West Indies Cricket Fans

Former West Indies fast bowler Ian Bishop says that West Indies captain Darren Sammy is growing in his role and bowled a lot better than he expected during the three-Test series against India which ended on Saturday. Commenting on the 2-0 series loss, Bishop said Sammy would have to work on improving his batting but had demonstrated during the series that he is quite capable of holding his place on the team due to his bowling.

Sammy took nine wickets and was his team’s leading bowler but made only 110 runs. Bishop noted that Sammy had brought about some calmness to the team and had injected some confidence. “He bowls well, better than I expected and he is learning about captaincy. There is a calmness and confidence to the team and he is growing. His batting has not come along, so he will have to improve on that.” Read more

I think it's fair to say that there was alot of raised eye-brows when the Board announced that Sammy was to be Captain, the most obvious point of all was whether he warranted a place in the team on merit. Gone are the days when you used to pick your best Squad and the most experienced player was given the Captaincy.

You can't fault Sammy for effort, enthusiasm and a willingness to learn with every match he plays. I must admit to being surprised how well his style of bowling has come on, since he's been a regular. You wouldn't call him a strike-bowler by any stretch of the imagination, but his military-medium pacers have a habit of snagging some wickets. His best ever figures were in England and i'm curious to see how he copes on the harder, bouncier surfaces of Australia or South Africa.

Regardless of what the general opinions of Sammy are, i always get the impression that he genuinely cares about trying to push West Indies cricket into a positive direction, no matter the circumstances or politics involved. Other Captains before him looked as though they treated it like a chore and not a honour to represent their country/nation, without really putting their heart and soul into it.

If it was up to me, i'd keep Sammy in the ODI/T20 Squads, even continue to Captain those formats and would have Andre Russell playing his cricketing role in the test-match team, with Dinesh Ramdin given a run as Test Match Captain.

why isnt jala like a stampeding herd around this post

Silvamaine wrote: If it was up to me, i'd keep Sammy in the ODI/T20 Squads, even continue to Captain those formats and would have Andre Russell playing his cricketing role in the test-match team, with Dinesh Ramdin given a run as Test Match Captain.

This is how I see it too... He is a good player in the short versions of the game.

Commenting on the absence of Chris Gayle, Bishop stated that he did not know the details on Gayle’s relationship with the WICB but pointed out that even with Gayle on the team, it had lost. “There is no doubt that his cricketing skills are important but cricket is more than skills. Fitting into the character of a team is also important.”

this comment by Bishop is very pertinent.

I wud not mind if Gayle gets back in but I am not so sure Gayle wud fit in.

Gayle is disruptive personality, strong enuff to influence all around him whether he is leader or not. that wud not be a problem if Gayles impact is a postive one. but I do not see fthat it is positive.

Gayle is no Dudus Coke as 'coke-head' Beckles alluded. he is no godfather or anything of the kind. Gayle is just an ass thats all, a stupid, shallow, narrow-minded, un-Worrell type of westindian, who nevertheless, impacts people and situations around him, but not positively

so it may be best if the wicb resolves the issue supposedly keeping Gayle out at the moment, take its request for apology off the table and re-introduce or restore gayles eligibility.

but wicb must state its selection policy clearly, a policy as far as I see effectively rules out Gayle.
the wicb has that right...the right to select whom it believes will represent the westindies well

Bishop made another comment that is also relevant..another senior player wud bring more balance to the batting. he is absolutely right. and admitting that gayle is almost ruled out by new developments Sarwan is the man to go after as far as reconciliation of the seniors is concerned.

Sarwans (or Gayle) batting is absolutely necessary to comeplete the line-up. Sawans impack while it turned ridiculous a while back is self-destructive thing, rather than destructive of the team interest..which is the negative impact Gayle can have.

and it does not appear that Gayle and Sammy can co-exist in the same team

so sarwan shud use the next dung heap to reconstitute his westindian career. i see no reason why he cant get back in against the Oz once he is in form and has addressed whatever technical probelms that developed in his batting that caused his recent failures.

I am afriad it is goodbye for Gayle

BallOil wrote:

Silvamaine wrote: If it was up to me, i'd keep Sammy in the ODI/T20 Squads, even continue to Captain those formats and would have Andre Russell playing his cricketing role in the test-match team, with Dinesh Ramdin given a run as Test Match Captain.

This is how I see it too... He is a good player in the short versions of the game.

allyuh get usde to it. once people like Bishop start talking positively about about Sammy positively thats it. the job is his to lose. there is no more doubt it. Samm is captain until whenever

mapoui wrote:

Commenting on the absence of Chris Gayle, Bishop stated that he did not know the details on Gayle’s relationship with the WICB but pointed out that even with Gayle on the team, it had lost. “There is no doubt that his cricketing skills are important but cricket is more than skills. Fitting into the character of a team is also important.”

this comment by Bishop is very pertinent.

I wud not mind if Gayle gets back in but I am not so sure Gayle wud fit in. Gayle is disruptive personality, stong enuff to influence all around him wheteher he is leader or not. that wud not be a problem if Gayles impact was a postive one. but I do nto see it as a postive.

so it may be best if the wicb removes the ban on gayle but state its selection policy which efectively rules gayle out.

the wicb has that right.

Bishop made another comment that is also relevant..another senior player wud bring more balance to the side. he is absolutely right. and admitting that gayle is alsmost ruled out by new developments Sarwan is the man to go after as far as reconciliation of the seniors goes.

Sarwans batting is absolutely necessary to comeplete the line-up. and Sawras impack while it turned ridiculosu a while back is self-destructive, rather than destructive of the team..which is the impact Gayle can have.

so sarwan shud used the next dung heap to reconstitute his westindian career. i see no reason why he cant get back in against the Ox once he is in fornm and has addreesed whatever technical probelms he had to solve.

I am afriad it is goodbye for Gayle

I think Gayle has burnt his bridges here, i'm not disputing about the way he feels about alot of things within Windies-Headquarters, but unless he has a change of heart and swallows his pride, there will be no return for him. The other alternative is if there's a change in personnel within the Board (mainly Hilaire and Hunt) as well as Gibson as Coach and Sammy as Captain. And the way things are going on here, that's not going to change for at least another year.

mapoui wrote:why isnt jala like a stampeding herd around this post

election day in the mudland...Jala monitoring the polling stations

Googley wrote:

election day in the mudland...Jala monitoring the polling stations

Is he a PPP candidate?

anandgb wrote:

Googley wrote:

election day in the mudland...Jala monitoring the polling stations

Is he a PPP candidate?

ah hear he applied and got rejected so he joined APNU!