Rain, No Play

In an about face, the WICB, according to CaribbeanCricket.com, will offer the ODI and Twenty20 captaincy for the current England tour to Chris Gayle. Previously the WICB's executice committee had rejected the selectors' choice of Gayle for stand in captain for the ODI and Twenty20 matches.

Apparently the WICB's executive committee led by President Ken Gordon wanted to clean house with the supposed "indisciplined" players. However, the selectors made it known Gayle has never been charged with "indiscipline" and that they would resign en masse if the board interfered with their decision. Good for them. Their job is to select the team and if the WICB doesn't like their performance then they should replace them when their terms are up, but stay out of the selection process, Mr. Gordon!  read more »

News has surfaced that the selectors had nominated Chris Gayle for the captaincy of the ODI and Twenty20 teams in Ramnaresh Sarwan's absence. However that proposal has been shot down by the WICB, who are apparently favouring Daren Ganga for the role. Now, Ganga has proven himself to be an astute captain, but can he claim a batting position in a ODI side? He wasn't even in the Windies' initial list of 30 for the World Cup.

Gayle's "too cool" personality has often irked many a Caribbean scribe - is that the reason for his snub? Kool kat or not, Gayle is clearly one of the most established players in ODI cricket for the Windies. Gayle, despite his poor run of form recently, averages a just shade under 38 with the bat and has made 15 ODI centuries - more than any other batsman in the team. His leadership ability was pointed out by Brian Lara as far back as 2004 when Lara suggested that Gayle could be a future Windies captain.  read more »

Now that the Ramnaresh Sarwan has been officially named as the captain of the West Indies team, even if under probation, lets take a shot at what the 15 man Test team to tour England will look like. Some changes will probably be made for the ODI series to follow the Test series.

1) Ramnaresh Sarwan (c)
2) Daren Ganga (vc)
3) Chris Gayle
4) Shivnarine Chanderpaul
5) Denesh Ramdin (wk)
6) Daren Powell
7) Jerome Taylor
8) Dwayne Bravo
9) Corey Collymore
10) Devon Smith

The first 9 should pick themselves. Devon Smith should also be in there as well due to his recent form and after Gayle and Ganga, he's probably the best opener in the West Indies.

11) Marlon Samuels
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[ Photo courtesy of www.stanford2020.com ]

Somewhere along the road to the presumed elevation of Windies' vice captain Ramnaresh Sarwan to the top post, rumor has it that his dream might be derailed.  read more »

Fallout from the West Indies' continued string of failures began today when Windies coach Bennett King resigned from office. His resignation will take effect on May 31, 2007. Apparently he is staying on to facilitate the establishment of a regional cricket academy and so that the WICB can better "understand the challenges facing the Board as it implements the new structure". (King has been coach for the last three years, what more can he contribute in the next month that he hasn't been able to do for the last 3 years?). Meanwhile, the tour to England, should it go ahead (more on that later), begins in 3 weeks and the Windies don't have a coach. Apparently, King recommended his assistant David Moore, another former coach at the Australian cricket academy to take over for the English tour.  read more »

Photo credit: Daniel Y. Go.

Following three consecutive humiliating defeats in which the West Indies' cricketers, save a few, failed to show any any desire to win, burning questions will have to be answered. The passion that had so characterised West Indies cricket in the past was replaced by listless, gutless surrenders. We put forward these questions in the (possibly futile) hope that answers will lead to a brighter day for West Indies cricket.  read more »