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guyanatimesGY.com
monday, january 4, 2016
Stokes record and Bairstow’s ton tramples South Africa T
his was joy, utter joy, no matter where your loyalties lie: a feat to stir the youthful, cheer the sick and bring reveries from the old. Ben Stokes bludgeoned one of the great attacking Test innings - the second fastest double century in Test history - on the second day of the second Test in Cape Town and those who were there to see it must have been enriched by the experience. When it was all over, shortly before England’s declaration at 629 for 6, a
the stumps and complete a run out as Stokes jogged towards the bowler’s end, by then entirely sated. England declared two balls later once Jonny Bairstow’s 150 - an emotional maiden Test hundred that will receive limited recognition - had been gathered in. South Africa will resume the third day 488 adrift with eight wickets intact after enduring an extraordinary batting assault. England struck their second-highest partnership in Test history, 399 in 59 overs, with Bairstow,
Regionalism would foster greater development of athletes By Akeem Greene
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SCOREBOARD England 1st innings AN Cook* c Morris b Rabada 27 AD Hales c de Villiers b Morkel 60 NRD Compton c Bavuma b Rabada 45 JE Root c †de Kock b Morris 50 JWA Taylor c †de Kock b Rabada 0 BA Stokes run out (de Villiers) 258 JM Bairstow† not out 150 MM Ali not out 0 Extras: (b 12, lb 6, w 13, nb 8) 39 Total: (6 wickets dec; 125.5 overs; 582 mins) 629 Did not bat: SCJ Broad, JM Anderson, ST Finn Fall of wickets: 1-55, 2-129, 3-167, 4-167, 5-223, 6-622 Bowling: M Morkel 29-5-1141, CH Morris 28-3-150-1, K
humungous total they could not have remotely imagined at start of play, Stokes’ demolition job had brought 258 from 198 balls with 30 fours and 11 sixes. Freckled of complexion and brawny of stroke, he wielded his bat like a wrecking ball, razing South Africa’s attack to the ground. Even his dismissal summed up South Africa’s broken state of mind. Stokes heaved at Kagiso Rabada, AB de Villiers dropped the skier at mid-on - AB of all people - but he steadied himself to throw down
Rabada 29.5-2-175-3, DL Piedt 25-5-112-0, S van Zyl 100-43-0, D Elgar 4-0-17-0. South Africa 1st innings D Elgar c Compton b Stokes 44 S van Zyl run out (Compton/†Bairstow) 4 HM Amla* not out 64 AB de Villiers not out 25 Extras: (lb 2, w 2) 4 Total: (2 wickets; 43 overs) 141 To bat: Q de Kock†, T Bavuma, F du Plessis, DL Piedt, CH Morris, K Rabada, M Morkel Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-85 Bowling: JM Anderson 9-224-0, SCJ Broad 9-2-32-0, MM Ali 9-1-30-0, ST Finn 9-1-30-0, JE Root 1-0-30, BA Stokes 6-1-20-1.
no slouch himself, playing an intelligent subordinate role. England made 312 for 1 off 38.5 overs in the day. Statistics underlining the achievement jostled for attention. It was once-in-alifetime, jaw-dropping stuff with virtually every delivery from a disorientated South Africa attack seemingly ripe for slaughter. There was little of the resourcefulness worthy of the No.1-ranked side in the world. Stokes played with untrammelled power as blue skies shone over Table Mountain and 12,000 cheer-
Ben Stokes lit up the second morning at Newlands (Getty Images)
ing England supporters revelled in every moment. It was a stupendous achievement, a day to treasure, the time-honoured rhythms of Test cricket giving way to something more murderous. Barely anything threatened Stokes’ immense sense of feelgood. On 138, a six against the offspinner Dane Piedt barely cleared the outstretched hands of van Zyl, who significantly was a yard off the boundary at long off. On 197, Chris Morris almost yorked him, perhaps to the bowler’s surprise. And he pottered around for, oh, all of a few seconds before he pulled Morne Morkel through midwicket to reach 200. When the ball comes onto the bat, and cricket is a simple game, Stokes’ destructive power knows few bounds. This was only his third Test hundred, to follow equally exciting affairs against Australia - including Mitchell Johnson at his fiercest - in Perth and New Zealand at Lord’s, and there have been malfunctions along the way, but it was an innings that spoke volumes
about the importance of the combative allrounder, able to balance a side and change a game in an instance with bat or ball. His mind was entirely uncluttered, his physique more demoralising by the minute. His backlift was huge and flowing. Shot selection became entirely a matter of where he would hit the ball - most often down the ground, to off side and leg - because he rarely defended and left only deliveries that were virtually too wide to reach. He powered up and let the shots flow. Newlands was at its most seductive for batsmen and Stokes took a golden opportunity at face value. He is not the sort to see fears where none exist. South Africa lacked the waspish pace of Dale Steyn, or the Cape Town nous of Vernon Philander and those asked to fill the roles had no solution. Half-an-hour before tea on the second day, England were impregnable, hoping that the pitch would break up along with South African minds. (Cricinfo)
Narine retained by KKR despite ICC ban
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nder-fire West Indies offspinner Sunil Narine has been retained by Kolkata Knight Riders for the upcoming Indian Premier League season despite currently being banned from bowling in international cricket. The 27-year-old Narine, a key member of KKR’s squad over the last several seasons, was banned by the International Cricket Council last November after his action was found to be illegal. He had been reported by umpires following the third One-Day International against Sri Lanka in Pallekele earlier that month. Despite this, KKR have opted to retain the Trinidadian ahead of the new IPL season, which runs from April 9 to May 23. This is against the backdrop of a move by the West Indies Cricket Board to bar Narine from playing in the domestic one-day championship
permission from the WICB.
Franchises retain 5 WI players
Sunil Narine
set to bowl off Thursday. In announcing Narine’s suspension last November, the ICC said the player would be banned from bowling in all domestic tournaments internationally but would be allowed to play in Caribbean events, with
Narine is one of five West Indies players to be retained by their franchises for the new season. He is joined by all-rounder Andre Russell, who will again suit up for KKR, while champions Mumbai Indians have also retained the pair of Kieron Pollard and Lendl Simmons. Big-hitting opener Chris Gayle has been retained by Royal Challengers Bangalore, but West Indies Twenty20 captain Darren Sammy had no such luck as he was dumped by the franchise. All-rounder Dwayne Bravo will turn out for Rajkot, one of two new franchises debuting in the new season. Rajkot, along with Pune, replaces the suspended Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals. (Jamaica Gleaner)
hile it is admirable that we forge partnerships with countries outside the Caribbean and there are undoubtedly a large surplus of financial gains, the core values of a partnership is lagging due to the great cultural differences. Regionalism is the consciousness of and loyalty to a distinct region with a homogeneous population. Every Caribbean country has a unique bond that history Akeem Greene has revealed and by forging partnerships, they can have a greater impact on the development of sports. The thrust of the concept is using more of the Caribbean resources to develop athletes from the various sport disciplines. For example, in track and field, Jamaica is widely known to be one of the best countries in the world. It has the likes of seasoned sprinters such as Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Shelly-Ann Fraser, and Asafa Powell. These sprinters’ reputations speak for themselves as they have captured many Olympic and World titles over the last decade. A glaring result of the development of Jamaica’s dominance in the world of track and field is the rise of upcoming sprinting sensations Warren Weir and Kemar Bailey-Cole among others. Bolt is coached by a Jamaican, Glen Mills, who also coaches Blake and other upcoming athletes who are beginning to become successful. Jamaican is 2479 kilometres away and yet we have not benefited from any of their expertise in athletics. Local athletes are sent farther afield such as the United States and Canada to conditions that are totally unfamiliar and the unfortunate reality is that tracking their growth becomes difficult. With a system such as Caricom which promotes greater fusion of Caribbean resources, it seems strange that Guyana, a country which has an abundance of talented sportsmen and women, is failing to capitalise on its close neighbours’ achievements. Financially, it is far less burdensome having a sportsman or sportswoman partake in a training stint, whether short or lengthy, in a Caribbean country and the hassle to travel to and from Guyana is eased. Athletes are closer to their families and most importantly, adapting to the prevailing conditions becomes easy. In 2014, when Stephan James was granted a scholarship to ASA College in New York, USA, amid all the excitement, James said “the coldness, I’m not fitting too good with that, it’s hard”. Chavez Ageday, who also was the beneficiary of a scholarship, said: “Everything is going good, but this weather is crazy. I am getting accustomed to it as the days go by.” One certainly cannot discredit the benefits of being able to train in America, but these struggles that these athletes have to go through so early in their careers can be avoided to some degree. Albeit, the inevitable will occur and they will be faced with such struggles in their careers, but why send them so far when the perception is that there is better training closer to home? The questions that critics may ask are, if these Caribbean countries are providing these opportunities and if they are, at what cost? But Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has offered sports scholarships to China for Chinese athletes to come and train and also to give guidance to administrators. So, clearly, there is an avenue for the exchange of athletes at least, but Governments will have to be the ones to initiate these discussions. It might also bring more corporate support onboard, since many of the large business entities have branches across the various Caribbean countries and this now opens the doors for the sports personalities becoming brand ambassadors. Only recently, Level Two Table Tennis Coach Linden Johnson stated that they would be looking to forge greater partnerships with neighbouring territories by inviting more foreign players to tournaments to give more exposure to local players and develop better relations. The only notable sport that sees a constant sharing of players is cricket. The current Professional Cricket League system implemented by the West Indies Cricket Board has already materialised improvements. The foreign players in the various territorial teams are learning under different training regimes, while being afforded a luxury of comfort owing to close ties with teammates. By no means is the idea being postulated to abandon relations with countries outside the Caribbean; that would only amount to the regression of sports but it is being asked that we look at each of the tiny states of the Caribbean and see where there can be an exchange sportsmen and women across the various disciplines. Let’s think of a young Jason Yaw getting to run shoulder to shoulder with some of Jamaica’s top track stars, or a Hannibal Gaskin being able to get insight from Trinidad and Tobago’s Olympic Bronze Medal Swimmer George Bovell. Making these possibilities come to life will see sports moving forward.