Caribbean Premier league and Andre Fletcher with a weird hair-do

 

The film Dasavatharam revolved around Ex- CIA agent Christian Fletcher following Govind, attempting to seize the vial containing bio-chem.  Keith William Robert Fletcher  was a prolific scorer for England and remember him touring India under Tony Greig and earlier.  Have heard of Duncan Fletcher too –  there is a WI Cricketer by name ‘Andre Fletcher’.   Andre David Stephon Fletcher-  is one of a crop of   West Indies flamboyant batsmen – he is a wicket-keeper too – today, saw him open in CPL sporting a streaked red hair-style and cavalier batting.   This is an old photo;  today he looked even more weird !

It is a match between St. Lucia Zouks and St Kitts & Nevis Patriots – Fletcher opened with  big burly Rahkeem Rashawn Shane Cornwall who retired early.  Fletcher made a 33 ball 46 with 6 fours and 1 six. 

In  WT20 in 2016  in Mar at  Bengaluru,  Srilankans were swept by his power hitting.  Requiring 123, Fletcher scored 83* taking his team for an easy win by 7 wickets with 10 balls remaining.   West Indies pressed Fletcher in to open, after Chris Gayle strained his left hamstring while fielding. The move paid dividends, as he dictated proceedings from the start. He smashed Angelo Mathews for a four and a six, in the first over of the match, and then tore into Rangana Herath for another four and a six in the second over.

Most of us will remember well that 2^nd Semis at Mumbai on 31.3.2016 – chasing 193, West Indies won by 7 wickets (with 2 balls remaining). Andre Fletcher got a lifetime chance because Chris Gayle was not allowed to open – he made it his big day – and in the next match against minnows Afghans, which WI lost, he damaged a harmstring.  Clive Lloyd, West Indies' chairman of selectors, called Lendl Simmons who was watching games from his home in Trinidad.  He flew in, landed in Mumbai on Tuesday to join the West Indies squad. He had to take  two flights, flown across the continents and straightaway hit training. He knows Mumbai, perhaps would have told the cabbie in Hindi of the address or more – every cabbie knew him and his purpose !!

A target of 193 would not have frightened Darren Sammy. He had been talking up Chris Gayle all through the World T20, but seven balls into the chase, he might have felt nervous. His kingpin was clean bowled by Jasprit Bumrah and Marlon Samuels, who won this very trophy with one of the finest displays of T20 batsmanship, went away without a peep. West Indies were 19 for 2, already the required rate had hit double-digits and the men they had in the middle were Johnson Charles, who accumulates dot balls like his partner Simmons, who had arrived in India only two days ago, had accumulated air miles. Two of the most unheralded batsmen in this power-packed line-up hit one boundary an over from the second until the 14th - which Kohli himself bowled and got rid of Charles with a juicy long-hop.    Things appeared well for India, till the stormy  Lendl Simmons  82 off 51 with 7 fours, 5 sixers and Andre Russel 43 off 20 with 3 fours and 4 sixers, turned the tide.  It was the Mumbai Indians player who did better than Indians put together.

The 2020 Caribbean Premier League (CPLT20) is the eighth season of the Caribbean Premier League, the domestic Twenty20 cricket league currently being played in the West Indies. Matches were scheduled to be played in six countries – Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Guyana, Barbados, Jamaica and Saint Lucia. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a request was made in June 2020 to play all of the matches in Trinidad.  The tournament started on 18 August and is scheduled to end on 10 September 2020. On Aug 6, official press release stated that all players, officials and administrators involved in the league had tested negative on arrival ahead of a two weeks quarantine period. As per the agreement between the CPL and the Trinidad and Tobago government, all overseas players, team personnel, and other tournament personnel were required to self-isolate for two weeks before entering the country and two weeks after.    At the age of 48, Pravin Tambe became the first Indian cricketer to get a contract in the Caribbean Premier League.  These matches too are played without any spectators !

Sherry Ingrid Veronica Fletcher,  is a female track and field sprinter from Grenada, who specializes in the 200 metres. Her personal best time is 22.67 seconds, achieved in June 2007 in Sacramento. This is the current Grenadian record.Fletcher also holds the Grenadian 100 metres record with 11.18 seconds, achieved during the heats at the 2007 Pan American Games. In 2007, she won the bronze medal in this event at the Pan American Games, where she also finished fifth in the 100 metres.  Fletcher represented Grenada at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing competing at the 100 metres sprint.  She is the elder sister of Grenadian Cricketer Andre Fletcher

Grenada is a sovereign state in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself plus six smaller islands which lie to the north of the main island. It is located northwest of Trinidad and Tobago.  Grenada is also known as the "Island of Spice" due to its production of nutmeg and mace crops.  On 10 February 1763, Grenada was ceded to the British under the Treaty of Paris. British rule continued until 1974.  Independence as a sovereign state was granted on 7 February 1974, without breaking formal ties with the Commonwealth, under the leadership of Eric Gairy, who became the first Prime Minister of Grenada.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

22.8.2020