CWI Media Release:ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – It’s all on in the scheduled final round of the 2018-19 West Indies Championship which opens today in Guyana, Antigua and Jamaica.
A crucial victory for front-runners Guyana Jaguars in the previous round against Barbados Pride in a renewal of the longest standing rivalry in the West Indies first-class game has fortified their bid for a record-equalling fifth straight hold on the Headley/Weekes Trophy, the symbol of supremacy in this format.
The Jags top the table with 136 points – 25.2 points clear of their nearest rivals, Leeward Islands Hurricanes.
With a maximum of 24 points available to each team in every round of matches, plus the Hurricanes still having a game in hand, making it for them potentially 48 points still on the table, the pressure is on for the top two teams to play strongly and collect a huge haul of points in this round to formalise their claims for the Trophy.
Jaguars vs Red Force in Providence, Guyana
The Jaguars will be eyeing revenge, when they face Trinidad & Tobago Red Force at the Guyana National Stadium in the one of the two key matches of the round.
Red Force defended home turf stoutly when the two sides met in the sixth round early last month and the Jaguars will be looking to return the favour, as they aim to finish the season strongly and claim the title.
Hurricanes vs Volcanoes in North Sound, Antigua
The Hurricanes came from behind and clinch an important victory over Windward Islands Volcanoes in a ding-dong battle in the all-Islands derby in the seventh round of matches last month which marked the return of Dominica to staging first-class matches following the devastation of Hurricane Maria.
But the hosts will be hoping to play from the front and that it can be a far more straightforward contest, and that they can claim a season sweep over their opponents at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in a bid to make a final dash for the title ahead of the Jaguars.
Scorpions vs Pride in Kingston, Jamaica
As two of the four sides in the Championship with two outstanding games, both Jamaica Scorpions and Barbados Pride still have plenty for which to play in their contest at Sabina Park, though it will have no significant bearing on the title chase.
Both teams are a shadow of what they used to be previously, but they can both pursue a strong finish to the season and target higher placings on the Championship table
A quick-fire half-century by Jonny Bairstow led England to a comfortable four-wicket victory against West Indies in the opening game of their three-match T20I series in St Lucia.
After Nicholas Pooran's impressive fifty anchored West Indies' innings in the face of a strong all-round England bowling performance, led by Tom Curran's 4 for 36, Bairstow charged towards the target of 161 from the outset.
West Indies were not helped by some loose bowling and even more costly fielding. They got wickets, too, as Bairstow lost batting partners Alex Hales, Joe Root and Eoin Morgan as well as being dropped twice but he did not even flinch, racing to his fifty off 27 balls and reaching 68 off 40 before lofting Ashley Nurse to Carlos Brathwaite on the midwicket boundary.
While the danger wasn't completely removed for England, Bairstow had set them off to such a strong start that nothing short of a serious collapse would see them beaten.
Kent team-mates Joe Denly and Sam Billings all but completed the job with a 50-run partnership for the fifth wicket so that when Jason Holder had Denly caught by Pooran for 30 off 29 balls, England needed just eight runs to win. But there were nervous moments to come when Billings was dropped on Holder's next ball by Oshane Thomas, whose one-handed attempt at fine leg was a mess. Then Sheldon Cottrell added his third wicket with his first ball back into the attack, bowling Billings for 18.
GROS ISLET, Saint Lucia – Two-time World T20 champions West Indies have named the 13-member squad for the three-match Sandals Twenty20 International Series against England. The Cricket West Indies Selection Panel has named Jason Holder as captain for this series and have kept the core of the squad which played in the five-match Colonial Medical Insurance ODI Series.
Chairman of Selectors Courtney Browne said the aim is to give as much exposure as possible to the hopefuls for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 in England and Wales in a bid to continue planning towards the marquee event. Holder therefore, will lead the squad for this Series only, while Carlos Brathwaite remains the bona fide T20 captain.
“After discussion with the coach surrounding preparation for the ICC CWC 2019, it was proposed that we retain the ODI squad to play the T20 matches against England. After deliberations with captain, coach and the panel, we all are of the opinion that it would aid in the team’s World Cup preparations,” Browne said.
“We have a triangular series in Ireland in early May, which coincides with the Indian Premier League. A high number of the World Cup hopefuls will be involved in the IPL and will miss the tour to Ireland. We therefore, felt, that we could not miss this opportunity for the coaching staff to continue work towards finalizing their strategies.”
Browne added: “We were very impressed with the way the team played in the recent Colonial Medical Insurance ODIs. To bounce back and level the series 2-2 against the Number 1 ranked team in the world was a great performance. We wish Jason and his team all the best in the Sandals T20 Series, and we wish them more success as we continue preparation towards the ICC CWC 2019.”
The Sandals T20 International Series begins on Tuesday with a day/night contest at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground. First ball is 4 pm (3 pm Jamaica Time/8 pm GMT).
FULL SQUAD (with jersey numbers)
Jason Holder (Captain) – 8
Fabian Allen 97
Devendra Bishoo – 70
Carlos Brathwaite – 26
Darren Bravo – 46
John Campbell – 32
Sheldon Cottrell – 19
Chris Gayle – 45
Shimron Hetmyer – 2
Shai Hope – 4
Ashley Nurse – 5
Nicholas Pooran – 29
Oshane Thomas – 42
NOTE: CWI Medical Panel outlined that Andre Russell has been withdrawn from the squad, due to an adverse reaction he had to a medical procedure done in Dubai before he flew to the Caribbean.
Having not watched any live regional cricket for the past two or three seasons, I wandered into Sabina Park last Thursday afternoon to have a look at the four-day game between the Jamaica Scorpions and the Leeward Island Hurricanes.
Fortunately for me, regional cricket’s all-time leading wicket-taker Nikita Miller was in his element on the day, snarling another impressive seven first-innings wickets to add to his already impressive career aggregate, in a game that the Scorpions eventually lost.
Miller’s exploits aside, the thing that struck me most of all was how empty Sabina Park was in the middle of a regional four-day game. Outside of a few media practitioners, who, by virtue of covering regional cricket on a regular basis, seemed indifferent to the hollow emptiness inside the park, there were also members of the maintenance staff, as well as some very bored security personnel. From my vantage point, I did not see even one individual, who appeared to be a mere spectator watching the cricket.
This is elite domestic cricket with senior West Indies representatives in both teams, yet not even the proverbial man and his dog were interested enough to journey to the park, sit, and watch a game involving the home team, Jamaica. The reality is, though, that the poor attendance for this level of cricket across the region is a mere index of what is happening generally in the longer formats of the game all across the world.
