Wed, Jan 22, '14
BASSETERRE, St Kitts (CMC) – The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is being called upon to strongly resist moves by the England, India and Australia to complete what some officials have labelled a ‘hostile takeover’ of the sport.
The former chairman of the West Indies Cricket Board’s Governance Committee, Charles Wilkin, QC, has made an appeal to WICB and regional governments in response to a white paper containing proposed changes to revamp ICC which will come before members as early as the quarterly meeting in Dubai on January 28 and 29.
The ICC working paper is proposing that Test cricket is played under a two-tier system in which England, India and Australia will not be demoted while teams like West Indies and New Zealand would find themselves in the second tier.
read more at Guyana Chronicle
Wed, Jan 22, '14
Champions Windward Islands will be forced to defend their Super50 title without captain and allrounder Darren Sammy who announced yesterday his decision to withdraw as a result of injury.
Sammy, the West Indies Test and T20 captain sustained a hamstring injury during the recent tour of New Zealand and has not fully recovered.
He will be replaced by fellow allrounder Craig Emmanuel, while Liam Sebastien will assume the role as captain and Andre Fletcher the new vice-captain.
read more at Trinidad Express
Wed, Jan 22, '14
Opener Chris Gayle is set to make his first competitive appearance today, since picking up a hamstring injury while on tour of India last November.
"Chris (Gayle) is back in training and should be part of the first practice match," Jamaica head coach, Junior Bennett, told The Gleaner yesterday.
He is down to participate in the first of two warm-up matches for Jamaica, ahead of next week's start of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) NAGICO Insurance Super50 in Trinidad and Tobago.
Tue, Jan 21, '14 by SEAN GILBERT
English author James Fuller presents a sympathetic but balanced view of Brian Lara in his book Brian Lara, An Unauthorised Biography. Published by Macmillan Caribbean as part of a series called Caribbean Lives which has included works on Bob Marley, Che Guevara, Jimmy Cliff, and others, this 208 page paperback looks at Lara's life and career and attempts to put it in context.
Perhaps it takes an outsider to be able to tell Lara's story fairly, for although Fuller has lived in Trinidad long enough to appreciate the nuances of Caribbean culture his work does not betray any bias that might come through in a purely West Indian view. It presents a very human view of a man who is both blessed and cursed with greatness, but at the end of it is a man like any other. Fuller shows Lara at both his best and worst.
Tue, Jan 21, '14
Although concerns regarding the ICC "position paper" discussing a two-tier system has been raised in several of the "non top three" cricketing nations, at least one Indian sports writer is also expressing concerns.
As Harsha Bhogle writes in the Indian Express today, "the first thing that strikes you about the “position paper” on the future of the ICC (was the leak an act of dissidence?) is how smartly it has been drafted. I got the impression that the people that produced it were aware of where they would be attacked and have put in debating points at the right places." He also questions the philosophy behind the proposal, saying "But debating points are one thing, the basic philosophy is another. The real issue before the ICC, or the new entity that seeks to be the ICC, is how to balance commerce and development."