FORMER West Indies women’s captain Merissa Aguilleira has described as “disappointing” some of the performances in the recent CG United Women’s Super50 and T20 Blaze regional competitions.
Aguilleira was speaking to Newsday on Monday, two days after Barbados completed a sweep of the tournaments in St Kitts.
The ex-West Indies wicketkeeper/batter was an assistant coach for the Red Force Divas, who had mixed results in the competitions. TT were runners-up in the Super50, before finishing in fifth place in the T20 Blaze.
Aguilleira, 37, who was named an honorary life member of the Marylebone Cricket Club last month, said the performances were concerning as these were the tournaments being used to select West Indies players.
The regional side has been struggling to replace the void in quality left by Barbadian Deandra Dottin, who retired in August last year; the injury-plagued Jamaican all-rounder Stafanie Taylor; and Mohammed’s decision to take a break from international cricket.
Aguilleira said, “I was really disappointed with the performances throughout the tournament. The wickets were good enough that the teams could have got good scores, but unfortunately it didn’t happen. You can see there is a lot of development (still) to take place.”
Referencing a recent Brian Lara interview discussing the mental aspect of the game, Aguilleira said, “That is exactly what is lacking in the Caribbean right now – the mental part of the game...When it comes to skills, the girls have a lot of talent.”
The St Kitts & Nevis Patriots have confirmed their Caribbean player retentions ahead of the 2023 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL). The tournament gets underway on 16 August with the final taking place on 24 September. There will be matches in Barbados, Guyana, St Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia and Trinidad & Tobago.
The Caribbean players the Patriots have retained are as follows:
EVIN LEWIS
ANDRE FLETCHER
SHERFANE RUTHERFORD
DOMINIC DRAKES
SHELDON COTTRELL
JOSHUA DA SILVA
The Patriots have also brought in Oshane Thomas who was transferred from the Barbados Royals.
The overseas players and draft picks will be announced during the Republic Bank CPL draft show which will be broadcast at the end of June.
The Guyana Amazon Warriors have confirmed their Caribbean player retentions ahead of the 2023 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL). The tournament gets underway on 16 August with the final taking place on 24 September. There will be matches in Barbados, Guyana, St Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia and Trinidad & Tobago.
The Caribbean players the Patriots have retained are as follows:
SHIMRON HETMYER
ODEAN SMITH
ROMARIO SHEPHERD
SHAI HOPE
KEEMO PAUL
CHANDRAPAUL HEMRAJ
GUDAKESH MOTIE
MATTHEW NANDU
JUNIOR SINCLAIR
The overseas players and draft picks will be announced during the Republic Bank CPL draft show which will be broadcast at the end of June.
Does Darren Sammy not know that the cricketers with whom he has had in-depth conversations had turned their back on West Indies cricket for a better pay day? Does Sammy believe that these cricketers would suddenly make an about-turn and prefer to play for their country again because of a change of heart?
The cricketers are Shimron Hetmyer, Evin Lewis, Sunil Narine and Andre Russell.
This event could only happen for two reasons: firstly, they’re becoming a bit long in the tooth and are not sure they can retain their places with their franchises, or, secondly, the excitement of their performances is dying and younger international stars are attracting the sponsors. Plus, young Indian cricketers of ability are coming to the fore, and places have to be found for them.
The home crowd is baying for the locals. They’re growing a bit tired of the visitors whose glamour has faded, and are now shouting for their own youth. What has caused this too, is the undeniable fact that the WI stars are no longer playing international cricket; hence they are losing their appeal, if not for all fans, but for some discerning spectators witnessing the waning of their attractiveness.
Consequently, the WI star, well aware of this, will demand to be paid comparable salaries to the Indian Premier League to line up for their home territory. They will see it as their pension, with no allegiance to their country of birth, nor the cricket authorities where they learnt the game and developed their skills to become celebrities.
While a tension-filled breakdown in contract negotiations led to Rovman Powell departing Jamaica Tallawahs for the 2023 Caribbean Premier League (CPL), the talented cricketer says he doesn't rule out a return to his "home" franchise.
In what was deemed a massive blow to the Tallawahs, the West Indies star who captained the franchise to the 2022 CPL Twenty20 (T20) title, was transferred to last season's losing finalists Barbados Royals in exchange for leg spinner Hayden Walsh.
"I don't think it's goodbye or anything along that line. Once things straighten out, hopefully, I'll be back home," Powell, who spent six seasons with the Tallawahs, said during an exclusive interview with the Jamaica Observer on Monday.
"It's a switch that I didn't want to make, to be honest, but a lot of things happened last year even though we won the championship. I was trying to fix it — it was basically me standing up for players against the Jamaica Tallawahs management and it has caused my departure. I can accept that because as the captain, I should be there for my players, and the support that I garnered from players was tremendous," the 29-year-old all-rounder added.
