Sports View
by Neil Kumar
Cricket, glorious cricket! The cricketing world is glued to their television and transistors as the exciting Indian Premier League is gaining momentum. The world most prestigious Twenty/20 tournament brings together some of the most exciting players around the globe. However, it cannot be denied that India is giving some of their very young players an opportunity to rub shoulders and play alongside some of the best players in the world. While we are witnessing some magnificent stroke-play along with some world-class bowling, we are also seeing majestic fielding.
In the Caribbean we are desperately awaiting the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) tournament. All eyes will be on the prestigious Franchise teams. As for Guyanese, our cricket-pride people, will certainly be rallying behind our team. However, Guyanese will be hoping that in this 2017 battle our team will not be cheated.
Guyana Jaguars won the just concluded four-day Regional title. And the Caribbean people are terribly upset with the West Indies test team as the visiting Pakistan team is humiliating the Caribbean team.
The Caribbean people are forced to endure sloppy and wayward bowling. As for the fielding, the spectators are having fun talking about butter-fingers. Sixty-four extras are certainly not acceptable. Bowlers must be able to bowl a good line and length; while it is imperative that our batsmen focus on their batting. However, the West Indies selectors must stop with their insularity. Shai Hope played in eight Test matches, bat in fifteen innings, scored a mere 231 test runs, highest score 41 and his batting average is 15.40 prior to the last Test.
Devendra Bishoo played in 22 Test matches, bat 37 times and he was not out eleven times. Bishoo’s highest score in Test cricket is 45 and his batting average is 17.48. Bishoo has 79 Test wickets. His best bowling performance is eight wickets for 49 runs. Bishoo also has a ten-wicket ‘haul’ in a Test match. Yet this man Bishoo is struggling to be in the team because of insularity.
As we are writing the homemade bread, Hope played his best Test innings on the fourth day of the second Test at Kensington Oval, in Barbados. Young Shimron Hetmyer and Vishaul Singh are two young players from Guyana who are selected to play for the West Indies in the first Two test matches. Both young players failed to get among the runs in the first match. Again in the first innings of the second match they were dismissed cheaply.
However, Hetmyer managed to get some runs but not enough to command his place in the team. Both of these players must be given a few Test matches to consolidate themselves in the West Indies test team. Hetmyer is a future West Indies captain who can take West Indies team to the helm of world cricket. The West Indies team desperately needs a captain who can lead the team from in front. Hetmyer already proved himself by leading the West Indies Under-19 team to victory in the Under-19 World Cup.
While the West Indies team is struggling against Pakistan, expectations are high that they can mature and come good. West Indies in the second test match took first strike and scored a challenging 312 runs. Young Roston Chase scored a solid century. Pakistan in their first innings put on a good batting display as they scored 393runs. Batting a second time in the match West Indies scored 268 runs. Shai Hope with two first class double centuries on the same wicket was able to score 90 valuable runs. He along with Kraigg Brathwaite and Singh focus on their batting and enabled the West Indies to score a challenging 268 runs on a difficult wicket.
Pakistan in their second innings was bowled out for a paltry 81 runs. Batting was almost impossible as Shannon Gabriel captured five wickets for a mere eleven runs from eleven overs, while the skipper took three wickets for 23 runs and young Alzarri Joseph took two wickets for 42 runs.
While Yasir Shah was the destroyer of the West Indies team with seven wickets for 95 runs, the West Indies leg spinner Devendra Bishoo did not bowl a single ball in the Pakistan second innings. The test series is now level at 1-1. An interesting third and final Test will be played in Dominica starting on Wednesday.
