Dr Kishore Shallow, the president of Cricket West Indies, means well, though he cannot quite put his finger on the solution to the problem of producing worthwhile cricketers.
One of the points he made at the Ramlagans Balmain United Literary Cricket Club annual awards function at the National Cricket Centre on August 24 was: “Despite the efforts and continued commitment of administrators and clubs and members and so on, the reality is that such reliance on these structures with limited resources is simply not sustainable.”
He has again raised the idea of a West Indies club championship, which he expects will encourage young men of ability to want to play the game, encouraged by the opportunity to travel through the islands for their clubs, motivated by similar opposition and entertaining those same clubs on their home turf.
To his progressive way of thinking, he also imagines that such a competition would motivate territorial clubs to produce top-class cricketers.
After weeks of speculation, it has been confirmed that Pakistani opener Saim Ayub will miss the 2024 edition of the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League.
The left-hander was named as one of the Guyana Amazon Warriors’ retained overseas players in June.
Manager of the franchise Leon Johnson said Ayub will miss the entire tournament, as he has not been granted a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Pakistan Cricket Board.
A replacement has not been named.
In his debut CPL last year, Ayub was a standout with the bat and a huge crowd favourite, playing a crucial role in the Warriors winning a maiden title.
TRINIDAD AND Tobago clinched the CWI Under-17 50-over Championship after their top-of-the-table clash with Barbados was rained out on Monday.
In the round-robin tournament that was significantly impacted by rain, T&T emerged victorious after registering three victories, with the other two matches ending in no results.
Barbados, the defending champions, had to settle for second place after winning two matches, with the remaining three being rained out.
In a winner takes all contest on Monday at Inshan Ali Park, the match between T&T and Barbados was intriguingly poised when the showers arrived.
Batting first, T&T were rescued by their middle-order to eventually finish on 159 in 46.4 overs.
139 - Sixes for Nicholas Pooran in T20s in 2024, the most by any batter in the format in a calendar year. He went past Chris Gayle's 2015 record of 135, when he struck the sixth of his nine sixes on the way to a 43-ball 97 against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in CPL 2024.
8.23 - Balls per six for Pooran in 2024 - he has hit 139 sixes off 1145 balls. Gayle had a rate of 7.50 balls per six, facing 1012 deliveries for his 135 sixes, in 2015. Pooran's sixes came from 57 innings in 2024, compared to Gayle's 36 innings in 2015.
92 - Sixes against pace out of the 139 sixes in 2024 for Pooran. He averaged 8.65 balls per six against the seamers, while the spinners disappeared for a six every 7.43 deliveries (47 off 349 balls). Gayle's sixes count in 2015 was more evenly spread: he hit 68 off pacers (9.5 balls per six) and 66 off spinners (5.42 balls per six). Ninety-two sixes is also easily the most by any batter against pace in a calendar year (in matches where ball-by-ball data is available) - the second-highest is only 73, by Gayle in 2011.
West Indies opener Shai Hope was rewarded for his recent outstanding performances when he was selected by the Hobart Hurricanes during the Big Bash League draft here Sunday.
Hope, who was named Player-of-the-Series following the West Indies’ 3-0 whitewash of South Africa in the just completed T20 series, was picked by the Hurricanes in the platinum category for the tournament, which will run December 15 to January 26.
He will be reunited with head coach Ricky Ponting, who was also his head coach at the Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League for the 2024 season.
