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

Arise, Sir Christopher. Incredible

Sir Chris Hoy replete with Olympic gold medal haul (photo ©Telegraph.co.uk)

I'm really thrilled about Chris Hoy's knighthood.

I know that it's 'not cricket' ...

(it is definitely about cycling - the one thing that I really wanted to do but never got to because my Dad wouldn't get me a bike)

...but I was quite taken with the cycling, if not the Olympics as a whole - Nicole Cooke bum-rushing the show in the rain, then Hoy racing round the track, then him and two of his pals getting it on for more of the gold stuff - quite distracting, really. A change from the pampered, preening, 'modern-day slaves' that predominate in today's soccer Premiership (for example).

All in all an incredible year for the Edinburgh cyclist and his family.

God bless him.

And now, the doyen speaks...

And on the mic with Mr Nicholas, I hear the voice of my favourite commentator - 

Now I’m not quite so ashamed after all...

That’s it! I am now officially off the wagon...

The Mumbai massacre has finally been quelled. The poor people of Mumbai are now starting to recover from the sixty-hour plus assault on their ancient city - their home. Just as with the second plane on September 11, 2001 - when it swerved into the Tower - when I heard that the 'designer' terrorists had hit on the Jewish centre called Hariman House in an apparently nondescript part of the city, I felt certain that no negotiation was possible with these individuals, no matter what was being said on the media.

I followed the ups and downs as best as I could. BBC News, Sky News, CNN IBN news on the web - not sleeping properly, grabbing whatever I could get my greedy little mitts on news-wise. Wanting in spirit to see off these crazed ƒ•¢%€®$ who have so cruelly violated a beautiful citadel that I am unlikely to ever see live and direct (so to speak), but am glad to know is there just the same. How glad that I am to be a KrstYan (albeit a very poor one).

Now in the early hours of the last of November, I can finally feel normal again. Or, more accurately, feed my addiction. I searched for cricket to listen to on the BlackCaps site, on some other site and then did a search for ‘Australia vs New Zealand’ amongst my old friends, the informal webcasting community. You can’t be watching cricket at a time like this, you heartless ßi+¢§!!! What are you made of? But then I struck gold.

And as soon as I heard Mark Nicholas’s voice, I felt a rush.

I am now once more a cricket anorak in shameless pursuit of the metaphysical game.

And I am - quite rightly - ashamed of myself.

This is great news...

Marcus Trescothick has been named as vice-captain of Somerset for the 2009 season.

That is great news.

here's the link.

Can't help thinking that it would have been so much better yet if he was v-C for England (to add a little class, maybe).

Not to be - but nonetheless he is well set on the road to complete recovery.

Good.

It's all over now

Don't care what happens.

I'm cricketed out.

The WIndies (sorry, Stanford Super Stars) took team England out for 99!! T'was as if they hardly tried.

Great to see Gayle and Fletcher win (and thanks to Ch•v*••r I saw it all - despite his forced relocation).

Hey Chris - can you stump up a few 'dólare$$$' for the cab fare home, 'mate' ?

England's hubris came back to haunt them. I don't think the match was thrown, the look of abject desolation shared by the entire team told me that. The E(W)CB hierarchy didn't protect or instruct the team, and they were basically hung out to dry in the sweltering heat at Coolidge. 

I feel real sympathy for James Anderson and Ryan Sidebottom, in particular. Easier for them to share 'nothing', and no-one in the world can blame them for England being humiliated on what turned out to be a world stage on Saturday night. Also kudos to Alistair Cook, who truthfully stated that the money was indeed a factor - an offence for which he got slapped down in very short order by Peter Moores. I wonder if the coach can now 'take any positives' out of this débâcle for poor England...

Cricket is alive, but a little less pristine than before.

And life goes on.

Post Script: - get me Sir Vivian Master-Blaster as a motivational life-coach. Pleeeeeeeeaaase!!!