Former New Zealand bowler turned commentator, Danny Morrison has named West Indies captain Kieron Pollard as one of the most overrated players of the current generation.
The 35-year-old is typically one of the sport’s most widely regarded players, having amassed an impressive 11,326 runs in 573 matches. The tally is surpassed only by compatriot Chris Gayle who is the top runs scorer in the format.
In addition, the player, who has spent 11-years at India Premier League (IPL) club Mumbai Indians, has played for the franchise and played a key role in capturing five IPL titles. Recently, Mumbai Director of Cricket Operations Zaheer Khan hailed the player’s leadership and influence, also branding him as one of the strongest finishers in the game.
The West Indian was one of only one four players retained, along with Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and Suryakumar Yadav. Speaking with Sportskeeda in a recent question and answer styled interview, the commentator singled out Pollard as a player he believed was overrated. In the same breath, Morrison listed Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan as one of the most underrated.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Cricket West Indies (CWI) and Leeward Islands Cricket Board (LICB) paid tribute to Franklyn Francis, who passed away on Monday. Known as “King Frank-I”, he was a respected cricket historian, broadcaster, journalist and social activist in Antigua and Barbuda. He was revered for his immense knowledge of the game, his insightful and informative commentary and analysis on local, regional and international matches for over four decades.
Enoch Lewis, President of LICB and Director of CWI, paid tribute:
FIRST, it was the T20 World Cup, then, before we cricket fans of the Caribbean could recover from being thoroughly crushed as defending champions, the Test cricketers succumbed meekly to the Sri Lankans at Galle.
In the second of a two-Test series, the Caribbean team collapsed to 132 in their second innings to lose by 164 runs.
Hence, WI bowed to their hosts in both matches by appreciable margins, leaving little doubt as to which was the stronger team.
Although the selectors were to be blamed for the T20 downfall, the players themselves have no excuses for losing the series. Their shortcomings as far as batting technique are concerned must be blamed on themselves to a great extent, and the coach.
ST JOHNS, Antigua – Cricket West Indies (CWI) today announced the match schedule for the Ireland Men’s tour of the West Indies. Ireland will play three CG Insurance One-Day Internationals (ODI), to be followed by a one-off T20 International (T20I) at Sabina Park, Jamaica from Saturday, January 8 to Sunday, January 16.
This will be Ireland’s second full white-ball tour to the West Indies. Ireland previously toured in 2020 which included a thrilling one-wicket, last-over win for the West Indies in the second match of the 2020 CG Insurance ODI Series. Please see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxSJce30CDE
“We are looking forward to welcoming Ireland back to the West Indies in January. They last visited the Caribbean in 2020 and we had some exciting encounters, so we can anticipate a competitive series to start the new year,” said Johnny Grave, CEO of CWI.
There is perhaps nothing more palpably pathetic than listening to West Indian captains trying to speak positively after unending defeats. But if one really wanted to find ineffectiveness dressed in finery, one need not look any further than the present Cricket West Indies (CWI) administration.
Much has been written about the state of affairs of West Indies cricket on the field. But hard as it might seem, regional cricket is neither hopeless nor is it broken. However, remove CWI’s cosmetics and the fault lines within are widening with every platitude and excuse that emanate from the organization’s hierarchy.
But let’s give our cricket situation some context. Similar to our politics and much of our social interactions in the Caribbean, everything appears to be mired in a form of “old-boys club” philosophy. And when one does not play ball with the “boys” one can expect backlash even from regional prime ministers. It might be lost on many but West Indies cricket has regressed under the presidency of Ricky Skerritt. One would not believe this though, especially with the silence from erstwhile noisemakers such as the likes of prime ministers Dr Ralph Gonsalves and Dr Keith Mitchell who have somehow lately become afflicted with acute laryngitis.
