ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – WINDIES WOMEN had a convincing 5-wicket win over England in an exhibition T20 as part of the Antigua and Barbuda’s 37th anniversary celebration of Independence last evening at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
After winning the toss and electing to bat, England struggled to 106 all out in one ball short of the allotted 20 overs; while WINDIES scored 119 for 5 in 19.1 overs. All-rounder Deandra Dottin was not out on 43; while Brittney Cooper 22, Hayley Matthews 19 and Kycia Knight 16* were the other scorers in double figures.
Spinners Anisa Mohammed and Afy Fletcher were the pick of the bowlers, with figures of 3.5-0-25-3 and 4-0-15-3 respectively. Opening fast bowlers Shamilia Connell (3 Overs) and Shakera Selman (2 Overs), along with skipper, Stefanie Taylor (2 Overs) picked up a wicket apiece. Vice-Captain, Hayley Matthews (4 Overs) and Deandra Dottin (1 Over) were the other two bowlers.
Danielle Hazell scored a resilient 32 (21 balls), after being dropped when her team was on 81, to help take the England Women’s total to a respectable 116-a/o (19.5 Overs). Natalie Sciver and Heather Knight had earlier scored 20 (23 Balls) and 23 (23 Balls) respectively.
Bowling for England, Kirstie Gordon picked up 2-27 in her allotted 4 Overs, while Farrant, Hazell and Jenny Gunn picked a wicket each, bowling 3, 4 and 3 overs respectively. Linsey Smith and Natalie Sciver were also utilized in England Women’s bowling attack.
In the first exhibition match, India squeezed past South Africa by three runs.
The WINDIES Women now look forward to their first official ICC Women’s World T20 Warmup match, which takes place at the Coolidge Cricket Ground (CCG) in Antigua on Sunday, November 4. They play India at 4PM.
ICC Press Pelease:Shai Hope and Shimron Hetmyer are the biggest gainers in the latest MRF Tyres ICC Men’s Player Rankings for ODI Batters, which were released on Friday morning following the conclusion of the series between India and the Windies.
Hope scored 250 runs in the series at 62.50 and has been rewarded with a jump of 22 places that has not only put him in 25th position but has also confirmed his status as the highest-ranked Windies batsman. Hetmyer, who captained the Windies to the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup title in Bangladesh in 2016, was his side’s leading run-getter with 259 runs at 51.80. This performance reflects in the latest batting table as the left-hander has vaulted 31 places to claim 26th position.
'Realistically, I can see the West Indies Test team go up to No. 4 in the next two years'
The West Indies captain talks about managing a young team, dealing with the media, and the philosophy behind his favourite Instagram phrase. Jason Holder was a left-field captaincy choice before the 2015 World Cup. Four years later, he is leading them into another one. The criticism hasn't stopped, but Holder has emerged as a thoughtful leader while also turning into one of the world's best Test allrounders.
What was it like when you first took over the captaincy?
I first got the captaincy in South Africa at the end of 2014. Basically, at that stage it was a situation where we were just transitioning before the World Cup - the next assignment would have been the World Cup. For me it was about setting my ground, laying my foundation to go as a captain and getting to know the players. No doubt it was a tough task. We lost 4-1 to South Africa and then we moved onto the World Cup, where we felt we did a reasonable job to get to the quarter-finals. We would have obviously liked to go on a little further and deeper into the tournament, but personally, I still got some really good performances, and I felt my best way to lead is by example.
Did you have any leadership experience before that?
Yeah. I captained at youth level - Barbados U-17, Barbados U-19, senior team. I captained West Indies U-19 as well, for parts of the tournament [World Cup]. And you know, I've captained West Indies A as well. I've had plenty of experience as a young captain. I've always been interested in the leadership role, throughout my career. So it wasn't anything new to me. I was just trying to get to know how to lead people at this level.
Leading West Indies must have been the first time you felt the pressure of being a leader, considering there was some noise in the Caribbean about your appointment.
I get criticised every day. In terms of pressure, there was no added pressure. Personally, I feel I get the best out of myself in a leadership position. Regardless of whatever you do, people have something to say. I tend not to let that get to me. More often than not, you sit and do press conferences, media appearances, people take bits and pieces of what they want to make a story. You're often misquoted by the press and people just look for things to say or create an image of you that you're not. So for me it was about understanding that and accepting it for what it is, and just being true to myself. Whenever I speak, I try to speak as honestly as I possibly can. I try not to, for lack of a better word, fool people about what to expect or what we've been doing.
FORMER West Indies manager Omar Khan believes the West Indies tough tour in India will continue, but is hopeful they will be more competitive when the three-match T20 series bowls off on Sunday.
Following a 2-0 loss to India in the two-match Test series, West Indies fell 3-1 in the five-match One Day International (ODI) series. India won the opening match by eight wickets, before the second match ended in a tie.
West Indies squared the series 1-1 with a 43-run victory in the third ODI. West Indies did not carry that momentum into the rest of the series, losing by 224 runs in the fourth ODI and by nine wickets in the fifth ODI, yesterday.
The Windies had a couple decent performances with the bat, as Shimron Hetmyer and Shai Hope both scored at least 250 runs. Left-handed Hetmyer scored 259 runs in five matches at an average of 51.80. He scored one century and one half century with a highest score of 106.
Hope ended the series with 250 runs in five matches which included a top knock of 123 not out.
The right-hander cracked one century and one half century at an average of 62.50. Windies captain Jason Holder was the next best batsman at an average of 40.25.
ICC Media Release:Sir Vivian Richards – one of the greatest cricketers of all time – has joined the Cricket West Indies Ambassadors programme ahead of the ICC Women’s World T20 2018.
The 66-year-old is a former West Indies captain and two-time ICC Cricket World Cup winner. He is a National Hero of Antigua & Barbuda and is a member of the ICC Hall of Fame. He will make appearances to promote the tournament, which will be played in Antigua, Guyana and St Lucia from 9 to 24 November.
He becomes the fourth CWI Ambassador, the others are: Sir Andy Roberts, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Daren Sammy.
Sir Vivian Richards: “I am truly honoured to be an Ambassador and play my part in supporting the women’s game. This is a huge event to have come to our shores. I am doing this on behalf of Antigua & Barbuda and Cricket West Indies and all the stakeholders involved in women’s cricket. I am humbled to have the semis and final played at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground as well — a symbol that we can host and deliver a major international event on the world stage.
“I am really looking forward to this tournament. From the moment I heard it was coming to the region I wanted to be part of it. I really like the way our West Indies team is looking. We have the power of Deandra Dottin, the class of Hayley Matthews and the great batting and captaincy of Stafanie Taylor, along with some other excellent players. I believe they can win it again for us. They are a really good, professional group of players and they look fit and focused. Our girls are on top of their game and doing great things.
