TAUNTON, England, CMC – Head coach Vasbert Drakes is optimistic West Indies Women can turn around their slump but believes the senior players must play a key role in the resurgence. The Caribbean side lost their opening game of the ongoing Women’s Cricket World Cup here Monday when they went down to reigning World champions Australia by eight wickets. That loss came on the heels of defeats in the two official warm-up matches last week and in three unofficial practice games prior, leaving them win-less on tour. Drakes said West Indies possessed the ability and the character to turn around their form as they had done several times already in the past. “Anyone who plays cricket will tell you that you get better the more you play and the constraints that we have is that we didn’t play competitive cricket but at this present moment I’m not going to use that as an excuse,” Drakes said here yestersday. “We’re going to draw on our natural resources and that is the ability to make smart decisions under pressure situations. We’ve done it before, it can be done again.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – The Selection Panel of Cricket West Indies today named the Windies 13-man squad for third, fourth and fifth matches of the ODI Series against India.
The selection panel named two newcomers. They are Kyle Hope, a 28–year-old top-order batsman and brother of Shai Hope; and Sunil Ambris, a 24-year-old wicket-keeper/batsman.
The third and fourth matches will be played at Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground on Friday, June 30 and Sunday, June 2. First ball is 9 am (8 am Jamaica Time).
The fifth match will be played at Sabina Park on Thursday, July 6. First ball is 9am (10am Eastern Caribbean Time).
FULL SQUAD (with shirt numbers) 98. Jason Holder (captain) 99. Sunil Ambris 70. Devendra Bishoo 10. Roston Chase 41. Miguel Cummins 1. Kyle Hope 4. Shai Hope 18. Alzarri Joseph 17. Evin Lewis 93. Jason Mohammed 5. Ashley Nurse 23. Kieran Powell 52. Rovman Powell
Quotes from Courtney Browne, CWI Chairman Of Selectors, on the two new players: Sunil Ambris and Kyle Hope are two very promising young batsmen who have been selected on the basis of strong performances in our competitions.
Kyle opened on our last “A” Team One-Day tour to Sri Lanka and had some very good performances. In addition, he also had a good showing opening the batting for the Trinidad & Tobago Red Force franchise in this year’s PCL competition.
Sunil did well in our Regional Super50 One-Day tournament and also had a good showing in this year’s PCL first-class tournament for Windward Islands Volcanoes and therefore will fit within our middle order. They will be up against a good Indian team and they have an opportunity to show their skills and contribute to a stronger team performance.
An opening partnership of 171 between Nicole Bolton and Beth Mooney paved the way for Australia women to begin their title defence with an eight-wicket win against West Indies, the team they beat in the 2013 final. Mooney made 70, while Bolton remained unbeaten on 107 as Australia completed their chase of 205 in 38.1 overs.
At no point were West Indies on top after they chose, after all manner of toss-related confusion, to bat first. Four of their top five got starts, but none of them got past fifty, as Australia's bowlers, led by Ellyse Perry, kept striking regular blows to ensure that an innings struggling to get out of second gear never built significant momentum.
Wickets through the middle overs cut short any partnership that threatened to blossom. Jess Jonassen, who dropped the opener Hayley Matthews on 27, made amends by bowling her with an arm ball just when she was looking dangerous, having added 19 off her last 18 balls. That ended a second-wicket stand of 52 between Matthews and Chedean Nation.
Then came a cameo from Deandra Dottin, who put on 34 in 29 balls with her captain Stafanie Taylor for the fourth wicket. Dottin may have just begun to worry Australia's think tank when Perry brought a swift end to her innings. Having just conceded two successive fours - a pull and a flick, both placed wide of midwicket - she came up with the perfect riposte, an inducker that bowled Dottin through the gate.
Never doubt the ability of legal manoeuvring to make apparently sane, rational individuals look like big idiots. Almost eight months after the alleged (you never know, it might not have ever happened) Twitter message that has resulted in Darren Bravo essentially being kicked out of West Indies cricket, we have now been made aware of the following: 1. Nobody can prove that the message from Bravo’s Twitter account referring to Cricket West Indies president Dave Cameron as a “Big Idiot” was actually sent by him. 2. Bravo cannot say whether or not he sent it. 3. His lawyers—Donna Symmonds and Leslie Haynes—are not prepared, at this time, so say whether he sent it because, according to them, due process has not been followed in the matter by Cricket West Indies (CWI). I wonder what is the reaction now of all those who have been rallying round the left-hander to the extent of not merely reinforcing the alleged “Big Idiot” accusation, but going even further to refer to the primary focus of their anger and vitriol in far less complimentary terms? Credit to Barbadian broadcaster and media personality Barry Wilkinson for finally getting Bravo to respond to questions on the issue on his “Line and Length” show over the weekend as aired on Sportsmax. But, as was to be expected when you saw the eminent legal luminaries involved in the interview, the exercise transpired to be nothing more than elaborate and tedious obfuscation.
Fifty overs. Forty-three overs. It doesn't quite matter. India are a bot designed to score 300 and not too many more when batting first, which proved to be more than enough against the inexperienced West Indies batting. No team has scored as many 300s as India - 96 - and it was fitting that they took the lead by seamlessly recalibrating their approach in a rain-curtailed ODI.
Ajinkya Rahane got to his third ODI century - the period approaching his hundred was the only slow spell in India's innings, Shikhar Dhawan's run continued with yet another half-century, and Virat Kohli knocked off an effortless 87 off 66. Shai Hope delayed the inevitable West Indies defeat with a fine 81, but once they had lost two wickets before the first run had been scored off a bat, further rain was their only ally. It was not to be.
Early morning rain had left the pitch damp and the atmosphere heavy, ideal bowling conditions that prompted the hosts to invite India to bat. The conditions eventually didn't turn out to be as treacherous as expected, but it didn't help that West Indies' new-ball bowlers never got their length right. They were either too short or too full, getting cut and pulled or driven with ease. There was also more intent from the India openers, who as a partnership have the best average among all pairs who have added at least 1500 runs together. Rahane got going with an upper-cut for a six, and Dhawan loved the driving practice given to him, off-driving Jason Holder for successive boundaries before pulling him for one more in the eighth over. India's 63 in the first 10 overs was about 14 more than what has been their average since the 2015 World Cup.
