Marnus Labuschagne will miss Australia's white-ball tour of West Indies in July due to travel complications amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Labuschagne is currently playing for Glamorgan in England's County Championship and Australia's selectors have decided it will be more practical for the batsman to remain in the UK.
Australia will play five T20s in St Lucia and three ODIs in Barbados.
Although Labuschagne has not represented his country in the shortest format, he has three fifties and a century in 12 ODI innings, at an average of 39.41.
"Anyone who knows Marnus understands he would give absolutely anything to play for Australia and he is deeply upset to miss out due to circumstances beyond anyone's control," Australia's selection chairman Trevor Hohns said.
"We worked through numerous options in conversations with Marnus to find a workable solution but ultimately came to the conclusion it was more practical for him to remain in the UK.
SIR CURTLY Ambrose, the great fast bowler of the West Indies (WI) team in the nineties, had something to say of the glory days of WI cricket of which he played a part.
But while I understand what he’s trying to say, I can’t agree with his perspective.
He says: “I think nowadays most of the youngsters we have now probably don’t quite understand what cricket means to West Indians in the WI and abroad because cricket is the only sport that really unites Caribbean people.
“When we were the best team in the world, West Indians all over the globe could walk and boast about how good we are because we were the best.”
This is an unfair statement that casts judgment on the current players. To say that because his team was the best and Caribbean people, wherever they may live, would boast about them does not mean that the modern-day West Indian cricketer is not aware of the support he has out there in the world.
West Indies fast bowler Alzarri Joseph has credited increased mental focus on his batting with improved performances at the crease.
Over the past several months, the bowler has made the headlines for positing solid totals at the crease, as much as if not more than multiple wicket hauls.
Against New Zealand, in December of last year, Joseph recorded his highest total of 86, which was his maiden half-century. The Antiguan then went on to add another after scoring 82 in February this year against Bangladesh.
“Whatever I could contribute to the team I am happy to do, so it’s good that I have been getting a few scores but for me, I think it’s also about being consistent doing it,” Joseph told the Antigua Observer.
Veteran International commentator, Joseph ‘Reds’ Perreira has launched a stinging rebuke of Cricket West Indies (CWI) and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) for the timing of contracting players for the upcoming calendar year.
In addition, the 81-year-old Perreira says he is totally and utterly disappointed that there has been no cover for fast bowler Shannon Gabriel, who in his estimation has deteriorated.
“We have given contracts to people who played four Test matches in a year, that cannot be fair,” Perreira said on the Line & Length TV Show on Sportsmax.
“The omission of (Shamar) Brooks and (Roston) Chase was surprising given the limited amount of cricket they played, I mean two series? Four or five Tests? I was hoping that WIPA would not have pushed for contracts now, especially since there is no first-class season.
“You dropped players and don’t give them contracts so how will you adequately judge their form and scores. Ideally, because of all that’s going on, those contracts should have been delayed until after the South Africa or Australia tour….or even Pakistan,” he passionately explained.
Saturday, 15 May 2021 — ST JOHN’S, Antigua —The Cricket West Indies (CWI) Selection Panel has named a 30-man squad for a three-week high-performance red-ball training camp in St Lucia, starting tomorrow, Sunday, May 16, in preparation for the upcoming Test Series against South Africa.
The camp provides an opportunity for established Test and developing players alike to sharpen and enhance their red-ball skills in a high-performance environment after a month-long break after the Sri Lanka Series. The camp will include two ‘best v best’ inter-squad matches, as the West Indies look ahead to their final series in the ICC World Test Championship with two Test Matches against the Proteas in June.
Most players attending have been involved in recent West Indies Test squads and high-performance camps. A few players, however, will be receiving their first international training experience since the beginning of the pandemic including Guyanese fast bowler Nial Smith, Jamaican top-order batsman Paul Palmer, Vincentian leg-spinning all-rounder Keron Cottoy and St. Kitts & Nevis’ left-hand batter, Kieran Powell.
