The emergence of potential fast bowlers When West Indies dominated world cricket, their battery of top-notch fast bowlers was arguably the most important facet in their armoury, and the decline in quality fast-bowling options since 2000 was a key factor in the teams fall. Caribbean pitches now do not usually encourage the development of fast bowlers, as spinners take a lions share of the wickets.However, Ian Bishop noted on Twitter during the CPL how Michael Hilton, the head groundsman at Sabina Park had done an excellent job with the pitch. It was a point also reinforced by Barbados Tridents coach Robin Singh, who said, While the competition this year was certainly better than previously, I was particularly impressed and happy about the standard of pitches.The end result was that some upcoming West Indies fast bowlers had an encouraging tournament, on surfaces that kept them interested. They included Alzarri Joseph (who notably hit AB de Villiers on the head during the series, and went on to have an impressive debut Test versus India), Kesrick Williams, Sheldon Cottrell and Delorn Johnson. Add to this Miguel Cummins claiming a six-wicket haul in the St Lucia Test against India, and Shannon Gabriels improvement since the tri-series, and potentially the team has some solid fast-bowling options to work with.West Indies fast bowling legend Andy Roberts, who was part of the St Lucia Zouks coaching staff, wants to see the WICB take steps to harness the talent. These young fast bowlers were encouraging, but its difficult to judge from just four overs whether they are suited for Test cricket, even though they got better pitches to bowl on in the CPL than they do in the domestic season, he said. I find it funny that the WICB thinks its new Professional Cricket League is the end of all of it, when clearly the production line of international-ready talent is not there.[The bowlers] should be immediately put into a camp where they can pick the brains of those like us, if the board wishes to engage us, who have been there and done it, as well as working on their fast bowling, strength and endurance.Warriors and Patriots: one up, one down After a football season in which underdogs such as Leicester City and Portugal produced stellar team work to win the English Premier League and European Championship respectively, Guyana Amazon Warriors threatened to do the same for a while in the CPL.We kept hearing that the Warriors was not the best team, didnt have any big stars, so really no one was expecting anything from us, said Amazon Warriors captain Rayad Emrit, who previously played with Barbados Tridents. So our mantra was to use that as motivation, plus we had an owner who gave us everything we needed. It is disappointing for the franchise that after getting to another final, we couldnt bring the title to our great fans in Guyana.Similar to last season, when Tabraiz Shamsis CPL efforts led to his being called up for international service for South Africa, Australian Chris Lynn, who led the Warriors batting impressively will surely be representing Australia more in the future.At the other end were St Kitts and Nevis Patriots. I was very surprised and disappointed at the Patriots because overall we felt there were six very evenly matched teams on show, said CPL CEO Damien ODonohoe. A betting man would have certainly thought Patriots could have gone far in this competition. He went on to point out that the team management had had a stern review and said fans could be in for a surprise regarding what type of team Patriots have for the 2017 season.Two youngsters to watchAs noted before the competition, arguably the biggest young player to watch out for was wicketkeeper-batsman Nicholas Pooran. His two excellent half-centuries made everyone take notice. The first time I saw him bat, I told Kieron Pollard theyve got to find a way of including him in the national side, said de Villiers at a post-game interview. Hes a special talent.He has dominated at all youth levels and I can only expect him to build on his CPL performances, commentator Daren Ganga said.Obviously he is still young and can further develop his game, especially his keeping, Tridents coach Singh said. But he is a superb talent who fits the modern trend of what most teams hope get out of keeper-batsmen.Although he didnt produce any major performances with bat or ball, Jamaican Rovman Powell displayed enough promise with a few cameo knocks that had some suggesting he could be the next Andre Russell.Powells background - he never had a father in his life, with his mom has being his main parental figure, and his overall drive to pay her back is what is pushing him as a cricketer, said Jamaica Tallawahs coach Paul Nixon.Young Powell is blessed with talent, like all upcoming West Indies players, said Ganga, though I would like to see him exposed to first-class cricket so that his talents can be seen in all formats. Club v country West Indies have struggled in the Tests against India, and former India captain Sourav Ganguly criticised the WICB for prioritising the CPL over the Test series.A combination of retirements, injuries, and Kolpak status, meant the likes of Chris Gayle, Russell, Dwayne Bravo, Lendl Simmons, Ravi Rampaul and Jerome Taylor played the CPL instead of the Tests. However, even discounting these senior players, the team was unable to pick some of impressive upcoming players even, because they were not contracted by the WICB.A CPL deal is worth more than playing Test cricket for West Indies. Young Joseph was not picked until Patriots were eliminated. Sunil Narine could not be picked, nor was talented young opener Evin Lewis. Instead, the failed experiment of using Rajendra Chandrika continued.This was a notable difference to how things operate in the Big Bash and NatWest T20, where Cricket Australia and the ECB, because they own those competitions, pay their players well and get first preference on picking players when matches in those leagues clash with home Test seasons. This issue is set to return to the fore next year, when India come back to the Caribbean for five one-day internationals.We are operating in a cricket landscape where there is no black and white solution to deal with the rise and importance of T20 leagues, said Ganga. Yes there were many pros and cons to playing CPL alongside the India Tests, but for me I didnt see any real issue doing so.It was always going to be a challenge playing the two competitions together and we are going to work with WICB and will be sitting down to look at this with the board in September, said ODonohoe. Seattle Mariners Gear . Irving scored 23 points, Tristan Thompson had 20 points and 10 rebounds and the Cavaliers beat the Denver Nuggets 117-109 on Friday night. Seattle Mariners Shirts . Despite dominating possession, Schalke needed an own goal from Nicolas Hoefler for the breakthrough a minute before the interval. The Freiburg midfielder misjudged Jefferson Farfans corner and bundled the ball into his own net. https://www.cheapmariners.com/ .com) - The women will also have a new champion at the Australian Open. Seattle Mariners Store . PAUL, Minn. Wholesale Mariners Jerseys . The team said Saturday that Lopez was hurt during its 121-120 overtime loss at Philadelphia on Friday. The Nets said they would issue another update next week after consultation with their doctors. TORONTO -- Canada and Russia will meet in the semifinals of the World Cup of Hockey on Saturday. The hopes of many fans in these parts were dashed Thursday when the Russians calmly disposed of Finland 3-0 in their round-robin finale.The victory lifted Russia to the same 2-1-0 record as North America, but the 23-and-under kids did not advance thanks to the Russians victory over?Connor McDavids crew in round-robin play.A Finland victory Thursday would have sent North America into a semifinal against Team Canada, a matchup that had many people salivating given its unique nature. The 23-and-under North America team was half-composed of Canadians, and the idea of seeing McDavid versus Sidney Crosby just too much fun.Instead, well have to settle for another round of Crosby versus Alex Ovechkin, which is always intriguing although very much one-sided in the Canadian superstars favor.Crosbys Pittsburgh Penguins have twice eliminated Ovechkins Washington Capitals in the Stanley Cup playoffs, including last spring, and a Crosby-led Team Canada crushed Ovechkin and Russia in the 2010 Olympic quarterfinals at Vancouver, the last time both countries met in best-on-best hockey. And Crosbys Canadian squad even beat Ovechkins Russian side at the 2005 world junior championships for gold.So perhaps this is Ovechkins chance, finally, to get his pound of flesh -- and on Canadian ice, no less. This is Russias first trip to the semifinals of a best-on-best event since the 2006 Toriino Olympics, where Ovechkin and the Russians lost in the semifinals to Finland.ddddddddddddFull credit is due to Russia for advancing to the semifinals here after a disappointing quarterfinal exit in its own Olympics in Sochi in 2014. In that game, the Finns beat Russia 3-1, so this was sweet revenge.Ovechkin made a brilliant play Thursday to set up Vladimir Tarasenko 3:42 into the middle period to open the scoring, and it was all the offense the Russians would need. Russia played a strong defensive game and very much limited Finlands opportunities. Finland, back-to-back Olympic bronze medalists, bows out with a 0-3-0 record, disappointing for sure by its own high standards. A lack of offense in this tourney -- ?the Finns scored only once in three games -- would be the teams downfall.Three Stars1. Vladimir Tarasenko, RW, Russia: The St. Louis Blues star was flying in this game, nearly scoring from the high slot in the opening period and then finishing off Ovechkins pretty feed in the second period.2. Alex Ovechkin, LW, Russia: The captain wasnt going to let his team bow out early again in a best-on-best tournament. His creativity on the opening goal was vintage Ovechkin.3.?Sergei Bobrovsky, G, Russia: The Columbus Blue Jackets netminder wasnt overly tested but looked poised. The former Vezina Trophy winner looks to be in fine form. ' ' '