This month’s WI Wickets’ Laurels & Darts features Imran Tahir,
Shai Hope, Romario Shepherd, the ICC, and the seven Caribbean
2024 World Cup hosting venues as worthy recipients of the former.
Darts have also been justifiably thrown at the Guyana Amazon
Warriors Caribbean Premier League Franchise, the 2023 CPL
Commentary Panel and Cricket West Indies
Director of Cricket Miles Bascombe.
Pakistan-born, South African T20I
veteran practitioner Imran Tahir for his superb
leadership as captain of the 2023 Caribbean
Premier League Championship title winners
Guyana Amazon Warriors. Tahir led from the
front, capturing 13 wickets at an economy
rate of 6.22 to finish the tournament as
the second-highest wicket-taker. He also
demonstrated astute captaincy skills in
making some very decisive and impactful
on field decisions. The title triumph was the
Amazon Warriors very first in CPL’s elevenyear
history after having failed as losing
finalists on five previous occasions!
Guyana Amazon Warriors newcomer
Shai Hope who provided the batting backbone for
the franchise’s first ever CPL Championship title win.
Hope topped all batters with 481 tournament runs
scored from 13 innings at an average of 53.44. His
scores also included one century and three half centuries.
Romario Shepherd for his outstanding
2023 CPL. Shepherd claimed eleven victims at this
year’s CPL tournament to emerge as one of the
Amazon Warriors leading wicket-takers. He also
provided valuable runs with his lower-order power hitting
batting.
The International Cricket Council (ICC)
for its September 2023 most welcomed early
announcement of the tournament hosting venues
for next year’s 2024 West Indies and USA jointly
hosted T20 World Cup. The ICC’s announcement
of Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, St Lucia,
St Vincent and Trinidad & Tobago as the seven
Caribbean hosting venues together with the three
USA cities of Dallas, Miami and New York will allow
cricket fans the world over start making early plans
as top which countries and/or cities they’d likely
want to target for match attendances.
The selected seven Caribbean ICC 2024
T20 World Cup host venues for their respective
successful bids. The 2024 ICC T20 World Cup if
properly promoted has all the potential to become
a much-needed tourism bonanza for each of the
selected Caribbean countries. Kudos to all for their
demonstrated foresight and outstanding work that
resulted in their respective successful bids!
DARTS!
The Guyana Amazon Warriors for its
reportedly shoddy treatment of the very promising
Guyanese all-rounder Kevin St Clair that resulted
in his decision to quit this year’s CPL midway
through the tournament. Now a West Indies T20I
representative player the twenty-three-year-old St
Clair was rather surprisingly not selected for any of
the Amazon Warriors matches this year, before his
decision to quit the tournament. Shoddy treatment
indeed.
The Caribbean Premier League Commentary
Panel, comprised of Samuel Badree, Ian Bishop, Daren
Ganga, Alex Jordan, Danny Morrisson and Nikhil
Uttamanchandani for their unjustified inclusion of
Trinidad & Tobago KnightRiders captain Kieron Pollard
in their selected Team Of The Tournament. While Pollard
led the KnightRiders to yet another tournament final
his personal performances with the bat were anything
but Team of the Tournament inclusion deserving!
Recently appointed CWI Director of
Cricket Miles Bascombe. Three full months
after his somewhat controversial June 30
appointment to one of West Indies cricket’s
most important positions, the St Vincentianborn
Bascombe is yet to make any public
media appearances or pronouncements
on his fulfillment plans for the arduous
requirements of his newly acquired role.
The fans need to know how you planning
on restoring West Indies cricket to its former
glory Miles!