Archive for ‘Cricket West Indies’

5 results.
Feb14

Test switched after Antigua 10-ball farce

by wasim on February 14th, 2009 at 12:06 am
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket West Indies

West Indies cricket was plunged into fresh controversy on Friday when the second Test against England was abandoned after just 10 balls because of a dangerous outfield.

Only 45 minutes of action was possible at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground before play was called off with England at 7-0 in their first innings.

International Cricket Council (ICC) referee Alan Hurst later revealed that a new match will start on Sunday at the long-established Antigua Recreation Ground in St John’s.

The second Test will be recorded as an abandoned match with the game on Sunday to be considered as the third Test of what is now a five-match series.

The ARG hosted 21 Tests between 1981 and 2006 before the Sir Vivian Richards Ground replaced it two years ago ahead of the World Cup.

West Indies bowlers constantly struggled to keep their feet on the soft SVRG outfield which had been smothered in layers of sand after heavy rain.

West Indies captain Chris Gayle said the team was shocked by the developments.

‘I’d like to apologise to the fans – it’s very embarrassing,’ said Gayle.

‘We are 1-0 up in the series. We put England into bat, we tried to pick up some wickets and wanted to keep the momentum going but it was disappointing. With better facilities we hope this will not happen again.’

England captain Andrew Strauss, who was on six when play was abandoned, believes the Antigua Recreation Ground would be safer.

‘It’s not in a great state but in terms of injuries it is fit to play on,’ said Strauss.

‘It’s not right that Test cricket matches have to be abandoned like this, lessons definitely need to be learned. The game of cricket doesn’t need this.’ England opener Alistair Cook admitted the situation was a farce.

West Indies lead this series 1-0 after they bowled out England for their third-lowest total in Tests of 51 in the second innings at Kingston.

The Antigua Recreation Ground was where Brian Lara made his record-breaking innings of 375 and 400 not out while Gayle smashed 317 there against South Africa in 2005.

The other two Tests in what is now a five-match series take place in Barbados from February 26 to March 2, and in Trinidad from March 2 to 6.

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Feb18

SEC charges Stanford firms in ‘massive’ CD fraud

by wasim on February 18th, 2009 at 5:48 am
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket West Indies

Federal securities regulators on Tuesday charged Texas financier Robert Allen Stanford and three of his companies with a “massive ongoing fraud” involving about $8 billion in certificates of deposit that drew thousands of investors with improbably high rates of return.

The allegations, the latest in a string of alleged financial scams uncovered amid the global recession, named Stanford, 58, his Antigua-based Stanford International Bank, and a pair of related U.S companies.

BACKGROUND: People either love or hate ‘Sir Allen’ Stanford

Also charged were James Davis, the bank’s CFO and a longtime Stanford friend, and Laura Pendergest-Holt, the bank’s chief investment officer.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Dallas approved a temporary restraining order, froze the defendants’ assets and appointed a financial receiver. Swarms of investigators gathered records at Stanford’s Houston office headquarters after the ruling.

“We are alleging a fraud of shocking magnitude that has spread its tentacles throughout the world,” said Rose Romero, the SEC’s Fort Worth regional director.

Stanford firm spokesman Brian Bertsch referred questions to Romero. The SEC says Stanford’s whereabouts are unknown.

Stanford International Bank is part of what an SEC complaint described as a “web of affiliated companies” created by Stanford, a cricket enthusiast listed on last year’s Forbes 400 list as having a $2.2 billion fortune.

The bank grew rapidly by touting an investment strategy that purportedly enabled it to achieve double-digit returns over the past 15 years. As a result, the bank offered purported certificate of deposit rates double those at conventional banks.

While the SEC called the bank’s claims “improbable and unsubstantiated,” the touted returns prompted $6.7 billion in CD sales to 50,000 customers by the end of 2007, the SEC charged in a court complaint.

Regulators accused the defendants of misrepresenting the CDs as safe by claiming the funds were invested in diversified liquid assets monitored by more than 20 analysts and audited by Antiguan authorities. But most of the money was invested in illiquid real estate and equities, Stanford and Davis were the only ones with full access, and Antigua never audited the bank, the SEC charged.

In one sign of the actual lack of safety, the SEC said the bank suffered at least $400,000 in indirect investment losses to the massive Ponzi scheme allegedly engineered by disgraced New York financier Bernard Madoff.

Atlanta lawyer James Dunlap is looking into potential investor suits. Dunlap said he was “swamped” with calls from investors around the world.

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Jun20

The West Indian bowlers gifted the match

by wasim on June 20th, 2009 at 7:19 am
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket West Indies

Out of the 22 players only a few players showed up in the second semi finals of ICC t20 WC to play cricket and compete the rest perhaps didn’t wanted to be in the finals and were just pretending to compete, it was a great acting job by some of the West Indian players. 

I have never seen a semifinalist team bowling so unprofessionally, other that Dilshan nobody from the SriLankan side wanted to stay on the wicket  let alone score runs at times even he was struggling to score but whenever the SriLankan batsmen were struggling to score runs the West Indian bowlers gifted them half volleys and  low full tosses begging to get whacked.

SriLanka could have never made 158 if those gifts were not presented to them by Bravo, Pollard and Gayle.

Even at club level cricket bowlers immediately change  their line and length after getting hit for a boundary but Bravo & co kept on bowling low full tosses and half volleys and kept bring the SriLankans back into the match whenever they went in a hole, there was no intensity and the whole show was looking like a great acting job, anybody who have seen the previous matches played by the West Indian team would vouch for me that the match was gifted to the SriLankans by the West Indian bowlers, their speed was not the same their intensity was not the same and their line and length was not the same.

The Srilankans just managed in the end to score 158, West Indies lost three wickets in the first over against some straight forward bowling and made sure that any possibility of a run chase gets eradicated.

Gayle carried the bat, scored a few boundaries and probably saved his skin but honestly speaking he could have done better.

The way these guys played Mendis looked like a joke to me.

In the end  SriLankans won the match comfortable and are in the finals where they meet Pakistan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
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Feb24

South Africa thrash West Indies

by wasim on February 24th, 2011 at 5:11 pm
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket Pakistan, Cricket, Cricket South Africa, Cricket, Cricket West Indies

50 overs West Indies 222 (Bravo 73, Tahir 4-41, Botha 2-48) v South Africa

West Indies at one stage were on course to set a target of 270 + runs but decided to commit suicide in Pakistani style. They lost Gayle in the first over, the man is all  hype and very rarely lives up to the expectations, there is no professionalism in his game one can sense a lazy- carefree and irresponsible attitude in his body language, had he been a Pakistani batsman, I am sure ICC would be investigating him along with a few of his team mates.

It was hardly a surprise when Botha an offspinner bowled the first over for SA, such is the pathetic nature of wickets in India, its a shame for ICC that in the most important tournament of cricket, which comes after every four years we can’t expect to have a fair contest between bat and ball, the game has to be skewed in favor of the batsmen to please the crowd, the TV channels and the sponsors. 

A team which probably has the best pace bowling battery in the world resorted to play three spinners because the conditions in India are not conducive for fast bowlers. The true cricket enthusiasts are being robbed of the opportunity to watch a fair contest between bat and ball, Is this tournament even worthy of it’s title? I don’t think so.

Smith and Bravo restored the West Indian innings and took the score to 113 when Bravo got out after scoring 73 off 82 balls in 23.1 overs. Smith who was mainly playing the role of an anchor got out in the very next over on 36 from 57 balls, giving the first wicket to  debutant Imran Tahir who went on to take four in his first match.

Much was depended on Sarwan and Chanderpaul but they hardly ever live up to their reputation when things really matter, Sarwan was the first one to go becoming Imran Tahir’s second victim, from 2/112 WI slipped to 4/120.

Chanderpaul and D Bravo tried to form a partnership and scored 58 runs from the next 11 overs where the bulk of the scoring was done by Bravo and Chanderpaul just blocked everything on the other end, West Indies once again were looking to score around 260, when Chanderpaul called for a suicidal run and ran out Bravo who was scoring freely. ACSU hopefully you will investigate the matter.

Chanderpaul became the fourth victim of Imran Tahir and West Indies were 209/6 after 42.2 overs. They still had an opportunity to score another 40-50 runs specially when Pollard and Sammy were on the crease, but G Smith brought in his ace bowler Steyn back into attack who got rid off both players on a duck and just locked the fate of the match in his teams favor.

WestIndies were all out in 47.3 overs. A very disappointing and unprofessional performance from a major team.

Sometimes I wonder why Pakistan gets so much criticism when teams like Newzealand and West Indies consistently perform poorly in international cricket.

SA after losing two early wickets, chased the target very professionally, ABD was in regal form and scored a magnificient 100 and remained not out.  SA achieved the target in just 42.2 overs.

West Indies recieved another set back when D bravo in his third over fell on the ground after twisting his knee, he was in quite a bit of pain and his injury looked serious.

I hoped to see a better contest but once again it turned out to be a onesided match.

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Mar04

Windies rout hapless Bangladesh

by wasim on March 4th, 2011 at 2:24 pm
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket New Zealand, Cricket, Cricket West Indies

Two matches were played today and both ended in no time, WestIndies and NewZealand gave no chance to their opponents Bangladesh and Zimbabwe and just decimated them.

The match between WestIndies and Bangladesh was an important one as both teams were fighting for a spot in the quarterfinals. The fans expected tough competition but WestIndies just routed Bangladesh for 58 in 18.5 overs and showed them their real place in world cricket.

A resurgent WestIndies is at #2 of the group B, their performance today must have sent chills down in the English camp who are hoping to beat WestIndies and secure a quarterfinal place.

WestIndies if it plays to its potential can beat any team in world cricket but o their off days the can be beaten by a minnow team even Pakistan can’t match their inconsistency, they will have to keep up this momentum and if they want to secure a place in the quarterfinals.

Before the world cup in warm up matches and in bilateral series Zimbabwe’s team promised to pose a big challenge to the big teams but they haven’t lived upto that promise. If they had a chance to upset any test team in group A it was NewZealand but it didn’t happen. New Zealand just rolled over Zimbabwe and defeated them by 10 wickets. Batting first Zimbabwe scored 166 in 46.2 overs. The total was chased down by NewZealand in 33.3 overs without losing any wickets.

NewZealand were routed by Australia and many believed that they will struggle against Zimbabwe, the next two games for them are big one against Pakistan and the against SriLanka, they will make it to the QF’s I don’t think there will be any upsets in group A.

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