July 6, 2011 issue
Cricket
Tony McWatt
The West Indies and India are currently involved in an interesting three Test Series. With two of the three matches completed to date the Indians have taken a 1-0 lead.
Having won the Jamaica 1st Test by 63 runs, they came pretty close to also winning the rain affected Barbados 2nd Test. At the close, the West Indies chasing 281 for victory managed to reach 202-7 to hold on for a desperate draw. This after India had declared its second innings at 269-6 to set their hosts a challenging target.
As a diehard West Indian cricket fan as I have been ever since I have known myself, I now couldn't care less about the Series. On the one hand the West Indies Cricket Board's ongoing mistreatment of Chris Gayle, as expressed by his continued non-involvement in the Series, has significantly eroded its value as television worth watching. Particularly so when as an alternative there is the opportunity to follow the fortunes of Marta, Cristiane and their Brazilian teammates in the 2011 Women's Soccer World Cup.
In the two matches that they have played so far, as strikers Marta and teammate Rosana have already scored a couple of goals more than any one of Brazil's legendary former male goal scorers; Garincha, Pele, Jairzinho, Zico, Ronaldo or Ronaldinho would have been justifiably proud.
Just as the Women's World Cup will be reaching its final stages, with hopefully Marta and company raising aloft the Championship Trophy at the conclusion of the July 17 Final, it will be time to get ready for the 2011 Caribbean MusicFest as part of this year's Toronto Carnival festivities.
As abnormal as my abandonment of West Indies cricket may seem, the fact of the matter is that the current state of cricket in the Caribbean is far from normal. At least not the normalcy that had become the standard of expectancy over the almost fifty years that I have been following Test Cricket in that part of the world. It was in 1965 at the tender age of seven that I witnessed my first Test, the 3rd in the West Indies Home Series against Australia.
To this day I can still vividly remember Rohan Kanhai being bowled by Graham McKenzie for a second innings duck on Easter Monday and Lance Gibbs taking the wickets of Bill Lawry, Bob Cowper and Norman O'Neill cheaply to lead the West Indies to victory.
Today the West Indies is captained by Darren Sammy, who, had he been around in 1965, wouldn't even have merited a place as a nets bowler to Sobers, Kanhai, Butcher and Nurse. Meanwhile Chris Gayle, the former captain who rightfully should be at the helm, continues to watch from the sidelines.
As long as Sammy's politically motivated and nepotism- based captaincy of the West Indies team continues, my interest in the current Series or any other for that matter, will be marginal at best. Over the next few weeks, as previously mentioned, I will find much greater pleasure following the exploits of Marta and the "Girls From Brazil" in the Women's World Cup.
Still only 25, Marta is a five time winner of the coveted Female Footballer of the Year honor. She was the leading scorer in the last (2007) World Cup, the seven goals she scored included one against the US that is now arguably one of the best ever in Women's soccer history. Hopefully the experience gained from their second place finish to Germany in 2007 will provide the impetus to allow Marta and her Brazilian teammates to go all the way this time around.
Less than two weeks after the Final of the Women's World Cup will be the one event that this writer looks forward to all year, the Byron Lee Dragonaires' Friday Night Boat Cruise of the Caribana weekend. Of the many events available to Carnival oriented party lovers that holiday weekend, none provides better value than the Byron Lee Dragonaires featured annual Caribbean Music Festival.
This year the Caribbean Music Festival will feature three events. As previously mentioned there's the Friday Night (July 29th) Cruise CMF aboard the Empress of Canada with none other than Byron Lee Dragonaires.
The Dragonaires front line is stronger than ever with the return of Oscar B. Oscar's passion for soca music and his innate talent for pleasing the crowd, combined with Guyanese-born Jumo's tantalizing hip movements and Lima's powerful vocals are guaranteed to please. Tickets for the Cruise always sell out faster than Hot Cross Buns at Easter, so I secured mine weeks ago.
As a self confessed attendee addict of Carnival parties, I have been to countless Caribana Boat Cruises over the years. With all due respect to all the others, many of which have provided fond memories to last a lifetime, none have proved as enjoyable as the Bryon Lee Dragonaires Caribana Friday night Cruise. It is simply the best, bar none.
Because of high demand, and at the request of the fans, the promoters have actually added a second boat ride to accommodate those who are coming from out of town or those who were unable to purchase tickets before they sold out. After a day of liming in the sun at the Parade, those who still have the energy can cool out for the evening listening to the sweet sounds of the Dragonaires, on Saturday, July 30th for their Carnival Night Boat Ride.
The Blue Ribbon event of this year's Caribbean Music Festival will be on Sunday, July 31st, at the Double Tree Plaza Hotel. The Dragonaires will be joined by Reggae legends Ernie Smith and Boris Gardiner for an event that is guaranteed to keep patrons on their feet dancing through the night.
Ernie Smith, sometimes referred to as the pioneer of reggae music, has had a recognized career as a singer, composer, writer and arranger. Ernie's first recording back in 1967, "I Can't Take It", was later recorded by Johnny Nash as "Tears on My Pillow". His career has been one of versatility and has spanned decades.
Boris Gardiner, singer, bass player and musical director, began his musical career in the 60s but flourished in the 80s with his hit, "I Want to Wake Up with You" which topped the U.K. charts. This hit was followed by a record called "You are Every Thing to Me", which peaked at number 11.
The Caribbean Music Fest promoters have boasted that their Night of the Living Legends hosted by Caribbean Music Fest will be the event to top all others this season and one that no self respecting party lover will want to miss.
With all that to look forward to in the coming weeks who cares therefore about what Sammy and his charges do against India. As much as I hate to hear myself say it, I certainly don't.
14 teams – ICC
The 2015 World Cup will feature the 10 test-playing nations plus four associate teams, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said last week Tuesday after reversing a decision to cut the tournament to 10 teams.
Cricket's governing body had initially decided to restrict the 50-over tournament, to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, to its 10 full members.
"The ICC Executive Board opted to retain the 14-team format that was used at the highly successful and universally acclaimed ICC Cricket World Cup 2011," the governing body said in a statement.
The move to make it a 10-team tournament triggered protests from Associate teams Ireland and Netherlands.
ICC President Sharad Pawar subsequently asked the executive board to review the decision at the annual conference.
Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom hailed the about turn.
"The initial reaction is probably just one of relief to be honest with you, relief that we now have the opportunity to qualify for the World Cup and relief that we can now devote our energy to actually trying to qualify for it," Deutrom told Reuters.
"All we have now is the opportunity to qualify so we still have a lot of hard yards to run through.
"From the moment the decision was announced, a significant portion of the game's stakeholders said they felt the decision was completely wrong. There was such a massive weight of opinion, it would have been frankly a surprise if it hadn't been changed."
"That doesn't necessarily lessen the kudos that should go to the board for actually reversing the decision… I suppose it's a moment where it (the ICC) is not necessarily embracing its principles but re-embracing its principles."
a 2nd Test win
West Indies batsmen led by young Darren Bravo showed gritty resistance to eke out a draw against India in the second Test match at the Kensington Oval thus keeping alive the hopes of levelling the series.
Chasing a competitive target of 281, West Indies reached 202 for seven when the umpires Ian Gould and Asad Rauf decided that light wasn't good enough to continue although 10.3 mandatory overs were still left to be bowled.
Bravo's innings of 73 turned out to be the match saving one for the West Indies despite lion-hearted effort from Ishant Sharma (4/53) who ended with a match haul of 10/108.
Barring Ishant, none of the other Indian bowlers looked incisive as Bravo played them with ease hitting eight boundaries. By the time he was dismissed, he had ensured that the home team had little chance of losing the match.
Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's sporting declaration at 269 for six promised an exciting final day as he provided his bowlers with 83 overs to take 10 West Indies wickets. The home team never tried to make a match of it after losing two quick wickets in the opening session.
The visitors might have sniffed victory in the final session when the quick dismissals of seasoned pros Shivnarine Chanderpaul (12) and Marlon Samuels (9) reduced the home team to 132 for five.
But wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh (46 not out) counter-attacked which put paid to any hopes of victory that the Indians harboured. India lead the series 1-0 as the two teams now head to Dominica for the third Test starting from July 6.
West Indies were 181 for 5 in the final session, needing another 100 from 18.3 overs - or 111 balls remaining in the match - when heavens opened up sending the players back to the confines of the dressing room.
The match did resume after 32 minutes and only one over was lopped off but there was more drama in store. Within three balls of resumption, Dhoni had summoned the two umpires about the water which had spilled to the edge of the square while covers were being removed.
Another 15 minutes were spent in the mopping up operation, with even eager Indian players picking up the sawdust to get the game going. No further overs were reduced but what these two interruptions ensured was that bad light, sooner than later, would come into play.
Dhoni brought in his two best bowlers, Ishant and Praveen to force the issue. After a couple of overs from both didn't work, he tossed the ball to Mithun who promptly obliged with the wicket of Bravo.
Ishant then got his 10th wicket dismissing Darren Sammy (0) with a yorker that caught him plumb.
The two umpires now conferred, another delivery from Ishant was bowled to new-man Ravi Rampaul, before the two umpires finally called it off. To cap off the bizarre proceedings, the ground was bathed in sunshine for the next half an hour!
billed for 2012
Pakistan have been pencilled in to tour India for a full series of Test and one-day cricket matches next year, in what would be a breakthrough in relations that were hit by the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks.
The International Cricket Council governing body's latest Future Tours Programme shows that the two South Asian rivals could play three Tests and five one-day internationals in March and April 2012.
India is designated as the host of the series, but an ICC spokesman told AFP last Thursday that the list was provisional and indicated that the matches were likely to be played at a neutral venue.
Any series would be organised entirely by both countries' governing bodies, he added. No one was immediately available for comment at the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
India severed cricketing links with its neighbour after the Mumbai attacks, which killed 166 people and which New Delhi claims was perpetrated by Islamist militants based across the border in Pakistan.
No major international cricket side has toured Pakistan since gunmen attacked the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore in March 2009, killing eight people and injuring seven others.
Pakistan now plays "home" games in the United Arab Emirates, England and New Zealand.
India last played Pakistan in this year's World Cup semi-final at Mohali, beating them in a keenly-watched encounter attended by the two countries' prime ministers Manmohan Singh and Yousuf Raza Gilani.
Afterwards there were calls by players and politicians for the resumption of cricketing links, as millions of fans were missing out due to the nuclear-armed neighbours' strained political ties.
India's foreign secretary, Nirupama Rao, even said that the country was ready to send its team to Pakistan, if provided full security.
The Pakistan Cricket Board welcomed Rao's statement and said it was exploring options for playing a series at a neutral venue.
The last time Pakistan played a Test match in India was in the southern city of Bangalore in December 2007. India won the series 1-0.
Apart from the World Cup semi-final, their the last one-day international on Indian soil was in November 2007 in Jaipur. Pakistan won the match but lost that series 3-2.