Cricket Coach Ingram Jones
It has taken me some time to respond to the 112 run defeat to Pakistan. The opportunity to push forward into the semi-finals and the hope of inspiring young cricketers in the Caribbean wasn’t enough to prevent the squad from collapsing. I mentioned that either Pakistan or the West Indies were capable of playing exciting cricket but also both sides were capable of folding. Unfortunately it was the case that the West Indies decided to accept the role and for an international side it was an ugly sight. I could spend the rest of this blog ripping the squad apart, but I will choose to remain as positive as possible.
Ricky Ponting of Australia whom had scored a century in what turned out to be his final game held a press conference to say he was stepping down as captain. Although he was never the world’s greatest captain… he was always known world wide for his ability as a batsman which brought balance and strength to the middle order, often getting this Aussie side out of trouble and scoring big hundreds… he therefore justified his place in the side.
Enter current West Indies Captain Darren Sammy. The end of the World Cup journey is usually the watershed for teams and players. A time where decisions are made for players to retire. Ricky Ponting should have had a joint press conference with Mr Sammy to draw a line under the end of an era for West Indies. In stark contrast Darren Sammy brought imbalance to the side and especially going into the quarter finals, you would have liked to have seen the best possible squad face Pakistan. However there has been no such comments coming from Mr Sammy and you have to wonder…will he be captain for the new era?
Darren Bravo
The West Indies have some talented players going forward with Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell and Kemar Roach. Although I get greatly upset to see Benn whom is 6ft 5in plus coming in to bowl spin.. (He should be a fast bowler! I wonder which coach encouraged him to become a spin bowler?) Benn has shown to be a quality spin bowler backed up by the impressive Devendra Bishoo whom I felt bowled well at the World Cup. Adrian Barath is due to return will boost the squad and has shown to be a talented batsman. Nash is a solid strudy batsman and why wasn’t he selected in the World Cup squad? How would he have done in this World Cup while others were throwing their wickets away. Keiron Pollard is yet to convince me that he is going to be a genuine cricketer, at the moment he is advertised as a 20/20 player and there are experts that believe that he isn’t consistent enough to play regular international test cricket. Fidel Edwards and my cousin Nelon Pascal are also on the sidelines as well as Marlon Samuels whom would be a welcome return to strengthen the squad.
Personally I would also like to see Darren Ganga back as Captain for the squad, or Dwyane Bravo. I look at Ganga as a quality leader and Bravo as a dynamic leader.. both would be far more refreshing and better equipped than Darren Sammy.
With Otis Gibson and Richie Richardson, there needs to be some serious decisions which need to be made about the senior players such as Gayle, Sarwan and Chanderpaul. Whatever happens I pray that the worst has come and never to be seen again…
