Cow Corner Blog

West Indies - lucky to get nil

Thu May 28 10:50AM

Well what a tour for the West Indies that was.

Six weeks, eight matches, no wins and very little effort.

Like most things at the moment, Chris Gayle - pictured in preferred sitting down mode - could blame Jacqui Smith.

After all it was Smith who refused to issue visas to Zimbabwe who were scheduled to tour this country.

The ECB then invited Sri Lanka whose board accepted without speaking to its players who had already signed contracts to play in the Indian Premier League.

Government officials in Sri Lanka stated that the 13 players signed by the IPL should be allowed to honour their agreements in India, a decision that would result in England playing against a second-string Test side.

So England turned to the West Indies and as it happened the hosts still did play against a second-string Test side.

Of course Gayle could blame Smith for standing up to a despot, or the Sri Lanka board or his own board, but he should look no further than the mirror for the pathetic effort from his team which of course he set the foundations for with his tardy arrival and disinterested approach.

A second rate tour but first rate ambivalence from a credit crunched English public still considerably more interested in the end of the football season and with the far more enticing World Twenty20 and Ashes to spend their redundancy on.

As for the Ashes, you can't buy a ticket for love or money.

Or can you?

Not content with freezing ordinary folk out of the West Stand on the ballot for Ashes tickets due to "over-subscription", the tight-fisted mob at Yorkshire CCC recently sent Cowers an e-mail to encourage us to enter yet another draw.

Some mistake surely because there are not enough tickets go round - that's why they held a ballot?

No, this time it's a 'prize' draw to win a pair of Ashes tickets on any given day of the Test - and it will cost you the sum of £10 just to enter it.

We hope the ducks play football across the Headingley pitch for at least two days!

Comments1 - 13 of 13

well its to be hoped the ducks get 2days on the pitch because thats the only way it will last 5days
From chrishardy1 on Thu May 28 11:15AM
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The aussies arent that bad!
From mjscott2506 on Thu May 28 12:32PM
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After years of being slaughtered by the windies, it's payback time.
Tezza
From tsaun1000 on Thu May 28 12:40PM
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fools wi just need some experience to play on this type of pitch
WI will win all the competition coming up u will see just hold your breath
on that
your bowlers are no good with patient bats men
You guys do everything scientific study bets men on clips to get them out using tech butwi soon catch on and willstart slaughtering eng again on the pitch no3-Aus ,india,and safrica will give you lot the white wash u need
From e_brn2006 on Thu May 28 12:57PM
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Gayle=goon west indies=rubbish
From perfectparfit on Thu May 28 01:54PM
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The West Indies play cricket like they wish they were at home with their feet up. Do they realise how many people would give their right arm to be able to play sport for their country?
From perfectparfit on Thu May 28 02:02PM
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i hate listening to the commentary on sky sports, i think michael atherton even though he makes me laugh does not know wat he is saying half of the time and as soon as england win a match the west indies is no good and england is the best, michael holding is th e best, just listen to him, and my faourite english commentator has to be bob wilis
From mrdlorenzo on Fri May 29 10:31AM
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Although Chris Gayle's a hugely entertaining batsman, his captaincy's not up to much....only Gayle would try to save a Test match by hitting 54 off 43 balls! Did someone forget to mention it was a Test and not an ODI? Or did he just not care?
I keep hearing excuses for the West Indies - "it was too cold for 'em" is about the commonest. Well what about England in the heat of a Carribean summer? Not exactly used to that weather, are they, but I never heard that as an excuse!
The truth is, this West Indies side is the poorest I've ever seen with the exception of Chanderpaul and maybe Sarwan, whereas twenty years or so back a West Indian had to be an exceptional cricketer just to carry the drinks tray! Where's the production line gone that used to turn out basmen like Greenidge, Haynes, Richards, Lloyd, Kaanhai, Kallicharan and Lara? Where's the next Marshall, Holding, Roberts, Croft, Ambrose, Walsh or Bishop? Where are the keepers like Dujon and Deryck Murray?
I hope the West Indies can find some better players - players of the quality of Viv and Clive and Malcolm, etc, etc.... because the current crop are absolutely pitiful, IMHO. They'd struggle to beat Scotland (no disrespect meant to the Scots!) at the moment, never mind England!
From vllles on Mon Jun 01 02:24AM
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England XI v Steve McLarens Twente sounds like a bit of a mis match to me
From arttidesco on Wed Jun 03 10:50AM
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England will finish pretty much last...
From raymondskinner on Wed Jun 03 10:59PM
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Probably
From arttidesco on Thu Jun 04 12:54PM
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All tennis grunters are cheats Moooo !
From arttidesco on Thu Jun 04 05:44PM
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Okay, so the Windies played cricket badly, but the conditions didn't make it easy for them either. Speaking about conditions, in Antigua not so long ago I heard Ian Botham and Mike Atherton saying that playing at the ground there was like playing beach cricket. But playing in the conditions that the West Indies was force to play in, was like playing cricket in a damn ICE BOX. The only people that are use to playing in these sorts of conditions are the Brits themselves. The Windies are not use to that kinda of appalling weather, so you all should be slagging off the Windies, you should slag off your own administration. Test cricket should never played that early in the first place, but it was the Windies coming, they brought the scheduling up earlier than they were suppose to be. So you all should show the same courtesy to the Windies, as you got when you were in the Caribbean not so long ago. Maybe the windies should be a little harder and treat you all in the same way, then we would see how you like it. This West Indies team might not be like the one we had twenty years ago but that is no reason to try and manipulate them the way it's being done. Basically the WICB should never have agreed to the tour in the first place, not at that time of the year,thay should have taken a tougher stance, just like India or Australia would. Would I'm saying is that test cricket should be ban from being played in England during the month of May, it's not good for the players or for the spectators like me. Cricket should be played in desent weather, I don't wish to go to a cricket match wearing a winter coat. At Lords or anywhere in Britain. The ICC really need to look into it, and all test playing nations should boycott coming to Britain in May.
From fu22ybear on Thu Jun 04 10:48PM
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