The Independent Voice of West Indies Cricket
West Indies captain Brian Lara isn't happy with the timing of manager Ricky Skerritt's sudden resignation, suggesting it was an unnecessary distraction for the team.
"Without a doubt this situation is more than a little unfortunate because of its timing...Ricky, I must say that I wish this decision had come about before or after the Test series," Lara wrote in a column for the Trinidad Guardian newspaper.
In Vijay Kumar's new book "418 to win," the reader is offered a rare insight into what goes on during the frenetic record-breaking run chase against Australia last year. Kumar has managed to capture and chronicle the emotions and thoughts and suspense that are all part of a winning run chase.
I sat down with Kumar in Jamaica where he was attending the first test between West Indies and England and in marketing his book. Here is the author in his own words:
??Trini to di bone? blares from the speakers over at the Red Stripe Mound, where cricket is the last thing on patrons? minds?.
Remember that sentence from last year?s article during the Australia home series? This was my firm view, shared most recently by Fazeer Mohammed who said of party stand go-ers, ?the so-called "new" fans have little interest in the game?.
I got a call soon after last year?s article to ask how dare I make a statement like that?! The caller said, with confidence, that at least 60 percent of the Moundites (my phrase) were serious cricket fans, who just wanted to watch cricket in a different (read: lively) atmosphere. So this year, I felt I would take my beliefs to the Moundites, young and old, and get their reaction.
The great Trinidadian historian CLR James, who wrote the definitive book on West Indies cricket, Beyond a Boundary, argued that true West Indian independence, self determination and the national consciousness it required would be impossible until the West Indies had taken on the colonisers at their sacred game and mastered it sufficiently to defeat them at home in open play.
Does it seem odd to anyone else out there that the West Indies team, mid-series, are taking a "break" between the second and third test matches? Why are the players returning home to their respective territories when it is clear there is much work to be done? I am at a loss to understand this move - what can possibly be the reasoning behind it?
In my opinion, it is demonstrative of what we have all come to expect from the WICB. Being pro-active is a foreign concept and where foresight, preparation and planning are totally deficient, we see a complete absence of positive results.