The “Great Umpire” spares the WIndies further humiliation.

The outfield at Headingley is waterlogged, and there will not be any cricket played there today.

Remembering the kerfuffle at the Sir Viv Richards (North Sound) Ground earlier on this year - I cannot but raise a wry smile at the hand that the E(W)CB have been dealt. The WIBC were rightly condemned for their incompetence concerning the state of that pitch and outfield, back in mid-February. No such tongue lashing for the E(W)CB over this washout at Headingley - yet.

Even though £600,000 has already been spent on a drainage system that, erm...

...doesn’t.

If I were the chairman at Headingley, I’d ask for my money back!

(and don’t blame the groundstaff, either!)

See. What did I tell you?

Dear Reader:

Re. my post on May 12, 2009:


link one: story here

link two: Guardian interview

link three: the Telegraph continues...

link four: Tell the truth - shame the devil (and destroy your reputation)

link five: story here - Mr Strauss the old-school $~!+ stirrer, too nosey for his own good...

Upshot: Mr Gayle needs a press officer /minder - fast!!!

I’m angry.

Does this two-test ‘series’ matter at all to anyone apart from the ‘TV people’ (as JAgnew so succinctly put it the other day) ? Never have I seen a more disinterested captain that Chris Gayle recently. When he was at Sabina Park a few short months ago, he was full of intent and purpose.

His team pulled off an astonishing innings victory over a psychologically bloated, complacent England. They went wild in JA. Now look at him. He sounds drained, monotonous, with an ‘anywhere but here’ look about him. The team appears to be following suit at times - with the notable exception of Mr Fidel Edwards.

I don’t care what happens at Chester-le-Street, to be honest. This whole show is about pleasing the satellite broadcasters, not cricket. Mr Gayle’s increasingly languid posture would be justified if that were the case. The WIndies were third choice for this slot behind Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Bad news. No IPL payout in sunny South Africa. Sad.

But as they are here, they should at least try. If the WIndies must lose, at least put up a fight. As a team. If only to shut up ‘Basher’ Boycott and his increasingly snide remarks about ‘children’ (so to speak).

Please...

WIndies cling on for dear life - but will this mean new life for cricket in the Caribbean?

The West Indies team clung on to achieve a series win at the Queens Park Oval, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad.

The England team didn't get to beat the WIndies after all. Too quick to run up their mouth...

...just couldn’t take the last two wickets (run out of gas - and time)

Ramnaresh Sarwan fully deserved his ‘Man Of The Series’ accolade - and he’s grateful for the US$6,000, I’m sure!

This is it. No more -

Perhaps the worst day in Test Match cricket, perhaps in cricket - full stop.

The Creator (YhWH) was on hand to make sure that these murderers did not get the cricketers, either to kill them or to have as much-prized hostages.

The Sri Lankan cricket squad make haste to leave the Gaddafi stadium in Lahore, Pakistan 

after the atrocity earlier in the day.

Picture: taken from BBC Cricket web site©

Given that these individuals had so much firepower about their respective persons, it was an Almighty blessing that we are not talking about dead cricketers as well as 5 dead police officers (assigned to guard the Sri Lankan team). There was a rocket  launcher, apparently. If that had been used on the tour bus, I dread to think what might have happened. I really do.

The players and officials of the Sri Lanka board that are known to have been injured...

• Thilan Samaraweera (hospital)
  
• Tharanga Paranavitana (hospital)
  
• Mahela Jayawardene
  
• Kumar Sangakkara
  
• Ajantha Mendis
  
• Suranga Lakmal
  
• Chaminda Vaas
  
• Assistant coach Paul Farbrace
  

My deepest respects and condolences to the families of those who have lost ones to this terrorist outrage.

Saturday isn't too bad today...

Have massive crush-cum-pash on a certain noble, courageous, even naïve doctor at the minute.

it's so silly, but it keeps me alive in a certain way.

In the meantine, I'm watching the cricket - you know where...

and Dreamweaver is now making sense (now that the course is over - thanks Mr 'man-tarry' for making it plain).

I cannot recommend the course tutor highly enough.

Soul Confessions - Broadcast One: on Ray-Dee-Oh E-Z Bees

Hello and good evening to Soul Confessions with me, the Muze. Tonight we are going to talk to a lady who has been dealt a very bitter blow in the last few days. She has agreed to share her experiences with us all tonight.

Muze: Hello on line 4 - 

Gillian: Hello - is that you, Muze?

M: yes - Gillian. You’re on  air... thank you for talking to us tonight.

G: Pleasure. 

M: You have had a very unpleasant experience over the last few days... a close friend of yours - we’ll call him ‘LeRoy’ - has been exposed as a con artist of the highest magnitude. Is that right?

G: Yes, I’m afraid so. 

M: How did you receive this dreadful news?

G: I saw it on the television. 

M: Oh goodness! How ghastly...

G: Yes. Not pleasant at all... 

M: Were you alone? 

G: No, a trusted friend was with me - she had to drag me to the sofa, poor thing - I’d passed out, apparently... 

M: A shock to the system, was it?

G: Indeed, yes. Nasty shock. 

M: Did you have any inkling at all that this was in the pipeline?

G: No. None at all. I had spoken to him the day before, he seemed his normal self. Assured me that all was well, and that he was looking forward to our reunion at the E-Z Bees Café in early March - ...

M: ...which will - of course - not now take place. 

G: Quite.

M:: Do you know where he was when he last called you?

G: Oh dear, he did say Grand Cayman... or was it Cancún? LeRoy did tell me - but I honestly can’t remember... 

M: Why was he abroad?

G: Looking for property to establish a baseball school and a state-of-the-art baseball ground, he said. To develop the game -

M: Yes. he appeared very concerned about providing opportunities for the less fortunate in Latin America, didn’t he?

G: (quietly sniffs) Yes. He had made some donations to charity, but (stifled, muffled sobs at other end of line)...

M: Are you OK to continue, Gillian?

(to be continued)

The Windies DREW the match??? Good G_D

With sixteen ‘backroom boys’ in the pavillion, the West Indies’ bowlers played with the straightest of bats in order to stave off defeat

picture:  ©Telegraph.co.uk /PA

Well - I cannot believe my eyes.

The West Indies drew the game at the ARG. The Eng-ur-land just couldn’t polish the tail off.

Sarwan and Chanderpaul made many runs and provided a bulwark for the tailenders to defend. I applaud the team for not caving in and for pricing their wickets dearly enough to frustrate England.

As for captain Strauss - why was he bowling Andrew Flintoff? He’s already been bowled into the ground once in his career - now they want to do it again. Flintoff will never say no - the captain should have protected him. What if Flintoff’s injury to his hip is severe?

In any case, the WIndies showed such character - especially after what has been an awful week for them and the administrators, and all who love cricket in the Caribbean. They should savour this moment. The home team snatched a draw from the certainty of defeat.

Never say die.

Good G_D

I gotta take it back... (sorry, guys)

My last post implied that the West Indies team were throwing the match at the ARG because of the shenanigins at the North Sound arena (ie the Sir Vivian Richards ground) last Friday.

But after the fightback shown by the team in the second innings, I’m not so sure. Sarwan and Chanderpaul are starting to take root. And with a clean 360 runs needed with exactly 90 overs left to play tomorrow, the WIndies can do it - if (very big if) they keep up a 4 runs per over rate or - (big or) they hit out big time whilst keeping their wickets.

I honestly thought that England would have wrapped this up by now. Injuries and illnesses aside (to Harmison aand Flintoff), the fact that the West Indies are still in with a shout says much about their willingness to play on - even though they will probably lose tomorrow (Thursday).

Apologies, guys.

Something's up at the ARG, St. John's...

I am sure that the WIndies are throwing this match.

No matter what happens now, even if my mood lifts - I am seeing the logical conclusion
of PayTV as enacted through Caribbean cricket.

Less than 10% of the paying customers are 'locals', ie Antiguans.

The great majority of the crowd are Brits.

This is about SkyTV hegemony, and all kinds of
skullduggery. The event will carry on regardless.

The Eng-ur-land have claimed the ARG. Great TV,
but is it cricket?

Welcome to neo-colonialism, C21 style.

As a postscript to the previous post...

I accept that the ICC, E(W)CB, the ACB and all other kinds of quangos and organisations and associations and politicians are responsible for the decline and stasis surrounding ‘West Indian’ cricket.

I mustn’t forget Sir Allen Stanford, Giles Clarke, or any of the other great and good who should have checked up on the pitch and sorted this fiasco.

But blaming the WICB feels better because, according to my Dad, ‘dey did treat Sobers bad. Very bad.’

So there.

The WICB are greedy little basket (cases)

(no comment)

I hope (against hope) that a great game of cricket will start tomorrow (Sunday, 15th February). I am furious at the WICB and their blind greed. If, as some newspaper reports suggest, groundstaff highlighted serious issues at the North Sound arena from November 2008, then why did the relevant authorities not ’fess up and do something about it back then?

Money.

The Caribbean-based cricketing board feared losing revenue from visiting England fans, and West Indies supporters arriving from other Caribbean countries.

If people had been thinking clearly, there might have been time to knock the old Antigua Recreation Ground back into some kind of shape, or even move the Test to another ground on another island or country - as with the Sabina Park débacle in 1998.

Sadly, I don’t think any heads will roll over this sorry saga at the WICB. And bwoy, heads should roll.

Sir Vivian Master-Blaster must be the main executioner. The poor man, all this has broken his heart. This just makes me angry, and more than a little disgusted if I’m honest.

Mr Frindall has died.

Bill Frindall has died of Legionnaires’ Disease, acquired during a trip to Dubai.

As a scorer and statistician, he was out there on his own. Amongst his other duties, he would often remind the others on Test Match Special to keep their eyes (and their commentary) on the cricket, like an old-school head master would do.

I didn’t even know that he was ill. I cannot remember anybody else doing the scoring, coming up with reams of information at the drop of a hat - or insisting that the scoreboard was wrong - and then having it changed as the Test Match adjudicator agreed that yes - Bill Frindall’s account of the score was indeed correct. 

Of course he was.

What on earth will the TMS crew now do? 

To say that Mr Frindall was ‘irreplaceable’ - now that sounds almost disrespectful. 

Test Match Special now has need of 

a scorer; 

a statistician: 

an historian; 

a schoolmaster to keep the boys (and girl) in order; 

an occasional commentator; 

a curmudgeon and - 

last but not least - a man who went about his business with none of the fanfare, little of the kudos and surprisingly few accolades that might have been due Mr Frindall - given his lifetime's service to cricket.

Where does one begin to find such a man?

Last word on cycling. I promise (honest)

My first movie edit...

I hope that it loads properly (and that the internet faithful will forgive my rather 'gauche' presentation).

Grazie