Barbados and West Indies cricket icons The Most Honourable Desmond Haynes and Joel Garner are expected to form part of the Barbados Pride’s think tank ahead of the upcoming CG United Super50 tournament in Trinidad and Tobago.
MIDWEEK SPORT has been reliably informed that the Barbados team’s hierarchy has reached out to the legendary duo to join the camp and provide their “wisdom, knowledge and vast experience” as the team gets set for the 50-over event slated for the second half of November in Trinidad.
Garner, a giant fast bowler, and Haynes, a superb opening batsman, rank among the greatest players of all time. They were members of the all-conquering West Indies team of the 1970s and 80s and were Cricket World Cup winners in 1979.
Discussions are also being held with several other former Test players to share their “expertise and skills to help upskill the players” as part of the build-up, sources have confirmed.
On a typically slow Feroz Shah Kotla track, the West Indies bowling was disciplined - no extras through the day - without being penetrative in the first and final sessions; in the middle session, they lost all accuracy as India plundered 126 runs without a wicket.
Jaiswal just reacted purely to what was bowled at him. He was watchful for the first hour, then cashed in on some loose bowling, and then tightened up again as West Indies found their bearings in the final session. At one point, when Jaiswal was on 93, the fast bowlers had served him six half-volley boundaries, four short-ball boundaries, and one off just fuller than good length. Against good-length balls, Jaiswal didn't try to score boundaries.
Jaiswal is now level with Graeme Smith for most centuries as an opener under the age of 24. Among all India batters, only Sachin Tendulkar scored more hundreds before his 24th birthday. Of course, for the fifth time out of his seven centuries, Jaiswal went past 150. Only Don Bradman had more scores of 150 or more before turning 24.
The other 23-year-old, Sudharsan, would have desperately wanted to get his count going. Chosen to play Test cricket with a first-class average under 40, he must feel under a little pressure as the No. 3 in a country full of batting talent. He came out to join Jaiswal early on after Jomel Warrican spun one alarmingly past the bat of KL Rahul. Sudharsan added 197 for the second wicket with Jaiswal, played his first false shot on 58 and was dropped, and got out to only his third false shot in a 165-ball innings: again a Warrican delivery that turned alarmingly.
West Indies head coach Daren Sammy is looking forward to a much-improved showing from his side when they take on India in the second and final Test match here, on October 10. The match bowls off at midnight, TT time.
The Windies slumped to an embarrassing defeat by an innings and 140 runs inside three days in the opening Test on October 4, their fifth loss in their last six Test matches.
Speaking during a press conference on October 8, Sammy said the team had done some serious introspection following the loss and was in positive spirits.
He said judging from the way the players approached their training session on October 8, he was expecting a motivated side in the final Test.
"Things have not been going well for a little bit...I see some of the guys lack confidence and it’s something that has to come from within, but you know with lack of performances it’s always hard to rise yourself above that level.
Cricket West Indies has announced the squads for the three (3) One Day Internationals and three (3) T20 International matches against Bangladesh from October 18 -31 in Dhaka and Chattogram, respectively.
Following a fourth consecutive home series triumph, with the recent victory against Pakistan, the Bangladesh series will be the penultimate ODI series of the year for the regional squad, providing an opportunity for continuity in preparation for the ICC Men’s World Cup in 2027, with the nucleus of the squad being retained from the previous series.
Former West Indies Under-19 captain and Academy member, Ackeem Auguste, has been rewarded with a maiden call-up to the ODI squad as a replacement for Evin Lewis, who is recovering from a wrist injury and ruled out of the tour.
Strained finances, infrastructural issues, the skewed economics of world cricket, the pressures of franchise cricket, and the effect of all these things on the talent pipeline that leads from the grassroots to the West Indies Test team. Last week's innings defeat to India in Ahmedabad brought all these topics back into the spotlight.
Various voices have called for financial support to help West Indies cricket address these issues. It has led others, in turn, to question why the ICC and other boards must step in to help. West Indies head coach Daren Sammy has a simple answer: West Indies helped the game grow immensely when they dominated world cricket from the 1970s to the 1990s but did not reap the financial rewards for it in the way that India, for example, have done over recent decades when the game has become far more lucrative.
"Look, [it's] the history we bring, or the history we have, and the legacy we have left on this game in all formats," Sammy said, when posed this question two days out from the second Test in Delhi. "Obviously the way we play now, everybody will lean towards that. But if we take that aside, and understand the impact that the West Indies team have had in international cricket, I think all what we ask for, we deserve.
