"Usain (Bolt) and I said let's go to Australia and play some cricket; let's check out the Big Bash and see what it is all about," he noted. "With this hard training in track and field and I know that cricket training is not that hard and I can make the team and it is my first love, I would go to play cricket," he declared. "I want to finish this (athletics) as early as possible, so I can play my cricket: like somewhere around 30, 29, 28. in that region," he added. [Yohan Blake] was last month given the honour of being the first noncricketer to ring the bell at the 'home of cricket', Lord's, in England. He did so ahead of the start of the third Test match between England and South Africa.
[Yohan Blake], who will be defending his 10Om crown in Moscow next summer, is widely known to be an avid fan of the sport. Several decent showings in local cricket competitions were expected to be a precursor to his appearance at the massive Big Bash Twenty20 league in Australia in a few weeks. However, it seems Blake and his coach, Glen Mills, have struck a deal of sorts. "Coach (Glen) Mills had a talk with me and he told me that I have the (100m World) title to defend, so I should focus on that and then the other year (2014) is going to be an off year, so I can play my cricket and also run, so I am just going to wait until next year to look at the cricket," Blake told The Gleaner.
"We're all big men, it won't affect our performance. We have to get on with it. It's not a case of what I've said upsetting the team," [Chris Gayle] said. "I am definitely not giving up the captaincy after this Test match. I think I still have a big part to play in West Indies cricket," Gayle said. "It takes a toll on your body and your mental strength. It can drain you a bit," said Gayle, whom the Guardian quoted on Tuesday as saying he preferred Twenty20 cricket to Test cricket.
'It ranks right up there with getting my Test cap in 2000 at Queen's Park Oval and being knighted by the people of the Caribbean to say 'we want you to represent us'," [Wavell Hinds], president of the West Indies Players Association, said after topping three other nominees at the ceremony at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel last Wednesday night. The award's selection panel, headed by chairman Brian George, thought the 37year-old Hinds best exemplified the tenets of the award, which seeks to recognise a sporting personality who displays a high level of humility, integrity and discipline.
Led by batsman Jermaine Blackwood, who narrowly missed a hundred in the first innings and scored a maiden first class century in the second and spinner Damion Jacobs, who took eight first innings wickets, Jamaica won the trophy which was inaugurated five years ago in honor of the late Jamaica and West Indies batting legend George Headley, and living Barbados and West Indies batting legend Sir Everton Weekes.
I don't believe this is because cricket is an inferior game. But, in the eyes of the punters, football rules. This is true, not only in Britain but also in the Caribbean. I was therefore surprised that Channel 4 felt it could cash in on the enthusiasm shown for the Reggae Boyz by putting on a concert at Lords. West Indies tours to Britain in the '60s, '70s and '80s served a much wider purpose that went beyond hearing leather on willow. For those of us oppressed in the context of slavery and colonialism, the black body was something to be despised. It was particularly important for the Windrush generation and during the '50s and '60s, when the factory and the street were open season for racists.
Many have blamed the Windies' decline on the MTV generation, who are more interested in American basketball than cricket. And cricketers, although still idolised in the Caribbean, would never earn the amounts of Michael Jordan or Shaquille O'Neal. In this sense, James placed cricket on the same level as Western literature. "We live in one world," he wrote in a 1969 essay, "and we have to find out what is taking place in the world. And I, a man of the Caribbean, have found that it is in the study of Western literature, Western philosophy and Western history that I have found out the things that I have found out, even about the underdeveloped countries." Throughout his life James viewed cricket as a means of helping unite a disparate set of islands, of establishing a Caribbean as opposed to an island mentality. He had little difficulty in understanding why Norman Tebbit should make cricket the basis of his loyalty test - or why most black people would fail it.
"I can't believe what has taken place," said [Marshall]. "I would like a fair chance where every match I don't have to fret and worry that if I fail this game that could be it for me for the season." Marshall, who played three four-day matches two seasons ago before being dropped, also vowed to fight on amidst the setback. "It is not the first time this is happening to me," he said. "It is about the third or fourth time.
The bowler was a key part of the the West Indies ICC World T20 Championship triumph 11 months ago, but found himself out of favour with the selectors after a patchy run of form. However, the player put in a sensational effort to help the Jamaica Tallawahs claim the Limacol Caribbean Premier League regional T20 tournament, and has carried that form into the regional A team's series against India. While quick to admit that the road back to top form is yet a work in progress, the bowling allrounder says he is confident and physically ready, should a recall be made.
An elegant player, Samuels stormed back into the selectors' favour after amassing 830 runs in the Regional FirstClass Championship, the most by any player. Samuels also had an impressive showing in the regional T20 Championships where he finished as the top run-getter. Despite receiving an earlier call-up to the West Indies for the recently concluded ICC Cricket World Cup, the batsman declined the invitation, declaring himself not yet ready to return to international cricket.
