ODI World Cup to be held without West Indies for first time
Harare, Jul 1: The West Indies will not be part of the upcoming ODI World Cup for the first time in the history of the tournament after being eliminated from the Qualifiers - a result that plunged country's cricket to an unimaginable low, on Saturday.
Coming into the do-or-die Super Six contest, West Indies, packed with some bona-fide T20 superstars, suffered an embarrassing seven-wicket defeat against Scotland after managing a modest 181 in 43.5 overs.
It was an impressive show by the Scots, especially by all-rouder Brandon McMullen, who first took three wickets, and then scored a patient 69 off 106 balls to steer his side to a famous victory.
Such was the West Indies' plight that the top score was a painstaking 45 off 79 balls by Jason Holder.
Scotland chased own the target in just 43.3 overs, ensuring that West Indies won't compete in the ODI World Cup for the first time since the inception of the tournament in 1975.
The World Cup is set begin in India on October 5 across 10 venues.
This was also Scotland's first victory over the West Indies.
Clive Lloyd's team had won the first two editions in 1975 and 1979 and played the 1983 final, where it was beaten by India.
Matthew Cross (74 not out off 107 balls) anchored the chase perfectly and it always seemed one team would win and that certainly wasn't the West Indies.
With two more matches left, even if West Indies win, they can reach up to four points while Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe already have six points in their three games.
Scotland with this win are on four points and would reckon that an upset can help them sneak into the tournament-proper.
It appears to be the final nail in the coffin for a cricket team that has been on a terminal decline for the past two decades.
While they won two T20 World Cup titles in 2012 and 2016, the performance in two traditional formats -- Tests and ODIs have spiralled southwards.
Ironically, West Indies were forced to play the qualifier before the 2019 World Cup also but eventually managed to finish in top two along with Afghanistan to save themselves from embarrassment.
But a team that had Nicholas Pooran, a Rs 16 crore IPL recruit, Jason Holder, Kyle Mayers, Alzarri Joseph, Romario Shepherd, Akeal Hossein, all who were part of this edition's IPL, in its ranks, this is certainly the lowest ebb.
Perhaps the performance is symptomatic of times which is very different from the 1970s when some of the wold class cricketers from Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana, Antigua, Trinidad & Tobago came together and were the flag-bearers of 'Black Caribbean Community' which had been under oppression for the longest time.
The brilliant documentary 'Fire in Babylon' showed what West Indies cricket meant, it wasn't just flair, fun and frolic but also a responsibility towards community.
It showed how the team came together after England captain Tony Greig commented before the 1976 series that he would make them 'grovel', a derogatory term used for 'Black Community' referring to slavery.
Michael Holding spit fire at the Oval and Viv Richards scored a near triple hundred.
Their brand of cricket helped them become world beaters in limited overs cricket, first 60 overs and then 50 overs as most of their top players played in county or league cricket in England.
But call it a sign of times, the fire has extinguished and in last decade has seen the emergence of highly-skilled T20 mercenaries or Gun for Hire as one can refer to them, who haven't exactly been bothered about the national cricket team's benefit.
Perhaps the concept of multiple nations, playing under one flag is flawed in today's day and age.
What has also adversely contributed is the riches that accompanies T20 cricket caravan wherever it sets its base. The leagues have made it virtually impossible to have a quality West Indies team that is proud of wearing the iconic maroon jersey.
Call it an irony that during the tournament in Zimbabwe, the man who donned coach's hat was none other than last global trophy winning skipper Darren Sammy,whose heart still bleeds for the West Indies.
In the commentary box was Carlos Brathwaite, who hit those four incredible sixes on that fateful night in Kolkata, seven seasons back to win the 2016 T20 World Cup for the Caribbean side.
The Richards, the Lloyds, the Holdings, the Roberts, the Garners, their legacy lay in tatters, scattered across the lush green turf of Harare Sports Club ground on July 1.
The Kieron Pollards, Dwayne Bravos, Andre Russells, Sunil Narines have time and again refused to play for the West Indies as international cricket couldn't have secured a future that they aspired for their families. So West Indies cricket lived in a comatose state.
On Saturday, Scotland just removed the 'patient' from ventilator.
West Indies cricket is dead. Long Live West Indies cricket.
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Actress sexual assault: Court says Prosecution 'miserably' failed to prove conspiracy against Dileep
Kochi (PTI): The prosecution had "miserably" failed to prove the conspiracy charge against Dileep in the sensational 2017 actress sexual assault case, a local court has observed while citing inconsistencies and lack of sufficient evidence against the Malayalam star.
The full judgement of Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese was released late on Friday, and has revealed the judge also pointing out at unsustainable arguments put forth by the prosecution.
"The prosecution miserably failed to prove the conspiracy between accused No.1 (Pulsar Suni) and accused No.8 (Dileep) in executing the offence against the victim," the court held.
It examined in detail, the prosecution's allegation that Dileep had hired the prime accused to sexually assault the survivor and record visuals, including close-up footage of a gold ring she was wearing, to establish her identity.
On page 1130 of the judgment, under paragraph 703, the court framed the issue as whether the prosecution's contention that NS Sunil (Pulsar Suni) recorded visuals of the gold ring worn by the victim at the time of the occurrence, so as to clearly disclose her identity, was sustainable.
The prosecution contended Dileep and Suni had planned the recording so that the actress' identity would be unmistakable, with the video of the gold ring intended to convince Dileep that the visuals were genuine.
However, the court noted that this contention was not stated in the first charge sheet and was introduced only in the second one.
As part of this claim, a gold ring was seized after the victim produced it before the police.
The court observed that multiple statements of the victim were recorded from February 18, 2017, following the incident, and that she first raised allegations against Dileep only on June 3, 2017.
Even on that day, nothing was mentioned about filming of the ring as claimed by the prosecution, the court said.
The prosecution failed to explain why the victim did not disclose this fact at the earliest available opportunities.
It further noted that although the victim had viewed the sexual assault visuals twice, she did not mention any specific recording of the gold ring on those occasions, which remained unexplained.
The court also examined the approvers' statements.
One approver told the magistrate that Dileep had instructed Pulsar Suni to record the victim's wedding ring.
The court observed that no such wedding ring was available with her at that time.
During the trial, the approver changed his version, the court said.
The Special Public Prosecutor put a leading question to the approver on whether Dileep had instructed the recording of the ring, after which he deposed that the instruction was to record it to prove the victim's identity.
The court observed that the approver changed his account to corroborate the victim's evidence.
When the same question was put to another approver, he repeated the claim during the trial but admitted he had never stated this fact before the investigating officer.
The court noted that the second approver even went to the extent of claiming Dileep had instructed the execution of the crime as the victim's engagement was over.
This showed that the evidence of the second approver regarding the shooting of the ring was untrue, as her engagement had taken place after the crime.
The court further observed that the visuals themselves clearly revealed the victim's identity and that there was no need to capture images of the ring to establish identity.
In paragraph 887, the court examined the alleged motive behind the crime and noted that in the first charge sheet, the prosecution had claimed that accused persons 1 to 6 had kidnapped the victim with the common intention of capturing nude visuals to extort money by threatening to circulate them and there was no mention about Dileep's role in it.
The court also rejected the prosecution's claim that the accused had been planning the assault on Dileep's instructions since 2013, noting that the allegation was not supported by reliable evidence.
It similarly ruled out the claim that Suni attempted to sexually assault the victim in Goa in January 2017, stating that witness statements showed no such misconduct when he served as the driver of the vehicle used by the actress there.
The court also discussed various controversies that followed Dileep's arrest and the evidence relied upon by the prosecution, ultimately finding that the case had not been proved.
Pronouning its verdict on the sensational case on December 8, the court acquitted Dileep and three others.
Later, the court sentenced six accused, including the prime accused Suni, to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment.
The assault on the multilingual actress, after the accused allegedly forced their way into her car and held it under their control for two hours on February 17, 2017, had shocked Kerala.
Pulsar Suni sexually assaulted the actress and video recorded the act with the help of the other convicted persons in the moving car.
