Abdullah719
T20I Captain
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2013
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Andrew Flintoff & Geoffrey Boycott 'disrespectful' (of WI), says West Indies Cricket chief executive
Criticism of West Indies by former England players has been "borderline disrespectful", says West Indies Cricket chief executive Johnny Grave.
West Indies bowled England out for 77 before setting the tourists 628 to win the first Test in Barbados.
Ex-all-rounder Andrew Flintoff said the "world's gone mad" after West Indies captain Jason Holder made 202 not out.
Former batsman Geoffrey Boycott described the hosts before the series as "very ordinary, average cricketers".
West Indies are above only Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in the International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings.
But Grave said negative comments about a side who look set to take a 1-0 lead in the three-Test series were "completely unwarranted".
He told BBC Sport: "Criticism of our players and suggestions that they're not world class is unfair.
"They are so dedicated. We've got 11 cricketers here and many more in the region who want to play Test cricket."
England failed to take a wicket on day three as Holder and Shane Dowrich, who scored an unbeaten 116, helped West Indies declare on 415-6.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Worlds gone mad <a href="https://twitter.com/robkey612?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@robkey612</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Harmy611?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Harmy611</a> England Bowled out for 77 and then Jason Holder , Jason Holder ? got a double hundred ����*
*** <a href="https://twitter.com/Cricket_TS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Cricket_TS</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/SkyCricket?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SkyCricket</a></p>— Andrew Flintoff (@flintoff11) <a href="https://twitter.com/flintoff11/status/1088939317093904384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">No , a number 8 scoring 200 should mean our top 6 can score lots and lots of runs ! <a href="https://t.co/YFvhP8Zd1Z">https://t.co/YFvhP8Zd1Z</a></p>— Andrew Flintoff (@flintoff11) <a href="https://twitter.com/flintoff11/status/1089142326180659206?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Grave added: "I saw Andrew Flintoff say he can't believe Jason Holder got a double hundred, yet I think Jason Holder is a fantastic cricketer and has been performing so fantastically over the last 18 months - a brilliant captain."
Flintoff, 41, averaged 31.77 with the bat and 32.78 with the ball in his 79-Test career, while Holder is currently averaging 33.86 with the bat and 28.21 with the ball in 36 matches.
England turned down first-class warm-up match
England, third in the ICC rankings, have won only one series in the Caribbean in the past 51 years.
They lost 1-0 in 2009 after being bowled out for 51 in the first Test and drew 1-1 on their most recent tour in 2015, against a side described as "mediocre" by England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Colin Graves.
Before this series, England chose not to play a first-class match. Instead they drew two two-day games against a West Indies Cricket President's XI in which players were allowed to bat twice in an innings.
BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew said "a lack of adequate preparation" was one of the main reasons why they were bowled out so cheaply at the Kensington Oval on Thursday.
Grave, who was appointed in 2017, said: "We wanted to play a first-class game and asked England to do so.
"We had to pull our best 12 players outside of this team out of our championship to see how our A team would perform against this England side.
"I'd much rather people credit our team. I'd like to see English fans enjoying and celebrating 11 West Indians performing to such a high standard."
The second Test in Antigua starts on Thursday.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/47016331
Criticism of West Indies by former England players has been "borderline disrespectful", says West Indies Cricket chief executive Johnny Grave.
West Indies bowled England out for 77 before setting the tourists 628 to win the first Test in Barbados.
Ex-all-rounder Andrew Flintoff said the "world's gone mad" after West Indies captain Jason Holder made 202 not out.
Former batsman Geoffrey Boycott described the hosts before the series as "very ordinary, average cricketers".
West Indies are above only Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in the International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings.
But Grave said negative comments about a side who look set to take a 1-0 lead in the three-Test series were "completely unwarranted".
He told BBC Sport: "Criticism of our players and suggestions that they're not world class is unfair.
"They are so dedicated. We've got 11 cricketers here and many more in the region who want to play Test cricket."
England failed to take a wicket on day three as Holder and Shane Dowrich, who scored an unbeaten 116, helped West Indies declare on 415-6.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Worlds gone mad <a href="https://twitter.com/robkey612?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@robkey612</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Harmy611?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Harmy611</a> England Bowled out for 77 and then Jason Holder , Jason Holder ? got a double hundred ����*
*** <a href="https://twitter.com/Cricket_TS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Cricket_TS</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/SkyCricket?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SkyCricket</a></p>— Andrew Flintoff (@flintoff11) <a href="https://twitter.com/flintoff11/status/1088939317093904384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2019</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">No , a number 8 scoring 200 should mean our top 6 can score lots and lots of runs ! <a href="https://t.co/YFvhP8Zd1Z">https://t.co/YFvhP8Zd1Z</a></p>— Andrew Flintoff (@flintoff11) <a href="https://twitter.com/flintoff11/status/1089142326180659206?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Grave added: "I saw Andrew Flintoff say he can't believe Jason Holder got a double hundred, yet I think Jason Holder is a fantastic cricketer and has been performing so fantastically over the last 18 months - a brilliant captain."
Flintoff, 41, averaged 31.77 with the bat and 32.78 with the ball in his 79-Test career, while Holder is currently averaging 33.86 with the bat and 28.21 with the ball in 36 matches.
England turned down first-class warm-up match
England, third in the ICC rankings, have won only one series in the Caribbean in the past 51 years.
They lost 1-0 in 2009 after being bowled out for 51 in the first Test and drew 1-1 on their most recent tour in 2015, against a side described as "mediocre" by England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Colin Graves.
Before this series, England chose not to play a first-class match. Instead they drew two two-day games against a West Indies Cricket President's XI in which players were allowed to bat twice in an innings.
BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew said "a lack of adequate preparation" was one of the main reasons why they were bowled out so cheaply at the Kensington Oval on Thursday.
Grave, who was appointed in 2017, said: "We wanted to play a first-class game and asked England to do so.
"We had to pull our best 12 players outside of this team out of our championship to see how our A team would perform against this England side.
"I'd much rather people credit our team. I'd like to see English fans enjoying and celebrating 11 West Indians performing to such a high standard."
The second Test in Antigua starts on Thursday.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/47016331
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