Will West Indies Cricket Rise From The Ashes ?

[The Black Prince]

In 2010 the west indies failed to win a single test match.

in the past 7 years the west indies has struggled to win one test match per year.

so the question we all have to ask is:

Will West Indies Cricket Rise From The Ashes ?

as fans we can all indulge in some hoping and praying.

but the reality is the caribbean has stopped producing world class cricketers.

when sars made his debut some experts predicted he would be a wi great.

after 80 something tests sars is only a good batsman.

dwayne bravo has been another disappointment.

in the bowling department fast bowlers edwards and taylor have not lived up to expectations.


going forward who are the cricketers that will make the west indies rise from the ashes ?

i dont think those cricketers are born yet because right now i dont see any world class performers among the young players in the caribbean.

barath and darren bravo have had good starts in the test careers but like sarwan the best they can do is become good batsmen.

roach looks like he can develop into a very good fast bowler. but will he disappoint like edwards and taylor ?

Will West Indies Cricket Rise From The Ashes ?

I say they will remain mediocre for decades.

[RumSammy]

I like WI cricket but would be lying to myself to think that they will be world beaters anytime soon. It will take a lot to get out of the ashes. is there a plan for WI cricket or we all irie?

[POINT]

Again , allow me to inform you and others that it is not a question of not having Talent , WE do have talent , Stanford & his Board proved that by his Team beating all the opponents they played against .

Obviously this was facilitated by the fact that HE HAD A 6 WEEKS CAMP . THIS TELLS ME THAT THE MAIN PROBLEM IS THAT OUR PLAYERS DONT PLAY ENOUGH CRICKET . Now that is the responsibility of the WICB . But it has become crystal clear , that the WICB has learnt nothing from Stanford & his Cricket Board .

The solution in my opinion therefore is to have more Regional Tournaments . Rather than invite
Teams from other Countries , whose Players play more Cricket than our Players , and of a higher calibre too . Especially since our Players are Part Time Cricketers .

I am at a loss why the WICB invites teams from outside the Region when , extending the Regional Tournaments will reap better dividends . Doing that will raise the competitiveness of our Players by sharpening , their Physical & Mental Skills .

[mapoui]

I have heard this talent mantra over and over again. we have the talent and somehow it is not properly harnessed to produce a world beating side.

I mean I am not in the westindies but I have always prided myself on my ability to judge talent. and the talent I have seen in the westindies does not compute and come out to be anything above average in most cases.

at this tome westindies has one, true world class batsman and that is Shive...if he remains at his peak at 35 or so.

Gayle is a classy batsman even if not a classy technician. he can score big bit not as often as often as we like.

who in heavens name can argue that Ramdin, Baugh and their competitors represent real talent? westindies does not have keepers at this time worth much. we can only hope that Ramdin as he matures turns into a decent stop gap. Dujon, Hendircks or Aleaxander he is not.

I likes POINTs enthusiasm but I dont see the talent myself!

[mapoui]

I agree about lthe mal-administration of the westindian game.

more importantly that mal-administration has allowed cricket to become a lil, bratty sister of westindian sports that the kids are not concerned to play anymore, most due to its awful reputation amongs what is suddenly many more lucrative alternatives to focus ones athletic talents.

I suspect that that is a major contributor to the decline in real international class coming out of the westindies. Usaine Bolt for example would most likely have been as dynamite a test fast bowler as he is a world class sprinter...likely the greatest ever... had he focused on cricket.

young westindians are focused on the millions offerred by european soccer contracts...soccer contratcs anywhere for that matter. they are focused on athlectic and academic scholarships at prestigious universities the world over...on NBA and european basketball opportunities....

all of these offerrfar, far more than a life in westindian cricket, stultified by the maljo administrative hand of a grasping, greedy and undemocrtaic wicb cricket committee, that has established a suffocating domination over the game in the region.

the most disgusting emblen of this domination is the unopposed election of the wicb chairmen almost from its inception, which the cricket committee has arranged for so long now, many who refuse to associate themselves with the game at leats partly because of it, were not born when it began.

[mapoui]

cyan anyone imagine the nightmare reality this is...a long line of the most undemocratic, old and incompetent chairmen probably in the history of the administration of cricket on planet earth has been produced by this chupidness.

and it continues with no interference from anyone.

just count them..Short, Rosseau, Griffith, Hall, Gordon, skunt Hunte the worst of that rotten lot... who at the end of their careers never saw the wicb and westindian cricket as anything but a bad, bratty lil sister, a bad lil b**ch deh were put there to discipline and keep down, not to water and make grow into full blossom.

westindian kids wont have much to do with westindies cricket anymore...certainly not those in Trinidad, Barbados and Jamaica anymore. Barbadians have opportunity and Titty and the Yard are sources for soccer players and all manner of scholarships out of the region for the talented.

I am not sure what happens in Guyana. and up the islands schoarships are also a way out though not as big I imagine, as inTitty and the Yard.

thats where the big tall, talented fellows go now, leaving the cricket to 'tests' like short, soft and impsy fellas like Best, Taylor, Edwards etc., who cyar do any better and must stay in cricket!

[POINT]

With all due respect the fact that you made no mention of Stanford having a 6 week Camp for his Team , and that Team went on to win all its matches including the Twenty Million Dollars , Twenty / 20 match vs England proves my point ,pardon the pun .

I am very confident that the more preparation , by playing matches , our Players get , the more competitive Internationally they will be . Let me again repeat , CRICKET IN THIS REGION BEGAN TO DECLINE WHEN OUR PLAYERS BECAME PART TIME CRICKETERS , DUE TO THE FACT THAT THEY WERE BANNED FROM PLAYING IN EGLAND . ABSOLUTELY NO ONE CAN DENY THIS FACT .

Rather than try having more Regional Matches for our Players or attempt to form a Semi or Pro League the WICB , remained having just its 3 Regional Tournaments . I have no doubt that You
realize that ALL the Players in Teams ranked above our Team , play a hell of a lot more Cricket than our Players .

PLAYING MORE CRICKET NOT ONLY MAKES PLAYERS PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY STRONG , IT
ATTUNES ALL THEIR CAPACITY TO DO WELL . SOME HOW THIS SEEMS LOST ON YOU AND OTHERS WHO SHARE YOUR OPINION .

Obviously , PROPER PREPARATION PREVENTS PISS POOR PERFORMANCES . You either dont know or have forgotten that in the Golden Eras of West Indies Cricket ,because of the schedule in those Days our Players played many matches before and between the Test Matches , this facilitated them in getting acclimated to the Weather ; Pitches and Bowlers .

Our Current Part Time Players do not enjoy that luxury under the current ICC Schedule . THIS FACT IS NEVER CONSIDERED BY THOSE WHO SAY THERE AINT TALENT IN THE REGION . Why ?? .
If as I Have stated many times , apart from the Regional Tournaments the WICB selected 44 of the Best Players in the Region , and let them play matches , again whittling it down to 22 Players let them play matches , and then select the Squad & alternatives , that would be best way to select the Squad , it would also have them sharp in all aspects of the game .

Until something like what I have stated is done , in my opinion , Absolutely no one should say that WE dont have any talent . I havent even yet mentioned the fact that the 1 week Campos of the WICB aint very helpful , neither are the Single warm up matches ;especially when consideration is given to the fact as I have stated before that , our Part Time Players play less Cricket than their counterparts on Teams ranked above our Team .

I serious doubt that you and others , can refute the points I have made , and then boldly proclaim that WE have no Talent in the Region . The real truth is that Our Players have not been given enough opportunities to show that they have Talent , that really is the crux of the matter .

[POINT]

I am still awaiting a response from Mapoui , regarding what I have written . My position is that only after what I have proposed has been tried can WE make a determination regarding the Talent or lack of Talent in the Region . Until then my take is that the Jury is still out .

[mapoui]

well Point...let me see what we can do with what we have!

the 1950 team that trounced england had very little experience outside of the westindies. but we wont lean too heavilly on that tour for england ws still recovering from the second 'world'war as they argue and was not at full strength.

after defeat by the Oz in 1951 and a slim win at home against Indian we could point to weekes and worrell, Ramadin in the lancashire leagues but little else.

Stollmeyer, Rae, Gomez, Walcott, valentine, Christiani, Frank King etc were all home based. by defeat again at home by the Oz in 1955 after a home tie with Huttons England, we beat the hell out of New zealand only to come a-cropper in england in 1957. by them out english exprienced players were still few.

but by 1960 we had sobers, Kanhai, Smith, Gilchrist, Dewdney, Butcher and a bunch or players in the weekend leagues in england. but lets take the tie test side of 1961for example: Cammie Smith, Conrad Hunte, Rohan kanhai, G Sobers, F Worrell, J S Solomon, P Lashley, F Alexander, S ramadin, W Hall, A L valentine.


of that side by then I believe only Sobers, Kanhai in scotland, Worrell, Ramadin had english league experience..and by that we mean week-end professional cricket. Alexander of course had gone to university in england where he secured a double blue at cambridge in cricket and football, before he became westindies keeper!

[mapoui]

Solomon, Lashley, Smith, Hall, Hunte, Valentine...were all strictly westindian players from a regional program that far skimpier than is is now and far from certain annually.

it was only from 1964 the then wicbc began to get serious about a permanent regional tournament that included all..even jamaica which at 2000 miles away always provided a problem of inclusuion in tournament which usually included the nearfby 3 Barbados, trinidad and British Guyana.

yet from such a skimpy basis the first world championship team was largely derived.

if you go back to 1953 for example you will see this: westindies vs england

worrell, stollmeyer, weekes,walcott, christiani gomez, d st e atkinson, c a wcwatt, j. k holt, s ramadin, a l valentine. of that team ramadin, weekes at bacup and wofrrell could be said to have had english experience.

the team that defeated the Oz in the westindies in 1965 contained the following players for all 5 matches: Hunte, Nurse, Kanhai, Butcher, Sobers, Solomon,, Hendriks, Tony White, Hall, Griffith, Gibbs, Bryan Davis, W Rodriguez, D W Allan

I dont know if by then Hunte was in the english leagues, but sobers was, as well as Nurse and Butcher, Kanhai. also by then Kanhai, Sobers, hall had played seasons in Oz XCricket in the sheffield shield tournament