COMETH THE HOUR, COMETH THE MAN

Preview: England v West Indies, Lord’s

 Darren Bravo

Unprepared and very much below achievements and expertise – Bravo has panache to “come off” when it matters – Chanderpaul will continue to keep the scorecard tucking over – Sammy ... no heavier burden has fallen on the shoulders of any West Indies leader since Frank Worrell

 

West Indies come into the Test Match at Lord’s on Thursday unprepared and very much below the achievements and expertise of their opponents. To make matters worse they have lost by the commanding margin of 10 wickets the only preliminary game on tour to be played out. Their prospects are far removed from those of their predecessors who have achieved glory in this ground in the legendary “calypso” Test Match of 1950, the historic nail-biting draw of 1963, and the decades-long dominance of the 1970s and the 1980s. The stated ambition of this side is to survive ...... at least into the third day. How the mighty have fallen!

Yet, isn’t it written .... cometh the hour, cometh the man. If ever there was a time for heroes it is now. Shivnarine Chanderpaul will continue to keep up one end and the score-board ticking over.  That is the same as saying that the River Thames will continue to flow. Even so who can provide the added punch with either bat or ball which is needed for victory, because if West Indies prepare only for survival they will be beaten. It is said that when the tide of the First World War was going against him, and his army was collapsing on all fronts Marshal Ferdinand Foch said something like: “Good, then we shall attack” – and the shock threw his enemies completely off-balance and to defeat.

The first three batting positions are woeful and in spite of Powell’s hundred at Northampton I cannot see them putting the scorers to too much trouble. Indeed, it is time for Darren Sammy to trust himself at No3. Darren Bravo has the panache to “come off” when it matters. He has not been dismissed for under 50 on the tour so far – alright, it is only two innings but what is wrong with grasping at whatever straws are available. Marlon Samuels, too, owes a commanding score to his yet unrealised promise. If two of the other batsmen up to and beyond their potential in support of Chanderpaul, the tourists can yet post a challenging total.

The thrashing at Northampton, albeit that the front-line bowlers did not stick around too long, put paid to the belief that the team’s bowling was more competent than the batting. It is hard to see a match-winner coming from his attack, especially in English conditions. Kemar Roach seems to have ability but it takes two to bowl out international opposition as much as it does to tango. So far Fidel Edwards has not shown that he has the thrust to compensate for waywardness. Pace alone is not enough. Ravi Rampaul is effective in spurts and, if it is decided to include only two fast bowlers along with Darren Sammy, he deserves preference over the Barbadian.

That brings us to the crux – Sammy, the captain, himself. Surely no heavier burden has fallen on the shoulders of any West Indies leader to inspire his team to play “above themselves” since Frank Worrell took over a fragmenting team for the tour of Australia in 1960-61. Worrell succeeded – brilliantly. It has to be admitted, however, that he had a more talented set of individuals to inspire and bring together. In spite of his low-profile Sammy has shown himself to be a match-winning bowler, can score runs when they are needed, and appears to have introduced a more cohesive spirit into the team.

Cometh the hour – cometh the man!

Clayton Goodwin

THE WORST WEST INDIES TEAM TO COME HERE ?
PLEASE GO OUT THERE AND PROVE IT WRONG !

 Chris Gayle

 Gayle with coach Ottis Gibson - comrades in arms?

Richardson could well be the “Bobby Simpson” father figure – Woefully weak on experience, confidence and, to be honest, ability – Gale, “a high wind to Jamaica” with free-booting associations

Is this the worst West Indies team to come here since the Second World War?
The first water-logged day of the tour had hardly passed before CaribCommx was being asked and being asked often, the same inevitable question. Perhaps, though, a more pertinent question should be – will this be the last West Indian team since the Second World War (or any time)? It is a moot point as to whether West Indies cricket or the Liberal Democrats will implode first, but nobody is in coalition with the West Indians – at least, not since Allen Stanford has gone.
To add to their problems, which are already legion, the tourists managed to arrive here with four of their fifteen selected players missing. And, believe it or not, the First Test Match is less than a fortnight away. Rumours that the 50 year-old manager Richie Richardson could be pressed into service may be a blessing in disguise. The Antiguan could well be the “Bobby Simpson” father figure, which I have long advocated, to return from a former age to stiffen the sinews.
This side is woefully weak on experience, confidence and, to be honest, ability Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Kemar Roach and Shane Shillingford apart, the team is hardly competitive. There is talent around in the likes of Darren Bravo and Andre Russell who for one reason or another have only a limited opportunity to flourish. Dwayne Bravo and Marlon Samuels who once flourished as the most accomplished batsman of what promised to be a fresh generation of hope have had their chances from which tantalus-like fame and a permanent reputation has always just eluded their grasp. Chris Gayle has lived up to his name – gale, a “high wind to Jamaica” with free-booting associations. And Pollard, able and vulnerable in equal measure, sums up what is wrong with much of West Indies cricket. Whatever their abilities the team will have to get along without most of them, anyway.
For the moment they will have to get along without Fidel Edwards as well. The Barbadian fast bowler, projected as the spearhead of the attack, is noted as much by his absence as his presence. It defies logic to believe that he can step straight from the tropical heat into the May-time cold and wet of the First Test Match without the benefit of a warm up game, or two, to acclimatise. If he is not fit West Indies should have brought along somebody who is – unless the situation is so bad that they do not have any more fit fast bowlers.
Is this the worst West Indies team to tour here since the Second Word War?
Your supporters are saying that it is – CaribCommx says that it is – and the facts and figures say that it is so.
Now go out there and prove us wrong – please!  

Clayton Goodwin 

 

HAYE-CHISORA SET-TO INSIDE A RING

The one showdown the fans really want to see -Bastille Day and the walls of the Establishment came tumbling down – Tone of fracas out of keeping withinternational heavyweight division – After the Klitschkos ..... 

So David Haye and Dereck Chisora are to settle their differences inside a ring – at Upton Park football ground on Saturday 14^th July as it happens – which, I suppose, is as good as anywhere. It is a bout between two UK-based heavyweights unrecognised (temporarily or otherwise) by their own board of control, on British soil but authorised by the board of control of Luxembourg (a neat piece of perceived piracy), and in the very area of London seeking every bit of sporting publicity for the Olympic Games which start there in just under a fortnight later.
It is also on Bastille Day. The very day, if you remember, that the walls of the Establishment came tumbling down.
Both boxers deserve to be banned from the profession in view of their deplorable conduct in Germany at the time Chisora challenged Vitali Klitschko for the world championship – though this development does make you wonder if those who considered that the whole thing had been a set-up to publicise such a fight in the future did have a point. The trouble is that, thanks to the media and the hype, this is the one heavyweight showdown in this country that the fans really want to see.
Those readers who are lucky enough to have Sky Sport or Boxnation will know that there have been some excellent fighters all round the world, not least in Western Europe, with the prospect of many more to come. The tone of this fracas is out of keeping with the sporting and generally well-contained atmosphere of the international heavyweight division under the hegemony of the Klitschko brothers. However with so many also-ran contenders jostling of a piece of the action, and a bigger piece of the publicity, when they retire it is certain to be a case of .... après eux la deluge.

Clayton Goodwin

If the contestants should indulge in any unorthodox forms of fighting – whether in breaking toes or biting – they should beware of the song from the Three-penny Opera.

Und der Haifisch, der hat Zähne
Und die trägt er im Gesicht
Und Macheath, der hat ein Messer
Doch das Messer sieht man nicht.

And the Haye-fish (shark) he has teeth
And he wears them in his face
But Macheath he has a knife
But nobody can see the knife.

BOLT STARTS SUMMER SEASON IN STYLE – RUNS UNDER TEN SECONDS FOR 100 METRES

Blake in devastating form – Mills and Montsho take 400 metres but former is the faster – Sick Kiptum stars in Hanover

Usain Bolt impressed himself on the start of the Olympic Games summer by winning the 100 metres in 9.82 seconds at the IFF World Challenge Meeting the JN Jamaica International Invitational  at the National Stadium in Kingston. Unaffected by the two false starts he devastated a high-quality field in finishing ahead of his compatriots Michael Frater and Lerone Clarke, the Commonwealth champion.
“It is a good start I would say. It was better than last yeat so I am definitely happy with myself. I don’t think the execution was perfect but I think for my first race it was good so I am happy with it”.
Yohan Blake, tipped as Bolt’s successor in the sprints, was similarly devastating in winning the 200 metres in 19.91 seconds.
Carmelita Jeter achieved her third straight victory n winning the 100 metres in 10.81 seconds over Shelly-Ann Baptiste second and Kerron Stewart. Nevertheless she thought that she had not been sufficiently aggressive at the start. Bianca Knight, her fellow-American, won the 200 metres in 22.49 seconds ahead of the 100 metres Olympic Games champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
Novlene Williams Mills outpaced Jamaica-born Sanya Richards-Ross to win the 400 metres in 49.11 seconds. This event is particularly well endowed with talent world-wide. Brigette Foster Hilton won the 100 metres in 12.51 seconds with Priscilla Lopes-Schliep second and Tiffany Porter third.

Amantle Montsho (Botswana) won the 400 metres won the 400 metres in 50.52 seconds in the Seiko Golden Prix, IAAF World Challenge meeting, at Kawasaki. Her rival, Allyson Felix (U.S.A.), moved down to the 100 metres hich she won in 11.22 seconds. Montsho reflected afterwards: “I had a great race even though the weather was bad.”
Job Kimyor (Kenya) won the 800 metres in 1:47.05 into a strong wind.

Joseph Kiptum (Kenya) won the IAAF Bronze Label Race the Hanover Marathon in 2:09.56, holding off Mergersa Bacha Chikuala (Ethiopia).  He said afterwards: “I had a stomach problem and if they would have run faster I would not have been able to go with the leading group”. Wilfrec Kigen (Kenya) and pace-maker Jacob Kendagor (Kenya) were second and third respectively. Although he vomited twice during the race Kiptum explained: “Last night I could not sleep. So at around 3 a.m. in the morning I ate some bananas. Somehow something went wrong – but I am very happy that I still won”.
Dennis Kimetto (Kenya) won the 25-kilometre race in Berlin in a record time 1:11:18. It was only his third race outside of his home country. Dennis declared: “It had been our aim to break the record. We knew throughout the race that we were on time to do it. Next year I want to run my Marathon debut”.
Caroline Chepkwony (Kenya) won the women’s race in 1:22:56. She said: “This is a great course and it is very fast. I was around one minute faster than I had planned”.