Here are this month’s WI Wickets’ Laurels & Darts. Laurels tothose whose activities within the governing past month have been deserving of the highest kudos. Darts thrown at those whose
conduct has been most unbecoming.
August 2023 Laurels:
Deandra Dottin for her boldness in
speaking out about the shortcomings of West
Indies cricket’s treatment of its female players.
Said Dottin “To be honest, there’s been a lot
going on in the camp and so much I’ve been
through, so many things that needed to be sorted
out, and the players not getting the respect and
basically the attention because there are things
that needed to be done in order for players to
actually perform to the best of their ability,” Dottin
said. “If you’re uncomfortable and if you don’t
have the things in place for your players to be
the best that they can be and actually improve
then there’s always going to be problems!” Speak your
truth Deandra!
Sherfayne Rutherford for his emergence as
Player of the Tournament and Man of the Match for the
final of this year’s GT20 Canada’s third edition. Rutherford
amassed 220 runs from his 8 tournament innings. His
scores included one century, an 84 not out and a 48.
Rutherford also played a pivotal role in the tournament
Final scoring 38 to help secure victory for his team, the
Montreal Tigers. Rutherford received an award of a
half acre land in the United States of America (USA) for
being named the Player of the Series. He was presented
with his award by his fellow Guyanese countryman, the
legendary former West Indies all conquering captain Sir
Clive Lloyd!
Brandon King for leading from the front. In his
first ever captaincy appointment King set the example
for all others to follow by scoring the most runs during the
first three rounds of this years ongoing Caribbean Premier
League. After four completed innings King lead all scorers
with an aggregate of 150 runs and an average of 37.50
His scores included two half centuries.
Jason Holder for being the leading wickettaker
after the first three completed rounds of CPL 2023.
With two rounds still left to be played before the playoffs,
Holder led all bowlers with 8 captured wickets from four
matches played at an economy rate of 8.43
Dave Cameron for demonstrated compassion
and caring in taking time to point out the errors made
by a Caribbean cricket journalist in a recently published
article. Unlike many fellow former West Indies cricket
former administrators and ex-players Cameron provided
valuable, gratefully received, feedback that will
unquestionably be beneficial to the journalist’s continuing
career. Kudos Dave for your demonstrated caring!
August 2023 Darts:
“Double Duty” Daren Sammy for choosing
not to relinquish his St Lucia Royals Caribbean Premier
League Head Coach responsibilities following his
appointment to the identical role for West Indies
ODI and T20I Men’s teams. If that transgression
was not enough of a bad example it has made
been made even worse by the fact that Sammy
is also a West Indies white-ball Selector.
The Guyana Amazon Warriors for
choosing the ageing Pakistani-born, South African
veteran leg-spinner Imran Tahir as franchise
captain fir this year’s 2023 eleventh edition of the
Caribbean Premier League. Without any publicly
provided explanation for the reasons behind the
decision. Tahir was appointed to replace the
much younger and native Guyanese Shimron
Hetmeyer who served as the Warriors’ captain
during last year’s 2022 CPL season.
CPL Umpires for jeopardizing player
safety during the Saturday August 19 CPL match
between the St Lucia Royal’s and Guyana
Amazon Warriors. In their desperate attempt to
have the match played despite the obviously
unsuitable weather affected conditions, the
umpires allowed a five over encounter to get on
the way. Bowlers running in with water splashing
under the boos was the sorry sight being televised
globally before the rains intervened again to
thankfully put an end to sad soap opera like
saga