arrangements.
“The headmaster of Wolmer’s Mr. Pennycoke has invited the MVP track club to play a positive role in the redevelopment of the Wolmer’s Boys track team, this takes effect on the first of January 2021,” James told Television Jamaica.
“The Wolmer’s Boys school happens to be where the MVP track and field club was founded and the MVP club’s management consists of Wolmer’s old boys such as Stephen Francis, Paul Francis, Andre Edwards, so we are happy to help the Wolmer’s Boys track and field team and the program he is building,” he added.
President of the Nevis Cricket Association, Carlisle Powell, has called for a level playing field when it comes to the selection of players for the West Indies cricket team.
The administrator has taken exception with what he believes is the unfair treatment meted out to opening batsman Kieron Powell, who is also his son. With 12 first team members opting not to go on the upcoming tour of Bangladesh, Powell, the top runs scorer during last season’s Super50 competition, was left out of a hastily assembled second-string team.
According to Cricket West Indies (CWI) chief of selectors Roger Harper, the player had failed to meet the team’s fitness standards. The senior Powell, however, insists that was not quite true as while representing the Leeward Islands Kieron had passed the Yoyo fitness test more than once. He insists that the issue stems from the fact that the player has not being given another opportunity to prove his fitness by the regional governing body. By comparison, he claims that Evin Lewis and Shimron Hetmeyer, who both failed the test at the same time as Powell, were quickly afforded opportunities to prove their improved fitness level.
“The West Indies Cricket Board has repeatedly said as recently as Roger Harper on the 29th…that Powell was left out because he has not yet met the fitness standard, which is absolutely inaccurate in that he has more than once met and passed the fitness test as administered by the Leeward Islands,” Powell told Television Jamaica.
“The West Indies Cricket Board should amend their statement to say that they have failed to give him a fitness test since he failed the test in December of 2019,” he added.
“By the same token others who failed the fitness test at the same time, Hetmeyer and Lewis, fitness tests were arranged for them by the board. We’re saying this is absolutely wrong there must be a level playing field for all the persons.”
Former West Indies batting coach, Toby Radford, has questioned the conventional wisdom of selecting so many spinners for the team's upcoming tour of Bangladesh.
The omission of promising pace bowler Chemar Holder raised more than a few eyebrows when the squad was named last week, especially on the back of a promising debut in New Zealand. The Test squad at current features four spinners in Rahkeem Cornwall, Kavem Hodge, Veerasammy Permaul, and Jomel Warrican along with the regular fast bowling trio of Shannon Gabriel, Kemar Roach and Alzarri Joseph.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) chief of selectors, Roger Harper, went on to explain that Holder’s exclusion for additional spin bowling was based on the fact that the team was eager to take advantage of Bangladesh’s spin-friendly pitches.
Radford, who was part of a successful tour of the region in 2012, is unsure if that was the best approach.
“I’ve been listening to what people have been saying. We have gone heavy with a lot of spin. You expect the pitches to be slow and turn out there. Whether they need as many spinners as they are taking, I’m not too sure,” Radford told the Mason and Guest radio program.
“In fact, when we won in 2012 it was done with good batting, posting big scores and having pace, actually, guys who could get it down in the high 80s, 90 miles and hour, not just assuming that because it’s slow pitches spinners are going to do the work. I’m actually working for Bangladesh at the moment, I spent 6 weeks out there, they play spin very well, they’re brought up playing that kind of bowling.”
Legendary Windies fast bowler Curtly Ambrose is hopeful a few of the players selected for the upcoming tour of Bangladesh will be able to take full use of the opportunity to represent the team, despite being surprise selections.
Twelve players, including West Indies captain Jason Holder, vice-captain Roston Chase and T20 captain Kieron Pollard opted not make themselves available for the upcoming tour of Bangladesh this month. The players cited health and safety reasons in their decision to reject the tour.
The absence of the team’s first-string players will see Kraigg Brathwaite, lead the Test squad with Jermaine Blackwood as vice-captain. Former West Indies A team captain, Jason Mohammed, will lead the ODI team with Sunil Ambris as vice-captain.
There will be first-time call-ups for Kavem Hodge to the Test squad and left-handed opener Shayne Moseley and all-rounder Kyle Mayers touring in the Test squad for the first time, after being part of the reserve team to England and New Zealand.
Two players earned first call-ups to the ODI squad - Akeal Hosein, a left-arm spinner allrounder, and Kjorn Ottley, a left-handed top-order batsman. Despite expecting difficult conditions for the tour, Ambrose hopes some of the players will use the opportunity to challenge for regular places.
“I think it’s the perfect opportunity for some of these youngsters who have been knocking on the door for some time now to show the selectors and the rest of the cricket people that they are ready for this kind of cricket,” Ambrose told the Good Morning Jojo radio show.
“I am hoping these guys do very well with Bangladesh. Whether we win the series, draw the series, or even lose the series, I hope they do extremely well so that when they get back home lead selector Roger Harper and company will have some headaches to decide who to select.”
Barbadian fast bowler Keon Harding has been selected to join the West Indies tour to Bangladesh later this month.
West Indies fast bowling legend Curtly Ambrose has applied for the position of elite pace bowling coach at the England and Wales Cricket Board, the bowler confirmed on Wednesday.
Former West Indies fast bowler, Franklyn Rose, believes current players representing the team could benefit from a change in mindset as he believes many might be too focused on playing the game solely for financial benefit.
The 48-year-old Rose, who played for the West Indies between 1997 and 2000, has openly admitted to being upset by the current plight of the regional team, particularly on the back of a brutal run of recent results.
After a hiatus enforced by the coronavirus pandemic, the West Indies resumed international cricket with a three-Test tour of England in July. The Windies won the first match but were badly outplayed for the rest of the series in a 2-1 defeat. The team then headed to New Zealand, last month, where they were handily beaten in both a three-match T20 series and a two-Test series where they suffered an innings defeat in both matches.
In recent times, particularly with the advent of lucrative T20 leagues, some players have been accused of putting personal gain over the pride of representing the West Indies. Rose seems to among those that hold some form of that particular view.
“We need to focus more on the success of the game than just thinking about the big bank accounts,” Rose told Television Jamaica.
“Of course the guys are going to say that they have bills to pay and family to take care of and stuff but when you are at that level of the game, representing the West Indies, one of the greatest teams of all time, you need to have a different mindset.”
CONCACAF has announced the cancellation of both its Under-17 and Under-20 youth championships in light of FIFA’s recent announcement to shutter the FIFA U-17 and U-20 Men’s World Cups, scheduled to take place in Peru and Indonesia later this year.
The U-20 tournament was originally scheduled to be held in Honduras between 20 June and 5 July 2020. However, following the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic the tournament was initially pushed forward to later this year. The U-17 competition suffered a similar fate.
With the spread of the virus continuing to affect safety concerns and travelling ability, FIFA announced the decision to cancel both tournaments last week. With the CONCACAF tournaments serving as qualifiers for the World Cups, the confederation decided to follow suit. As part of the decision, FIFA announced the next editions will be held in 2023 at the venues that were to host the 2021 editions of the tournaments.
Jamaica (1999, 2011), Trinidad and Tobago (2001, 2007) and Haiti (2007, 2019), and Cuba (1989, 1991) are the Caribbean teams to have qualified for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup editions. At the Under-20 level Trinidad and Tobago (1991, 2009) Jamaica (2001), and Cuba (2013) have qualified to the finals.
CWI President Ricky Skerritt has described the late Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart as a true West Indian legend following news of the latter’s passing on Monday.
West Indies star batsman Chris Gayle has made it clear that he is looking forward to the T20 World Cup, with high hopes of helping the regional team win a third title.
Gayle’s last appearance for the Windes, a One Day International match at the Queen’s Park Oval last year, was a dramatic affair as he walked off the field to applause from both sets of players and fans. The special occasion was thought to be his retirement from international cricket.
Following that match, Gayle turned down the selection to an ODI series against India, after insisting that he needed some time off to figure out his future. Since then, however, Gayle has had a complete reversal of thought when it comes to the idea of retirement.
The big left-hander recently showed that he remains capable of producing plenty of fireworks, after an outstanding season in the Indian Premier League (IPL). After being left on the bench at the start of the tournament, the insertion of Gayle into the line-up fueled an impressive run for Kings XI Punjab who narrowly missed out on making the playoffs. During the tournament, Gayle became the first player to reach 1000 T20 sixes.
Having found himself in that type of form, retirement is understandably now the furthest thing from the batsman’s mind and he is ready to take that kind of form into international cricket.
“I’m enjoying my cricket, to be honest with you. I just recently played the IPL in Dubai and did well. Now I have the T10, honestly, I’ve been feeling good, I’ve been putting in some work,” Gayle said.
The player admits that he already has one eye on the ICC T20 Championships, which will be held in November of this year.
“I’m just getting myself in condition. I still have a lot of cricket to play. I’m looking forward to the World Cup and hopefully giving the West Indies another T20 title.”
Gayle has not played in a T20 international since March of last year but intends to be part of the squad in lead up matches to the tournament.
West Indies One Day International (ODI) captain for the upcoming tour of Bangladesh, Jason Mohammed, hopes to bring a sense of calm to the team ahead of what is expected to be a difficult match-up next month.
A quick glance at the record books will tell you that the hastily selected second-string unit is expected to have a difficult trip to Asia. The West Indies has won just one of the last seven ODIs against Bangladesh. The most recent loss saw Bangladesh stroll to a comfortable 7-wicket win at the 2019 World Cup. With several first-team players, including West Indies captain Jason Holder, in-form batsman Shai Hope, in the 50-over version anyway, and the explosive Shimron Hetmeyer are just a few of the players missing from the squad. Their replacements will be short on experience.
While admitting that results will not be easy to come by for the series, Mohammed hopes to at least lead the team to consistent and calm performances.
“What I can bring to the table is being calm. That’s one of the things that get us in trouble. Speaking for myself, as an experienced player, sometimes when we overthink the situation, we just don’t stay calm in certain situations like bowling in the right areas, shot selections,” Mohammed told the Mason and Guest radio program.
“A lot has been said about the team going but I don’t think there will be a lot of pressure on us as players because at the end of the day we are going to represent the West Indies. We still have a job to do.”
West Indies ODI Squad
Jason Mohammed (captain)
Sunil Ambris (vice-captain)
Nkrumah Bonner
Joshua Da Silva
Jahmar Hamilton
Chemar Holder
Akeal Hosein
Alzarri Joseph
Kyle Mayers
Andre McCarthy
Kjorn Ottley
Rovman Powell
Raymon Reifer
Romario Shepherd
Hayden Walsh jr
West Indies spinner Rahkeem Cornwall is eager to make use of what could be a solid opportunity on the upcoming tour of Bangladesh, which will provide conditions more suited to spin bowling.
Amidst a flurry of withdrawals, Cornwall was one of the current members of the squad to readily accept the invitation to tour the Asian country next month.
The 27-year-old has been part of the West Indies squad since being invited to the England tour with the team in July. He then traveled to New Zealand with the team for the tour that took place in December.
Cornwall has, however, had a difficult time making an impact. Called to the first-team squad for the third Test in England, the spinner bowled 46 overs but did get a wicket. He was not added to the first team for the New Zealand tour. On the slower, more spin-friendly matches in Bangladesh, however, the player hopes to have a much bigger impact.
“I think I’m in a good space and we know Bangladesh is known for being more conducive to spin, so I just have to set my mind for a next bubble and go out there and perform the way I should,” Cornwall told the Antigua Observer.
“I went on two tours in England and New Zealand and there was nothing there for spinners and after playing three Test matches, I finally got something that suits me and I hope I can go there and perform,” he added.
Cornwall will have good memories of performing in Asia, as he claimed his career-best figures of 7 for 75 against Bangladesh last year.
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