Caribbean Life, November 6-12, 2020 39
‘Work
hard’ Hope
told By Nelson A. King
By George Alleyne
While a Test player, who was
dropped for the West Indies
tour of New Zealand, Shai
Hope, has been told to get back
to basics, a One-Day International
specialist, Andre Russell,
was put on a watch list.
Following a series of dismal
performances Hope was
excluded from the West Indies
team. He averages 26.27 in
Tests; 52.20 in ODIs; and 21.63
in T20 Internationals.
His most memorable
moments came during a 2017
tour of England when he struck
147 and 117 in back-to-back
innings of the same Test.
His form declined since then
with the best average being in
ODIs.
“He needs to work hard and
be meaningful. He needs to
understand what was working
for him when he was playing
very well and he needs to be
able to revisit that,” said Barbadian
West Indies’ Shai Hope bats during the fourth day of the
second cricket Test match between England and West Indies
at Old Trafford in Manchester, England, Sunday, July 19,
2020. Associated Press / Jon Super, Pool
Franklyn Stephenson,
who played for the West Indies
Young Cricketers team that
toured England in 1978 and
now runs a cricket academy in
his home country.
“He needs to sit down with
somebody who understands,
but mainly with him it is a
mental thing. But that comes
down to the physical, when the
feet don’t move and he has really
got a big problem there trying
to open up on his drives.”
Barbados TODAY online
newspaper reported Stephen
commenting on Hope 2017
double century, “when I saw
him playing those two innings
at Headingley, he had a lot of
potential. But it is okay to have
that in the meeting room but
you got to be able to transfer
that into the middle”.
Russell doing bit to get Kolkata
Knight Riders into playoff
West Indies allrounder Andre
Russell remains optimistic that
he will be fit to bowl in the Indian
Premier League (IPL) playoffs
should the Kolkata Knight Riders
(KKR) make it there, after
returning from a “grade two,
grade three” hamstring tear
in two weeks to hit 25 off 11
balls in a crucial win against the
Rajasthan Royals, according to
ESPNcricinfo.
It said on Sunday that Russell
had missed the Knight Riders’
last four games because of
the injury, which he said should
have kept him out for up to eight
weeks but returned to play his
part in a 60-run victory, “which
left his side with a shot to reach
the playoffs.”
“I have a grade two, grade
three hamstring tear., and I’m
just privileged to actually be
back running around,” Russell
told Star Sports, the official
broadcaster. “When I looked at
the scan, it was very ugly: that
type of result, normally, would
be six to eight weeks out.
“But with my therapist, the
KKR physio and doctor and everyone
rallying around me, doing
all the rehab and strengthening,
I’m happy to be back tonight,”
he added.
Brendon McCullum, the
Knight Riders’ head coach, said
in a pitch-side interview during
the first innings of the Sunday
game that Russell was “nowhere
near” fully fit, but he was selected,
despite the fact that he was
unable to bowl because of how
important the game was, according
to ESPNcricinfo.
“With the danger that he possesses
and the presence that he’s
got, in a must-win game, he’s
a big player for us,” it quoted
McCullum as saying. “He was
desperate to get out there: he’s
nowhere near 100 percent fit,
but if he gets hot for half an hour
then we’re going to post a really
big score. Your best players, you
try to get them out there to win
you the most important games.
“He is a proven, world-class
international T20 player,” he
added. “By his own admission,
he hasn’t set the tournament
on fire this season, but look: if
he gets hot tonight, then who
knows what could happen in
the coming games if we’re to
progress?”
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