The Reverse Sweep

West Indies' Shakespearean Farce

The sight of the West Indies tourists being shot out for just 147 by England's second string attack at Northampton yesterday sadly came as no real surprise.

This tour has smacked of a Shakespearean farce from the start. Thanks to a combination of the sheer ineptitude of the WICB and greed on behalf of a number of players prioritising the IPL, the 15 man Test squad was already short of the likes of Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Ramnaresh Sarwan (left to languish in County Cricket with Leicestershire) and spin sensation Sunil Narine, who the board inexplicably forgot to give a contract to.

Then the squad that was picked couldn't even arrive together. Marlon Samuels seemed to have trouble in locating an airport in India, whilst Narsingh Deonarine and Assad Fudadin - who was probably as surprised as we were at his call-up - were delayed by visa problems. Why, they sought help from Yorkshire in how to negotiate UK Customs, we'll never know.

The first game with Sussex was washed out with only 34 overs bowled meaning that the game in progress with the Lions is their only preparation before the 1st Test starts at Lord's next Thursday. That's the same amount of game-time in English conditions as Kevin Pietersen, whose body may be in England but whose heart would appear to still be in India.

For all the talk of a revival under Otis Gibson and Darren Sammy, West Indies have only won two of their last 30 Tests - and one of those was against Bangladesh. Their recent record in England is poor, with the last win coming at Edgbaston in 2000, after which Nasser Hussain's England bounced back to win the series 3-1. Since then they have lost 12 out of 14 Tests in England, and those defeats were achieved with markedly better sides than the one that will take the field at Lord's next Thursday.

Whilst the bowling attack is reasonable enough, the batting is entirely dependent on Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Darren Bravo. Chanderpaul fought a lone role in the recent series with Australia, and has a good record against England, but surely he needs to take on more responsibility and bat higher up the order? Otherwise, he can expect to come to the wicket on a regular basis at not much for three.

As we said at the start of this piece, this tour has the look of a farce about it and if the weather holds out, one can only see a resounding 3-0 win for England. For someone that watched in awe the fearsome West Indies sides of 1984 and 1988, that is more than farcical; it is tragic. Shakespeare wrote a few of those as well.

Where next?

West Indies' losing battle with the IPL

Who should bat at six for England?

They also played cricket - an XI of illustriously named Cricketers (featuring William Shakspeare)

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep 

Dear Santa... - What have these cricketers requested for Christmas?

It's that time of year again and like the rest of us, the cricket fraternity have been compiling their list of requests for Santa.

Here's what some of them may have asked for this Christmas: 

Daniel Vettori - Protection. With 2011 having seen a number of dictators leaving this mortal coil, along with President Assad of Syria, Dictator Dan is one of only a handful left

Phillip Hughes - It's not exactly been a good year for poor old Phil, so his list to Santa is bulging with wishes such as a request to rescind his decision to opt out of BBL now that he has lost his Test place, a book of the best Worcester hosteleries ahead of his stint with the county and for Chris Martin and Martin Guptill to be sent on a one-way mission to Mars

Ricky Ponting - A time machine so he can relive past glories

Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir - A DVD of The Great Escape and a tunnel making kit

Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard - Lucrative contracts in the new Twenty 20 leagues in Outer Mongolia, Belarus and the Falkland Islands

Stuart Law - A one way ticket from Dhaka to Brisbane

Ijaz Butt - World War III 

Kevin Pietersen and Andy Flower - A bottle of paraffin, some matches and a lorry full of Graeme Swann's autobiography

Jonathan Trott - A Bob Willis voodoo doll

Jesse Ryder, Jacques Kallis and Graeme Smith - A KFC bargain bucket per day for life

Shane Warne - Some humility

Kamran Akmal - A new pair of gloves made of industrial strength velcro coupled with a small accident for brother Adnan

Darren Sammy - Catching lessons from Kamran Akmal

Sachin Tendulkar - Something about a 100th hundred. Not quite sure what that is all about

Shane Watson and Zaheer Khan - New bodies in time for the Boxing Day Test.

Where next?

Chasing Sachin by Adam Carroll-Smith | Book Review

Jack Hobbs by Leo McKinstry | Book review

Check out some of our Cricket XIs: They also played cricket, Rugger Buggers, Cricketing Criminals , A team of cricketers that died young, The Worst Australia Ashes XI of the last 30 years, The Worst England Ashes XI of the last 30 years

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes 

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

Fire in Babylon - relive the glory years of West Indies cricket & weep at its current parlous state

We’re pretty excited at the prospect of watching the ‘Fire in Babylon’ film (see trailer below) about the legendary West Indian side of the 1970's and 80's here at The Reverse Sweep.

It will certainly be a trip down memory lane to see the likes of Holding, Garner, Marshall and Richards in full flow and putting the jeepers up opposition batsmen and bowlers once again.

In our view that West Indies team is the greatest cricket side of them all – better than Bradman’s Invincibles, better than the England side that toured Australia in 1928/29, and better than Steve Waugh’s formidable Australian unit of 1999-2003.

And we don’t think we are looking through rose tinted spectacles either. Between 1980 and 1995 (yes, we know the film covers 1974-84 only), the West Indies played 29 Test series, winning 20, drawing 9 and losing none. To dominate for that long without losing a single rubber is not only phenomenal, it is unparalleled.

 

That makes all the sadder still the state that West Indies cricket finds itself in today. Their best batsman and premier all-rounder prefer to play the IPL to a home Test series with Pakistan. The team is in a lowly position in the rankings (and has been for some time) having not won a Test for 18 matches. And perhaps worst of all the WICB is in such a disgraceful and parlous state that it makes Ijaz Butt’s PCB look like a well-run organisation.

Whilst talented youngsters like Devendra Bishoo, Andre Russell, Adrian Barath and Darren Bravo suggest that there may be some light at what has been an extremely long tunnel; hopes cannot be high for the future of West Indian cricket.

So the prospect of watching ‘Fire in Babylon’ is an even more enticing and nostalgic prospect than it otherwise would be.

Where next?

Cricket heroes: Malcolm Marshall

Cricket heroes: Viv Richards

Cricket heroes: Michael Holding

Time for a coup d'etat at the WICB over Chris Gayle cock-up

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

World Cup Team Previews: West Indies - Calypso or Collapso?

 
On paper at least, the winners of the first two World Cup tournaments should have no problem negotiating the group stages of this year’s competition. But West Indies supporters have become accustomed to disappointment and will be approaching this World Cup with trepidation especially as the match with Bangladesh looks like an effective knockout encounter. On their day, the boys from the Caribbean can beat anyone especially if Chris Gayle fires, but ignominious exit at the group stages would hardly be a major surprise.

Strengths

There is depth and firepower in the batting with the likes of Gayle, Sarwan, Chanderpaul, Barath and the Bravo brothers. If Pollard can finally transfer his IPL form to the international stage then West Indies could go into orbit. Benn is a canny spinner and conditions should suit him, whilst Roach is an immensely promising fast bowler.

Weaknesses

In a word, inconsistency. This team can be champs one day and chumps the next. The bowling looks lacking in depth and batting collapses seem to occur all too frequently.

Main man

If he is in the mood, Chris Gayle - the coolest dude in cricket – can flay any attack.

Look out for…

The antics of Sulieman Benn, whether it is getting into heated rows with opposing batsmen or umpires, or even refusing to bowl around the wicket, watching him on the field is unmissable. Captain Darren Sammy’s musings on Twitter are also worth a gambit.

Prediction

The game with Bangladesh looks like the mother of all banana skins and whilst they could give England a run for their money, we predict a first round exit for Sammy’s band of merry men.

Where next?

World Cup Team previews: Part 1 - India: Glory or effigies?

World Cup Team Previews: Part 2 - South Africa: Don't mention the 'C' word...

World Cup Team Previews: Part 3 - Bangladesh: Shock & Awe

Our XI to shine at the World Cup

Heroes: Chris Gayle, Darren Sammy, Malcolm Marshall and Michael Holding

Check out all our other Reverse Sweep heroes and zeroes 

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

Whilst we were away...

...quite a lot has happened in cricket.

It's only been a week, but we've seen:

• Ricky Ponting appearing on the Australian version of Stars In Their Eyes, and announcing the immortal words "Tonight Matthew, I am going to be Glenn McGrath", before duly predicting that a 5-0 Ashes win was "absolutely possible" this winter. Weren't you bowled out for 88 in your last test, Ricky?

• Yuvraj Singh contracting dengue fever. 2010 has truly been an Annus Horribilis so far for Yuvraj, but I suppose at least he may lose some of that excess weight now.
• Hampshire crowned FP T20 champions after an admittedly exciting set of semi-finals and final at the Rose Bowl, which saw Essex jet over Dwayne Bravo only to see him make only five off eight balls before being run out and then being hammered for 46 off his four overs.
• Alastair Cook retain his place in the England side for the third test at The Oval. We feel the selectors have missed an opportunity here to move Trott up to open (especially as he and Strauss have batted well together) and blood James Hildreth (six centuries this summer) or take another look at Ravi Bopara. Cook too may have been better served by going back to Essex to regain form and confidence.
• A massive reprieve for Kamran Akmal after his replacement Zulqarnain Haider was ruled out of the rest of the test series with a fractured finger. There has been some talk that the injury was caused when Stuart Broad threw the ball at Zulqarnain during the Edgbaston test. Could make things spicy at The Oval on Wednesday.  

Zeroes: The Freelance Cricketer (a.k.a The Harlot)

Twenty 20 has brought a number of disagreeable things to cricket - the Super Over, the Indian Premier League and David Warner to name but three. But perhaps the worst has been the emergence of the 'Freelance Cricketer'.

We prefer to call them Harlots here at the Reverse Sweep as they go around the Twenty 20 leagues across the world flashing a bit of skirt, being paid exorbitant fees, not really giving a jot and invariably being an expensive disappointment. 

Take Dwayne Bravo for example. Not content with being part of the Trinidad & Tobago and Mumbai Indians Twenty 20 sides, he has now also made a brief (and disastrous) cameo for Essex at the FP T20 finals day, which was held at the Rose Bowl at the weekend.

Now we don't have an axe to grind with Bravo. We actually like him. He is one of the few of the current crop of West Indian players who seems to care about wearing the maroon cap. But Essex's decision to jet Bravo over for finals day certainly backfired.

Bravo made just five runs off eight balls in the semi-final against Hampshire before being run out jogging for a second run that should a tortoise would have expected to have made. Then he went for 46 runs off his four overs. Given Essex lost in the last over, it could be argued that the decision to play Bravo ahead of an actual Essex player who had featured throughout the regular season proved an expensive one in more ways than one.

And what happens if two or more of the teams that one of these harlots is playing for qualifies for the Champions League? One would hope that Kieron Pollard would choose Trinidad & Tobago over Somerset, South Australia or Mumbai Indians but can anyone really be sure that would be the case? We fear that it would be whoever paid the highest price. 

Anne Boleyn was known as the King's Harlot throughout sixteenth century Europe when she was Henry VIII's long standing mistress, but at least she stuck around to become his second wife (ultimately much to her eventual cost), but this new breed of mercenary cricketer is very different. Some would argue that you can't blame them for taking the cash on offer, but for us the whole concept of the Freelance Cricketer is a definite Reverse Sweep zero.