Former West Indies women’s captain Merissa Aguilleira believes players must take personal responsibility if the Caribbean women are to keep pace with the rest of the world.
Aguilleira, who captained the West Indies in both Twenty20 and One Day Internationals between 2009 and 2015 retired from the sport in April 2019.
Since then she has done commentary on several Windies women's matches, taken over as Technical Director of the Trinidad & Tobago Women's team while giving birth to her first child, Zahdia Zahara-Meri Fraser on March 30.
The former wicket-keeper/batter who's captaincy stint included three trips to the ICC World T20 semi-finals and the final of the 2013 50-over World Cup, believes that some players' passion for the game has been waning since their 2016 World T20 triumph.
"We cannot continue to remain stagnant," she said while speaking to Donald Oliver and Ricardo Chambers on the Commentators podcast.
Lance Gibbs is not impressed with the current crop of spin bowlers in the Caribbean.
While speaking on Mason and Guest in Barbados on Tuesday, Gibbs expressed his disappointment at the spin bowlers currently playing in the Caribbean and was particularly critical of the much-heralded Rahkeem Cornwall.
Apparently, the 85-year-old former West Indies off-break bowler knows a bit about spin bowling. Between 1958 and 1976, Gibbs played 79 Tests for the West Indies taking 309 wickets at an average of 29.09 and enjoyed an economy rate of under two runs an over.
He was the first spinner in Test history to take 300 wickets and the second bowler behind England’s Fred Truman to do so.
Asked if he has seen any off-break bowlers in recent times who have caught his eye, Gibbs responded with an emphatic, “No!”
Vincentian fast bowler Kesrick Williams is relishing the opportunity to play alongside Dwayne Bravo in the cricket set up.
The 30-year-old Williams had one of his cricket dreams realised recently, when he shared the same dressing room with Bravo, as they were part of the West Indies T/20 team that toured Sri Lanka earlier this year.
“I would say that he’s my favourite player… I love to see him play… It feels even better now that he’s back on the West Indies team, coming out of retirement and I’m playing with him… It feels good,” Williams told SEARCHLIGHT. “I can remember the first time I played against Bravo…I did well for the CCC ( Combined Campuses and Colleges) … I was just standing there staring, as it was my first time seeing him face to face,” Williams reminisced.
But Williams noted that since he was an Under-15 cricketer, he was told that he can be the next Bravo.
“I can remember playing Under-15 cricket for St Vincent (and the Grenadines), and Paddy Thomas and Otis Jack told me that I can be like another Bravo,” Williams disclosed.
He recalled at the time he was considered a better batsman than a bowler.
In the middle of a global lockdown, international and domestic West Indies players are facing another challenge with Cricket West Indies (CWI) not paying their match fees since January this year that would under normal circumstances have been due for payment at the end of February 2020. The main reason for the delay in payments has been understood to be a severe cash crunch CWI has been facing which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The international men players have not been paid their match fee for the home series against Ireland in January (three ODIs and three T20Is) and the Sri Lanka tour in February-March (three ODIs and two T20Is). The international women are owed the match fees for the four matches they played in the T20 World Cup, played in February-March in Australia.
However, the biggest losers are the domestic players, most of whom have not been paid a large percentage of their match fees for the 2020 West Indies Championship, the regional four-day competition. In March, CWI discontinued the competition after eight of the 10 rounds, declaring Barbados the winners of the Headley-Weekes Trophy (named after Caribbean greats George Headley and Everton Weekes).
The St Lucia Zouks have signed Chris Gayle as their marquee player for the 2020 Hero Caribbean Premier League. Gayle has played for the Jamaica Tallawahs and St Kitts & Nevis Patriots in the past. He has won the CPL title twice with the Tallawahs and played in the final with the Patriots in 2017.
Gayle is the leading T20 run scorer of all time as well as the man with the most centuries in the format. He is also the leading CPL run scorer of all time, having made 2,344 runs at the tournament.
Commenting on Gayle arriving at the Zouks, captain Daren Sammy said: “This is great news for St Lucia Zouks and for me as a captain to have the universe boss on my side. Chris is one of the most successful T20 batsmen in the world and with his experience with our young openers, a lot can be learnt from Chris.
