The Independent Voice of West Indies Cricket
Shivnarine Chanderpaul, once the most reliable middle order batsman in the West Indies team, has been dropped from the squad for the fourth and final Test against England in Antigua.
The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) announced a 13-man fourth Test squad on Monday with Antiguan Sylvester Joseph as Chanderpaul's replacement but there were no official reasons offered for the axing of the left-handed Guyanese.
For many West Indians, the third Test loss to England was like an admission that a son was a drunkard. We hoped and hoped that it wasn't so, but had to accept it after his third collapse, right before our eyes.
Let's get one thing straight though. England deserved to win and deserves every congratulation. It was the manner of the West Indies capitulation, however, that brings a tear to many an eye. Had there been a fight from the West Indies batsmen, we would have been more accepting of our misery.
Veteran cricket writer Tony Cozier on Sunday issued a call for an outside organisation to assess the workings of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and to recommend instant ways of improvement.
[T]he stage has been reached where action needs to be taken, if only to demonstrate that there are those who are accountable...[T]he woeful performances on the field have their source in the weak and divisive administration off it," Cozier said in a column written after the third Test loss against England in Barbados.
A dismal day in the history of West Indies cricket and West Indian pride. We don?t mind losing...but yesterday we were humiliated in our own backyard.
That hurt. Real bad.
Michael Holding is reported to have said that because Logie and Lara cannot get along, he would keep Logie as coach because he is a good coach and appoint Sarwan as captain. Colin Croft, in an even more strangely argued article, blatantly called for Lara to go.
Garfield Sobers on the other hand has repeatedly given his support to Lara both as captain and batsman. I have sat and penetrated much of the discussion and have tried to first of all understand the arguments. Holding?s is a little easier to deal with because he is straightforward in saying that if it is choice between Lara and Logie, then it should be Logie to stay.