The West Indies ended their tour of Zimbabwe on a resonant note,
completing a double series win following their victory in the test
series. Resounding back-to-back wins on the weekend saw the
Caribbean side coming from behind to clinch the best of five series
by three to games to two.
In Saturday's do or die game the visitors were sent into bat by
Heath Streak and got off to a flyer via the Jamaican opening pair
of Chris Gayle and Wavell Hinds, and never eased up on the
accelerator, scoring an imposing 256-3 off just 45 overs when rain
interrupted play.
The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has taken yet another
recommendation from its cricket committee and tossed it in the
wastepaper basket.
The latest rejection centers around a suggestion to give the
junior selection panel 'first pick' of Under-23 players for the
upcoming Carib Beer regional tournament. Instead, the WICB
directors threw out the recommendation and reverted to the old
policy of territories 'protecting' certain young players.
West Indies all-rounder Vasbert Drakes has aggravated an
existing intercostals muscle injury and will miss the crucial ODI
matches against Zimbabwe this weekend.
Teenager Ravi Rampaul, who has struggled in the first two
matches, will take the place of Drakes in the 12-man squad for
Saturday's must-win game at Harare. Drakes has played in all three
ODIs in the series, picking up three wickets (avg. 23.66 per).
The man in charge of preparing Jamaica's bid to host matches in
the 2007 World Cup cricket tournament wants to know how the profits
from the mega-tournament will be distributed.
Dr Wayne Reid, chairman of the steering committee for Jamaica's
World Cup bid, has asked the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) and
other affiliates of the West Indies Board to find out if (and how)
the profits from the tournament will be shared.
West Indies opener Wavell Hinds, who unveiled the steely side of
his personality to quickly fight his way back after being dropped
by the regional selectors earlier this year, was named Tuesday
night as Jamaica's Cricketer of the Year for 2003.
Dropped by the West Indies selectors after two Tests of the
Australia series in April, the 27 year-old Hinds bounced back to
dominate the West Indies batting in the one-dayers, scoring 352
runs in five matches for a leading average of 117.33.
