The Independent Voice of West Indies Cricket
Back and side problems have laid low two more of Jamaica's leading fast bowlers -- Andrew Richardson and Dwight Washington.
According to the Jamaica Observer, the 22-year-old Richardson suffered a muscle strain in his back while playing league cricket in England and is likely to return home for treatment.
What is a dream? Just ask Fidel Henderson Edwards because for this 22-year-old Bajan, they keep coming true over and over again. He had played only one first-class game when in mid-2003, Brian Lara saw something very special about this slight in stature round-arm yet pacey youngster when he was bowling to the West Indies batsmen during a practice session in Barbados. A call-up followed and the rest as they say, is history.
Rabeed Imam of Bangladesh's Daily Star Sport interviewed Edwards, 'Castro' to his mates, at the Queen's Park Stadium in Grenada...
The contest was expected to be heated, but the only heat surrounding the election of officers of the Jamaica Cricket Association was from the lack of air conditioning in the room at the George Headley Stand. On Wednesday, former West Indies wicketkeeper John 'Jackie' Hendriks was returned for his 6th term as President of the Board of Directors of the Jamaica Cricket Association, holding off a challenge from George Sterling, the incumbent 1st Vice President.
A one-wicket win over Bangladesh, and 47 runs in the second innings against England is not what I became accustomed to expecting from the West Indies in the 1970s and 1980s. It is now clear that injuries notwithstanding, our beloved team will have a lot of work to do in order to retain its pride of place as a major cricket power (long considered the Brazil of cricket) and effectively compete as the home team in the 2007 World Cup.
If the West Indies win both matches in the two-match home series against Bangladesh starting on Friday, they will improve its rating in the ICC Test Championship by just under a point.
This positive outcome will have little impact on their position in the table but the effect on their standing if they lose one of the matches will be particularly severe. A drawn series would see the Windies slide to 77, putting them 17 points adrift of their nearest rival Sri Lanka.