OUTGOING West Indies head coach, Stuart Law, has revealed that the lack of experienced senior players available on tour to guide the upcoming Caribbean talent has hurt the side’s progression and overall aspirations for the future. Referencing the team’s preparation and level of mentorship for next year’s ICC Cricket World Cup, Law called the situation less than “ideal,” especially in the batting area.
Speaking with ESPN on the contract disputes and the player availability issues plaguing the squad since 2014’s walkout in India, Law admitted, “Some players have explained to me what’s going on, and some haven’t really explained it. So it’s hard to get that continuity in the team. What we’re doing right now is building up for a World Cup. And if we keep chopping and changing, (it isn’t ideal).”
With Dwayne Bravo retiring from all forms of international cricket and Chris Gayle and Andre Russell available for selection but not suiting up for the Windies in the lead-in to the tournament, Law said gauging the final roster still remains an unpredictable task. The ex-Australian international, who’ll be stepping down from his position before the World Cup, lamented that the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) couldn’t solve the selection criteria with certain senior players in time, allowing them to balance out their Twenty20 (T20) schedules with long-format cricket.
Windies have shown a lot of fight in this series. They've found heroes in unexpected times. They've punched above their collective weights. They've even shown the skill required to take on a real heavyweight in its own backyard. But unfortunately, none of the aforementioned held true on Monday (October 29), a day where they found themselves in a hot, boiling mess against a team that appeared to have found its mojo back.
India were desperate for a response. They've had to answer far too many questions for their liking in this series, as a second-string Windies unit has stretched them out of their comfort zone. Today, they couldn't have answered with a better performance. First, they racked up 377 on the board, and then cranked it on in the field to prick Windies' chase before it could even begin properly. The visitors were 77 for 7, and were only saved from their worst-ever defeat by a late hand from captain Jason Holder, eventually conceding a 224-run win.
Windies should've known something was up when they saw local lad Rohit Sharma charge down at Kemar Roach in only the fifth over of the game. India had won the toss on a fresh pitch at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai and opted to bat. They had reinforced their batting line-up with the inclusions of Kedar Jadhav and Ravindra Jadeja after Pune's disappointment. And then came that charge: a demoralising heave to clatter Roach's length ball into the midwicket roof.
Mumbai: The defiant performance of the Windies team in the ongoing ODI series against the No 2 side in the world, India, has come as a breath of fresh air for Caribbean cricket after a prolonged period of gloom.
In fact, they were handed a crushing 2-0 defeat in the two-match Test series by India before the 50-over series began. The result wasn't a surprise but the disappointing part was how the team capitulated inside three days in both the Tests without putting up much fight.
Victories against higher-ranked teams have become a rarity for the giants of the sport, who dominated the world of cricket in the 1980s and 90s.
They won a Test against England in England in 2017 and defeated Pakistan in a Test in Sharjah in 2016, but the team hasn't had a sustained period of success.
Their only two Test series wins in last four years have come at home against lesser-fancied Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. They last won an ODI series in 2014 against Bangladesh.
Former Windies head coach and ESPNcricinfo expert Phil Simmons feels the structure of cricket in the Caribbean needs a shake-up to bring back the glory days.
"They are going one step forward and two step backward. They did fairly well in England a year back and a couple of years ago against Pakistan and when we thought things are improving, it totally went downhill," said Simmons in an exclusive chat with Firstpost.
"The whole structure of cricket needs to be dealt with and needs to be put in place to so that you get players to play Test cricket at home and abroad. Because abroad it's not the same as playing at home."
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – Combined Campuses & Colleges Marooners are the new champions of the West Indies Super50 Cup.
A whirlwind half-century from opener Kyle Corbin to follow a stifling bowling performance propelled the Barbados-based composite side to a six-wicket victory over Guyana Jaguars in the Grand Final on Sunday at Kensington Oval here.
All but 12 of Corbin’s 72 from 53 balls were in boundaries and he shared a Marooners record opening stand of 109 with left-hander Kjorn Ottley to help them successfully chase a target of 205 for a victory that gave them their first regional title in any format at the third time of asking.
Left-hander Nicholas Kirton formalised the result with 74 balls remaining, when he pulled a short ball from Romario Shepherd to the wide long-on boundary for four, sparking jubilant scenes among the Maroooners faithful.
“This victory means a lot to me,” said Marooners captain Carlos Brathwaite. “A lot of people have been telling me over the last year that I needed to sacrifice some of the franchise (Twenty20) cricket and return to the first-class game.
“I spoke to (Marooners head coach) Floyd Reifer about trying to get my batting back on track and the opportunity to come lead the Marooners, if possible. Spoke to Kyle and got his blessing, as he was the incumbent captain, and for such big decisions and sacrifices to be made and for it to culminate in a victory, and for us to go down in the history books, it’s a special feeling.”
He added: “Our motto was that we wanted to be respected around the region. Floyd instilled in us that we were playing to win which was different to the past, where we just came looking to be competitive. When you are competitive and you get that close, it’s not winning. You always have near-misses.
“This year, we came to win and did a lot of soul searching. . .but the message was clear – if we want to win, we needed to play a brand of cricket that was attacking, no fear and since then the message from the dressing room was always the same. This is a culmination of a lot of things and a lot of hard work.”
Earlier, Jermaine Levy topped a defiant half-century from Tagenarine Chanderpaul with a return of 4-43 from 10 overs, as the Jaguars, sent in to bat on a slow pitch, were bowled out for 204 in 49.1 overs. Brathwaite, the WINDIES Twenty20 captain, snared 3-42 in his allotted 10 overs and Akeem Jordan captured 2-30 from 7.1 overs.
“We are very disappointed as a group,” said Jaguars head coach Esuan Crandon. “I thought we played well in the group stage heading into the knockout stages and fought well against Jamaica to get into the Grand Final, but we did not play our best here.
“We kept losing wickets at crucial times and we did not have any substantial partnerships to really to take us to a respectable total – but Marooners played well, they had a good start, Corbin played a good innings and put some pressure on us and took the game away from us in the Power Play.”
Chanderpaul led the way for the Jaguars with 56 from 95 balls that included just four fours, Raymon Reifer supported with 38 and Trevon Griffith added 20.
But the Jaguars failed to build significant partnerships and every time it looked like they would break free they lost a wicket and lost their chance to draw level with Trinidad & Tobago Red Force on 11 titles.
Video highlights of the match are available from 4 pm (EC Time)Oct 29th.
ST JOHN'S, Antigua (CMC) — It has been an amazing journey, one that started in spectacular fashion 10 years ago.
That journey has seen a courageous girl from the historic former Jamaica capital of Spanish Town grow to become one of the most recognisable and respected cricketers in the world.
Now, she will take to the field in 10 days' time to spearhead the Windies women in their defence of the ICC Women's Twenty20 World Cup title.
For Stafanie Taylor it will be a seminal moment — leading the home team on home soil in a global event — probably the biggest event for women in the region's history, with a global audience of 200 million watching on.
She is not shy and certainly not one to back away from a challenge. She has featured on every poster, every billboard, every piece of advertising in the Watch This campaign — the official promotional drive for the T20 World Cup. Taylor, quite literally, is the face of the tournament.
The 27-year-old has encountered obstacles throughout her career, but according to the charismatic Jamaican, those have only served to make the taste of success even sweeter.
Her greatest moment of a glittering career undoubtedly was lifting the coveted trophy as West Indies captain, after her side upset Australia to win the 2016 T20 World Cup in India.
