England spent their first day in the West Indies on Friday in their luxury accommodation in St Kitts, an island of 35 square miles in the middle of the Caribbean Sea, populated by 45,000 easy-going inhabitants. There is no more relaxing venue to be found anywhere, ideal perhaps for temporarily blanking the persistent distraction of Kevin Pietersen, if a little too laid-back a place in which to properly get ready for three back-to-back Tests in the space of three weeks.
Captain Alastair Cook, Ian Bell and Jimmy Anderson would remember it as the location where they started their 2009 tour with matches against a St Kitts Invitational XI and West Indies A. They moved on to Jamaica for the first Test a few days later, where Jerome Taylor's pace sent them spiraling to 51 all out and defeat by an innings and 23.
Jonny Bairstow, Adam Lyth, Adil Rashid and Ben Stokes were there for 12 days at the start of England Lions' tour of seven first-class matches four years ago.
This time, England are restricted to a couple of two-day matches against St Kitts & Nevis, a team without first-class status. Cook and his men can anticipate an effortless workout. They then make the short hop of 65 miles to Antigua for the first Test at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, starting Monday, April 13. They could find that their ground work would have been better served by tougher opposition first-up.
West Indies fast bowler Jerome Taylor, spinner Nikita Miller and wicketkeeper Chadwick Walton have come together to form a cricket charity organisation called the MTW Cricket Foundation.
"We want to give back to society in the same way society has given to us, and we thought coming together and forming a cricket foundation would be a good thing," said Walton during the foundation's first activity last weekend at Sabina Park.
The occasion was the handing of cricket gear and equipment to his alma mater, Munro College, the first of three high schools who are set to benefit this year.
The current state of West Indies cricket will leave any cricket loving West Indian grasping at anything in an effort to get back to winning ways. With England already touching our shores everyone will be looking to put the dismal World Cup performance behind and hope that things can start to change against the “Poms”.
What is different this time around and from the World Cup a few weeks ago? Well, these two things I am going to try and address in this column today. The first one is the appointment of Trinidadian Phil Simmons as coach of the Caribbean team. The big man from Arima packed his bags after eight years in cold Ireland, making their cricketers relevant and their cricket respected on the world scene. He mentioned that with the current state of West Indies cricket, he could not turn his back on his country, at this time and decided to come back home.
LONDON (CMC) -- An upbeat England arrived in St Kitts on Thursday for their three-Test tour of the Caribbean, with captain Alastair Cook confident of making a huge impact against opponents struggling in the game's longer form.
England exited the recent ICC World Cup without reaching the second round and are now focused on regaining some lost pride in the series, which bowls off in Antigua on April 13.
"We've got to focus on the exciting thing, which is the next five weeks and the guys who are lucky enough to pull on that shirt, to represent our country and be committed to playing for England," Cook said prior to his departure from Gatwick Airport.
Organisers of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20 are offering a 15 per cent Easter discount to cricket fans who purchase their tickets this weekend.
In a release yesterday, the CPL organisers said online ticket sales start Easter Sunday, and early-bird fans can get an Easter Special discount, available for the first 72 hours.
Tickets for home games involving the Barbados Tridents, Jamaica Tallawahs, Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel, St Lucia Zouks and St Kitts and Nevis Patriots will be available at discounted prices through the Limacol Caribbean Premier League website, www.cplt20.com.
Loyal fans can also ensure they don't miss out on any of the pulsating action by getting their hands on a four-game package, which includes tickets for every home game,
