***Official*** South Africa v West Indies

[Langeveldt]

I don't intend to attend the Test in Trinidad for any reason other than to take pictures for CW. Even that will depend on whether I can borrow a camera, as mine is out of service for the moment.

A cricket photographer as well? Do you take it very seriously? MSN me if you want..

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

A cricket photographer as well? Do you take it very seriously? MSN me if you want..

I did back in the day, but in the last year or so I've been too busy to attend a significant amount of cricket. Trying to restore my collection atm, as I lost all but some panoramic pics of the Oval.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan have just terminated their deals with C&W and want to return to cricket! Does this mean they return tomorrow?

Lol. They'd have to pry the bats from the cold dead hands of Ganga and Deonarine.

Top news for cricket, although I feel slightly less confidant about ZA steamrollering you guys now

ZA was never in it. SA was barely there.

 

[roseboy64]

I'll watch but it'll be very hard to support the WI. To be honest it's not really Digicel's fault. It's more on the WICB considering all the evidence I have at my disposal. Such as allowing the players to sign with C&W. Nothing's wrong with that as that's withing the rights of the players but they should have monitored what was in the contracts. I really wan to know when the Digicel and the C&W contracts were signed. If the C&W contracts were after Digicel, which i'm pretty sure about, then the WICB should have made provisions to let the players know that some details of their contracts were in conflict with the stipulations of the Digicel contract.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

I'll watch but it'll be very hard to support the WI. To be honest it's not really Digicel's fault. It's more on the WICB considering all the evidence I have at my disposal. Such as allowing the players to sign with C&W. Nothing's wrong with that as that's withing the rights of the players but they should have monitored what was in the contracts. I really wan to know when the Digicel and the C&W contracts were signed. If the C&W contracts were after Digicel, which i'm pretty sure about, then the WICB should have made provisions to let the players know that some details of their contracts were in conflict with the stipulations of the Digicel contract.

The WICB could not stop players from signing with C&W as, at the time, they did not have a major sponsor. The party opposed to WI players signing with C&W is Digicel. Understandable, considering it's a money-making industry that Digicel is involved in. Unfortunate though, that that sort of commercialism has to come into cricket.

The contracts don't say anything that needs to be monitored by the WICB. The plain fact is that Digicel does not want a major competitor to have any major links to its players. The C&W contracts were inked before Digicel signed on the dotted line AFAIK. The Board hinted that they would be accepting Digicel, but nothing was official yet. Brian Lara's contract was definitely pre-Digicel.

 

[aussie]

aussie

hey mr.mxyzptkl you sound like a loyal WI fan but i have relatives in Guyana and even they dont think west indies are going to win but are still going to the test match to support their home boy Chanderpaul, but i think SA will win the first test quite easily, but i jsut read on cricinfo that Gayle & Sarwan Terminated thier contracts & if they along with pollock return by the time the Trinidad test comes around then the test i think could become very competitive

 

[roseboy64]

The thing is, there should be some communication between the board, the players and the sponsors. The board signed the Digicel contract with the knowledge that some of their players had signed with C&W. A section of the WICB-Digicel contract says that the Windies players should not be used for any other company in adevrtising. I know they're hard up fpr money but come on. One good part of that contract however is that it sets some guidelines for discipline while on tour and the like.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

You said it yourself. It's all about the money. There is NO other motivation for the controversy. Digicel wants to make it and the WICB desperately needs it.

 

[Marius]

It'll be interesting to see SA's XI for the game. I think nine of the spots are nailed down, depends who gets picked to provide seam back-up for Ntini. My team:

Smith
De Villiers
Rudolph
Kallis
Gibbs
Prince
Boucher
Boje
Ntini
Langeveldt
Nel

Zondeki's unlucky but I would rather go with the swing of Langers and the aggression and experience of Nella. Hall could also get a spot, but without Polly I would rather go with bowlers who can take wickets, rather than a guy like Hall who is more a back-up seamer who can do a holding job for you. That said with Ntini, Nel and Langeveldt in the side, the tail is a bit long, but I back the SA Top six to do the business, with Boucher and Boje providing support if so needed. And another thing, four non-whites in the side, all there on merit, nice.

 

[cameeel]

SA 2-0 is my guess, depends on Lara & Gales performance

 

[garage flower]

Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan have just terminated their deals with C&W and want to return to cricket! Does this mean they return tomorrow?

Top news for cricket, although I feel slightly less confidant about ZA steamrollering you guys now

Not sure that this capitulation by the players is "top news" if you look at the broader picture.

The timing is certainly baffling, given that they're too late to take part in the 1st test and the WICB have agreed to accept an independent arbitrator's decision on the C&W contracts prior to the 2nd test: link.

It also seriously undermines Brian Lara's stance, the WIPA, the position of the other C&W players and any future players who want to enter into personal endorsement deals.

They seem to me to have been very badly advised unless I'm missing something.

 

[garage flower]

The thing is, there should be some communication between the board, the players and the sponsors. The board signed the Digicel contract with the knowledge that some of their players had signed with C&W. A section of the WICB-Digicel contract says that the Windies players should not be used for any other company in adevrtising. I know they're hard up fpr money but come on. One good part of that contract however is that it sets some guidelines for discipline while on tour and the like.

I agree with a lot of this. I think WICB claim to have advised the C&W players (except Lara who had a pre-existing contract) that they (the WICB) were on the verge of signing with a major sponsor and that the players ought not to sign deals with C&W. However, they obviously weren't clear enough about the possible repercussions; perhaps because they lacked the understanding themselves.

I disagree on the discipline side though. The clauses of the contract in which Digicel are trying to dictate required dress codes etc. are very worrying in my view and go far beyond the sponsor's remit. The snippets I've seen suggest that the WICB has sold the entire operation - lock, stock and barrell - to Digicel.

The essential problem, of course, is that the WICB/WIPA couldn't sort out the issue of retainer contracts prior to any team sponsorship deal being negotiated.

 

[Don]

hey we can do the job in batting so long as ganga anf chanders fire up.the bowling well thats were we're lost.collins and collymore cant do the entire job on their own.and whu is our bloody spinner even i dont kno.would be cool to see the tiger bowl a few.

BIGGEST GANGA AND CHANDERPAUL SUPPORTER.WE CAN WIN WITH THIS PAIR BATTING WELL

 

[garage flower]

hey we can do the job in batting so long as ganga anf chanders fire up.the bowling well thats were we're lost.collins and collymore cant do the entire job on their own.and whu is our bloody spinner even i dont kno.would be cool to see the tiger bowl a few.

BIGGEST GANGA AND CHANDERPAUL SUPPORTER.WE CAN WIN WITH THIS PAIR BATTING WELL

Predictably, Ganga falls without troubling the scorers.

Windies have gone in with 7 batsmen and 3 quicks, excluding Collymore.

Obvious tactic seems to be damage limitation and praying for rain.

 

[roseboy64]

Currently 25-2.

Wavell Hinds and Pagon batting.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Three bowlers? That's astonishing... without an established all-rounder as well. Can anyone remember this happening before?

 

[Marius]

SA decided to leave out Prince, and Hall's having a game. Shows you how highly they rated Zim - Zondeki takes nine sticks and Prince makes a hundred against the Zimbos in the last Test, both have been dropped.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Predictably, Ganga falls without troubling the scorers.

Windies have gone in with 7 batsmen and 3 quicks, excluding Collymore.

Obvious tactic seems to be damage limitation and praying for rain.

Well, considering the run rate is slightly above 3.5 and Pagon is treating the crowd to hook shots, they don't seem to be following it!

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Predictably, Ganga falls without troubling the scorers.

Windies have gone in with 7 batsmen and 3 quicks, excluding Collymore.

Obvious tactic seems to be damage limitation and praying for rain.

I can tell you what they're doing. The move isn't to do with batting IMO. Rather, the selectors are compensating for their utterly stupid lack of a spinner in the squad. As such, they've picked two part-time spin options in Hinds and Deonarine to compensate. At Boarda, the spinners tend to prosper more than the seamers. Huge relief not to see Washington there.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Was at class this morning, so I didn't see most of the cricket. I did see a lovely cut shot by Pagon off Kallis though. Now I see he's gotten a good score thus far. Talented young man. A comment on his technique though (from observations before this Test):

Strong back foot technique and a big preference to exercise it early in his innings. A potential weakness would be full length deliveries early in the innings I believe.