ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – The Selection Panel of the West Indies Cricket Board have announced an 18-member West Indies Women’s squad for a training camp from September 16 to 30 in Jamaica, ahead of their One-day International Home Series against England Women.
Walsh, who is set to arrive in the country in the coming week, replaces Heath Streak, who served as bowling coach for two years until May.
This will be Walsh's first major coaching role in international cricket since retiring in 2001 as the then leading wicket-taker in Tests. He has since worked as a cricket administrator in various roles including West Indies selector, mentor with Jamaica Tallawahs in the CPL, and as manager of the West Indies Under-19 team. Most recently, Walsh served as part of the West Indies selection panel.
Walsh will be the second high-profile West Indian in a coaching role with Bangladesh. Gordon Greenidge, the former West Indies opener, was the coach who steered Bangladesh to the 1999 World Cup via victory at the 1997 ICC Trophy.
Rival openers Evin Lewis of the West Indies and India’s Lokesh Rahul have made huge gains in the latest MRF Tyres ICC Players Rankings for T20I Batsmen after slamming fine centuries in the recent two-match series in Lauderhill, USA, played on 27 and 28 August.
The first match, in which a T20I record aggregate of 489 runs were scored, saw Lewis slam a 49-ball 100 in the West Indies’ total of 245 for six that has helped him move up 288 slots to reach 51st rank. Rahul’s unbeaten 110 in India’s reply of 244 for four has given a lift of 67 places which has put him in 31st place.
The West Indies, which won the series 1-0 with the thrilling one-run win in the first match, not only saw some of its batsmen improve their rankings significantly but the team has also narrowed the gap with India in the MRF Tyres ICC T20I Team Rankings.
Two-time ICC World Twenty20 champion West Indies, which was six points behind second-placed India’s 128 points before the series, is now just one point adrift at 125 with India on 126. New Zealand leads the table with 132 points.
India’s Rohit Sharma has moved up five places to reach 17th place following knocks of 62 and 10 not out, while Johnson Charles of the West Indies has vaulted 26 places to a career-best 23rd following innings of 79 and 43.
The result gave West Indies the two-match series by a margin of 1-0, having prevailed by one run in the first T20I at the same venue on Saturday.
When India took the field Amit Mishra, playing his first T20I after more than two years, made the biggest impact. He returned career-best figures of 3 for 24 as West Indies could not bat out its complete quota of overs.
Mohammed Shami provided the first breakthrough when he had Evin Lewis, the centurion from the previous game, caught at short fine-leg by Mishra. Johnson Charles continued his hitting spree to race off to 43 in 25 balls and take West Indies to 50 before Mishra struck with his first ball of the game.
A hurriedly arranged exercise to take a glimpse into the future of cricket economy provided a giddying look into the future of Twenty20 cricket on the field. This was a future of fearless, relentless, calculated, almost unhurried hitting taken to the next level as West Indies first amassed their personal best of 245 only for India to come within two runs of mounting the highest successful T20I chase almost without breaking a sweat.
Evin Lewis and KL Rahul, replacing regular openers Chris Gayle and Shikhar Dhawan, smashed hundreds, but in this future bowlers did deal the consequential blows. India bowled superb wide yorkers to concede just 40 in the last four and 64 in the last seven, but the wily Dwayne Bravo outfoxed MS Dhoni and the centurion Rahul by defending seven runs in the last over. India needed two off the last ball, but Bravo made Dhoni wait and wait before bowling a slower ball that was caught by Marlon Samuels at short third man.
On a day that some batting records were broken and all sorts of others, and low-flying aircrafts, were under threat - Richard Levi's fastest hundred off 45 balls thrice, most runs in an over, most runs in boundaries in a team innings, highest T20I score, highest successful T20I chase - the bowling was the story of the day. In particular the last over of the day.
