Cricket

perspective Bish's comments are without merit on at least two counts.
To begin with Sammy's captaincy could only have exceeded expectations if the level at which they were set were initially set at a baseline that was insignificant. On any scale an improvement from 1 to 2 reflects the same 100% improvement as 5 to 10. The latter is however significantly more of notable an achievement than the former.
Against Pakistan while Sammy bowled his dibbly dobbly medium pacers, gifting himself tail ender wickets through self serving bowling changes on bowler friendly pitches, the express paced Fidel Edwards sat on the bench. Finally introduced for the three Tests against India, Edwards ended the Series with 19 wickets, including two five wicket hauls, at a very impressive average of 20.00 runs per wicket. By comparison Sammy's seven wickets in the three India Tests cost 38.00 runs each.
What was extremely unfortunate about those statistics was that Sammy's inclusion meant that there was no place for Kemar Roach, whose pace at 90+ mph is consistently higher than Sammy's. In the 12 Tests he has played so far, at least the first half of which were without any meaningful support at the other end, Roach has already taken 40 wickets at an average of 29.90.
Roach has been so impressive in his initial performances that the very same Ian Bishop has found cause to identify him as having the potential to become the next great and legendary West Indies fast bowler. Sammy in comparison has played four more Tests (16 to Roach's 12) and only taken six more wickets (46 in total). Notably no one, not even from his native St Lucia, has identified Sammy as having the potential to become the next great anything!
The second part of Bishop's statement that is so highly frustrating was that Sammy's captaincy should continue until a suitable replacement can be identified. The heat of the Caribbean sun must be getting to Bish for the unfortunate reality is that Sammy's continuing captaincy, characterized by his woeful batting and school-boyishly ineffective field placings, has been at expense of Chris Gayle.
Gayle's performances with the bat at the top of the West Indies batting order have been outstanding. His tenure at the helm of the team was one of the very best for the West Indies within recent times. He is identifiable as a suitable replacement for, and alternative to the Stop-Gap Sammy and fully deserves to be reinstated as captain of the West Indies team. His continuing exclusion from the team and the role of captain by virtue of sheer politics is therefore a tragedy for West Indies cricket.
As I mentioned in my previous column, in the midst of all that frustration, I had been feverishly hoping that Marta and the Girls from Brazil would have offered some Women's World Cup relief from the indignations of Windies cricket. Despite being arguably the most skillful team in the tournament they faltered at the quarter-final stage, losing on penalties to the US who were themselves eventually beaten by Japan by the same route in the Final.
Brazil's loss to the US was especially heartbreaking. They outplayed their opponents for much of the game. They were actually leading 2-1 just minutes away from the final whistle when the US equalized sending the match to the lottery of a penalty shootout to determine the final result.
So amidst the cricket confusion and soccer heartbreak, my only remaining hope for a July restitution is to have a good time at the end of the month at this year's Toronto Carnival. As I mentioned before, my experience onto now has led to my belief that the Byron Lee's Dragonaire's Friday (July 29) Night Boat Cruise has historically provided better value for money than any other Carnival event, bar none!
Indeed that belief is so unshakeable that I am now seriously contemplating going back again for an encore the very next night, when the band hosts its first ever Saturday night (July 30) Cruise. The boat will leave its Polson Street Docks at 9:30. That should give me ample time to get home and back from participating in the Carnival Parade earlier that day.
Like most folks my age, I typically don't do much after the Parade. The opportunity this year to make merry with Jumo, Oscar B and company two nights in a row could however change that in a jiffy.
The other big attraction to the Dragoniare's participation in this year's Toronto Carnival is the Band's recent announcement that it will be releasing its first CD since Byron himself passed in November 2008. According to Band sources, Soca Happening's tracks were hand picked as a tribute to Byron and were chosen as symbols of respect to the dedication and hard work he put in to the Dragonaires for so many years. My expectation is that as an album Soca Happening will feature the same infectious blend of music styles, punctuated by the impressive talents of singers and musicians, that has made all of the Dragonaire cd's produced to date the collector's items they have been.
The CD will be available for purchase at both the Friday and Saturday Night Cruises, as well as at the Dragonaire's July 31 Double Tree Plaza Hotel Fete featuring Boris Gardener and Ernie Smith. To be honest I'd originally made other plans for the Sunday, but I was such Boris Gardener fan during my teen aged years. Having never seen him live, I am sure I am going to find a way to sneak in to the show for a couple of minutes, en route to my other engagement.
My next column for this paper will be just days after the conclusion of the Toronto Carnival. At this stage I wouldn't be at all surprised if the comedians that are now in charge of West Indies cricket take Mr Bishop's sentiments to heart and announce an extension of Sammy's contract as captain. If that happens hopefully the enjoyment I would have derived from being a unashamed Dragonaires groupie the previous weekend will be sufficient to prevent me from the hair pulling frustration that is bound to follow.

July 20, 2011 issue
Cricket
Cricket disappointment, soccer heartbreak! Byron Lee's the only hope to salvage my summer
*Tony McWatt*	Given the frustrations and disappointments I have endured this July, I now am desperately in need of some Carnival-inspired relief for something to look forward to. The latest source of such frustration has been the sentiments uttered by my friend and much respected commentator, the former West Indian pacer Ian Bishop. Twice within the past few weeks Bishop has expressed his opinion that Darren Sammy's captaincy has exceeded expectations and deserves to be continued until a suitable replacement has been identified. From my
perspective Bish's comments are without merit on at least two counts. To begin with Sammy's captaincy could only have exceeded expectations if the level at which they were set were initially set at a baseline that was insignificant. On any scale an improvement from 1 to 2 reflects the same 100% improvement as 5 to 10. The latter is however significantly more of notable an achievement than the former. Against Pakistan while Sammy bowled his dibbly dobbly medium pacers, gifting himself tail ender wickets through self serving bowling changes on bowler friendly pitches, the express paced Fidel Edwards sat on the bench. Finally introduced for the three Tests against India, Edwards ended the Series with 19 wickets, including two five wicket hauls, at a very impressive average of 20.00 runs per wicket. By comparison Sammy's seven wickets in the three India Tests cost 38.00 runs each. What was extremely unfortunate about those statistics was that Sammy's inclusion meant that there was no place for Kemar Roach, whose pace at 90+ mph is consistently higher than Sammy's. In the 12 Tests he has played so far, at least the first half of which were without any meaningful support at the other end, Roach has already taken 40 wickets at an average of 29.90. Roach has been so impressive in his initial performances that the very same Ian Bishop has found cause to identify him as having the potential to become the next great and legendary West Indies fast bowler. Sammy in comparison has played four more Tests (16 to Roach's 12) and only taken six more wickets (46 in total). Notably no one, not even from his native St Lucia, has identified Sammy as having the potential to become the next great anything! The second part of Bishop's statement that is so highly frustrating was that Sammy's captaincy should continue until a suitable replacement can be identified. The heat of the Caribbean sun must be getting to Bish for the unfortunate reality is that Sammy's continuing captaincy, characterized by his woeful batting and school-boyishly ineffective field placings, has been at expense of Chris Gayle. Gayle's performances with the bat at the top of the West Indies batting order have been outstanding. His tenure at the helm of the team was one of the very best for the West Indies within recent times. He is identifiable as a suitable replacement for, and alternative to the Stop-Gap Sammy and fully deserves to be reinstated as captain of the West Indies team. His continuing exclusion from the team and the role of captain by virtue of sheer politics is therefore a tragedy for West Indies cricket. As I mentioned in my previous column, in the midst of all that frustration, I had been feverishly hoping that Marta and the Girls from Brazil would have offered some Women's World Cup relief from the indignations of Windies cricket. Despite being arguably the most skillful team in the tournament they faltered at the quarter-final stage, losing on penalties to the US who were themselves eventually beaten by Japan by the same route in the Final. Brazil's loss to the US was especially heartbreaking. They outplayed their opponents for much of the game. They were actually leading 2-1 just minutes away from the final whistle when the US equalized sending the match to the lottery of a penalty shootout to determine the final result. So amidst the cricket confusion and soccer heartbreak, my only remaining hope for a July restitution is to have a good time at the end of the month at this year's Toronto Carnival. As I mentioned before, my experience onto now has led to my belief that the Byron Lee's Dragonaire's Friday (July 29) Night Boat Cruise has historically provided better value for money than any other Carnival event, bar none! Indeed that belief is so unshakeable that I am now seriously contemplating going back again for an encore the very next night, when the band hosts its first ever Saturday night (July 30) Cruise. The boat will leave its Polson Street Docks at 9:30. That should give me ample time to get home and back from participating in the Carnival Parade earlier that day. Like most folks my age, I typically don't do much after the Parade. The opportunity this year to make merry with Jumo, Oscar B and company two nights in a row could however change that in a jiffy. The other big attraction to the Dragoniare's participation in this year's Toronto Carnival is the Band's recent announcement that it will be releasing its first CD since Byron himself passed in November 2008. According to Band sources, Soca Happening's tracks were hand picked as a tribute to Byron and were chosen as symbols of respect to the dedication and hard work he put in to the Dragonaires for so many years. My expectation is that as an album Soca Happening will feature the same infectious blend of music styles, punctuated by the impressive talents of singers and musicians, that has made all of the Dragonaire cd's produced to date the collector's items they have been. The CD will be available for purchase at both the Friday and Saturday Night Cruises, as well as at the Dragonaire's July 31 Double Tree Plaza Hotel Fete featuring Boris Gardener and Ernie Smith. To be honest I'd originally made other plans for the Sunday, but I was such Boris Gardener fan during my teen aged years. Having never seen him live, I am sure I am going to find a way to sneak in to the show for a couple of minutes, en route to my other engagement. My next column for this paper will be just days after the conclusion of the Toronto Carnival. At this stage I wouldn't be at all surprised if the comedians that are now in charge of West Indies cricket take Mr Bishop's sentiments to heart and announce an extension of Sammy's contract as captain. If that happens hopefully the enjoyment I would have derived from being a unashamed Dragonaires groupie the previous weekend will be sufficient to prevent me from the hair pulling frustration that is bound to follow.
India outplayed in game vs Somerset
India were left bruised and battered as they were all out for a mere 224 in their first innings and then allowed Somerset to score at a rollicking pace before the three-day warm-up game ended in an expected tame draw on the final day on Sunday. The world number one side, who rested a few top players including captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the only tour game, were outplayed by Somerset for most part of the day except for the brief period when Suresh Raina launched a counter-attack to score a dazzling unbeaten 103. India were completely outplayed by the English county side in the first two days also. They go into the first Test of the four-match series starting on July 21 after being at the receiving end of a county side in the tour game. After shooting India out for 224 in the morning session, Somerset scored at an amazing 6.34 runs per over to declare their second innings at 260 for two from just 41 overs at the tea break itself, leaving India an impossible victory target of 462. England captain Andrew Strauss, who was featuring in the practice game as a guest player for Somerset, top-scored with an unbeaten 109 while Peter Trego also remained not out with a 57-ball blitzkrieg of 85 which was studded with seven fours and sixes apiece. In their second innings, India were 69 for no loss before rain brought the proceedings to a close. Abhinav Mukund and Gautam Gambhir, who led the visiting side in the absence of Dhoni, were on 33 and 36 respectively when the two sides decided to end the game. It was struggle again for the Indian bowlers on the final day with Strauss and Trego sending them for a leatherhunt by raining fours and sixes in Somerset's second innings. Strauss followed up his 78 of the first innings with an unconquered 109 in the second essay. Somerset compiled 249 runs at the cost of two wickets from 36 overs in the post-lunch session. The sheen off Strauss innings was off though since Zaheer Khan did not come out on the field in the second innings of the hosts. But the rest of the Indian bowling was as ineffective as it was in the first innings. Also missing from the field was Sachin Tendulkar who chose to stay indoors during England's second innings. The word from the dressing room though was that there is nothing wrong with the two cricketers. Somerset, who led India by 201 runs on the first innings, were rapidly into their stride as Strauss and his opening partner Arul Suppiah had their second century stand of the match.
Timeless Test idea finds few friends
The possibility of a timeless Test to decide the planned world Test championship was laughed off by England and India players on Tuesday. ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat had suggested the idea, which places no time constraints on players and allows for an open-ended match, for the final of the innovative 2013 tournament. "No chance, five days is plenty," England spinner Graeme Swann told a news conference ahead of the first of four Tests against India starting at Lord's on Thursday. "We get enough stick from the Americans coming over saying 'oh my God you play for five days'." India batsman Rahul Dravid reckoned his team's bowlers would also complain about tiredness. "I wouldn't mind a good flat deck," he joked. "Not sure the bowlers are going to be queuing up for that contest." The last timeless Test was between South Africa and England in Durban in 1939. The match lasted nine days but was called a draw because the tourists had to catch their boat home. The ICC is considering a number of other options for the final of the four-team playoff between the highest-ranked sides in the world.
Tendulkar is the best in the world: Lara
The Sachin Tendulkar fan club keeps getting bigger with West Indies batting legend Brian Lara describing him as the best batsman in the world right now and former England captain Alec Stewart calling him "the modern day Don Bradman". Participating in a panel discussion at Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's 'East Meets West' Gala Dinner at the Hilton Park Lane on Monday night, Lara said, "Sachin started playing (Test cricket) at the age of 16. And at 38 now, we have not seen a better player. Sachin is the best batsman in the world." "I am going to the Lord's to see Sachin make his 100th century," he said. Stewart, who also participated in the discussion, described Tendulkar as "modern day Bradman". India's veteran batsman Rahul Dravid added to the praise, saying, "In India we have many Gods and he is one of them." Answering questions from cricket commentator Henry Blofeld, Lara said, "While Sachin is special, Dravid is the wall." "Dravid is always going to be there - he is a tremendous player," he said. Stewart described Dravid as a "great player". "Dravid is India's most technically gifted player," he said. About Lara, Stewart said, "he was the best player in the 90s. But in modern day, Sachin is a better player than Lara - a modern day Bradman." Asked to forecast on the outcome of the India-England series, Stewart gave it 2-1 to England.
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