The thrilling T20 win over England in Kolkata on Sunday has been overshadowed by the reopening of old wounds between the players and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) over contracts and salaries. Brathwaite, the chief protagonist of that electric finish, did, for sure, etch his name in the history books, but where was this burly youngster, who made his T20I debut back in 2011 against Bangladesh, all this while?
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There has not been a year in the 88 since West Indies began playing global cricket in 1928 that there has been a time when regional teams have held three world titles at the same time. “The ICC and team Facebook pages saw over 180 million video views from March 8 to April 3”, the social networking platform said on Wednesday.
Brathwaite has yet to truly establish himself as an worldwide star.
Andre Fletcher and Sulieman Benn too had faded off the worldwide circuit for a couple of years before resurrecting their careers through the CPL springboard.
That West Indies have again won the T/20 World Cup is confirmation of their dominance in that form of the game, which is obviously proving more popular commercially than Test and, indeed, One-Day cricket. At a time when West Indies cricket has been struggling to cope with the impact of NBA basketball and major league baseball, the IPL created superstars out of men like Kieron Pollard and Sunil Narine.
Stokes, who has been England’s go-to man in the death overs after helping the team get over the line in crunch games, got into a verbal duel with Samuels, a strategy that seemed to backfire. We are proud of the way in which CPL has grown over the years, and the fantastic platform it has provided for the youngsters. “Always remember that when you start to give them your energy”.
Before the tournament he was little known, so here we take a closer look at the West Indies match-winner.
It is also a victory for the manner in which the West Indians play their cricket.
“…I’m yet to hear from our own cricket board”.
Sunday should have been a day of celebration for West Indies cricket, with the men’s win following victory for the women earlier in the day.
With West Indies needing 19 runs of the last over to secure victory, the powerful Barbadian calmly belted four astonishing sixes off the first four deliveries bowled by Stokes to seal the title. “It is exclusively dedicated to the people and fans all over the world”, he added.
Officials of the WICB and the Territorial Boards accept no responsibility for the development of women’s cricket, preferring this to be the responsibility of governments, in stark contrast to their position that governments should keep out of cricket.
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Many senior players such as Chris Gayle no longer play Test matches, instead turning out in T20 leagues where they can earn more money in six weeks than they are paid by their board in a year.
