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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday May 7, 2015
Simmons optimistic after positive start with Windies By Simon Evans (REUTERS - West Indies coach Phil Simmons believes their third Test win over England can be the foundation for better things for Caribbean cricket, but warns next month’s Tests against Australia represent a sterner examination of his team. Trinidadian Simmons was appointed just before the three-Test series with England, which was drawn 1-1 after West Indies enjoyed an entertaining win in just three days in Barbados. “It is a cause for optimism; you are talking about winning a Test match where we weren’t fancied to do anything in the series,” Simmons told Reuters in a telephone interview yesterday. “It gives them good confidence that they were part of it. The biggest part of winning that game is what the youngsters and the team take from that .”The former Ireland coach, who played 26 Tests for West Indies, clearly made a swift impact on a team
West Indies head coach Phil Simmons watches attentively during nets. (Action Images via Reuters/Jason O’Brien) which was credited with showing a renewed focus and discipline in the series. “The key message was that there is the ability there to play Test cricket and do well at Test cricket and we have to start looking and making sure we know exactly what we are doing and in what direction we are going and all the players are part of that,” he said. “I think application is a really big thing and it was something that we had talked about. It is a big game, a game of patience, like a chess game
and everybody had to understand what application meant -- and I think everyone came to the party as far as that was concerned,” added Simmons. It was a youthful team which beat England at Kensington Oval. The ages of the opening batting pair of Kraigg Brathwaite and Shai Hope are 22 and 21 years respectively while all-rounder Jason Holder and key middle-order performer Jermaine Blackwood are both 23. With other young players
Big-hitting Gayle smashes 14th T20 century in RCB victory BANGALORE, India (CMC) – Superstar opener Chris Gayle blasted his 14th Twenty20 century and became the first overseas player to eclipse 3 000 runs in the Indian Premier League, as Royal Challengers Bangalore crushed Kings XI Punjab by 138 runs here yesterday. The left-handed Gayle smashed 117 off a mere 57 deliveries to propel RCB up to a massive 226 for three off their 20 overs, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium Stadium. I n re p l y, K i n g s X I slumped to 88 all out off 13.4 overs, undermined by new ball bowlers Mitchell Starc (4-15) and Sreenath Aravind (4-27), who finished with four wickets apiece. Axar Patel top-scored with an unbeaten 40 from 21 deliveries, to be one of only two players in double figures but the only one to pass 15.
RCB lie third in the IPL standings on 11 points, behind leaders Chennai Super Kings and the second-placed Rajasthan Royals. It was Gayle’s innings which took centre stage, however. The powerful West Indies and Jamaica batsman pummelled seven fours and 12 massive sixes as he tore into the hapless Kings XI attack. He marched imperiously to his first fifty off 22 balls with four fours and five sixes before completing his second fifth off 24 deliveries. Gayle has the most T20 centuries in international cricket. After RCB were sent in, the 35-year-old engineered two excellent partnerships to power the hosts’ innings. He put on 119 for the first wicket with captain Virat Kohli who slammed 32 from 30 balls with three fours and a six, before adding a further 71 off
just 34 deliveries with AB de Villiers. The South Africa righthander stroked an up tempo 47 from 24 balls with three fours and four sixes. Ironically, Gayle managed just a single run from the first five balls he faced in the first over of the game from seamer Sandeep Sharma, with three deliveries whizzing past the outside edge. However, he teed off against left-armer Mitchell Johnson in the next over, carting the Australian for two fours and two sixes in an over costing 20 runs. He collared Sandeep in the bowler’s next over, the third of the innings which cost 24 runs, belting another two fours and two sixes. Gayle cleared the ropes at mid-wicket with Johnson to move to 49 before reaching his half-century with a tickle to fine leg for a single, two balls later.
emerging in the first class regional competition, there is a rare sense of positivity about the future in Caribbean cricket, but Simmons says having the raw talent isn’t enough. “The talent becomes unimportant if you are not working. But if you have the talent and you are hard-working then you are going somewhere. I think the talent is there with a lot of them; we just have to make sure that we work hard with that talent,” he said. The bowling attack has benefited from having Curtly Ambrose, who took 405 wickets in 98 Tests before retiring in 2000, in his role as a consultant, with the former paceman giving animated instruction to the bowlers before key sessions. “He has been very important. He is a giant in the game when it comes to bowling and he has been huge in the dressing room with the bowlers and with everyone in general.
His role is very important for the team,” said Simmons. West Indies have had false dawns throughout their near two decades of decline and it will be tough to maintain the momentum in Tests in Dominica and Jamaica against Australia next month. “No disrespect to England but it is going to be a bigger test, especially for the batsmen. Their quality of bowling and the bowling lineup that they possess is a better one than England’s. You are going to be tested more,” said Simmons. “That is a good thing because playing the top teams early in your career teaches you what you need to be successful at this level. If they do well, they know that they are up there, if they don’t do well against Australia then they know they have things to work on.” What had often undone progress in the past have been the frequent fallouts between
the West Indies players and their board - the WICB. Last year, after a dispute over contracts, West Indies players went home midway through a tour of India prompting a threat of legal action against the board. Simmons says he has asked his players to keep any problems they might have with the WICB out of the dressing room when it comes to business time. “The players and the board have their issues, I try to make sure that those issues don’t come into my team when it is time to go and play cricket. You try to get them to make sure that they have all their issues sorted out before it’s time to go to cricket. “I am not involved in that, it is not part of my job to be a mediator. I can just make sure that when it comes to cricket that they are doing the right things as players and the right things as a board for the team.”
Regal win GSCL Inc Independence Cup REGAL defeated Shuttle Max by 104 runs to win the open final of the Georgetown Softball Cricket Association (GSCL Inc.) Independence Cup last Sunday at Everest Cricket Club ground. Navin Singh cracked 34 (5x4) while Kawson Joseph made 26 (3x4, 1x6) and Randy Budhu 22 (3x4) as Regal posted a respectable 184-9 in 20 overs, batting first in front of a fair-size crowd. Daynanand Singh captured 4-24, Kelvin Olford 2-22 and Devendra Deosarran 2-22. Shuttle Max were sent packing for 80 in 11.4 overs in reply. Ravendra Ramnauth made 18 (2x6) and Randy Katwaroo 14 (1x4). Delroy Perreira bagged 4-10, Richard Latiff 2-23 and Budhu 2-24. Perreira was the manof-the-match. While Regal gained a trophy and $75 000 and Shuttle Max a trophy and $35 000. Floodlight overcame Industry Super Kings by 40 runs in the Over-40 final. Batting first Floodlight scored 159-8 in 20 overs. Ramesh Narine led with 50 (3x4, 1x6), Wayne Jones got 27 (1x4, 2x6) and Richard Persaud 24 (1x4). Robert Mohan
The victorious Regal open team and Pooran Singh picked up three wickets each. Industry Super Kings were bowled out for 119 in 19.2 overs. Robin Singh cracked 40 (3x4, 2x6), Jagdesh Persaud 19 (2x4, 1x6) and Ramo Malone 16. Nandram Samlall and the man-of-the-match claimed two wickets each. Floodlight received a trophy and $100 000 and Industry a trophy and $40 000. Speaking at the presenta-
tion ceremony, vice-president of the GSCL Inc., Ian John, congratulated the teams adding that bigger plans are ahead for the sport. A minute’s silence was observed for the late Calvin Roberts before the final. The competition was sponsored by Clique Tech, Trophy Stall, Elegance Jewellery and Pawn Shop and Regal Stationery and Computer Centre.