interview by MICHELLE McDONALD

Lendl Simmons may have been as surprised as everyone else when he was included in the West Indies team to play against New Zealand in Antigua . Selected to bat at number 8, the 22 year old from Trinidad was left last man standing after the team's main batsmen failed to challenge the bowlers.

Two days before the West Indies was crushed by South Africa in Grenada, Simmons told CaribbeanCricket.com that playing in the 2007 World Cup was literally a dream come true for him. It all started with a shooting star.. Full Story

Keep an eye on this young man, he will go far.

Arawak

'was much more easier'... Come in redB.

In reply to crapaud
de grammar cop... :lol: :lol:

anyhow, let's hope he does well in the future...

In reply to Arawak

:shock:

:shock:

In reply to JahJah

8)

In reply to Arawak

:oops: :lol:

In reply to ends

"when you wish upon a star..."

dont remember the rest of the song
:lol: :lol:

So, the three of them are all part of the "just laugh" posse??? :lol: :lol:

Seriously, though, I think Simmons should have been given a chance in the preliminary rounds in the opening slot to help him and the WI in the Super 8s. Out of all the youngsters, I think he has the basics down and I've said so before and still believe so!

If Gayle fails in the next match, I'd be tempted to play Simmons at 3 with Chanderpaul and De. Smith opening in the final game.

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com Nice job Michelle and more importantly thanks for giving Lendel a forum to speak. Great Kid/Guy makes me very hopeful for the future. These young players need strong, focus, leadership from men with impecable integrity and forsight. There is no doubt in my mind West Indies have the talent to produce world class players.

Wesley

Blind optimism has its place and that is within the domain of those who refuse to face reality. This youth Simmons, along with Pollard and a host of others, are simply 'very good' when operating within the shelter of the mediocre regional competitions. Once they venture into the waters of 'real cricket' and come up against true test teams they crumble like a Shirley biscuit.

The demise of Windies cricket began in earnest when the myopic WICB did not believe it was critical to replace the loss of professional training that the English County Cricket provided with something similar in the Caribbean. Hence the juvenile attitude that obtains coupled with inept performances from this hapless bunch of 'wannabee' cricketers should surprise no one. The constant regurgitation of 'we know what areas we have to work on, etc.' by the incompetent captain, Brian Lara, has only served to add more insult to the injured pride of Caribbean people. Rather than remove himself from the team gracefully before the World Cup started, he allowed his patented selfishness to override whatever commonsense he had remaining. Now after the damage is done, he has suddenly energized his brain to admit that he is no longer up to playing ODI. Honestly, he should have extended that to include test cricket as well. But, he probably believe the hype that he is still 'one of the world's best batsmen' and has visions of establishing more records. But, records can and will be broken, as Courtney Walsh found out, after overstaying his tenure on the team and stifling the development of his replacements and possibly discouraging other potential fast bowlers.

In reply to Fortis

They are being thrown into the lions den too quickly.

Instead of using the FC Season, Windies use International Cricket.

Extend the FC Season and improve training facilities.

In reply to JahJah

That statement plus the story you gave us about him and Bravo rolling round in the grass puts this youth in a certain light..... :oops:

In reply to Spectator Just laugh :lol:

In reply to ends :oops:

In reply to Fortis

I think you are wrong!!

Check Simmon's record and you will find that he has not even been 'very good' at the domestic level.

No doubt he is a player of some promise who, like too many before him, has been rewarded with a place on the West Indies team on the bad of one good perfromance per season.

By any chance, is that "shooting star" he is referring to, be one BCL?? Because, apparently, BCL star has hit the ground with a resounding thud! :lol: :lol:

Simmons is young player with potential

Seriously, Spekky is right... this youth has the basics and is a very solid opener for his age an experience. Not a bash-the-ball-around kind of opener, or a push-and-nudge opener, but a kid with a solid foundation.

At this point the best thing that we could do for him is hook him up with a club overseas, either England or South Africa or Australia, and let him develop.

Arawak

In reply to crapaud

I share your dismay at the savaging of the language by Lendl, but what can I say...it's a result of the steady diet of illiterate unintelligilbe garbage that spews for Jamaican ignoramuses and that is fed undiluted to the young people in the region, who, in their ignorance and innocence, mistake it for music.

That diet of Jamaican shyte adversely affects the ability of the youths to value good langauge skills. After all, if illiterate louts can make big money spouting illiterate gibberish, why should they bother with good English?

I have always been appalled that the standard of "music" in the region is set by louts hailing from the most illiterate communities in Jamaica and accepted by the badly educated youths in the region, and even by some educated ones who bow to peer pressure. However, I am in a minority group and I know it.

And it's not only the poor language...it's also the extremely low standards of the lyrics...let's call it that for argument's sake...that promote all the worst things you do not wish your child to learn.

It's instructive to note that the same people here who deplore the drop in the standard of WI cricket will now rush to condemn me and praise the abysmally low standard of caribbean "music", blissfully ignorant of the fact that you cannot lower standards like that in one area and expect it not to affect standards in other areas amongst young people - aka - our cricketers.

Finally, I believe that a really good journalist would make small corrections of grammar where it does not change the meaning of what the interviewee tried to say. I have to admit that I am a we bit disappointed that Yammie chose to report bad grammar verbatim when changing it to "much easier" would have conveyed the same message.

Top drawer professionalism is not something we need from the WI players only. Matter of fact, we deperately need that from our mostly unprofessional regional journalist.

Yammie impressed me as being better than average at that...that's why I'm a little bit disappointed.

In reply to redbaron

ummmmm.....re ur last paragraph.....I am a bit disappointed in u dat u expected better.....we joke and ting but I have always said u r a sharp cookie and normally bang on da money.....

In reply to Arawak

Simmons is a moderately talented cricketer. I am tempted to say "limited talent", but I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt.

His record so far is one of a very few peaks and lots of valleys. And I put no water in my mouth to say that he is NOT ready for tests and ODIs....not by a long shot.

He needs that development of which you speak to try to become a tolerably good criketer at the highest level. If we still had free access to English County cricket he would be able to do his development there.

As it is, he can't and the WICBandits have nothing to fill the void. Thus, the best he can do is get a minor county or league contract in England, which might not be much better, if at all, than dung heap, but will allow him to play more cricket.

In the end, it is my opinion that he will not be more than one who could get an occasional pick for tests/ODI, unless the standard of WI cricket remains as low as it is. In that case, he could become a regular mediocrity to join the other mediocrities.

I wish him well and hope that he's able to overcome the huge obstacles in the path of a talented regional cricketer who is trying to become a test/ODI cricket...a successful one, I mean.

In reply to OVAL291

Why shouldn't I expect better?

I expect better from you too and I get disappointed sometimes too...this time...

I stand by what I said.

In reply to redbaron

I agree with you that the journalist should at least make the grammar correction. i don't know why he/se doesn't. I have wondered whether it is because in the West Indies we take pride in our local slang. For myself I prefer people to use gramatically correct language; whatever that language is

In reply to redbaron

Ok....u r assuming pure motives and no hidden agendas....I see....