Caribbean novelist George Lamming believes the delayed appointment of Sir Frank Worrell as West Indies captain was one of the most shameful acts in West Indies cricket history.

“That was one of the most humiliating things I can recall in West Indies cricket,” Lamming said. “The nearest I came to . . . I was crying. Coming back from London and going to Kensington, the West Indies were playing against Australia and I could see [Denis] Atkinson captaining a West Indies team. I could not understand how a Barbados crowd could have allowed that.”

The Barbados Nation hops aboard the Twenty20 freight train:

Originally seen as obscene and arrogant, the Twenty20 auctions and bidding for the world’s best players, by some of the leading industrialists and Bollywood stars, turned out to be big hits. Cricket is the quickest and biggest money spinner in India outside new-trend products and movies.

Cricket purists have to accept this situation and cannot begrudge a group of smart marketers and businessmen who had the conceptual presence of mind. If some other country was in the same situation with so many citizens madly in love with the game, they would have done the same.

With cricket in decline, players’ long-term earnings were in jeopardy. With Twenty20 cricket, there is no doubt that within a decade, the entire structure of the game could be changed beyond recognition.

Garfield Myers profiles Jamaica’s left-arm spinner Nikita Miller after his successful 2008 first class season:

Those knowledgeable cricket watchers who were at Sabina Park last week for the Challenge Final would have noticed something very different about Miller’s bowling. His tight, nagging control remained but he was also extracting far sharper turn and seemed more prepared to vary his flight - with additional loop - than used to be the case. Also, he utilised a more attacking line, eschewing - for the most part - the negative leg stump tactics for which he has been criticised in the past.

Will Luke profiles Chris Jordan, the Barbadian fast bowler now tearing it up for Surrey in England:

Jordan was born and raised in Barbados, educated at Combermere School - the same establishment who produced two of West Indies’ absolute finest, Sir Clyde Walcott and Sir Frank Worrell. “My coach at Combermere in Barbados mentioned there was a scholarship at Dulwich College and asked if I’d be interested and, of course, I said yes. I played in a game with Mr Athey [Dulwich coach and former England batsman Bill Athey] in a PRO AM tournament in Barbados which is conducted every November. I played more or less as a trialist, did quite well - didn’t take any wickets but I scored about 30. Two weeks later I was at Dulwich College.”

What is a West Indian fast bowler of obvious natural riches doing in England? The question is obvious; the answer even more obvious though vaguely depressing. Clive Lloyd, who spends a lot of his life in Britain but whose heart will always lie in the Caribbean, is clear. “If we [West Indies] had a proper youth academy, it wouldn’t have happened,” he told Cricinfo. “I saw him play against Lancashire last season and was quite impressed. He looks a very good prospect and can bat, bowl and field. I did try to get his phone number, and I spoke with the Surrey coach, but I’ve not been in regular contact with him [Jordan].”

The word at Surrey is Lloyd and other eminent West Indians are keen, if not desperate, to persuade Jordan back to his homeland. Surrey have tied him down for another two seasons, and though he seems to be revelling in the added responsibility of playing first-team cricket, he won’t be moved as to where his allegiances lie.

“It’s not a matter of coming to a decision really,” he says, with a hint of weariness. “I’m certainly not thinking about it - yet, anyway. When the bridge comes for me to cross it, I will have to make the correct decision. I have to take things day by day.”

* If he’s half as good as the hype, I hope he comes play for us. If he doesn’t, I don’t blame him.

West Indies captain Chris Gayle: “Sometime soon, Jerome Taylor is going to be ranked No. 1 in the world.”

Tony Cozier recognises Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s value to the West Indies team:

Whatever the reasons, Chanderpaul’s quality has always been undervalued, in spite of an impressive record in 14 years of international cricket, a sport that places great store on statistics. Even now, he is ranked by the ICC no higher than No. 8 on the list of contemporary Test batsmen, and as low as No. 10 on the ODI register.

Yet, in the year since the great Lara made his lamented exit, Chanderpaul has taken over the role as the rock of the West Indies batting with effectiveness that only the formidable George Headley, ‘Atlas’ of the formative decade of the 1930s, could match.

Tony Becca is fascinated by Sri Lanka’s latest mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis:

With a smile on his face as he caresses the ball before delivering it, Mendis bowls the off-break, he bowls the leg-break, he bowls the googly, he bowls the flipper, he bowls a straight delivery, he bowls them with different grips and different actions, he bowls them with a different trajectory and at a different pace, he disguises them brilliantly.

* Me too.

Tony Cozier balances the WICB’s grandiose planning with the depressing on-the-ground realities:

The sight of our premier fast bowler, with one of the most common surnames in the English language, running into the batsman with “Tayrol” written across his back during the first ODI on Thursday was demeaning – unless Jerome Taylor was now sponsored by the newest miracle cough mixture.

As he delivered, a fielder crouched at slip had the back of his top swathed in as much plaster as to treat an Iraq war veteran. He was, we were made to understand, Devon Smith who had to borrow Chattergoon’s shirt because his was not ready. And this for a match programmed for months.

Later, as play was about to resume after lunch, there was a delay of a quarter-hour while someone tried to get the Duckworth-Lewis details for match referee Chris Broad.

And so on and so forth, ad infinitum.

West Indies head coach John Dyson says the search for spinners in the Caribbean will go beyond Amit Jaggernauth and Sulieman Benn. He also has his eyes on Jamaica’s left-arm orthodox spinner Nikita Miller.

Scyld Berry: Ask this question about every cricketer you admire: did he leave the teams he represented stronger than when he started? [Viv] Richards did so, which is why he won my vote ahead of Sir Garfield Sobers as one of the Five Wisden Cricketers of the Century

Former England captain Mike Atherton: “Only one reason prevents me from placing Lara at the apex of modern West Indian batsmen. Against extreme pace he got hit too often, and he could seem extraordinarily jumpy at the crease. I’ve often wondered what kind of effect removing helmets would have on modern-day players, a hypothetical that doesn’t apply to Vivian Richards.”

Wow. Great placement even from that young age.

Trinidad & Tobago cricket boss Deryck Murray tells a conference that all the talk about rebuilding is foolish:

“We have a world record for a team in the rebuilding phase. We have been rebuilding for 15 years and the process still continues. The only time we will rebuild West Indies cricket is when we stop fooling ourselves and start doing the things that would take our cricket back up the ladder,” he contended.

“Another foolish thing some people say is that we would be back to winning ways because we have players with talent. Well, I have news for them, and that is, every country has talent and this means nothing if the talent is not turned into progress,” he said.

“We in the Caribbean are always looking for the easy way out and this is doing us no good. What is needed at this time is for fans in the Caribbean to pressurise all stakeholders to ensure that they do the right things to initiate the rebuilding process,” Murray said.

Haydn Gill says there is no doubt that West Indies defeat had something to do with what appeared to be umpiring errors against Sarwan and Ryan Hinds within the space of half-hour.

Sarwan was adjudged lbw by Billy Bowden from a ball by left-armer Thilan Thushra that was delivered very wide of the stumps from around the wicket and appearing to be heading down the leg-side.

Half-hour later, and on the stroke of tea, Simon Taufel gave Hinds out for a catch by the ‘keeper when the left-hander seemed to miss an attempted sweep to a ball well wide of leg stump.

* I thought the umpires had a decent game, even with the glaring error on Sarwan’s LBW. I don’t think people understand just how difficult it is for umpires these days. The faster they get some help (technology-wise), the better for everyone.

Garth Wattley: Vaas and company have the Windies’ measure: from captain to cook.