hosts follow this West Indies team. Like every other squad who’ve travelled from the Caribbean to England in the last couple of decades they’re haunted by the men who came before them, men you still see on the TV, hear on the radio, and read about in books, magazines, and newspapers such as this one.
Say West Indies haven’t won an opening Test here in 20 years, and see Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose in their last, late, unplayable pomp, bowling endless, parsimonious overs in 2000. Say West Indies haven’t won’t a series here in 32 years, and think of Gordon Greenidge and Viv Richards in all their glory, smacking fours to all quarters back in 1988.
All that and more. West Indies’ history in Test cricket still feels so close because they’ve written so little more of it worth talking about in the years since. The team have not won an away series against one of the seven sides currently ranked above them since the winter of 1994-95, when they beat New Zealand. In 25 years since, the only teams they’ve beaten outside the Caribbean are Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Here in England, this latest Test was only their second victory in 20 years, after that famous run chase at Headingley in 2017. And even that one feels a little bittersweet now, because the man who won it for them, Shai Hope, hasn’t made a Test century since.
Head coach Phil Simmons said yesterday he wanted to see more hundreds from West Indies batsmen as the Caribbean side looks to further improve on their performance in the all-important second Test starting here tomorrow.
Pointing to several starts in the opening Test in Southampton, Simmons contended that if one player had carried on to triple figures, it would have allowed West Indies to take an earlier stranglehold on the contest.
Opener Kraigg Brathwaite (65) and wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich (61) gathered half-centuries in the West Indies first innings of 318, while Roston Chase (47) and Shamarh Brooks (39) chipped in but none could convert their knocks into centuries.
“I think definitely the fact that we had two guys getting 60s and a couple other guys getting 40s and not going on to score hundreds [is an area that can be improved],” Simmons told reporters.
“I like to see hundreds on my scorecard at the end of an inning and that is something we have to improve on because if one of the guys who scored 60 had gone on to score a hundred, the game could’ve been easier at the end for us.
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said yesterday that someone impersonating the Chief Medical Officer (CMO), sent information to the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) changing Government’s position on hosting the T20 tournament this year.
Addressing a news conference yesterday, Dr Rowley revealed that the information purporting to come from the CMO was sufficiently important for the CPL to respond to Government on the “new terms” given by the culprit.
He said the situation caused Sports Minister Shamfa Cudjoe to speak to the CPL and confirm that Government’s plans to host the tournament had not changed.
The Government has been under fire by Opposition and social media commentators, who claim that the decision to allow 250 people into the country for the tournament, is a slap in the face to thousands of nationals who have applied for exemptions to do the same.
he funeral service for the late West Indies great Sir Everton Weekes will be held at the Kensington Oval in Barbados on July 31, according to media reports in Barbados. He is to be buried alongside greats Clyde Walcott and Frank Worrell on the University of the West Indies Cave Hill campus.
Weekes, who made his debut for the West Indies in January 1948 and played 59 Tests in an illustrious career, died on July 1, 2020. Weekes, who was 95, had been ailing for some time after suffering a heart attack in early 2019.
Dean at the St Michael’s Cathedral Reverend Jeffrey Gibson will do the sermon while Professor Hilary Beckles will read the eulogy. Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley is to read a lesson during the proceedings.
Tributes to the great man will come from Cricket West Indies (CWI), the Barbados Cricket Association, The Legends of Barbados, The Empire Cricket Club, the Barbados Bridge Club as well as family members.
