Notes from a small island

Notes from a small island
A weblog by Jonathan Ali

Sunday, December 29, 2002

I was gearing myself up for a huge post on the crime situation in T&T, but Nicholas went and beat me to it. He also went one better and added an excellent post on the link between the crime situation and education. (To this end, I believe civics, and ethics - as distinct from religious education - should be on all primary and secondary school curricula.)

Anyway, instead, here's a post on something Nick would never deign to touch, cricket.

The 15-man squad for the World Cup has been announced. Brian Lara is in (not that I ever really doubted he would be) and so is Nixon McLean, the Vincentian pacer out of favour with the WI selectors for a few years now, but included because of his past two seasons playing in South Africa, where the World Cup is being held. Selector Vivian Richards says McLean's inclusion is part of the team's "horses for courses" strategy, which also sees veteran quickie Vasbert Drakes, with six seasons of experience playing in South Africa, also getting a call up.

Funny how they never talk that "horses for courses" stuff when things are going well with the team. While the batting has recently shown definite improvement, the bowling is at the least wobbly, and the inclusion of both Drakes and McClean smacks of desperation. I think it highly unfair that the promising young Jamaican Darren Powell is being left out at the expense of one of these two.

As for Lara...well, once again, it would seem that the WICB continues to hold him to a different standard to the other players. The question at hand, however, is at whose expense will Lara's place on the team be?

Here is the full squad and the team's first round itinerary:

Carl Hooper (Capt), Ridley Jacobs (vice-capt), Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Pedro Collins, Corey Collymore, Mervyn Dillon, Vasbert Drakes, Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Brian Lara, Jermaine Lawson, Nixon McLean, Ricardo Powell, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan.

WEST INDIES’ FIRST-ROUND MATCHES

Feb 9 v South Africa, Newlands, Cape Town

Feb 13 v New Zealand, St. George’s Park, Port Elizabeth

Feb 18 v Bangladesh, Willowmoore Park, Benoni

Feb 23 vs Canada, SuperSport Park, Centurion

Feb 28 vs Sri Lanka, Newlands, Cape Town

Mar 4 vs Kenya, De Beers Diamond Oval, Kimberley

posted by Jonathan | 3:39 PM 0 comments

0 Comments: