Prior to the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup, the West Indies were—quite seriously—being touted as dark horses for the 50-over tournament. However, there were—admittedly, in hindsight—too many uncertainties, within the team itself, for the Jason Holder-led team to go all the way. Even more so, considering the difficulty with which other teams, which operate at a higher level of competitiveness, such as New Zealand and England, encountered before securing their semi-final spots.
On paper, the West Indies possessed world-class players and talents; on the day, however, whenever the conditions and situations these players and talents were required to negate, were anything less than ideal, they were unable to negotiate successfully. Therefore, the West Indies' only win, for the first eight games of their campaign, came on a bouncy wicket, where their go-to--short pitch bowling--was rewarded; which resulted in a short-lived and pressure-free run chase.
COUVA, Trinidad- There were two close finishes in the second round of the West Indies Rising Stars U17 Championship being played in Trinidad and Tobago, which saw Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago take victory over the Windward Islands and the Leeward Islands respectively.
On a blisteringly hot and dry day, the young men were looking to settle into competition with the Round two matches. Matthew Nandu had a respectable total for Guyana, top scoring with 71 runs, while Carlon Bowen-Tuckett was the only Leewards batsman to reach double figures.
Nicholas Lewin anchored the Jamaican innings, opening the batting and staying until the end to see his team to victory over the Windwards.
COUVA, Trinidad- Age group tournaments in the West Indies will be the source of widening the talent pool of players to be selected for the 2022 ICC
Under-19 World Cup to be hosted here in the Caribbean.
According to the manager of Cricket West Indies’ (CWI) High Performance Programme, Graeme West, these age group tournaments allow CWI to identify talent and track progress of the players as they move from one level to the next.
COUVA, Trinidad-Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and the Leeward Islands all registered wins in Round one of the West Indies Rising Stars Under-17 Championship being played in Trinidad.
Despite a late start in the Jamaica vs Leeward Islands match being played at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy due to rain, Jaden Carmichael was magnificent for the Leewards with the ball, finishing with figures of 10-3-17-6, followed by Akadianto Willet who took 3/28.
Mavindra Dindyal was the lone Guyanese batsman to reach double figures as he scored 46 of the 91 runs that Guyana posted against a well-oiled Trinidad and Tobago. Darren Samlal returned figures of 3/10 from 7 overs while, Sion Hacket took 3/20, as TT win convincingly by 9 wickets.
In the third match over at Gilbert Park, Barbados were winners over the Windward Islands. Fielding first, Barbados restricted the Windwards to 173/8 from their 50 overs and chased the target down with 3 wickets and 8.2 overs to spare.
The West Indies is set to play host to India for a full tour which will bowl off on August 3rd in Florida. The One-Day International series was set to mark a new era in West Indies 50-over cricket, with the expectation that the young core of this team would be given an extended run of games. With the T20I series seeing the return of the T20 stars, while the Test series would have been marketed as WINDIES being the first team to feature in the inauguration of the ICC World Test Championship, the 2019-2021 edition. However, with Chris Gayle taking a controversial U-turn on his retirement decision, the ODI series will now be anticipated as a signing-off for Gayle and there is now the small matter of a farewell game for the Jamaican, in the Test series. The bigger issue, though, lies within the idea of a farewell Test for a player who has been absent from the Test scene for 5 years, this coming September.
A case could be made for a man who has two triple centuries, three double hundreds and fifteen centuries in Test cricket deserving a send-off. Yet, a case could also be made against the left-hander on the premise that he bade his goodbye to Test cricket long ago, having last played the longest format in Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines back in 2014 against Bangladesh. Where I stand, however, is here: the timing of a farewell Test match for Christopher Henry Gayle is an inconvenience, as:
The West Indies has just stumbled upon what looks like the partner Kraigg Brathwaite has been yearning for.
Immediately prior to the game Gayle is keen to play (the second Test at Sabina Park); Test matches will no longer be just Test matches
