On many a Sunday, I realize that people have looked at the stories they've seen throughout the week with different lenses. I have my own personal take on some of these trending issues and I will share them with you. Welcome to #INCASEYOUMISSEDIT the 2021 edition with Mariah
Big names in Windies T20 and ODI squads; execution will be the key.
Last Friday, West Indies named T20I and ODI squads as they get ready for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka beginning on March 3 in Antigua. These matches will serve as preparation for the team that hopes to successfully defend the ICC T20 World Cup title in India later this year. On paper, the team looks strong. However, teamwork will be among the keys to success for Kieron Pollard’s men.
The recall of Chris Gayle and Fidel Edwards did not come as a surprise as the selectors believe both still have a lot to offer. The 41-year-old Gayle last played for the Windies in 2019 when he scored 72 against India in Port of Spain, Trinidad.
The Universe Boss is heading into the series against Sri Lanka in good form. Before he returned to the Caribbean, Gayle had scores of 39 and 68, playing for the Quetta Gladiators against the Karachi Kings and Lahore Qualanders, respectively.
Gayle’s experience will prove invaluable to the West Indies having scored 13,691 runs in T20I with 22 hundreds. His influence in the dressing room is also expected to be a significant factor.
Edwards returns to the team after an absence of nine years but at 39, he is still able to generate 90mph deliveries that CWI will hope he uses to add to his 26 T20I scalps.
Experience aside, the selectors have included a number of younger players who are expecting to make their debuts during the series. Guyana’s Kevin Sinclair and Trinidad’s Akeal Hosein impressed with recent performances in Bangladesh and during the CG Insurance Super 50 competition.
Both players played in the finals of the Super 50 tournament on which the 21-year-old Sinclair picked up five wickets and scored 47 runs for the Guyana Jaguars. Hosein impressed for the Trinidad Red Force taking eight wickets at a miserly economy rate of 4.18.
The mixture of youth and experience will need a strong leader and the West Indies are blessed with that in the form of Kieron Pollard, who in recent months, won the CPL and the Super50 and had a leadership role in the Mumbai Indians winning the IPL late last year.
His wisdom, experience and will to win will be key to any success the Windies have against the Sri Lankans and future series.
“Winning is the only thing,” he said after claiming the Super50 title on Saturday. It is imperative his team believes that as well.
Red Force too hot to handle!
The Trinidad and Tobago Red Force won all seven of their matches to lift the Sir Clive Lloyd Trophy on Saturday after smashing the Guyana Jaguars by 152 runs in the final at the Coolidge Cricket Ground.
The aptly named Red Force scored an imposing 362-5 and then restricted Jaguars to 210 from 43.5 overs.
It was an all-around team effort that resulted in the domination of a strong Jaguars team.
Lendl Simmons saved his best performance with the bat for the final scoring 146, the highest score in a 50-over final and he was supported by Evin Lewis’ 57, 47 from Dwayne Bravo and a quick-fire 39 from Nicholas Pooran.
Their bowlers, led by Ravi Rampaul’s 4-52 and Jayden Seales, who picked up 3-40 and Anderson Phillip 2-40 decimated the opponent’s batting notwithstanding a courageous unbeaten 97 from Raymon Reifer.
The team’s dominance came down to the consistency of each member. Jason Mohammed was the highest run-scorer with 327. He scored a century (122) and averaged an excellent 81.75 for the tournament. Lewis, who had a high score of 107, was the second-highest run-scorer with 318 at an average of 45.42.
Simmons was also among the top-five run-scorer for the 2020 champions and was the only batsman with more than one century in the tournament.
The veteran Ravi Rampaul’s 14 wickets were the second-best haul for the tournament, just three behind fellow finalist Gudakesh Motie’s 17 for the Jaguars. However, all their bowlers contributed to the team’s success this season.
Leave the NBA logo as it is else change it to Michael Jordan!
The NBA logo is a timeless classic, a representation of love and respect for the game. It remains a silhouette of Lakers great Jerry West since 1969.
However, in recent times, Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving has called for it to be changed to an image of late Laker great Kobe Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash in January 2020, and whose contributions to the game cannot be accurately quantified.
“Gotta Happen, idc what anyone says,” Irving said on Instagram.
Irving’s call has been endorsed by Bryant’s widow Vanessa.
While I understand the call for the change, it must be noted the G.O.A.T discussion in the NBA starts and ends with Michael Jordan, a person who Kobe admired greatly. Having played 15 seasons and winning six championships with the Bulls, he should be considered as the logo replacement.
Apart from the statistics which are compelling - 11 All-Star teams, 5 MVP awards, 10 scoring titles – Jordan’s killer instinct and obsession with winning are qualities that embody the NBA.
Pant selected for India's T20 World Cup squad after car-crash recovery
Rishabh Pant will hope to lead India to T20 World Cup glory after being selected in their squad, just over a year after undergoing surgery following a concerning car crash.
Wicketkeeper-batter Pant was involved in a near-fatal car collision in northern India in December 2022 but comes back into the international fold just 16 months after the incident.
The 26-year-old's performances in this season's Indian Premier League have secured his place in the 15-man squad, having scored 398 runs in 11 innings at a strike rate of 158.6 for the Delhi Capitals.
Pant is one of two wicketkeepers named in the squad for the tournament starting on June 1 in the United States and West Indies, alongside Sanju Samson.
Despite not previously featuring in a World Cup squad, Samson has impressed in the IPL after accumulating 385 runs in nine innings, striking at a rate of 161.1 for the league-leading Rajasthan Royals.
India captain Rohit Sharma and vice-captain Hardik Pandya will lead the side in the United States and West Indies, though Pant and Samson's inclusion leaves no place for KL Rahul or Jitesh Sharma.
Yuzvendra Chahal did not feature in either T20I squad in the recent series against South Africa and Afghanistan but was another India star included based on their IPL showings this year.
Leg-spinner Chahal, who will be joined by Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel in the spin-bowling department, has 13 wickets at an average of 23.5 for the Royals this term.
Jasprit Bumrah heads the pace-bowling lineup with Mohammed Siraj and Arshdeep Singh, while Hardik and Shivam Dube present all-rounder options with the ball.
Dube offers a decisive alternative with the bat, too, having top-scored with 124 runs across three innings in the home series against Afghanistan in January.
At the top of the order, Yashasvi Jaiswal will likely open alongside captain Rohit, with Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav providing some high-class backup lower down.
India face Ireland in New York on June 5 to start their World Cup campaign before meeting rivals Pakistan, USA and Canada.
India's provisional squad:
Rohit Sharma (captain), Hardik Pandya, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
Windies to test T20 World Cup readiness against South Africa, Australia in Jamaica and T&T; final squad to be named this week
With the ICC Men’s Twenty 20 World Cup now just about a month away, Darren Sammy and his West Indies team will up the tempo on preparations, before testing their readiness for the June 1-29 global showpiece, with a final warm-up match against Australia in Trinidad and Tobago.
Sammy’s final squad, which is expected to be named sometime this week, will be one of nine teams to travel to the Trinidad and Tobago in May for eight warm-up matches, four of which will take place at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, while the other four is scheduled for the historic Queen’s Park Oval. The teams will arrive in twin island republic on May 21.
The revelation came from Cricket West Indies’s (CWI) CEO Johnny Grave during the recently-concluded CARICOM conference on West Indies cricket themed ‘Reinvigorating West Indies Cricket’, in Port of Spain.
Grave explained that the final West Indies squad will not convene in full until they travel to Jamaica at the end of May to engage South Africa in three warm-up contests. However, he pointed out that there will be a camp in Antigua prior, which will involve members of the final squad, who are not plying their trade in the Indian Premier League.
From Jamaica, the Rovman Powell-captained squad will then travel to Trinidad and Tobago for the clash against 50-over World Cup winners Australia, ahead of the tournament to be hosted in the Caribbean and United States.
West Indies, the 2012 and 2016 champions, are hunting a third T20 World Cup title.
“We’re going to have a week-long preparation camp in Antigua from May 12, before heading to Jamaica. We’re then going to leave Jamaica and come here to Trinidad and Tobago for a week’s preparation, including playing at the historic Queen’s Park Oval on May 30, in an evening fixture against one of the tournament favourites Australia,” Grave shared.
“That will probably be one of the only games in the warm-up schedule that will be ticketed, and we certainly hope that the fans here in Trinidad, and particularly those in Port of Spain, will come out and rally behind the West Indies in that warm-up match, which is the final game we’ll play before we head to Guyana for the opening game on June 2,” he added.
West Indies, who are drawn in Group C alongside New Zealand, Afghanistan, Uganda and Papua New Guinea, will open against the latter at the Guyana National Stadium on June 2.
Grave urged fans to come out and rally behind the West Indies outfit in their push to start the tournament on a high.
“Making sure we have a huge party in Georgetown, and we get off to a winning start (will be crucial). We all know in these global tournaments, confidence and momentum are important and we can think of nothing better than starting with a victory in Guyana and ending it in Barbados on June 29 with a similar victory,” Grave said.
Archer included in England's T20 World Cup squad
Jofra Archer has been recalled to England’s provisional squad for the T20 World Cup in the West Indies and United States this June.
The 29-year-old, who has not played competitive cricket since May due to a long-term elbow injury, could make his first appearance for the international team since a tour of Bangladesh in March 2023.
Archer has been limited to just 15 T20Is since his England debut in 2019 and missed their 2022 World Cup success in Australia due to the same injury.
There is a recall for fellow fast-bowler Chris Jordan, who last played for England against New Zealand in September 2023, at the expense of Chris Woakes.
Uncapped Lancashire left-arm spinner, Tom Hartley, is also named in Jos Buttler’s 15-man squad, which includes nine players from the 2022 World Cup.
England will play a four-match T20 series against Pakistan at Headingley in May before they begin their T20 World Cup title defence against Scotland in Barbados on 4 June.
England’s provisional squad:
Jos Buttler (captain), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, To Hartley, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingston, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, Mark Wood.
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