Can’t keep a good man down! Darren Sammy is on the commentary Mike at the IPL. Cameron- he ain’t gonna suffer!
Caribbean unity ?
Mr Blogmaster you tell us!!!
“Visit our website for more information and how to contact us, key activities, commercial partners and general information.”…. “Sorry, We could not find http://www.barbadoscricketleague.org
It may be unavailable or may not exist. ….”
In simple terms could it be that always painful thing called …the evolution of life.
During US segregation Black businesses soared …after laws were enacted outlawing racial segregation…they faltered.
In a time long past the only way for Charlie Griffith or any of those bold-faced names to get noticed was to play BCL…then they could only play for Empire or Spartan for many years after that.
Which young dynamo talent from any social class or whatever skin tone can’t get into a Wanderers team on merit alone these days…which BCL club isn’t also fielding a team in the BCA?
Times had moved on…we have all ARRIVED! Could be as simple as dat!
As a fan I say hip-hip-hooray to the life of Tony Cozier.
He was the absolute best 12th man to our most gifted and successful West Indies teams. He never got on the field to score a century or take a five-for but he contributed to our pride and joy by his own excellent work.
He too became as identifiable with WI cricket as any of those super stars.
Condolences to his family. He was a colossus.
For us old folks that era of WI cricket is slowly but surely closing…closed.
—
‘From fire to friendship’ by Tony Cozier. February 10, 2009
“When I first laid eyes on Wes Hall he was in the next parish. As I scratched my guard the bowler in the far distance at the end of a run that would become as identifiable as any in the game was the latest West Indies tearaway.
“I was the 17-year-old opening batsman for the LodgeSchool at a time when the three top secondary schools in Barbados were part of the highest division of domestic cricket, along with clubs that routinely included Test and first-class players (presumably it was supposed to be character building) …
“Somehow, through youthful eyesight, reflexes, bravado, luck, whatever, I clipped a boundary through square leg in the opening over on the way to a scintillating 24. The image has justifiably remained with me, as sharp as if on a high-definition TV screen. When, by now old friends, I felt comfortable enough to mention it to Wes a few months back, he quickly pricked my pride: ‘You lucky you still living!’ ”
Indeed we all were lucky he survived that onslaught!
Long live WI cricket!
Well, all that was needed was the full stop and now I think we have it.
I haven’t listened to cricket on the radio in decades but the passing of Tony Cozier has stirred some long dormant memories.
I can’t remember when I first heard Cozier on the radio but my first memories of listening to cricket was the WI tour of Australia in 1960-61 when as a sapling I was able to stay up late at night to listen to Johnny Moyes in a colourful Aussie accent on ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corp.)
Later during the WI tour of England in 1963 we were treated to the dulcet tones of John Arlott whose descriptive commentary of Cricket as well as the surrounding countryside provided a picture as vivid as any contemporary movie scene.
Cozier came on the scene sometime after that tour and I recall his voice on the radio as one of our own and that voice although lacking the timbre of some of the other commentators was very informative. I also remember his reports in that other media- newspapers- I believe he came from a media family as his family was involved with the Daily News (now defunct) and I seem to recall a column by his father EL Cozier which appeared under the byline ELC. The immediacy of TV has diminished the importance of the radio voice but those of the generation which came of age in the 60’s remember radio as our connection to the outside world and we relied on the eloquence of the person behind the mike to fuel our imagination and Cozier fit the bill.
An innings well played.
@ David,
Lewis on pole.
He did an interview with Martin Brundle and said he loves Barbados.
@Hants
A good first step but as you know his problem all season has been reliability and suspect garage decisions.
30 seconds. Lewis and Nico crash!!!!
Will be an interesting race without Mercedes.
18 year old Max Verstappen wins for Red Bull. Good race even without the Mercedes.
Ferrari second and third.
Big question. Will Lewis drive for Mercedes next year ?
@Hants
He has a contract to honour doesn’t he? Ferrari would welcome Hamilton, and with his skillset that team comes into contention.
On Sun, May 15, 2016 at 1:52 PM, Barbados Underground wrote:
>
@ David,
Mercedes may want Lewis to go and would “mutually agree” to terminate his contract.
Nico is good for Mercedes ‘ marketing”.
Agree Hants, who is their target market again?
Future Test player ?
“FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD schoolboy Nyeem Young batted into the Barbados Cricket Association’s history books with a knock of 299 runs against Deighton Griffith School yesterday.”
http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/81250/batsman-scores-299#sthash.FDA6JKPr.dpuf
Simmons, who was a consistent failure got rid of Chanderpaul. Now he argues that Ambrose is not technical enough.
Bare rubbish!
All this sort of shit kill poor TC
NOT TECHNICAL ENOUGH!
It has to be about performance, has he performed?
@ David,
If he was not performing he should have been warned before being fired. I hope he gets severance or he takes them to the CCJ.
O M R W
DR Smith 4 0 8 4
Smith took 4 wickets for 8 runs.
Question for WICB.
How did Pollard and Narine qualify to play ODIs ?
I have lots of respect for Ambrose since 86 when he came on the scene in Combined Islands and was called the Beanstalk,thin as a rake and tall but a devastatingly intelligent bowler.Hardly a loose ball,he went on to become in my opinion the best fast bowler the West Indies produced.It seems he is a man of few words as I recall the Cookie Monster complaining that Ambrose came to his training camp and said not one word to anybody there.If Stephenson is right it would appear that Ambrose has a problem communicating.The unfortunate result is a bowler held in high esteem is now reduced to ridicule by one of his own and once again it shows a lack of communicating skills.
David, again thank you for the reality check May 16, at 5:53 PM. At the end of the day for any coach performance will always be the measuring stick. We can quibble about the ‘how’ re the sacking but this is the nature of the beast in that environment.
And what about the basic home truths…
Have any of our greats been very effective as coaches of the team?
Now that is a loaded question so I’ll answer (smile) by saying that in many cases the WICB have NOT supported the coaches in some cases and in others the coaches (Marshall, for one) seemed to be so at-one with the top stars that the coaches compromised themselves.
Roddy Estwick is an accomplished (technical) coach who has gotten results from the young bowlers and despite the fact that he would have been just carrying Ambrose’s kit as WI player the roles are absolutely reversed now. Estwick is a far superior coach…based on the records.
Ambrose may have had his pride hurt but beyond that what really does he have to worry about!!!
Remember when Australia under Waugh was dominant who was the coach? A no-name Buchanan.
Very correct David. In fact if any of us do a memory dump (no Google) and offer the names of successful coaches who were above average players (far least great) we may be shocked at how few they were.
I can only pull the South African Woolmer. And some may think of him as just an ordinary talent but I give him extra props for his success against the mighty West Indians.
Duncan Fletcher was not considered above average as I recall. But a great coach. Malcolm Marshall was a supreme player bit not a winning coach certainly.
Oh, the real mccoy is Greg Chappell. He had some success with India initially.
Beyond that all the others were coaches and motivators first and foremost who were mediocre players themselves.
My memory is poor but even if I did a google for last 25 years I doubt that changes drastically.
Quite correct! A great player does not make a great coach any more than a great mathematician makes a great math teacher.
David
Will Tony’s funeral be carried live on local radio/ Tv
What time?
Can it be accessed online?
Thanks
AWESOME!!!!!
Men’s 100m
1) Usain Bolt (Jam) 9.98
2) Ramon Gittens (Bdos) 10.21
@GP
Will have to check it for you.
@ David and GP,
I think the funeral was today at 3
The funeral service and cremation for the late Winston Anthony Lloyd Cozier ‘Tony’ will take place on Friday, May 20 2016 at Coral Ridge Memorial Gardens, The Ridge, Christ Church at 3p.m. In lieu of flowers donations to the Barbados Cancer Society will be appreciated and collected at the chapel. No mourning colours by special request.
Condolences to the family may be sent to http://www.bryansfuneralhome.com
Thanks Hants, missed it.
@ David,
Chris Gayle is an idiot. A rich talented cricketer but an idiot.
These female reporters did not even have to “set him up”.
His ego is too big for his brain to control.
@Hants
Let us consider it a hoax.
Mike Maskell is off to the Olympics for the gazillionith time to place last. What an outrage. Is he septuagenarian Steve Stoute’s favorite son? He’s gone to every Olympics since most of us were born he’s the biggest loser along with Stoute. Barbados has won one pitiful bronze medal in Stoute’s decades of rule of the BOA. His is the face of abject failure.
Grenada a mini mini state compared to mini state Barbados has won at least one gold medal. Grenada is bankrupt one of the poorest countries in the region. Barbados is one of the richest with great sporting talent. Stoute ought to been kicked out twenty years ago.
Its a scandalous misuse of taxpayers money the BOA is run by lottery funds collected from citizens. Watch out for serial spongers to join Maskell at the trough in Rio. The likes of Stoute and Erskine Simmons, Cammie Burke and Bruggadung Johnson , Esther Maynard and Boozer King. The money and space wasted every four years to send those clowns on a junket is better spent to expose young talents in track and field who are eager for opportunity.
@ Sports fan
Even if we ignore the lack of Olympic medals, one has to wonder about the really ridiculous lack of sporting facilities and sports organisation in Barbados, given the level of consistent funding provided over the years by the lottery.
It has to be in the region of $10 million per year, and this does not include other grants etc from government and overseas.
Someone should really explain how, with no less that $100m available in the last 10 years, we do not have a decent stadium, the football field is incomplete, the hockey field is down, netball is in a dump …..
What is the money being used for?
Who reports on these things …and to whom?
Is the Minister of Sport the final authority?
Are the accounts public documents? …where can they be found?
I’m inclined to keep a copy of certain articles I read, because I know that at some point in time a discussion would “emerge” in a forum I am privy to be included, which would have some relevancy to that article.
Case in point, in the “Sports Corner” section of BU, cricket enthusiasts, Hants and Georgie Porgie, seem to be quite upset at the decision made by West Indies cricket team’s coach Phil Simmons to sack Curtly Ambrose as bowling coach in preference for Roddy Estwick who, according to Simmons, has more “technical skills.”
This decision did not surprise me, not because I don’t support the popular view/opinion that former West Indian cricketers are the best choices for WI coaches. It does not follow that, for example, because Ambrose may have been an excellent bowler, he would automatically and obviously make an excellent coach.
On January 6, 2016 I read an article on “foxsports.com,” written by Ashley Gray and entitled “Curtly Ambrose slammed as ‘worst coach I’ve seen’ by Franklyn Stephenson.”
Franklyn Stephenson is considered one of the Caribbean’s leading cricket coaches and operates the “Franklyn Stephenson Academy” in St Thomas, Barbados, where he trains aspiring cricketers from all over the world who age between eight to 15 years.
Stephenson said Curtly Ambrose should be DROPPED as bowling coach and EX-PLAYERS ditched from the West Indies set-up if the former powerhouse is to regain past glories. He made this assessment based on the fact that during the Australia Test Series, West Indies FAILED to take 10 wickets and CONCEDED a staggering 131 RUNS PER WICKET.
Also, according to Stephenson, Ambrose was a fantastic bowler, “but he’s the worst coach I’ve seen,” he said. “He came here to our CAMP but DIDN’T SAY A SINGLE WORD TO ANY BOWLER. He is just for show, nothing more.”
“Stephenson says an OBSESSION with GIVING JOBS to EX-PLAYERS is HOLDING BACK the side’s progress. Over the past TWO DECADES of FAILURE, the West Indies have EMPLOYED a GLITTERING ARRAY of LEGENDS to help revive their fortunes. Andy Roberts, Viv Richards, Clive Lloyd, Gus Logie and Richie Richardson have all had a go at putting pride back in the maroon cap, but Stephenson says past players are not the answer.”
Like it or not, there is some merit in Stephenson’s opinion.
@Artax, lovely piece. Interesting though that former player Stephenson “is considered one of the Caribbean’s leading cricket coaches” but his verbiage acclaims that “past players are not the answer.” A ridiculous contradiction by and from Stephenson himself.
The issue clearly therefore is not whether the coach is a former player but simply whether that former player knows the rudiments and techniques to effectively get the best from his charges. Not only must he know how to execute the skill well (as he did time and time again) but he must know the psychology of his craft and of course he must be able to harness and direct all that to motivate these wealthy young men to consistently perform as an effective unit..
In many other sports top players go into coaching and often if one is not aware of the person’s playing career then you only know them as an excellent coach…the examples are vast…
Many people – well there are some, smile – only know Johan Cruyff as the great Ajax, Barcelona and Netherlands coach!
Some are damn good. Many are not… And realistically we likely match their averages of those top-players-turned-coaches that are piss-poor. Michael Jordan did not cut it as a hands-on team official either, for example.
But Stephenson is good at his coaching craft regardless of whether he was a former player of not. He is like a Cruyff in that regard.
By the way, it was abjectly obvious that Ambrose was not being effective as a bowling coach. I could not determine if the guys simply could not execute his plans; or whether he was unable to properly motivate and guide them. But a change was needed.
Jerome Taylor since his return has been but a shadow of what he was. Is that due totally to him or could his bowling coach have assisted more. This time next year after Estwick has had a full run with the boys we should be better placed to answer that.
As an aside GIbson went back to his roots as England bowling coach and those fellas have been doing dixie. Did he have anything to do with that or are the players just using the conditions ( in Engand now and in the Ashes, and India recently) so very well? Oh lawd!!!!
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