The Independent Voice of West Indies Cricket
Allan Rae, the former West Indies batsman and cricket administrator best known for his passionate stance against apartheid, has died at the age of 83.
The left-handed Rae, who averaged 46.18 in 15 Tests for the regional side, passed away at a nursing home in his native Jamaica after a prolonged illness.
Children are blank canvasses. Parents are the artists splashing the paint in an attempt to create an abstract masterpiece. However, gravity, the texture and position of the canvas as well as the viscosity of the paint, determine the eventual outcome.
I have never been nor have I ever professed to be a pure cricket-lover. An inherent fear of a hard, spherical object being hurled at me with my only defence being a narrow piece of willow, ensured that I would never be a cricketer. Long hours in the field, under the blistering sun, waiting, hoping a ball comes your way, simply was not appealing at the time.
Tiger Smith, a Warwickshire player who represented England in the early nineteen hundreds, once told me that good batting is a combination of mechanics and intellect. He was echoing the sentiments of C.B Fry who wrote a book, Batsmanship, in 1912 in which Fry said: ?In actual play, a perfect stroke is the combined result of perfect mechanism and perfect timing; and this combination must be preceded by perfect selection.? Today these key factors are known as biomechanics and perceptual and cognitive expertise (mental skills).
Will the downward spiral ever end? Just when you believe that all that can be bad in Caribbean cricket has been exposed and the way forward may begin, something even more unsatisfactory is revealed.
Not for the first time has an allegation of sex scandal been placed at the doorstep of West Indies cricketers.
Smasher Sports UK will sponsor 15 West Indian cricketers for the next year, providing them with a retainer, along with an appearance fee when they play international cricket. The players have also been promised employment at the end of their careers.
The players are Daren Ganga, Mervyn Dillon, Ricardo Powell, Dave Mohammed, Sherwin Ganga, Carlton Baugh, Pedro Collins, Fidel Edwards, Wavell Hinds, Sylvester Joseph, Omari Banks, Tino Best, Reon King, Rayad Emrit and Martin Nurse.