The Brink - Part IV - Partying like it's 1999 | Cricket articles, news, cartoons, statistics

The Brink - Part IV - Partying like it's 1999

Contributed by Subash Jayaraman

(For Parts I, II and III of this series, click here, here and here respectively)

Again the decade-old tussle between the same two nation-teams was returned to the spotlight with a whirlwind Windies captain’s century echoing that of his predecessor (Lara’s 84 ball hurricane in, yes, Antigua).

The Gayle the world audience had been waiting on finally blew through and, if anything, returned significant doubt regarding the fate of the Test. Australia shall most likely have to bat again on a pitch that began to bite at the end of the second (!) day.

The Windies have again refused to have the game dictated to them and again, much of the game shall be riding on the first two sessions of the upcoming third morning. This is tremendous and consistent with the new resilience sparked two seasons ago.

I should therefore be smiling but I ain’t.

A round-up commentary crew with the now-dismissed Gayle came together at the end of the day’s play and when asked to articulate his afternoon adventure, Christopher pronounced: “It wasn’t really planned y’know…ah just moved on instinct yea.”

WWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTT!

The sentence has stuck with me through this morning and shall haunt me for the rest of the next year (at least) as it concluded no real query but rather opened up a thousand more: Did he go rogue? Does the team ever have a plan? Does Gayle ever have a plan? And on and on and on…

Frame this in the context of Ponting referring to a team whiteboard that plots strategic mobilization as the Test evolves (he was expanding regarding his unscheduled retirement due to injury and then quickly changed the topic) and nothing should ever continue to come as a surprise regarding those lovable lunatics in the maroons.

Let’s hope Sarwan first of all shows up and second, has a plan tonight, and that Ramdin, Nash and Bravo have made the effort to consult with a coach or two on the way forward. The captain seems to be of no use.

(Click here to know more about Jonathan)

<< Previous
A Brave New World
Next >>
The Brink - Part II

The Brink - Part IV - Partying like it's 1999

Get our best articles in your inbox!

Like this article

About the author