friday, FEBRUARY 28, 2014
guyanatimesGY.com
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Gibson not ruling West Indies power and out England job West Indies v England, 1st ODI, Antigua…
spin will test England
out against Ireland, but there are plenty of reasons to play him here. England’s record against unorthodox spin (and often spin of any sort) in limited-overs cricket is far from impressive. This is a rare chance for Stuart Broad to take charge of England for more than a few days. But not only will his captaincy skills be key, he is now the attack-leader in the limited-overs formats. England do not have many bowlers who can change a game in a spell: Broad is one of them. How he uses himself around the various fielding restrictions will be interesting to watch.
Team news
Joe Root warmed up for the series with a hundred
T
his is an odd oneday series, squeezed in before the World Twenty20 to comply with FTP requirements (the Tests are held next year), but it is possible to see value in the contests for both sides - not least because there is a 50-over World Cup in a year. England’s recent travails need little repeating, and this brief tour is a chance for bonding and revival ahead of Bangladesh, while West Indies can look to build on the relative success of a shared series in New Zealand when the odds were stacked against them. Both teams have said they will approach the matches as one-day internationals, rather than elongated practice for the Twenty20s - a threematch T20 series follows in Barbados - but that is perhaps slightly truer of West Indies than England. The hosts can have the flexibility of picking their bespoke squads, which includes putting the captaincy in Dwayne Bravo’s hands rather than Darren Sammy’s, but England have engi-
neered their squad with the focus on the T20s to follow. For very different reasons, two of the game’s most destructive batsmen will be missing. Chris Gayle’s absence is injury-related - and West Indies will have everything crossed he is fit for their World T20 defence - while England are beginning life permanently without Kevin Pietersen.
Watch out for...
The last time England were in the Caribbean, Pietersen was the Player of the Tournament at the World Twenty20; now they will be putting their faith in the likes of Eoin Morgan, Joe Root and Jos Buttler to sparkle in the middle-order. Even without Gayle, West Indies are not short on power in their top order with the likes of Dwayne Smith, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo and the improving pair of Kieran Powell and Kirk Edwards. Sunil Narine did not have a huge impact in the oneday series in New Zealand - taking three wickets from four matches - and was left
With no Gayle, Smith will likely open the batting as he did against Ireland where he scored a brisk halfcentury. West Indies could well be tempted to take the pace off the ball against the England line-up. West Indies (possible) 1 Dwayne Smith, 2 Kieron Powell, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Kirk Edwards, 5 Marlon Samuels, 6 Dwayne Bravo (capt), 7 Darren Sammy, 8 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 9 Sunil Narine, 10 Jason Holder, 11 Nikita Miller If England’s warm-up match is anything to go by - and you would think it would be - the only uncapped player they are set to blood is Alex Hales. He opened alongside Luke Wright in against the Vice Chancellor’s XI; the other candidates to open would have been Michael Lumb and Moeen Ali. However, Eoin Morgan missed training with a knee problem and if he is ruled out, Moeen could earn a debut. England (possible) 1 Alex Hales, 2 Luke Wright, 3 Ben Stokes, 4 Joe Root, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Ravi Bopara, 7 Jos Buttler (wk), 8 Tim Bresnan, 9 Stuart Broad (capt), 10 Chris Jordan, 11 James Tredwell (Cricinfo)
Ottis Gibson was well respected when he worked with the England side
O
ttis Gibson has declined to reject the suggestion that he is interested in the role of head coach of the England side. Gibson, who is currently head coach of West Indies, is known to have expressed an interest in other coaching roles of late and is highly thought of at the ECB having worked as the England bowling coach before returning to the Caribbean in 2010. Asked whether his “name was in the hat” for the England job, Gibson replied, somewhat enigmatically, “My name is firmly in the hat for this job I’m doing.” While Gibson went on to insist he was “fully committed” to his current role and “improving the fortunes of West Indies cricket,” his failure to categorically rule out any interest in the England job will do little to douse speculation over his possible candidacy. Gibson has experienced a roller-coaster ride as West Indies coach. Among the high-points, he oversaw the side’s victory in the World T20 of 2012 and signed a new three-year contract only 12 months ago. But at other times, he has suffered public fallouts with such high-profile fig-
ures as Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan and endured criticism from various politicians, even prime ministers, in the Caribbean. West Indies have also won only one of their last six T20 internationals, including defeat against Ireland in Jamaica a week ago, and have lost four of their last five Tests, three of them inside three days.
Ups and downs
Gibson’s apparent wandering eye - he was also linked with coaching jobs at Warwickshire and Glamorgan - suggests he may be tiring of the ups and downs apparently inherent in West Indies cricket. “When you’re not working then every job appeals to you,” Gibson said. “But at the moment I’m working and working hard so that is all I’m looking at right now.” Gibson admitted that West Indies “haven’t played well in this format over the last six or twelve months” ahead of the ODI series against England. “Both sides haven’t set the world on fire recently in this format,” he said. “So, England will be thinking that it is a good time to play us. We’re at home so
hopefully that will count for something but we’re two teams that maybe you could say are in transition.” Gibson was, at least, optimistic that Chris Gayle would be fit to return to the side for the World T20 in Bangladesh, but had less positive news over the involvement of Kieron Pollard or Kemar Roach. “From all reports I’ve heard Chris should be back,” Gibson said. “He had some time out with a hamstring injury and he had a good two months to get himself right. He did some work in Australia with a physio. “He was back here and played in the first T20 and looked good, but then he had a reaction in his back. When you work so hard on one thing then something else can give way so he had a reaction in his back and his hip so we’ve given him some more time to get himself comfortable on the cricket field. “Pollard had a knee injury and he hasn’t recovered from that. We’ve given him time but he just hasn’t recovered. Kemar Roach had a shoulder operation in December and he’s now on his way back, but neither of them will be ready for Bangladesh.” (Cricinfo)
Enmore youths benefit from table-tennis training Y
oung aspiring table-tennis players from the East Coast Demerara village of Enmore last weekend benefitted from a one-day training programme, conducted by Level Two coach Munirram Persaud. Persaud, who has tutored several current and past national champions, led the youngsters through some basic drills in the presence of former national player Jai Hatim, who incidentally is heading the table-tennis section at the Enmore Community Centre. Persaud said he was impressed
with the level of talent in the area, while Hatim thanked the coach for taking the time to offer some formal training to the youths. The table-tennis section at the Enmore Community Centre was recently resuscitated, months after the cricket club was revived by a group led by Taajnauth Jadunauth. These two disciplines, as well as sections focusing on volleyball, domino, athletics and karate, fall under the Enmore Community Centre Council, chaired by Desmond Mohamed.
Level Two coach Munirram Persaud (right) poses with some of the participants and head of the table-tennis section at the Enmore Community Centre Jai Hatim (next to Persaud)