Kickstarting our Development Program?

Deryck Murray: "We really need, and I'm saying...I'm a board member, and I'm saying this to the other board members, we need to stop talking and actually do things that will kickstart our development and get us to a (competitive) state..." Murray told the Express, yesterday. Read more here.

When would these guys stop talking and start doing something concrete. There was never any serious intent to fund the development program. Instead, Brathwaite and Griffith, together, derailed the development program drafted in 2001. Ken Gordon was as bad if not worse. Bennett King and his cohorts conspired to promote their own concept of development and were encouraged to do so. What we have now is a Cricket Development Plan prepared by King that is so expensive no one will fund it. And, literally, nothing is happening in terms of development camps, coaching education, etcetera.

Even our youth programs have been cut back. For example, although KFC is now funding the U15 Tournament, this tournament has been severely truncated and there is now no more development content. No doubt the WICB would be using the money saved to finance their operations. The same could be said for the Kiddy Cricket Program. So much for development!

West Indies Show Fighting Spirit

The West Indies Team showed some fighting spirit with consistent batting and amassing 437 runs. Let's hope they can bowl well, restrict England and make a match out of it. get live scores here.

Bob Woomer Probe - Doubts Grow

While news regarding the ongoing investigation into the death of Bob Woolmer is hard to come by, there are increasing suggestions that the Jamaican police jumped the gun in launching a murder enquiry. Read more..

Questions About Duncan Fletcher

Bryan Davis and Joey Carew, among others, has questions Clive Lloyd's call for Duncan Fletcher to be the next West Indies Team Coach. Read here.

Lloyd Pushing For Duncan Fletcher

CLIVE LLOYD, the former West Indies captain, has said that he will try and convince Duncan Fletcher to take over the position as coach of West Indies. Fletcher had a long stint as the England coach before quitting after the World Cup last month. Read more....

"Big Cat" may be stepping out of his bounds here. Even if he is given the authority to scout for a coach, one would think that there is an internal process that has to be completed before these views are made public.

Aussies Racist Policies

The Australian government has ordered the country's cricket team not to tour Zimbabwe in September. John Howard, the prime minister, said it was not fair to leave the decision up to Cricket Australia and the players. Read more here.

Yet these same people would have had no problem touring Ian Smith's Rhodesia or Apartheid South Africa. Talk about racist double standards. This of course does not justify what is going on in Zimbabwe politically. Perhaps we should boycott visits to Australia because of their institutionalised discrimination of the Aboriginal population.

Woolmer probe turns to final email

The investigation into the murder of Bob Woolmer has turned to his final email to the PCB. The Sunday Telegraph has reported that there is now a theory that the email, where Woolmer said he would stand down as coach, was faked by his killers.

Detectives are focussing on the language used. People close to Woolmer have said that it clearly wasn't written by him and suggestions are that the author was someone whose first language wasn't English.

Read more here.

Bob Woolmer - It wasn't murder says Scotland Yard

There has been a bombshell development in the Bob Woolmer investigation. A group of Scotland Yard investigators, who were asked to assist with the matter, have concluded that the Pakistan Cricket coach died of heart failure.

According to a Sunday Gleaner source in London, a pathology report submitted by the Scotland Yard team is now saying that the former Pakistan cricket coach died of natural causes and not manual strangulation as was initially reported by Deputy Commissioner Mark Shields. The Scotland Yard report specifically said Woolmer died of heart failure, contradicting earlier reports by the investigative arm of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and local pathologist, Dr. Ere Sheshiah, who had conducted a post-mortem on Woolmers's body.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20070513/lead/lead1.html

My Take: Whatever the truth of the matter, the JCF seems to have botched this investigation.

Lara linked to breakaway Twenty20 league

Retired West Indies batting legend Brian Lara is being linked to a breakaway Twenty20 competition taking place in India in October 2007.

According to a published report, Lara will be joined by Pakistan's Inzamam-ul-Haq and Australia's Glenn McGrath in the month-long tournament which is being run by Zee TV, an Indian Television Outfit.

http://caribbeancricket.com/news/2007/05/11/2427

Anything that Brian is involved with would be of interest to me and I am sure of interest to the cricketing world.

Barbados Government Talks Tough With The BCA

GOVERNMENT DOES NOT WANT to take over the Barbados Cricket Association's (BCA) interest in Kensington Oval; and it has no interest in running cricket.

However, having spent more than $130 million to remake the historic complex, it has no plans to walk away from its investment.

http://www.nationnews.com/story/306055817432288.php

Lloyd on the West Indies Coach

LONDON - West Indies' need a coach "who's strong and who will understand West Indies life", according to Clive Lloyd......more

He goes on to recommend Duncan Fletcher. Does Fletcher understand West Indian Life? I would have thought that the key skill would be technical know-how, in addition to understanding West Indian life. Certainly, a combination of a foreign coach and a West Indian Assistance Coach would have been better for West Indies.

However, his further comments suggest to me that "Big Cat" does not understand the root causes of our problems, in particular the paradigm shifts in the environment in which our cricketers develop. These are the issues we have to address.

Mike Findlay - Great Guy, Great Appointment

I think that the appointment of Mike Findlay is the best decision that the WICB has made. I wish him all the best.

David Moore - What an insult

West Indies coach David Moore says off-spinner Chris Gayle is perhaps the Caribbean’s best spinner at the moment....

http://guardian.co.tt/sports3.html

Does this guy knows what he is talking about. As the Coach of the last A Team tour to the UK he was a failure. My contacts in Australia tells me that they have no regard for him as a coach. I consider it an insult to have Moore as the coach of our senior team.

Barbados Rejects WICB Plea

THE Barbados Government have rejected out of hand a plea by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) to allow it to use Kensington Oval's Cricket World Cup (CWC) gate receipts to clear some of its US$15 million debt, the Barbados Nation reported yesterday.

Read more......

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_sports?id=161142818