AMA Ask the Qpee

qpeedore

SOTM Winner - July 2014
Joined
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Location
Trinidad and Tobago
Who was your first cricket "hero"?
I grew up with my family watching cricket, and so I knew the basics of the game without actually knowing who any of the players were. I believe the first player I ever really "knew" was Lara, when he first broke the record, because everyone was talking about him. But I wouldn't consider myself as being a cricket fan back then. It was probably a few years later when I began following the game more, and I just loved Curtly Ambrose. So while I liked Lara for having a world record and all, it was really Ambrose who I admired when I began to become a cricket fan. That explains my semi-obsession with the guy.

What can you tell me about local cricket in Trinidad and Tobago?
It's a part of life here. Even if you don't follow the game, you've probably played it as a child. Most non-professional cricket is of the tennis ball variety, and you generally don't have to go too far to find a casual game being played on any given weekend. I've seen a few tape ball cricket being played, but it's not as popular as it is in places like the subcontinent. Schoolkids play cricket during their lunch breaks. The actual age-level school teams are usually leather ball cricket though, and from those school teams they pick the most talented to join an overall West Indies youth camp from where they get the U-15, U-17, U-19 teams from. Companies arrange their own inter-department or inter-branch tournaments (usually tennis ball). Sometimes you might get a town- or city-wide league (again, usually tennis ball). I think at one time we even had a full country-wide tennis ball league and they broadcast the matches on TV. The next step up would be the club levels. Semi-professional guys, mostly. The most famous would have to be the Queen's Park Cricket Club, but there are quite a few others. They form what will be our nationwide tournament, and the national First Class team is chosen from those clubs. The next level is of course, the Trinidad national team, called the "Red Force".

Do you play yourself?

Not past backyard level. Left arm orthodox who bowls off the wrong foot and right-handed batsman who loves the leg side. But I've got great memories. My strength is in the umpiring side of things. Will still turn my arm over if there's a game around though. We're naturally a very friendly people, so once it's not an actual match happening, it's easy to just stand at a fielding position in any game anywhere in the country, and eventually you'll find yourself in the game before long. Made a few friends that way, actually.

How does Trinidad compare with Tobago?

It's all one country, but the differences between the two islands can be startling sometimes. Trinidad is the more industrial of the two, getting most of its revenue from the petrochemical industry, while Tobago is more tourism-based. There are absolutely amazing places in Trinidad that foreigners can and do visit, but we don't cater to the tourists as much as the sister island. Part of that actually has to do with the geographic history of the islands. Trinidad was once attached to Venezuela in South America (actually we have a fault line running right across the northern part of the country), so Trinidad shares a lot of the same resources as that country, namely oil. Tobago was volcanic in nature, so it has a different sort of makeup, geographically speaking. There are plants, animals, and natural formations that are just more suited to one of the two islands or the other. I think both islands are equally stunning, but Tobago is perhaps just a little more pristine because they cater to the tourists more. Stuff is more expensive there as a result though, not a fan of that. And Tobagonians HATE it whenever people just say "Trinidad" when referring to both islands.

Aee you for or against West Indian nations playing separately in international cricket? What if it was only in T20 cricket?

Test cricket, I don't see it happening. Our individual club level structure just isn't up to the standard of international cricket, and to have to suddenly have a QPCC vs. Victoria or Merry Boys vs. Powergen game being officially First Class just seems...dead wrong. Same with some of the smaller countries and their club structure. In T20 cricket though, I can see that being something viable, but we're going to have to make it so that each nation has to actually qualify for the T20 WC and not just automatically end up in the tournament.

On that topic, could someone like Brian Lara have carried T&T's batting line-up against Test bowlers?

He did it in West Indies colours often enough, didn't he? Yes, I think he could have. Lara always liked to dominate bowlers, but he could also protect a weaker batting partner by absorbing the pressure of farming the strike if needed.

What is your all-time T&T XI?

Jeez, this is a question I've never had to answer before. We've had some good players over the years though. I'll just pick a First Class team for now:

Daren Ganga (c) - Even if his average was in the teens, I'd take him for captaincy. In his time as a player, I don't think there was a better regional captain than him.
Gus Logie - As far as I know, he's the first man to have an international Man of the Match award despite not scoring a run or bowling a ball. He was that good of a fielder.
Jeffrey Stollmeyer - Great batsman, even better administrator.
Brian Lara - Because you have to.
Larry Gomes - Brilliant player, seemed to bat better the more aggressively you bowled to him.
Gerry Gomez - No matter how you define an all-rounder, I think he would fit the criteria.
Deryck Murray (wk) - He was okay as a batsman but I'm picking him for his wicketkeeping.
Ian Bishop - God, I wish the guy never got injured. Amazing bowler. And as he tends to say, he's good enough to have had a couple of FC hundreds.
Mervyn Dillon - The guy led our attack in the post Ambrose and Walsh days. And he wasn't bad either. Guy is physically imposing though, I saw him IRL once and I was legit scared. But really cheerful personality.
Rangy Nanan - Spinners would have had to be either him, Dinanath Ramnarie (maiden over specialist) or Dave Mohammed (celebration specialist). Had to go with Rangy. Sonny "Chucker" Ramadhin was never in contention.
Ravi Rampaul - He came to the fore in one of the U-17 World Cups, I believe. And he was fast, even at that age. Injuries didn't help his speed, but he became a "movement bowler" and, just like Kemar Roach, even more effective when his pace slowed and let the ball do the talking rather than the speed.

Notable misses: Vic Stollmeyer, Shannon Gabriel, Phil Simmons

I think for List A cricket, just pretty much pick our team from this year's List A tournament. For T20s, pick the squad that went to the first-ever Champions' League, but find a way to add Sunil Narine into it.

f you could poach one capped, one uncapped player from other countries for the West Indies XI, who would you take?

I wouldn't. I actually think that despite our continued poor showings, we're playing the guys that need to be played right now. It breaks off another piece of my heart every time I see poor performances, but the team has so much raw talent right now.

But since you're playing Devil's Advocate here, I'd love to see a guy like Trent Boult in our bowling attack. Him and Roach...wow. As for uncapped, hmm...I really don't follow the First Class stuff around the world THAT much, so I'm going to have to go with an IPL player and say Nitish Rana, who I still can't believe has not played internationally for India as yet.

Are there any players who've played for the West Indies who you don't thonk would have made any other Test team?

Where to even begin with this one...short answer is yes. You have to remember that over the years, we've had a lot of political stuff happen. From WICB vs. WIPA, to sponsorship rows, to (back in the day) racial issues. We've also had the ends of many eras, whether it was the awesome foursome, to Walsh and Ambrose, to Lara and Chanderpaul. Players get shoehorned into the team and because of pressure and all that, they never go anywhere. It's probably also a lack of faith in the players too. As you have said recently, John Campbell has, for you, become the sort of player who you just want to stick with for no other reason than you just want the guy to do good. You realise that his last ODI score was 179 and he's not played a single ODI since? Yes, against Ireland, I think...but you'd think that he'd have at least played an ODI since then. So it's just possible that we haven't seen the best of these players at the international level yet. They just haven't gotten the chance to show it.

Who would win in a fight, twelve Blackwood sized Rahkeems or one Rahkeem sized Blackwood?

Blackwood is definitely quick and agile, but most people don't realise that Rahkeem is also agile. He's not in the slips just because he's large, he's quick even regardless of his size. I've seen the guy wicketkeep standing up to the stumps in a match and only let a handful of byes go through. He has hand speed. I'm taking Jimbo in either scenario.

What is your ideal World Cup format?

For all that's said about the 50-over game, it's proven to be pretty exciting from time to time. Now there have been a lot of introductions over the years, from the SuperSubs to changing the PowerPlays to changing the ball after 35 overs, to a new ball at either end, to free hits, to whatever else the ICC decides in the future. There has also been the advent of T20, T10, Hong Kong Sixes, and various other formats. Here's the be-all, end-all...cricket is, by nature, not a quick game. Now the absolute slowest game I can think of right now is golf, and that doesn't have as many rabid fans as cricket has but their fans go nuts seeing a man hit a ball 200 yards. American football has way more rabid fans as cricket does, and yet our T20 games take longer than the average football match. T10 cricket has its advantages in that you can maybe squeeze a game into two hours, but is that actual pure cricket? No, it's not. It doesn't test players. A guy can be out in every over and still the team gets a good score because number eleven can biff the odd one for six. I rather like the 40-over games that the English have been playing for years now for a World Cup. But for something like the Olympics, you'd want a T10. T20 is going to be way too long for the associate-nation viewers to take notice of the sport.

What on earth happened to Adrian Barath?

Don't know. He probably just grew up and didn't see his future in cricket. Remember he was extremely young when he represented the West Indies.

Are you for or against The Hundred format?

It's different, that's for sure. But I've seen a lot of different things tried over the years. I will have to get used to the bowling rules more than anything, but I don't see it as detrimental. All my sims in ICC 2020 have gone horribly wrong though, so maybe I'm missing something. I'm interested in it, I'll reserve judgement until it's statistically significant.

If you could create a new format of cricket, what would you change?

So many things. The boundary law for one. No superman catches over the rope. You're over the rope, I don't care whether you're grounded prior or not, it's a boundary four or six if you touch the ball over the rope. The no-ball law for two. You need to touch down before the line, not touch down after or slide before and then deliver. But I'd also make things more bowler-friendly. Three fielders behind square on the leg side, not counting the wicketkeeper. Balls that pitch both outside leg and off stump are to be considered for LBW, whether you play a shot or not. If Gatting could get bowled to one that pitched outside leg, why can't LBW be the same? Any LBW review that hits the stumps is out. David Shepherd said it best in the early days of DRS: you only need one fraction of the ball to dislodge the stumps so it has to be out. I'm also a proponent of ICC-approved "substances" to alter the ball. This is controversial, but pretty much every team does it in some way or the other, so just make the damn thing legal and be finished with the discussion. BAN ANY BETTING COMPANY FROM SPONSORING A MATCH. I don't care if it's Bet365 or BETway or CricBet or whatever the hell you call your company, you deserve to be shot for officially sponsoring a game.

I should stop before I get myself into trouble, if I haven't already done so.

Do you have an opinion on Darren Stevens?

I didn't know the guy before. I thought this would have been something negative. But it isn't. After a bit of reading, I do have an opinion and I say excellent on him. He's an unsung hero. One of those guys who plies his trade in the County Championship while never being outstanding. He's outstanding enough, and that's more than enough for me to respect the guy. Unless there's something Wikipedia and Google are missing, that is.

And finally, I am sorry for any typos in those questions

No worries, I only counted two. It took me about three hours to answer everything to my satisfaction. Hope the answers are enough to stimulate further discussion. Sorry if I myself typo-ed from a side.

(EDIT: One or two words changed to make more sense.
DOUBLE EDIT: So Stevens had allegations. So what? Found not guilty...then again, OJ Simpson was found not guilty too...whatever, guy is a great cricketer.)
 
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Aislabie

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I grew up with my family watching cricket, and so I knew the basics of the game without actually knowing who any of the players were. I believe the first player I ever really "knew" was Lara, when he first broke the record, because everyone was talking about him. But I wouldn't consider myself as being a cricket fan back then. It was probably a few years later when I began following the game more, and I just loved Curtly Ambrose. So while I liked Lara for having a world record and all, it was really Ambrose who I admired when I began to become a cricket fan. That explains my semi-obsession with the guy.
Ambrose and Lara - that makes complete sense. Two incredibly charismatic players.

Companies arrange their own inter-department or inter-branch tournaments (usually tennis ball). Sometimes you might get a town- or city-wide league (again, usually tennis ball). I think at one time we even had a full country-wide tennis ball league and they broadcast the matches on TV.
This seems so alien as somebody from the UK, where everything is all about league cricket, which is always played on "proper" cricket grounds with a "proper" cricket ball. Something like this would make cricket so much more accessible, and the barrier to entry so much lower.

Are they typical tennis balls, or more crickety-looking ones like this?
1624707267176.png

We're naturally a very friendly people, so once it's not an actual match happening, it's easy to just stand at a fielding position in any game anywhere in the country, and eventually you'll find yourself in the game before long.
Again, most un-British in the best way. Only time I've had anything like this was when I accidentally ended up playing in a club single-wicket tournament

Our individual club level structure just isn't up to the standard of international cricket, and to have to suddenly have a QPCC vs. Victoria or Merry Boys vs. Powergeseems...dead wrong.
Yeah, there'd definitely need to be some sort of an intermediate level between the two if that were to happen. Something like a revived (and renamed) Beaumont/Texaco Cup - presumably as the Gerry Gomez Memorial Trophy.

In T20 cricket though, I can see that being something viable, but we're going to have to make it so that each nation has to actually qualify for the T20 WC and not just automatically end up in the tournament.
Yeah, I thought that - but it's very much an all-of-cricket problem how there are never proper qualifying pathways for things. A twenty-team WT20, featuring at least four Caribbean nations, would be an absolute banger.

:tat: :bat: Daren Ganga :c:
:tat: :bat: Gus Logie
:tat: :ar: Jeffrey Stollmeyer
:tat: :bat: Brian Lara
:tat: :bat: Larry Gomes
:tat: :ar: Gerry Gomez
:tat: :wk: Deryck Murray
:tat: :bwl: Ian Bishop
:tat: :bwl: Mervyn Dillon
:tat: :bwl: Rangy Nanan
:tat: :bwl: Ravi Rampaul
That certainly is a good side, and your reasons are all very sound. The only real misses that I see in your side are in the bowling department - I would probably have picked Learie Constantine and Bernard Julien in there. Fully get your reasons for not including Ramadhin; his story is very reminiscent of Saeed Ajmal imo

You realise that his last ODI score was 179 and he's not played a single ODI since? Yes, against Ireland, I think...but you'd think that he'd have at least played an ODI since then.
That is some weird selection policy; idk how bad the Irish bowling was, those 179 runs didn't score themselves.

There has also been the advent of T20, T10, Hong Kong Sixes, and various other formats.
Ohhh - I meant like tournament formats not cricket formats. I should have explained myself more clearly. But I do find your perspective on the various cricket formats interesting; I do think that Twenty20 is the future, but not in the way it's run at the moment. It's just at that sweet spot between being a good length to be a fun evening out/in front of the TV, but also long enough to properly accommodate a variety of cricketing skills.

The cricket board that will come out ahead in the next era of cricket will be the one that builds its domestic season around a proper Twenty20 league, the same as you'd see with football leagues. First-class cricket is important too, but Friday nights and weekends - when people are most likely to have the free time to watch - should be full of T20 during the season.

It's different, that's for sure. But I've seen a lot of different things tried over the years. I will have to get used to the bowling rules more than anything, but I don't see it as detrimental. All my sims in ICC 2020 have gone horribly wrong though, so maybe I'm missing something. I'm interested in it, I'll reserve judgement until it's statistically significant.
A very fair viewpoint. I think it's interesting, but also a really stupid set of ECB decisions. They already have a much-loved T20 competition in the Blast, just expand that a bit if they want to make cricket more accessible.

The boundary law for one. No superman catches over the rope. You're over the rope, I don't care whether you're grounded prior or not, it's a boundary four or six if you touch the ball over the rope.
Interesting - this is certainly the logical answer although the spectacle of "superman" fielding is always amazing to see.

The no-ball law for two. You need to touch down before the line, not touch down after or slide before and then deliver. But I'd also make things more bowler-friendly. Three fielders behind square on the leg side, not counting the wicketkeeper. Balls that pitch both outside leg and off stump are to be considered for LBW, whether you play a shot or not. If Gatting could get bowled to one that pitched outside leg, why can't LBW be the same? Any LBW review that hits the stumps is out.
So what you're saying is "USE YOUR BAT"?

I didn't know the guy before. I thought this would have been something negative. But it isn't. After a bit of reading, I do have an opinion and I say excellent on him. He's an unsung hero. One of those guys who plies his trade in the County Championship while never being outstanding. He's outstanding enough, and that's more than enough for me to respect the guy. Unless there's something Wikipedia and Google are missing, that is.

So Stevens had allegations. So what? Found not guilty...then again, OJ Simpson was found not guilty too...whatever, guy is a great cricketer.
Yeah, as far as I can tell there was never any real suspicion that Stevens fixed - merely that he might have known something and not said. And given the absolute state of T20 cricket leagues - especially but not only the Bangladesh Premier League - the bookies were probably the only people who actually paid players at that event.
 

qpeedore

SOTM Winner - July 2014
Joined
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Location
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Are they typical tennis balls, or more crickety-looking ones like this?
1624707267176.png

Mostly actual tennis balls. I've only ever played against that crickety ball once and I was semi-impressed at it. I've not seen it used normally in play often either. Generally if we want a ball to behave like a cricket ball, those of us in the know will go to the hardware and buy electrical tape for it.

I would probably have picked Learie Constantine and Bernard Julien in there.

Two players who were definitely in my initial thoughts. Excellent players, just can't quite fit into the all-time XI in my opinion.

So what you're saying is "USE YOUR BAT"?

That's what they give you one for.
 
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qpeedore

SOTM Winner - July 2014
Joined
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Yes, yes, I know...I admire the guy so damn much. But when someone you look up to is also that amazing, well...yeah.


(EDIT: It's also why I look up to Jahanara Alam, the Bangladeshi player...her dad didn't quite push her, but she wanted to make him happy. Curtly wanted to make his mother happy. Imagine if things went differently.)
 
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CerealKiller

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As I'm currently in a new phase of life, what with being married and all...I welcome any and all new questions for me. Ask away, guys.
Best and worst thing about being married?
 

qpeedore

SOTM Winner - July 2014
Joined
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The best thing about being married is having a person there with you for life. She supports me in everything that I do and that's so important to me. Just by being there to back me, she's awesome.

There isn't really a worst part as it were, but she does take up like three quarters of the bed every night! I have to find myself being very small and hiding in my little piece of bed lol. But she's so amazingly beautiful and wonderful that it's forgiven instantly.
 

Verified Enigma

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Any new learnings in this new path of life?
 

qpeedore

SOTM Winner - July 2014
Joined
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Location
Trinidad and Tobago
I think that you have to learn to be with another person in your life. You might have had a regular girlfriend, or living together, or even a domestic technical husband/wife situation. When you actually get married it's different. And that's okay. Everyday I learn something new about her, and that can help.

There are little disputes, of course. But at the end of the day, it's all about cherishing each other. And we do a lot of that. She's a gem in all of the sands of time, and I won't see myself any other way. It's all about the balance. We're both medical doctors so our schedule is rough. Sometimes she's working, I'm off, sometimes I'm working, she's off. But whenever we actually have the time together we try to make those moments work. And it has been working. It's a big learning process with me, having to live with a significant other who's all up in my business, but she deserves to know things. We both have our privacy but at the same time we share a lot. So it's all about the balance.
 

qpeedore

SOTM Winner - July 2014
Joined
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Location
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Questions are open for Round 3 of this discussion. And I'll actually open the questions myself.

Qpee, where were you for most of 2022?

Working. Covid is still around and although I'm not directly dealing with confirmed covid cases anymore, the variants are such that one might have had covid and not even know it. My boss says that everyone is going to get it at some point but unless you're a pretty ill person beforehand, you won't get it that badly.

Are you planning on updating your umpire thread?

Of course. But there are a bunch of new rules for me to read.

Are you back for the long term?

Never was really gone, was I?

Hoping you join the PlanetCricket League next time around!

We shall see.
 

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