West Indies' chance to move closer to the top teams

Ramnaresh Sarwan returns to the West Indies side as an injury replacement but he is out of form and not on the best of terms with the team management.

Darren Sammy's team will begin their 2013 programme of international cricket on Friday with a limited-overs series in Australia. Ask them privately and some of the West Indians would have probably been happy to still be back on their islands, easing into the new year. In December they were trekking back from Asia, having lost the ODI series 2-3 to Bangladesh after winning the two Tests. Now they turn up in Australia for five ODIs and one T20. One could well ask, why bother?

Some could also ask as to why Sarwan is back in the squad....

Hustlers 2 Schedule Spring 2013

2/10/13
Hustlers 2 v Miami Royals
Lauderhill Middle School

2/17/13
Hustlers 2 v Lehigh Indians
Lauderhill Middle School

2/24/13
Hustlers 2 v Renegades
Lauderhill Middle School

3/3/13
Vikings v Hustlers 2
TBA

3/17/13
Hustlers 2 v Starlite
Lauderhill Middle School

3/24/13
Hustlers 2 v Warriors
199th street North Ground

4/7/13
D Diamond v Hustlers 2
Lindsey Ewing Park

4/14/13
Hustlers 2 v Raiders
Lauderhill Middle School

4/21/13
Hustlers 2 v Guyana Heat
Lauderhill Middle School

4/28/13
Hustlers 2 v Takers
Lauderhill Middle School

5/5/13
Berbice v Hustlers 2
199th street South Ground

Chanderpaul's son to make first-class debut

West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul's son, Tagenarine, will make his first-class debut at the age of 16, for Guyana against Leeward Islands in the regional four-day competition in Antigua from February 9.

Tagenarine has been selected as an opener for Guyana, who are captained by spinner Veerasammy Permaul.

 

 

Tagenarine, like his father, is said to be a patient batsman, hard to dislodge and capable of spending a lot of time at the crease.

Shivnarine had also made his first-class debut for Guyana as a teenager, when he was 18. He is currently playing the Bangladesh Premier League and will be away during the course of his son's debut.

The competition has been dominated by Jamaica for the past five years. Guyana last won the title in the 1997-98 season.

Gibson calls for climb up ODI ladder

Ottis Gibson wants his West Indies side to use their Twenty20 success to help improve their one-day cricket. They go into the series in Australia ranked seventh in ODIs and Gibson is looking for them to move up the ladder.

West Indies open their tour against a Prime Minister's XI in Canberra on Tuesday with speculation surrounding Gibson's future. He will almost certainly be in charge for the five-match ODI series and the one-off T20 - West Indies first match against a major nation since winning the World T20 in October.

 

Chris Gayle made 207 runs in his two innings in the Caribbean T20, lifting him to third on the list of run-scorers.

 

As might be expected, Sammy is looking to Chris Gayle to have a defining impact for them. West Indies played at the same venue against the Prime Minister's XI two years ago and made 399 for 5 off 45 overs. Gayle made 146 off 89 balls.

"I remember Chris hitting the ball all over the park," Sammy said. "I'm expecting Chris to have a good tour as a whole. When he came back home he looked really good and I think he almost had the most runs in the Caribbean T20 tournament after just a couple of games. We all know what he's capable of, but the strength for us is the way the team has performed together. We are getting stronger as a unit."   

 

League AGM Update

The teams reps from the SFSCL all attended the AGM at Tropics Bar & Restaurant yesterday and have confirmed the new season will consist of 22 teams in 2 Divisions starting on Feb 10th.

Sal will once again stand as President, Jay (Warriors) vice President, Raj (Lehigh) Secretary, Shankar (Breakaway) Treasurer, and Mohammed (Takers) Assistant Secretary.

The DC will involve Subash (Hustlers 1), Jainan (Hurricanes), Dave (Superkings), Brian, and Ramesh (Berbice).

New teams are being formed searching for a Championship with older teams suffering as the recruiting machine starts disrupting and taking players in search of a winner. Every season the same thing happens with long standing teams being dissected and made to suffer by the league allowing new named teams to form all with the limited number of players scattered around South Florida at present.

When is this league going to realise that they are the main culprits for allowing this to happen every start of every new season? Fix the problem SFSCL and don't allow teams to come in for one season. Take 3 seasons registration off them if they are here for good and not just for one season and see if they are serious for the betterment of the league.

There is no parity or sense of planning in both Divsisons with teams being drained financially and player resources everytime a new team springs up.

The same players will always move no matter what and that can never be changed but at least give the longer standing teams the opportunity to survive and to keep their players.

Now we have potentially a 3rd team coming out of Lehigh meaning more travel for the South Florida teams. Since when did it become mandatory for teams to travel so far out? Lehigh was welcomed into this league 2 years ago on the understanding they would have to travel down for games but within that time they have a voice now on the governing board meaning everybody has to travel up to them. Make the ruling right now SFSCL.......Give the South Florida teams the choice as to whether they want to go to Lehigh or not.....DON'T FORCE THEM.

The Hustler 2 squad would like to wish all the old, all the new, and all the temporary one season teams all the best this coming 12 months in the SFSCL.

Good luck to all the new committee members and we all hope you do a fine job this year.

USA's planned T20 league postponed

The proposed professional Twenty20 league in the USA, scheduled to be held in June and July 2013, has been postponed for a year because of operational reasons. However, the promoters are looking at a "major cricket event" in the coming season.

Neil Maxwell, a director of Cricket Holdings America LLC (CHA), which has been putting together the event, told ESPNcricinfo: "The league will be pushed out until 2014. There are a number of issues that have taken longer than anticipated to address. We are conscious of getting the product right, particularly in the area of venues.

"We are excited about the prospect of the league and, to this end, we are looking to stage another major cricket event this season to bridge the gap."

Gladstone Dainty, the president of the USA Cricket Association, confirmed the delay. "It's a fact that the T20 league will not get started until 2014. Instead a series of matches will played by international T20 teams later this year while we work on a quality T20 product."

But he denied suggestions the failure to stage the competition in 2013 would have serious implications for USACA's budget, telling ESPNcricinfo: "The financial impact on USACA should not be burdensome because USACA is still entitled to fees under the current agreement."

Rumours have been circulating for some time that organisers were facing a series of problems ranging from venues to problems attracting investors but these had always been denied.

However, at USACA's AGM in December Dainty admitted there were difficulties and indicated the board's partnership with Rajiv Podar, the primary investor supplying funding to USACA through CHA, might be coming to an end. Podar denied this, admitting to "minor delays" but insisting he did not envisage them being enough to end the league.

Dainty was due to meet Podar earlier this month regarding funding issues. If Podar has withdrawn then USACA would have to return advances he made to it which would pose serious issues as the board is in debt and has no significant revenue streams.

Team News.......

The Hustlers 2 management and players would like to wish the players who have joined other teams this season all the best at their new clubs.

We appreciated your time and commitment to the Hustler squad in the time you spent with us and hope the friendship and comaderie built up playing with us stays true indefinitely.

No one is held to ransom to whatever they choose and who to play for and that is why the Hustler team players will always support you all wherever you end up. Playing in the SFSCL is not just about winning at all costs even though it is sometimes nice to win a Championship or two for all the hard work and energy put out every sunday afternoon.

Players will always feel they are better than others and deserve to play in front of players of lesser ability and this is where the problem lies in some instances. Whoever joins our team in the future will always be welcome to don the Hustler shirt but they also must remember no one is bigger than the team no matter who they are and what they have done before on a cricket field. Fit in and enjoy the game and the people you play with because winning is by no means all that matters. If players changed their mentality to realise that the only way your game will improve is if you practice because not many of us are blessed with the god given talent of being brilliant everytime we take the cricket field to play then they will become not only be better cricketers but better team players as well..

It is all good and well to encourage youngsters to play in your side for the future development of your squad but youngsters in and around this league simply don't have the patience or skill to bide their time and wait for their game to improve and learn from some of the older players. They always seem to think they know what is best when in reality they don't know about the basics of the game and that is why their improvement is a very slow process. Instead of playing with a solid team they will jump from team to team looking for what they want and if they don't get that, they throw their rattle out of the cage and move on again. Don't blame the team you play with guys.......blame your own skill and commitment to trying to improve.

So with all that said, the Hustler 2 squad would like to state that we shall be playing again this season in Division 2 although some of you may have heard through the SFSCL grapevine we have split up again. Rumours are always out there and that will never change.

Hustlers 2 are definitley registering this Spring and hope all the other teams, new or old are looking forward to another season at the park in 2013 in the SFSCL.

SFSCL News

SFSCL: Annual General Meeting will be held on January 26, 2013 at the Tropics Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale starting at 2:00 pm. All teams are asked to send a representative to this meeting.

SFSCL 2012 Presentation will be held on January 19th, 2013 at the same venue it was held the last two years. ‘Catering At Inverrary, Lauderhill, FL starting at 7:00 PM ‘.