Ramdin's way not Windies way

Pakistan fans in full voice at the Oval

West Indies fans are only just beginning to feel the pride again. Our team won the ICC Twenty20 World Cup last year and we are finally starting to see a side which will  compete with the best of the cricketing world, if only in the shorter formats. We took that pride to the Kia Oval last Friday, despite being drowned out by chants of 'Pakistan Zindabad (Long Live Pakistan)' from a larger and more vociferous set of fans.

That pride was evident in the way a stout woman with maroon head-wrap waved her St. Lucian flag. It was on show again every time the two West Indian men, engulfed in a sea of green and white in Block 10 in the Vauxhall Stand, answered Preacher's call to 'Jump an wave, jump up an wave', the Trinidadian singer eventually telling us that 'The party caan ova'.

If the party wasn't over in the ninth over, it certainly stalled, when Dinesh Ramdin did something no right-thinking West Indies fan should be proud of: claim a catch he obviously knew he had grassed. At first I jumped out of my seat at the implication that Kemar Roach had taken his and West Indies' fourth wicket. But I slumped down again in disgust and embarrassment as the evidence was shown on the big screens, and Pakistan Zindabad turned into choruses of boos every time the Trinidadian touched the ball.

Windies players warm up prior to the game

Misbah-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain and batsman who would have suffered had the eagle-eyed umpire Nigel Long not seen Ramdin's misdeed, later said the wicket-keeper had acted against the spirit of the game. I agree with him, but more importantly from a Caribbean point of view, it is just not the West Indian way to play like this. Team captain Dwayne Bravo said as much in his post match interview: "History has shown that we play the game in true spirit of the way it should be played."

Bravo could easily have referenced Courtney Walsh's refusal to run out Pakistan's Saleem Jaffer in Lahore in the 1987 World Cup game. The batsman had left his crease as Walsh was about to get into his delivery stride at a pivotal stage of the game, and with a semi-final at stake, but instead of running him out, the lionhearted Jamaican stopped and returned to his bowling mark. Thus Walsh is not only remembered as the fast bowler who terrorised batsmen on his way to 519 wickets, he is also considered as one of the true gentlemen of the gentleman's game.

Walsh's action is the epitome of the West Indian way and should be the benchmark against which young West Indian players measure themselves. Play ferociously but fair. Grind your opponent down but be gentlemanly.

At the moment Ramdin is not adhering to these ethos. We thought his 'Talk nah Viv' transgression last year at Edgbaston would be a one-off. But a year later he is at it again. He's an outstanding wicket-keeper, and has the potential to become a very good international batsman. Therefore, he should stay clear of the controversies, and play the game in such a way that we, the fans, can party in the stands and in the streets without apology.

Tino Best Has Champions Trophy in His Sights

Tino Best playing County Cricket for Yorkshire - Photo by Harrias

Tino Best has told reporters at a West Indies training camp in Barbados that his fitness is 'about 80 percent and loading' heading into the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy next month in England and Wales.

The mercurial fast bowler, who is enjoying one of his longest and best spells in the regional side, said: 'I don't want to go too hard in the camp and when the tournament come I'm a little tired. I'm managing that well, so I wanna hit the tournament at a hundred percent, bowling rapid and doing well for the West Indies.'

Best resumed his test career last year when West Indies took on England at Edgbaston and nearly became the first number 11 batsman in international cricket to score a century, but fell five runs short of the milestone.

His most outstanding bowling performances came later in the year against Bangladesh. Bowling with a hamstring injury and on a relatively slow pitch, the Barbadian took six wickets for 40 runs to help the West Indies to a two-nil victory. In the previous match he had picked up five for 24 in the second innings.

Indifferent performances and injuries have plagued Best at the start of 2013, but the Champions Trophy could be the resuscitation his career needs at this time.

He is also cautiously optimistic about the chances of the West Indies in the competition. He said: 'I think that once we play as a collective unit, as we did in Sri Lanka (West Indies won the ICC Twenty20 competition in Sri Lanka) I think that we will do well.

'Our chances are as good as anybody else.  I think that we have some amazing talent and everyone can see daily on TV with the guys performing in the IPL.'

Best will first have to battle with the fit-again Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach and Jason Holder for his place in the team, but with his pace and exuberance the other bowlers can not be complacent. 

The West Indies play their first match against Pakistan at the KIA Oval on Friday, June 7.

Are West Indian Players the soul of the IPL?

If someone from the Caribbean had referred to West Indian players as the soul of the Indian Premier League, I would have dismissed the comment, somewhat like Chris Gayle bashing a full length delivery out of the M. Chinnaswamy stadium. But since the remark came from former India opening batsman Aakash Chopra, I have to treat it with respect.

Chris Gayle parties with fans in India - Royal Challengers Bangalore photo

'You take West Indians out of the Indian Premier League and you take its soul away' Chopra said recently while working as an analyst on ITV's coverage of an IPL game between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab.

Chopra not only played 10 Test matches for India, he is also a respected cricket writer, especially on domestic cricket. Last year he was asked to present a paper to Indian cricket authorities on how to improve the domestic game.

No reason then to think his brain was resting while his mouth was moving. The truth is the Caribbean crusaders have been doing very well in the sixth edition of the IPL. After 15 rounds of matches Gayle has most runs (680) with the highest individual score of 175. Dwayne Smith and Keiron Pollard have played match-winning innings. Even Darren "Skai Daddy" Sammy has walloped a few.

Where bowling is concerned, Dwayne Bravo, the new West Indies ODI captain, and Sunil Narine have been battling for the top wicket-taker's spot. Bravo is on 22 while his fellow Trinidadian is on 20. Ravi Rampaul and Kevon Cooper have also done very well.

As good as the performances have been, however, the entertainment value that the West Indians have brought to the tournament is priceless. It's one thing uprooting a batsman's stumps; it's even better when you do the Gangnam Style dance afterwards. It was amazing to see Sunrisers Hyderabad fans copying Sammy's signature celebration of sucking on a pacifier - a tribute to his baby daughter.

If there's one thing near-naked dancing girls, a plethora of Bollywood stars, all kinds of pyrotechnics and Danny Morrison say about the IPL, it is that it's all about entertainment. No group of players contribute to this spectacle than the boys from the Caribbean. If this is what Aakash Chopra meant when he made his remark, then I believe him. 

Trying to make the case for Devon Smith

Devon Smith does warm-up excercise

Whenever I think about Devon Smith, an image of a smirking Mohammad Hafeez often pops into my mind. I suspect Smith is tormented by this apparition too, especially in his more contemplative moments. For those who cannot make the connection, Hafeez is the part-time off-spinner from Pakistan who dismissed Smith five out of five times (six if you count the World Cup match in Dhaka weeks earlier) during a Test and One Day International (ODI) series in the Caribbean in 2011. Smith's highest score in the games was 17 and by the time Hafeez knocked back his stumps in the final match at Providence in Guyana, you could not help but feel someone's destiny was hanging by the thinnest of threads.

To his credit Smith has bounced back with the kind of performances in domestic cricket which have left people in the Caribbean tentatively talking about a recall to the West Indies team. In six matches in this season's regional first class competition, the Grenadian has scored 682 runs at an average 85.25, with three centuries and a half century. And, there is still a semi-final and potential final for him to improve these numbers. He has also helped the Windward Islands to the Regional Super50 title with a season-leading 348 runs, including a century and three half centuries. It is no wonder that the Grenada sports minister, Emmalin Pierre, has said that Smith should be allowed to resume his international career.

The problem with selecting him, however, is that you would have to ignore his history, a thing that is hard to do. Since making his debut with a solid half century against  Australia in 2003, he has been left out of the regional team five times due to poor performances. One century and five half centuries in 33 Tests with an average 24.71 makes Carl Hooper look like an over-achiever. And, in his 42 ODIs the story is not much better with an average 26.68. If there is a great master of cricket somewhere waiting to see bountiful returns deserving of the talents that have been bestowed on the little left-hander, he is going to be miserably disappointed. 

West Indies playing England at Lords in 2012

The problem of a Smith return to the West Indies team is further exacerbated by the recruiting of other players, with relative success, to fill the spot which would have otherwise been his.  Kieron Powell has started life with the 'big boys' slowly but is making steady progress, and supporting Chris Gayle well. Not far behind him is Kraigg Brathwaite, who, despite making his Test debut at 19, has shown the type of patience and application that makes you wonder if he is even West Indian. And then there is Johnson Charles, Lendl Simmons and even Adrian Barath.

Of course, none of these guys come close to being the regional run-scoring 'bully' that Smith has been. He has always scored heavily in domestic cricket, starting with the 700-plus runs he amassed in the 2002 regional first class season. Back then he deserved his selection, just as these guys in their 20s deserve their opportunities now.  It is unfortunate that he did not show the appetite for life at the highest level in that first attempt, and then spurned several subsequent opportunities to hold onto his place. Today, at 31, the case for another selection is much harder to make.

At this time the West Indies team need fearless batsmen, especially at the top of the order. They need batsmen, who will stare down their opponents like Vivian Richards used to, and stand up and fight like Shivnarine Chanderpaul has done on so many occasions. Too often in the past Smith, like several of his contemporaries, has surrendered, seemingly even before walking to crease. 

Should he play for the West Indies again? Of course. However, not before proper considerations are given to others to show what they can do. The selectors have rightly included him in the provisional 30-man squad for the ICC Champions Trophy to be held in England and Wales later this year. I do not expect him to make the final 15, but if he does, I hope he has the courage this time to stand up to the smirking little man from Pakistan.

Devon Smith has subsequently been named in the Champions Trophy squad

An encounter with the "dreaded" West Indies fast bowler Roy Gilchrist

I faced up to Roy Gilchrist once, and the experience was far from terrifying. There were no decapitating beamers, no sharp rising bouncers, no harsh words and certainly no knives (we will get the knives bit later). In fact, I came away from the five-minute encounter with what can only be described as a few 'juicy' full tosses.

It was 1995 and I, a single-minded 17-year-old, was making my debut for the Hanover cricket team in Jamaica's premier club competition. We were playing against Melbourne Cricket Club (that institution that produced Michael Holding, Courtney Walsh, and Marlon Samuels). No pressure then. Playing cricket for Jamaica and West Indies was only going to be my job for the next 20 years.

I opened the innings and after an hour or so, I was out for 17. Shivnarine Chanderpaul could not have been more disappointed. I walked off the field and straight into the dressing room to sulk. After a few minutes, one of my team-mates came in and told me someone wanted to have a word. I was not keen on talking to anyone but I came out anyway.

My team-mate pointed me to an old man sitting on a chair and told me he was Roy Gilchrist, the former West Indies fast bowler. I had come across the name before during my many hours in the Hanover Parish Library, reading any cricket book I could lay hands on. But whatever little I had read about him, had drowned in an ocean of knowledge about Frank Worrell, George Headley, Viv Richards, Jack Hobbs and even WG Grace.

I walked over and Mr Gilchrist extended his hand, the same hand that had propelled a red five-and-three-quarter-ounce object with velocity and meanness in the direction of batsmen throughout his career. I did not know this then, nonetheless I was touched. I shook his hand and he smiled.

We chatted for a little while and he said he liked my determination and courage (I was backing up to Melbourne pacers Junior Hall and Derron Dixon). He told me that if I continued like this I would be a successful player, but I needed to work really hard on my running between the wickets. I thanked him and walked away with an even greater determination to become a professional cricketer.

Years passed and like many with similar dreams, I realised that my skills did not equate with my desires. So I traded those dreams for more realistic, if mundane, ones.

I did, however, properly research Roy Gilchrist, and was sad to discover that he was not always easy to get along with. I was even more disappointed that he did not achieve the greatness that his talent deserved. He was sent home from the 1958-1959 West Indies tour of the subcontinent after ignoring his captain's warning to stop bowling beamers and bouncers. He is also alleged to have pulled a knife on his leader. He was regarded as the world's fastest bowler, but he never played for the regional team again.

Despite the issues, I think Gilchrist's international career could have been salvaged. CLR James, the cricket writer and journalist, felt the same. In 1959, while campaigning for Worrell to become the first black captain of the West Indies team, James tried to have Gilchrist reinstated. He was convinced that the pacer's impoverished background and his sudden elevation to stardom was the cause for some of his bad behaviour, and said it was to be presumed that Gilchrist would mature with time and under the right leadership. Unlike the incumbent, Gerry Alexander, whom he could not get along with, Gilchrist worshiped Worrell and James knew this.

His plan was to have Worrell talk to the bowler and have him make a public apology but his effort was stonewalled. So he wrote in his newspaper, asking the West Indies authorities reconsider, but to no avail. And so, at 24 with only 13 matches and 57 wickets at 26.68 apiece, Gilchrist's international career had come to an end.

Some would say Roy Gilchrist was his own demolition man. And what do I know? I only met him briefly, at a time when he might not have been able to lob a cricket ball 11 yards much more 22, or even cut bread properly. However, in those few minutes, he proved he wasn't all menace.

First published on ESPN Cricinfo

No war, "pure cricket" at Rocket Complex

 Indian batsman watched by Pakistan fielder  

Pakistan and India have been in conflict for more than 60 years. They have fought three major wars, resulting in the death of more than a million people. The 2008 Mumbai attacks which claimed the lives of 174 people still stands in the way of improving relations between the two countries. This is the cloud that hovered over last Wednesday’s world cup semi-final in India.

However, this was not the focus of about 40 London Met Asian and British Asian students, mainly Pakistanis and Indians, who watched the match at the Rocket Complex. Some climbed up on stools. Others reclined in sofas. All stared at the several televisions. Spectacular plays from India’s Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag, and Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi and Wahab Riaz were greeted with applause. In a game which seesawed, the only tension in the room came from the TV screens.

This respectful and good-natured mood was encouraged by post graduate Pakistan student, Haris Afridi. On the eve of the match, he posted on Facebook: “... Wednesday is no day of war. If anything, it is a celebration of cricket, a triumph of love over hate, of harmony over discord. The flags of both Pakistan and India will be fluttering together. Don't drag your 'faith' in to this game... The 11 wonderful cricketers on both sides represent no holy armies. They represent the very best in cricket. That's it!”

If this was not enough, the students could take their cue from political representatives. Days before the game Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani accepted an invitation from his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh, to watch the game in Mohali. The move was aimed at ‘improving the environment for talks... on a number of troublesome issues’.  

Pakistan and Indian students watch the game at Rocket Complex

Meanwhile at the Rocket, the Pakistani support was more outstanding, especially in the second half of the game when it seemed like the men in green would successfully chase India’s total of 260. A large Pakistan flag was conspicuously spread across a box at the front of the room, and two male students wore green sport shirts. One of them was Osman Shahid Amin. The 21-year-old who came over from the City campus, where he studies business and marketing, believes that the baggage associated with Pakistan India contests is the reason why his country had not won any of the four previous world cup matches against their archrivals.  

“...the players are aggressive, thinking that they are beating their neighbours, but it’s not just about beating your neighbours. It’s not about war. It’s not about partition. It’s just about pure cricket,” he said.

India was partitioned in 1947 (at the end of British rule) creating the Pakistan state. This pitted Hindus against Muslims, resulting in one of the world’s longest conflicts, the main focus of which has been who should control the Kashmir region.

Osman, who said he has Indian friends, claimed that such baggage is not normally carried from their homelands. Another Pakistan student, Zahid Hussein, who was born and raised in England, said he also has Indian friends but this was because things were changing.

Pakistan’s poor record against India in world cups did not change however, as they were beaten for the fifth consecutive time by their nemesis.

Twenty-year-old Akash Cogna, the one Indian student willing to comment on relations between the countries, said the match carried no historical significance for him:

“We are just proud of ourselves man, especially on our home ground. We are planning to get as far as we can and win the world cup.”

India's Likeliest Lad at Lords

Rahul Dravid: Photo by lensbug.chandru

It wasn't supposed to be his show. He was only meant to play a supporting role (for the umpteenth time). The stage had been primed at Lords, the home of cricket, for Sachin Tendulkar to score his 100th international century in the 2000th Test match, and 100th between England and India. But Rahul Dravid hijacked the script, despite his side's loss. He starred with a brilliant century in the first inning and batted for a long time in the second before the end came. His performance wasn't surprising.

Rahul Dravid has built a reputation as a solid and indefatigable batsman for the past 15 years, but unlike others in the Indian team (namely Tendulkar) he hasn't exactly been box office (or should I say Bollywood). He seemed to have slipped under the radar in the buildup to this match, which I imagine would have suited him just fine. Mike Atherton, on television commentary, remarked that hardly anyone watched him at net sessions, while Tendulkar rehearsed in front of scores of people. It meant more pressure on the Little Master, less pressure on Dravid.

He also would have done himself no harm by participating in the just concluded Caribbean tour. While some of his colleagues opted out citing injury, illness or fatigue, Dravid went to the West Indies and battled with the likes of Fidel Edwards, Ravi Rampaul and Davendra Bishoo. It might have been a low-keyed series, but it turned out to be challenging for batsmen on both sides. When the curtain came down on the last match Dravid had scored 251 runs including a century on a bouncy Sabina Park pitch. The balls faced in those games would have been invaluable in preparation for this series; take note Gautam Gambhir (he also missed the tour).

In addition to the momentum carried over from the West Indies, Dravid has called on his experience of English conditions. Of the current Indian team only Tendulkar would have played more Test cricket in England. However, Dravid’s was the best technique on display in that first inning: he played very late to the swinging ball, which is a feature of the conditions. He also backed that up with immense concentration and patience which was crucial. At no point did he appear bothered by the occasion or the opposition.

The one thing that might have been on his mind, however, was the memory of a young man getting out for 95 on his debut at the very same venue 15 years ago. Not only did he go eight runs better this time, he made sure not to be dismissed.

There were some decent performances from other members of the Indian cast: Suresh Raina, after failing to score in the first innings, made 78 in the second; VVS Laxman made 56, while Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma picked up wickets. However, Dravid's performance was always going to make the final cut.