The New Generation of Calypso Cricketers

The West Indies Cricket Board make my blood boil. How can it be that a Test playing nation with a talent pool that includes the likes of Chris Gayle, Jerome Taylor, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard can struggle so much to win test matches. I now see that the Player's Association has filed a $20 million lawsuit against the board?! Surely all this doesn't add up to a side of world beaters, but what exactly went wrong to lead to such a fiasco?

The advent of Twenty 20, in particular the IPL, has meant that these immensely talented players are only required to play for 6 weeks a year in India to eclipse their central contract salaries for the entire year. What a shame that we cannot produce enough revenue from test cricket to keep these guys turning out for their nation. Are we heading down the avenue of football where a man will pick club above county 9 times out of 10? This fan sure hopes not.

Could it be a better sign of these player's character than the state of the game? The desire to wear the baggy green or turn out for England remains the pinnacle of any aspiring Aussie of Pommy kid. Why is it so then that test cricket doesn't seem to rate in the West Indies? I'm sure there are plenty who disagree but i think greed is on the rise and pride has began free fall. I think it's time these blokes man up, knuckle down, work hard and get the West Indies back out of the 'calypso cricketer' frame that Clive Lloyd fought so hard to end back in the late 70's.

I firmly believe the crowds will return to Guyana, Kensington Oval and Sabina Park if there is a real chance to see their heroes take it to the best in the world. With that said the revenue will once again flow, the team will once again be successful and the cricketing world will be better for the experience. If only it were all that simple...

I truly hope that 30 years from now we can see a sequel to Fire in Babylon based on the next generation of Carribean cricketers. I'm sure the WICB are trying hard and no doubt the players want to be paid their worth. If only they could put behind their differences and play some damn cricket!

Go Get 'em TC!

And so I wait eagerly. Trent Copeland, New South Wales' hard working trundler, will walk onto the pitch in Galle as an Australian test player. Isn't it just a wonderful thing to see a man build his own career from the ground up? For the first time since the great Warne, Gilchrist and McGrath retired it seems a man has actually earned a Baggy Green with some proper effort.

Copeland has been rewarded with selection at all levels thus far, be it grade cricket for St. George in Sydney, NSW Shield and limited overs cricket and now for Australia, through sheer weight of wickets. I'm glad to see Copeland do it the hard (proper) way. Rather than that of Lyon, Beer and Doherty who were thrust into the side in recent times. In all fairness their shock selections has been more of a reaction to the lack of capable spinners left in the country after they decided they wouldn't pick any of the decent ones (Hauritz!!!).

Removal of Chappell and Hilditch was a godsend in regards to getting rid of the dinky selections of late. How can it be that 3 or 4 good Twenty 20 performances has got Lyon, who I'm sure is actually capable, in the test squad? Yet Steve O'Keefe's 52 first class wickets at 24.05 remains ignored. Not to mention Hauritz remains the most experienced, not to mention proven, test bowling option. I hope to see the back end of the spinners debacle now that the Argus Review's finding and recommendations have been put in place.

But forget all that for now, Trent Copeland is in the side and that's what matters.

Go get 'em TC!

The Opening Batsman

Be it the Argus Review, Jason Krejza, Ireland's world cup hopes or Warnie's new face lift, if it's cricket I've got something to say. While I'm no ex-test veteran, nor am I any ESPN Cricinfo journalist, I'd like to think I know a thing or two. So here it is, my own little canvass for thought. A place where I can lay the cricket all out the way I see it. I just hope there's enough food for thought to keep anyone crazy enough to read interested.