ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CMC) — The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) confirmed yesterday they had invited West Indies to play two Twenty20 Internationals here next March, as authorities here attempt to end the country’s exile from international cricket.
PCB executive committee chairman, Najam Sethi, told media here the invitation was in response to one from the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), requesting Pakistan play two T20Is in Florida in late March this year.
West Indies host England in three One-Day Internationals from February 25 to March 9, and Sethi said they had requested the two-match series to be played following that engagement.
“We gave a proposal to WICB that after West Indies’ [series against] England, which will end on March 9, they can come to Pakistan between March 11 to 15,” he said.
However, CMC Sports understands the WICB is expected to reject the PCB’s offer, as the Caribbean body remains mindful of the volatile security situation in Pakistan.
DIRECTOR of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and Chairman of the Barbados Pride cricket franchise Conde Riley admitted that the WICB was aware that amateurs don’t beat professionals, adding that the decline in performance of the senior teams in One Day International and Test cricket has been slow and painful.
Riley made the announcement during his feature address at the Guyana Cricket Board’s (GCB) 2016 ““The board was aware that amateurs don’t beat professionals and whilst the richer members of the ICC had moved to professionalize their game decades before us, we were stuck by a combination of factors. “Over the last 10 years, following the domination of the Clive Lloyd and Vivian Richards’ led teams, the decline in performance of our senior teams in ODIs and Test cricket has been slow and painful,” Riley pointed out.
A NUMBER of experienced players are expected to boost the quality of the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force team, ahead of the 2017 Regional Super50 tournament, which will be staged jointly in Antigua and Barbados from January 24 to February 18.
The Red Force, winners at home in 2015 and 2016, will be involved in Group A, alongside the Leeward Islands Hurricanes, Windward Islands Volcanoes, West Indies Under-19s and England county team Kent Spitfires.
Group B will feature the Guyana Jaguars, Barbados Pride, Jamaica Scorpions, CCC (Combined Campuses and Colleges) Marooners and ICC Americas.
Melbourne Renegades have been dealt a massive blow with allrounder Dwayne Bravo ruled out of the remainder of the KFC Big Bash League season with a hamstring injury. Bravo underwent scans this morning after injuring his hamstring during the Renegades’ loss to the Scorchers at Etihad Stadium on Thursday night, with the tests revealing a serious injury that will require surgery and a prolonged stint on the sidelines. The West Indian allrounder was stationed on the boundary during the Scorchers’ innings when he made a desperate dive to cut off a shot from Michael Klinger. The 33-year-old immediately reached for his hamstring after the incident before being treated and escorted from the ground on a Medicab. “Unfortunately my Big Bash season is over which is very disappointing,” Bravo said on Friday.
Young Barbadian Hayley Matthews has broken into the top tiers of the player rankings for WBBL|02, while there have been a mixed bowl of performances by the rest of her West Indian compatriots.
The rankings, devised by esteemed Bond University Professor Steven Stern – the man who also lends his name to the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method used for recalculating rain-affected run chase targets – with Cricket Australia, separates batters, bowlers and allrounders.
The system uses performances from both current and past Big Bash matches, weighted on a sliding scale. This season’s games will carry a full weighting in order to provide the most accurate, up-to-date measure of player performance.
Jamaican Stafanie Taylor was the only West Indian female to start this season’s ranking in the top tiers with a batting ranking of eight on 14.4 points. She has since slipped out of the top lists.
