WInding Back – John Holder

16th January 2014

WInding Back – video views of West Indian cricket

Episode 1 – John Holder

Back on November 19th Roland Butcher interviewed former international umpire John Holder after we’d all appeared on an edition of Mason & Guests (hence John’s references to comments ‘that evening’ by Andy Roberts, a fellow guest).

They discussed: the current state of West Indies cricket; the standard of cricket in the Caribbean; the impact of the Future Tours Programme; the importance of English County Cricket as a learning experience; the USA’s potential involvement in the upcoming Caribbean Super50 tournament (their place has since been taken by Combined Campuses & Colleges); his career as an international umpire; neutral umpires; the Decision Review System; ‘expert’ TV commentators; match-fixing; suspect actions; his removal from the TCCB’s Test Match umpires panel; and Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement.

It Never Rains But it Pelts

19th December 2013

Patrolling the Boundary  – a view from the outfield

Shillingford’s Ban

The rain may have come to deliver West Indies from defeat in the first Test against New Zealand, but the clouds circling the West Indian team included one that has specifically hovered over Shane Shillingford’s shoulder for some considerable time.

That cloud burst at the conclusion of the second Test Match in Wellington when the ICC’s biomechanical experts firmly stuck the boot in.

Shillingford (along with batsman team-mate, Marlon Samuels) was reported for a suspect action after the Dunedin game, and analysed by the boffins at the University of Western Australia. The results may well mark Perth as the graveyard of Shillingford’s career, a fortnight before being the site of the much-vaunted England team’s slaughter and cremation.