Does Caribbean qualify as World Cup venue?

The T20 World Cup in the West Indies has just ended and just like 50-over format World Cup that was held here in 2007, the entire tournament was a dampener in terms of stadium spectator volumes. This has become an increasingly worrying trend ever since the native, West Indian side started sliding after their 1996 Frank-Worrell Trophy loss to the Australians. Ever since that debacle happened, except for the test matches wherein Brian Lara was involved, the stadium volumes have been dwindling and the authorities including the WICB have not done anything constructive to resolve it. The 2007 World Cup was an absolute disaster
in terms of the non-participation of the spectators in the proceedings of the match. Yes, the ban on the usual musical stuff and alcoholic beverages that the West Indian spectators were always allowed to carry inside were also banned then and this did play a part in reducing the amount of spectator interest However, there was nothing missing from the T20 World Cup and even then, the venues had an empty look to them. Take-out the number of Indian fans who descended from the US and you can be assured that the stadiums might have been half-empty. I was just wondering whether the West Indies still qualifies as an international venue for matches wherein the home team is not involved?

Jayawardene Proves More 'Proper' Batsmen Flourish in T20 format

By now,you would have read about or seen the magnificent innings that Jayawardene played yesterday, against the West Indies. While it has been surprising to most cricket observers that Mahela has taken so well to the opening profile that he was offered even though Jayasuriya is still in the playing XI.However, I would like to add that the promotion of Mahela to the opening slot and his tremendous success in his new role proves one thing that might have escaped the attention of the T20 fans: it is not the mad-hopping T20 batsmen that are making the most of this shortened format of the game but the veterans or those who have flourished as test and ODI batsmen who are bringing-in the most, match-winning innings.

Even if you look at the IPL since its very inception, it was the likes of Hayden, Gilchrist, Gayle and Sehewag, all big test match players, who made the most impact. Even in the last edition of the IPL, i.e. the 2010 IPL season, it was Sachin Tendulkar, regarded more orthodox than some of the supposed T20 specialists like Pollard and Shane Watson who was the most consistent and the biggest run-getter of the tournament. Geoffrey Boycott has often commented that it is not the format of the game that creates champion batsmen but it is the champion players who adapt and come to terms with the newest of formats and still reign. Jayawardene's tremendous success and his unbelievable range of shots on display in the current edition of the T20 World Cup merely supports this theory. All the youngsters who were thinking that they are going to make a living out simply clobbering the ball in T20s and sustain themselves in the squad by scoring an odd 20-25 runs are on a short lease...perform soon or perish forever.

T20 World Cup 2010: slower pitches, bigger boundaries & the calypso factor

I have not watched many matches of the just-started WC 2010 in the West Indies but I can easily tell that at least during the group stage of the tournament, the pitches are going to be rather slow and the batsmen might have to work a bit harder than they are used to. In fact, this is a bit of a pleasant change considering that T20 games are largely decided by batsmen who are given the luxury of scoring off every ball, courtesy, the shorter boundaries and dead pitches. In this regard, it is worth mentioning that the boundaries too seem stretched out in the West Indies which means that batsmen would have to run harder and there would be less boundaries scored in the match. Whether this was done by default or through meticulous planning to make the game more even is unknown but it must offer some relief to the harassed T20 bowlers.

And I must add that the old Calypso thing of dancing in the stands and using all sorts of strange musical contraptions is back. I was wondering after the last, 50-over World Cup if all the cheering had also gone away to the basketball games just like they say that all the young, promising West Indian fast bowlers end-up re-directing themselves towards the NBA league. Further, there is a strong wind that has been prevailing since the outset of the tournament. While this does make the life difficult for the bowlers and the fielders to a certain extent, it also ensures that the spinners can strive for getting some deviation upon flighting the ball. This is something that could work wonders for teams like India and Sri Lanka that are packed with specialist and plenty of part-time spinners.