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Author Topic: Can T&T success in the longer version of the game lift the West Indies?  (Read 712 times)

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T&T first class cricket success can boost the Windies
By Colin Benjamin (Wired868)

Two trends noticeable in the legendary cricket teams of the post-World War II era were their depth and the predominance of one territory in each nation, which usually became the core of their first XI.
The first great West Indies team from 1963-68 had a strong Barbadian influence and was captained by Sir Frank Worrell and Sir Garfield Sobers and included the fast bowling duo of Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith. And finally key squad players such and batsmen like Conrad Hunte, Seymour Nurse and all-rounder David Holford. Not bad for the little island of 166 square miles.
The giants from the 1976-95 period alternated between a Barbadian and Antiguan backbone. The quartet of Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Malcolm Marshall and Joel Garner represented Barbados while Sir Vivian Richards, Curtly Ambrose, Richie Richardson and Andy Roberts came from the latter territory.
Can a resurgence of Trinidad and Tobago in the longer version of the game have a similar impact on West Indies cricket fortunes?
The strength of the T&T line-up in recent four-day clashes with Guyana and CCC was unmistakable, The starting XI against Guyana read: Adrian Barath, Lendl Simmons, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Denesh Ramdin, Imran Khan, Rayad Emrit, Sunil Narine, Amit Jaggernauth and Shanon Gabriel while Ravi Rampaul was absent through injury.
Emrit, Khan and Jaggernauth apart, the other eight players are current West Indies members and could conceivably be the heartbeat of the regional team for the foreseeable future.
After Trinidad and Tobago ended a 21-year drought with back-to-back four-day titles in the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons, many predicted the start of a golden era for the dual-island republic in regional cricket.
But T&T’s focus seemed to shift towards the domestic one-day and Twenty20 competitions and their cricketers have won three of the last six 50 overs tournaments and four of the six T20 tournaments since then.
It’s no coincidence that eight of 15-member 2012 West Indies T20 World Cup winning squad hailed from Trinidad.

Read more: http://www.wired868.com/2013/04/01/tt-first-class-cricket-success-can-boost-windies/

 

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