Well, the new West Indies cricket team fizzled out of the ICC Champions Trophy, today.
[The ICC Champions Trophy is a 2-week event consisting of One Day International matches. The world's top cricket teams compete for the ICC Trophy and prize money of US $4 million.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the governing body for international cricket].
Sad to say, this was expected, as the West Indies' loss to Australia on Saturday, guaranteed their early exit from the competition.
The West Indies (Windies) match against India, today, was supposed to be a face-saver for the Windies, but their performance was dismal - as they only made 129 runs in 36 overs, providing the Indians with an easy 130-run target to make in 50 overs.
And the Indians did make target practice of the West Indies. They made 130 runs for 3 wickets in 32.1 overs, and thus won by 7 wickets.
Although In dia won their match against the West Indies, their point standing of 1, was insufficient for them to advance the semifinals.
So, from group A, only Pakistan and Australia have advanced to the semifinals.
The other teams making it to the semifinals are New Zealand and England - both from Group B.
Hence:
1) The 1st semifinal: Australia vs England, will take place on Friday, Oct 2, 12:30 GMT or 7:30 a.m. Jamaica time
2) The 2nd semifinal: New Zealand vs Pakistan, will take place on Oct 3,12:30 GMT or 7:30 a.m. Jamaica time.
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Surely it has to be back to the drawing board for the West Indies Cricket Board and team.
We really need a West Indies team, with capable players, committed to playing their hearts out, for the West Indies.
The Board needs to have a re-look at this new West Indies team to ensure that only trainable persons, who are capable of improvement, are combined with committed members from the old West Indies team, to form a new team of competent batsmen, bowlers and fielders.
They need to enforce performance-based criteria for each team member, which should also include attitudinal measures. The Board, should by now realize that West Indians are just plain tired of the lazy attitude of most members of the old Windies team.
As for the administration side of things - a new CEO (Ernest Hilaire) should take up Office, tomorrow. He's already creating ripples by saying that he would oust Chris Gayle as captain, based upon comments Chris made some months ago, that test cricket is dead and that he prefers the shorter, more lucrative form of the game - 20/20 cricket.
Well, it would be interesting to see who Mr. Hilaire feels is a good replacement for Gayle.
I would say, based upon attitude and acumen, that Dwayne Bravo would be an excellent choice - I just love this young man's attitude, he gives 130%, he's a good all-rounder and seems to be a natural leader - with killer instincts.
...He just has the kind of tenacity we need in a captain, to ensure wins.
Wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin is also another good choice...based on past performance and intelligence.
Speaking of attitude and acumen, the West Indies Board now needs to excuse themselves from their positions and allow a new Board of great managers and administrators with strong ethics, strong work ethic in Sports Business, who will be held accountable for their actions, to take their place.
All of them need to retire in the best interest of West Indies cricket...
Maybe then we will have a West Indies team and organization, that West Indians will support and truly be proud of.
(I would like to thank kitsece2001 for the use of his Flickr inset photo of the ICC Champions Trophy).
Gillian
Sources Include
1) Match Schedule for ICC Champions Trophy, www.cricinfo.com, September 22-October 5,2009
2) Results of ICC Champions Trophy, September 30,2009
3) ICC Champions Trophy Points Standing, www.thatscricket.oneindia.in, September 30,2009
4) Article, "Gayle captaincy not guaranteed-Hilaire", by Alex Brown, cricinfo.com September 23,2009
