Guyana lose Sarwan to injury again

Ramnaresh Sarwan

Injury-plagued West Indies batting star Ramnaresh Sarwan has been ruled out of this month’s Regional Super 50 Championship after failing to recover in time from a back problem.

The 31-year-old was named in Guyana’s 14-man squad pending the results of a fitness test scheduled for last Friday October 14, and played in a practice match on Thursday scoring 68 in a confident looking 78-ball innings.

However, the right-hander reported discomfort while fielding and opted out of the fitness test after advice from West Indies team physio CJ Clark and the Guyana team trainers.

“Sarwan explained that while there Ramnaresh Sarwan was minor discomfort while he was batting in the practice match on Thursday, he was stroking the ball well and batting was not a problem,” Reon King, the Guyana Cricket Board’s cricket development officer, said.

“He, however, said he encountered difficulties while fielding and thought it wise not to attempt the fitness test after explaining his condition and how he felt to Clarke and the team’s trainers.”

He was subsequently withdrawn from the squad and replaced by former Test batsman Travis Dowlin.

“The GCB has no choice, at this time, other than to request a replacement to the squad, from the WICB,” the Guyana Cricket Board said in a brief media statement. “The GCB’s national senior selectors have selected Mr. Travis Dowlin to replace Mr Sarwan.”

The blow is yet another major setback for Sarwan who was also ruled out of the Bangladesh tour because of injury.

He is expected to continue remedial physiotherapy treatment under the guidance of Clarke and Guyana team physio Beverly Nelson.

Sarwan, who has played 173 ODIs since his first 11 years ago, remains one of the region’s top batsmen and averages over 40 in both Test and one-day cricket.

His 462 runs and three centuries when Guyana last won the Regional 50-overs title in 2005 remain limited overs records.

Confident T&T: National team off to Guyana for Regional Super 50

Trinidad and Tobago will be looking to dominate the 2011 Regional Super50 Tournament in Guyana over the next two weeks and prove they are still one of the top teams in the Caribbean.

National coach Kelvin Williams said his team remain focussed and confident they can regain the limited overs title, insisting they will have to be ruthless in their approach in order to lift the newly-named Clive Lloyd Trophy. “Of course we are quietly confident going into the competition,” Williams said.

The coach noted that T&T usually do well in Guyana, which is where they won their last two 50-over crowns in 2008 and 2009, and is confident his players have the talent and experience to do well again.

“I still believe we have the experience in the team to overcome that. Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra We have been playing cricket so I am not concerned that our practice matches were rained out. We just came back from India (where they played in the Champions League T20), the guys have been training and we have one day of practice in Guyana on Wednesday to fine-tune so I am sure we will be ready,” Williams added. The T&T coach also highlighted the importance of the competition for his players.

“It is a tournament we need to put up our hands and win. It eluded us last year and it is important for us to go to Guyana and play the type of cricket that the people of Trinidad and Tobago know we are capable of playing. It is about success and that is important, especially with how we finished in India. We have a lot to play for. The players know that and they need this one.”

And the coach said the absence of team regulars Lendl Simmons, Adrian Barath, Darren Bravo, Ravi Rampaul, Kieron Pollard and Denesh Ramdin-- all on duty with the West Indies squad in Bangladesh--only opens up new opportunities for the other players to step into the team and make a name for themselves.

Some of the players coming into the T&T side include Windies Under-19 all-rounder Derone Davis and wicketkeeper Steven Katwaroo, as well as off-spinner Sunil Narine and medium pace all-rounder Kevon Cooper, all of whom are yet to represent T&T in the 50-over arena.

“I think it is a perfect opportunity for some of these players to put up their hands and assume the mantle of responsibility. That is why they have been selected. They have that air about them, they can shoulder the responsibility and I am confident that when needed, they will put their hand up,” said Williams.

The Regional Super50 bowls off on Wednesday October 19, with the  day/ night semi-finals, on October 26 and 27, and final on October 29 to be broadcast live on ESPN from Providence, Guyana.

Gayle recommended for Jamaica captain

Chris Gayle

Chris Gayle could be back in charge of the Jamaica national team for this month’s WICB Regional Super50 Championship in Guyana.

Gayle has been recommended as captain of the team and is awaiting ratification from the Jamaica Cricket Association.

“In terms of naming a captain, it has to be ratified by the board, so we can’t say anything about that,” chairman of the National Selection Panel Courtney Daley said. “But we have recommended (a captain).”

Gayle has not captained Jamaica over the last three years, but would bring plenty of experience to the position having been a former national and West Indies captain.

Jamaica has not won this version of the game in the last four years, but have shown their strength in the first-class game with four back-to-back regional titles.

Gayle’s presence in the side will be a major boost to Jamaica’s batting and should enhance their chances of winning.

Reports also indicated that the Jamaicans have included the uncapped pair of Jermaine Blackwood and Kenardo Lewis in their 14-man squad for the tournament which opens on October 19.

The Jamaicans are scheduled to leave for Guyana on October 17 and play Leeward Islands in their opening match on October 20 at the Guyana  National Stadium.

The other sides in Group B are Trinidad and Tobago and Combined Campuses & Colleges.

Christopher Henry “Chris” Gayle (born 21 September 1979 in Kingston, Jamaica) is a Jamaican cricketer.

Victory for T&T

William Perkins

The semi-final door was virtually shut on defending champions Chennai Super Kings as they lost the crunch Champions League Twenty20 Group A clash by 12 runs to Trinidad and Tobago, in Chennai on Sunday October 2.

Chasing a small target of 124, all Chennai could manage was just 111 for six as batting was extremely tough on the MA Chidambaram wicket.

Off-break bowler Sunil Narine emerged as star performer for T&T as  be bowled exceptionally well, claiming three wickets and giving away just eight runs in his four overs.

Coming into the crucial, Chennai did well in the first half by restricting the rivals to a paltry 123 for eight but the target could have been less had they not conceded 49 runs in the last five overs.

T&T managed those 49 runs largely on the back of a heroic innings from Kevon Cooper, who hit a 10-ball 28 with the help of three sixes and a four.

Opener William Perkins (34) top scored for the T&T while Adrian Barath (23) also played a useful knock.

Australian paceman Doug Bollinger (3/30) and spinner Shadab Jakati (2/18) bowled well for Chennai in the first half as they shared five wickets between them.

The target was not too big but batting was not easy and the small score proved quite difficult to achieve for the Chennai, who now have lost two of the three matches played.

Dwayne Bravo was top scorer for Chennai with his unbeaten 32 but that only reduced the defeat margin.

Now Chennai need to win their last match against New South Wales Blues on Tuesday and hope that a mathematical miracle help them make the cut for the semi-finals. 

Mumbai are at the top with five points.

Chennai needed 61 runs from the last five overs as they managed only 63 runs before that, having lost five top-order batsmen.

Bravo and Mahendra Singh Dhoni were at the crease but the skipper became third vicitm of Narine, who had earlier dimissed Murali Vijay (6) and Suresh Raina (2).

Strokemaking was not easy although Bravo did his bit by smashing an unbeaten 22-ball 32 and Albie Morkel managing 18 of 12 balls but that proved insufficient in the end.

Chennai did not have a great start as they lost Vijay, Raina and Michael Hussey (13) within the power-play period and with just 27 runs on the board.

By the half-way mark the hosts had also lost Wriddhiman Saha (8), leg before to Cooper, needing another 76 runs. Only four runs had reduced from the target that S Badrinath (15) ran himself out in a mix up with Dhoni.

Earlier, Cooper helped his side go past the 100-run mark as he reeled off three sixes and a four in his 10 ball knock before getting out in the last ball of the innings.

Runs did not come freely for the Caribbean batsmen after deciding to bat as Bollinger and Albie Morkel bowled tight.

Ganga bats for Sarwan as Windies captain

Trinidad and Tobago skipper Daren Ganga believes Guyanese batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan was not given a fair chance to captain the West Indies team.

In 2007, Sarwan succeeded the retired Brian Lara as captain of the regional team but the stylish righthander’s stint at the helm of the Windies was cut short during the second Test against England in May 2007 with a shoulder injury.

The injury was serious enough to rule him out of the remainder of the tour and for a further ten months. Sarwan returned to the West Indies side in 2008 for the home series against Sri Lanka, as vice-captain to Chris Gayle and was never given a chance to lead the team again. 

His career has been in a mini-slump recently and was dropped from the team for the Pakistan series at home following a poor performance at the 2011 ICC World Cup.

“It is baffling to me that there was a guy like Ramnaresh Sarwan who was always playing second fiddle as vicecaptain and yet he was never given a fair chance to lead West Indies.

“I can recall him playing under Carl Hooper and Brian Lara and being vice-captain for years. He hasn’t been given that opportunity to lead even in two or three consecutive series. There is no structured manner and clear philosophy and guideline in terms of selecting a captain and players,”  he said.

Ganga has been repeatedly overlooked for selection on the team in recent years despite being touted as an excellent captain. His form with the bat has been cited as not good enough to warrant a place in the regional squad even though his leadership qualities were recognised.

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has, however, seemed to renege on their previous criteria for selection in appointing St Lucian Darren Sammy as captain.

Sammy has a modest batting record of 16.32 in Tests and has taken 46 wickets from 16 matches. His batting ODI record is poor with an average of 20.30 and 46 wickets from 63 matches. Commenting on the apparent hypocrisy of the WICB selectors, Ganga was hesitant to state his feelings.

“I don’t like to comment too much on guys who are given the opportunity to lead, because I don’t know the premise of the board in terms of decision making and what their intentions are,” he said.

Trinidad & Tobago roar into Champions League main draw

Winning the Caribbean T20 wasn’t enough this time, but former finalists Trinidad & Tobago roared back into the Champions League main draw with a walloping of the England champions Leicestershire on Tuesday September 20.

Lendl Simmons and Adrian Barath put together T&T’s highest partnership  in Twenty20 cricket, and the bowlers strangulated the Leicestershire batsmen into throwing their wickets away on a slow track.

T&T came across as the more aware side: while T&T batsmen exploited slow legs in the field (Leicestershire’s average age is 30.4), the Leicestershire top order didn’t appreciate the fact that Samuel Bardee doesn’t turn the ball. Badree cleaned the stumps up twice while bowling the most economical four-over spell in Champions League history, 4-1-7-2. The Leicestershire attack offered lengths batsmen could get under and the pace to use, whereas the T&T opened the bowling with spin, and apart from Ravi Rampaul there was no pace on offer.

Leicestershire would have known pace was not going to work from the way their captain Matthew Hoggard sent the first ball of the day through to Paul Nixon on the second bounce. Simmons went too hard at the start, survived the odd miss-hit, but stayed long enough to hurt Leicestershire.

The key feature of his innings was the way he put behind him the misshits and plays and misses. In the first four overs he survived a bottom edge and a top edge, but he also kept hitting fours to reach 25 off 20.

Barath was more orthodox and correct in his effort, opening up only in the ninth over when he lofted Claude Henderson’s left-arm spin for six over long-off. That took him to 27 off 22; Simmons had reached 40 already.

The next eight overs featured more hard running, the odd boundary, fifties for both, and at 139 after 17 overs T&T were set to tee off. Both fell to top edges off successive deliveries, but Darren Bravo averted the hat-trick and lofted two exquisite sixes in the last over. Despite those two wickets, T&T managed 29 in the last three.

Joshua Cobb began the chase with a four first ball, but Andrew McDonald summed up the effort. Twice he was cramped up by Badree’s sliders before he went back to cut, and was bowled. Rampaul continued his good form, taking two in his two overs: one a hole-out to deep cover, and the other a wild swing from Wayne White, leaving the stumps exposed. Will Jefferson too played Badree for the turn and lost his leg stump.

Sunil Narine, on the surface an innocuous little off-spinner, bowls a smart leg-cutter, flicked almost like the now-famous carrom ball. The leg-cutter got rid of Paul Nixon, and 20 for 5 in the sixth over left too much of a task even for the quintessential Twenty20 player, Abdul Razzaq.The talented James Taylor fought for 56 off 47, but there wasn’t much he could have done to reverse the result.