Deserved Laurels have been provided in this month’s Issue to
Jason Holder, the former West Indies captain and world-ranked
allrounder, the Berbice Cricket Board, University of Guyana,
Kevin Sinclair, Jason Holder and Isai Thorne. Darts has been just as deservedly thrown at Cricket West
Indies, the West Indies Desmond Haynes headed Selection
Panel, and West Indies cricket’s Facebook Fans in general.
LAURELS:
Jason Holder, the former West Indies captain and current world-ranked all
rounder for availing himself of the training facilities provided by the Indian Premier League
Rajasthan Royals that are vastly superior to those available anywhere in the Caribbean.
Of his own violation Holder traveled to India to do some self-work on improving his physical fitness as well
as refining his tactical skills, By so doing he has set a most wonderful example that many of his
current West Indies teammates, across all three formats, would do well to follow!
The Berbice Cricket Board for its establishment of a Wall of Fame at the University
of Guyana’s Tain, Corentyne Campus. The Wall
of Fame features 31 Berbice-born cricketers who
have represented the West Indies in either Tests,
ODIs, or T20Is. John Trim, the first-ever Berbice
born cricketer to represent the West Indies in Tests
is among those now prominently featured on the
UG Wall of Fame!
The University of Guyana for awarding two Guyanese cricketing icons, Rohan Kanhai and Joseph “Reds” Perreira with Honorary Doctorates. Kanhai the 87-year-old former West Indies captain and batting maestro and Perrera, now 84 were conferred with their respective doctorates on November 18, 2023.
Kevin Sinclair for his remarkable 80 not out
which led the West Indies A Team to an exciting come
from- behind victory against their South African hosts in
the first of three Tests against the two teams. Sinclair’s
outstanding innings rescued the West Indies from a
perilous 109-4 to their victory target of 224, which was
eventually achieved for the loss of nine wickets in the 81st
over of the day’s play!
Isai Thorne for his outstanding First-Class debut
match figures of 8/44-11 overs. Thorne a former Westndies U19 player gave a spellbinding performance by
capturing four wickets for just eight runs off six overs to
rout the Emerging Ireland tourists and lead the West Indies
to a resounding 134run victory in the first of two matches
played between the two teams at Antigua’s Coolidge
Cricket Centre. Thorne had earlier also taken another
four-wicket haul in Emerging Ireland’s first innings.
DARTS:
West Indies Senior’s Men’s Desmond Haynes and the Selection Panel, for its horrendous error in choosing Yannic
.Cariah instead of Hayden Walsh as the wrist-spinner for the three-match ODI Series against the touring England. Walsh finished the 2023 Regional Super50 tournament as the join highest wicket-taker along with Sunil Narine. His 20 wickets were superior to Cariah’s 18. His economy rate of 4.89 was also that much better than Cariah’s 5.65. As a lower-order hard-sitting batsman Walsh also had an outstanding 2023 Super50 scoring 222 runs from seven innings at a 44,40 average. The much more sedate Cariah managed only 170 runs from 5 innings at a wholly deceptive average of 170,
complements of his four not outs. Compared to the indisputably world-class dynamic Walsh, Cariah’s fielding could only
ever be best described as average. An additional factor that renders the Selectors’ preference for
Cariah all the more incomprehensible.
Cricket West Indies for the absolute lack of any speed radar technology during this year’s recently concluded CG United Regional Super50 tournament.In this day and age when providing bowling speeds of participating players is considered to be a standard feature of television match coverage, it is appalling that Cricket West Indies’ coverage of its Super50 tournament could be so woefully lacking.
West Indies cricket fans for demonstrated continuous irrationality. The objections of many fans to the Selectors’ provided explanation of their controversial omission of thirty-five-year-old Darren Bravo from the ODI squad based on his advancing age may have been totally understandable. The same cannot be said, however, about the fans’ erroneous comparisons of the Selectors’ inclusion provided explanation that both the 34-year-old Kjorn Ottley and the 32-year old Shane Dowrich. Ottley, an opening batter, and Dowrich a wicket-keeper batsman were both included merely as backup replacements for missing much younger players. In their apparently advanced state of aggravation over the perceived injustice to Bravo, the said fans were irrationally unaccepting of the Selectors’ provided explanation