Letters to the editor
Newsday
Editor: Someone needs to put a stop to the terrible pain that has been inflicted on Caribbean cricket fans by the WI players and administrators for a long time, as it shows no signs of stopping on its own.
For about 30 long years the West Indies cricketers have made a name for themselves, not in any good way, but instead as the laughing stock of the cricketing world as players and administrators come and go without any improvement.
Despite all the old talk from those in charge of WI cricket, there is a common and recurring theme of a group of administrators and players outdoing their predecessor in terms of the collective heartbreak of those of us who love it desperately the “maroon” team.
Without a collective and disciplined drive to clean up the mess that is prevalent in Cricket West Indies (CWI) and produce world-beating teams to once again represent the region, WI cricket could die.
The Test cricket team that has been selected to tour Australia later this year leaves little room for optimism for the future and highlights the point that the CWI has no idea how to deal with the fact that the cricket of the Netherlands, Ireland, Zimbabwe, Scotland, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, among other newcomers to the men’s game, are now above WI in the ongoing T20I World Cup in Australia.
A careful look at the squad selected is very worrying, to say the least, because it does not contain any batsmen who have any chance of averaging over 50 runs in the two-Test series. In fact, it might be quite delusional to expect any of them to average over 40 runs, as the Aussies are happy to thrash the WI in a way that even our grandchildren will feel very painfully.
It has to be said that no matter how the CWI celebrates the greatness of our fast bowlers like Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales and Jason Holder, it is necessary to be competitive when the Windies take the field in Australia on what looks set to be a Christmas , WI would be lucky to forget, fresh off an embarrassing World Cup performance.
Now think the WI Test team might look like this: 1. Kraigg Braithwaite, 2. Chandrapaul Hemraj, 3. Nkurmah Bonner, 4. Keacy Carty, 5. Jermaine Blackwood, 6. Nicholas Pooran, 7. Jason Holder, 8. Rahkeem Cornwall, 9. Kemar Roach, 10. Alzarri Joseph, 11. Jayden Seales.
Second 11: 1. Kavem Hodge, 2. Leonardo Julien, 3. Alick Athenaze, 4. Shimron Hetmyer, 5. Kyle Mayers, 6. Joshua Da Silva, 7. Keemo Paul, 8. Joshua James, 9. Ashmeed Nedd, 10 years Marquinho Mindley, 11. Chemar Holder.
WI ones to watch: 1. Romario Shepherd, 2. Shane Dowrich, 3. Kirk McKenzie, 4. Akin Fraser, 5. Gukadesh Mootie, 6. Nayeem Young, 7. McKenny Clarke, 8. Keegan Simmons, 9. Brian Charles , 10. Joshua Bishop, 11. Shermon Lewis.
FITZROY OTHELLO
City of Princes
