Tue, Oct 19, '21
CRITICISM should be used as a tonic to spur the performance of players onto greater things if only to prove that they are worthy to be in that position.
There has been a reaction from coach Phil Simmons, captain Kieron Pollard and the president of Cricket West Indies, Ricky Skerritt, to criticisms of the WI squad selected for the T20 Cricket World Cup (WC) 2021.
Roger Harper is the Lead Selector, a name that replaced chairman (what was wrong with that title?), his assistant is Miles Bascombe of St. Vincent plus coach Simmons.
My bone of contention is why do Skerritt, Simmons and Pollard, believe they have to answer the critics for the selections.
Nicholas Pooran, the vice-captain, has now joined in and is pronouncing on the team and Chris Gayle’s presence on it, etc. He’s only 26 years old and is now gathering his experience, so he should check the water before jumping in, if only because he’s the only one that could be hurt.
Read more at the T&T Newsday
Tue, Oct 19, '21
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (CMC) — Pressure continued to mount on out of form superstar Chris Gayle after yet another failure yesterday during West Indies' seven-wicket defeat to Pakistan in their first official warm-up ahead of next weekend's start of the Twenty20 World Cup group stage.
The Caribbean side mustered only 130 for seven off their 20 overs, with Shimron Hetmyer top-scoring with 28 and Captain Kieron Pollard getting 12, while the 42-year-old Gayle scraped 20 from 30 deliveries.
In reply, Pakistan easily chased down the paltry target at the ICC Academy with 27 balls to spare. The run chase was spearheaded by Captain Babar Azam who stroked exactly 50 off 41 deliveries while Fakhar Zaman hit an unbeaten 46 from 24.
Gayle, whose place in the side has been questioned due to his wretched average of 17 in T20 Internationals this year, failed to change any minds, counting two fours before going bowled by fast bowler Haris Rauf (2-32) in the 14th over with only 63 runs on the board.
Read more at the Jamaica Observer
