The Independent Voice of West Indies Cricket
The West Indies cricket team has a big headache. Its 'fifth bowler'. No. Not Carl Hooper. Not Chris Gayle. Not even Wavell Hinds.
The team's considered third force, has actually become its "fifth" -- and it is a cause of serious headaches.
Guyana pace/spin tandem Reon King and Neil McGarrel took five wickets apiece against West Indies 'B' and Trinidad & Tobago's Imran Jan continued his nice run with the bat as the third round of the Carib Beer competition kicked off on Friday.
Rain robbed the game between Barbados and Jamaica of a chunk of the opening day's play and, in the other match, India 'A' finally settled into a rhythm to reach 164 for one against the Leewards. Summarised scores follow...
A day after crashing to a stunning 20-run World Cup loss against New Zealand, champion batsman Brian Lara has admitted his run-out dismissal was a "bad piece of judgement."
In a first person column for the Trinidad Guardian newspaper, Lara said: "My personal dismissal was a bad piece of judgement. I never thought that Lou Vincent would relay the ball to Cairns. I felt it was three comfortable runs and the ball would be looped in from the deep. But Cairns surprised me with his powerful and accurate throw."
Cricket legend Sir Garfield Sobers has tipped either West Indies or India to win the World Cup and dethrone reigning champions Australia.
"Everyone has Australia as the number one team but I don't believe that Australians are going to win the World Cup," Sobers said. "I believe that somewhere, probably West Indies will have a good chance as well as India and Sri Lanka," Sobers told reporters.
To tweak a famous phrase: If soft dismissals at crucial times were punishable by law, Carl Hooper would be doing hard time.
The West Indies' captain's maddening habit of gifting his wicket when the circumstances call for hardcore consolidation proved the turning point of today's disappointing 20-run loss to New Zealand. And, to hear Hooper's post-mortem that a missed catch at the death was a key reason for the loss is to understand how far the skipper has his head buried in the sand.