DESPITE being in a comfortable position after taking first-innings lead, Jamaican Scorpions collapsed in their second innings and were bowled out for 132 on the penultimate day of the seventh round Cricket West Indies Regional Four-day encounter against Guyana Jaguars at Guyana National Stadium, Providence, yesterday. Set 170 runs to win after the visitors gained a slim first-innings plus of 37 runs, the defending champions were 25 without loss at stumps. Chandrapaul Hemraj is on 16 with three boundaries while Tagenarine Chanderpaul is on 9 (2×4). The Jaguars enter the final day today, needing 145 runs with all ten wickets in hand.After being dismissed for 321 in their first innings, Jaguars took wickets at regular intervals to keep Scorpions in check. Left-arm pacer, Raymon Reifer and left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie shared three wickets, conceding 36 and 11 runs respectively while Christopher Barnwell had two for 18 and Romario Shepherd and Veerasammy Permaul took one wicket apiece.
The Barbados Pride are 15 without loss in chase of 324 for victory headed into the last day of their West Indies Championship game against the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force at Kensington Oval. Scores in the match so far, the Red Force, 358 all out and 247 for six, and the Pride, 282 all out and 15 without loss. Choosing to bat first, the Red Force had scored a massive 358 thanks to innings of 138 from Lendl Simmons and 121 from Jason Mohammed before the Pride responded, recovering from 130-7, to end all out on 282. The Pride benefitted from rear guard action in the form of wicketkeeper Tevyn Walcott, 63, and Ashley Nurse, 75. Earlier, opener Shayne Moseley had contributed 56 and Aaron James,45, before a mini collapse had threatened to put the Red Force in a very strong position.
The Windward Islands Volcanoes have 10 wickets in hand and 231 runs to get on the final day of their West Indies Championship game against the Leeward Islands Hurricanes at Windsor Park in Dominica. Honours have remained even throughout this game with the Volcanoes enjoying a slightly better time with the ball in their second innings. Sent into bat, the Hurricanes had posted 271 all out, with the Volcanoes replying with 230, a deficit of 41 runs. Every one of those runs were needed when the Hurricanes batted again, as they were dismissed on Saturday for just 199, a lead of 240, which, while no walkover, is certainly gettable.
On what was an absorbing day of Test cricket, Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler ensured that the England batting order didn't collapse in the Caribbean yet again for the third successive Test as the duo stitched an unbeaten 124 for the fifth wicket on the opening day in St. Lucia. England were in a familiar position once again after losing three key wickets in the afternoon session but Stokes and Buttler mixed caution with aggression to bail their side out of trouble as the tourists posted 231/4 on the board at stumps.
Keaton Jennings' recall didn't help matters for England as they failed to address their top order woes. Jennings was tentative and watchful right from the outset and received two reprieves before finally falling to a loose drive outside off. Keemo Paul and Shannon Gabriel then bowled some absolute beauties towards the end of the session with the batsmen keen on getting through to the break without further damage.
England then had the rub of the green once again in the final over before lunch when Gabriel bowled one at awkward length and line on leg to Joe Denly, which the batsman tried to fend without success. Upon collecting the ball, the wicketkeeper was convinced there was a glove and urged the skipper to review the decision. Replays showed that the batsman had indeed gloved it, but quite remarkably, Denly's glove was not in contact with the handle just in time when the ball kissed it, thus managing to survive.
CWI Media Release- Pakistan Women defeated the WINDIES Women by 34 runs to level the One Day Series 1-1 at the ICC Academy Ground in Dubai. Pakistan posted 240 all out in 49.4 overs, Sidra Amin 96, Nida Dar 81. WINDIES Women 206 all out in 49.4 overs, McLean 82, Taylor 48. Both teams now have 2 points each in the ICC Women’s Championship Round 4, with all to play for the in the match on Monday
Pakistan Women won the toss and elected to bat first on a grassy pitch. Opening bowlers Shakera Selman and Shamilia Connell kept the Pakistan batters in check with accurate line and lengths. Selman was the first to strike when she had Nahida Khan caught by Anisa Mohammed for 3. Javeria Khan who like Nahida had to leave the field due to injury in the first match, also did not last long at the crease this time. Connell clipped her stumps, sending her back for 5.
Returning skipper Bismah Maroof who missed the first match due to injury was stumped by Kycia Knight for 8, another Pakistan batter not troubling the scorers. Then came the partnership that built the Pakistan innings. A 102-run partnership between Sidra Ameen and Nida Dar frustrated the WINDIES Women’s bowlers. Sidra Ameen exploited the sometimes sluggish fielding by the WINDIES.
WINDIES captain Stafanie Taylor rotated her bowlers to keep the pressure but the Pakistan batterS still found a way to get the runs. Taylor herself was expensive in the four overs she bowled, going for 32 runs. Ameen was particularly aggressive, smashing 14-fours on her way to 96, but what Taylor didn’t do while bowling, she corrected with her fielding. With a direct hit she had Ameen well short of her ground, runout for a very patient innings.
A string of face-saving half-centuries marked play in the West Indies Championship on Friday, as all three matches have shaped up into keen struggles for control.
Leaders and four-time defending champions Guyana Jaguars were under pressure against Jamaica Scorpions, even though Test batsmen Vishaul Singh and Leon Johnson carved out half-centuries to prop up their batting at the Guyana National Stadium on the second day of seventh round matches.
Emerging left-hander Alick Athanaze struck his third half-century of the season, as Windward Islands Volcanoes were engaged in a keen battle against Leeward Islands Hurricanes at Windsor Park, and, WINDIES International Ashley Nurse gave evidence he could be a key player in the lower order during the upcoming One-day Internationals against England with an enterprising half-century that rescued Barbados Pride from a total batting collapse against Trinidad & Tobago Red Force at Kensington Oval.
Hurricanes (271) vs Volcanoes (225-7)
Athanaze struck two fours and one six from 108 balls before he fell to the last ball of the day and was the only Volcanoes batsman that crossed 50, as a handful of batsmen got starts without carrying on.
Veteran opener Devon Smith supported with 46, Test batsman Sunil Ambris made 41, Kavem Hodge got 26 and Ray Jordan added 25.
Smith anchored the top half of the batting, putting on 42 for the second wicket with Hodge and a further 57 for the third wicket with Ambris.
Volcanoes however, lost three wickets for 30 and were wobbling on 156 for five before Athanaze came to the crease and led the recovery, sharing 60 for the sixth wicket to leave them within sight of overtaking the Hurricanes first innings total.
Sheno Berridge took 3-38 from 12 overs and off-spinner Rahkeem Cornwall grabbed 3-47 from 28 overs to lead the Hurricanes bowling.
Earlier, Hurricanes lost their last five wickets for 42, after resuming on 229 for five with token resistance coming from Cornwall and Quinton Boatswain, both hitting 21.
Jordan with 4-47 from 17.5 overs and left-arm spinner Larry Edward with 4-73 from 37 overs were the most successful Volcanoes bowlers.
Jaguars vs Scorpions
SKIPPER Leon Johnson and deputy Vishaul Singh played pivotal roles to lift the Guyana Jaguars from a double blow against the Jamaican Scorpions. After early wickets, the duo stood tall to end at 203 for three on day two of the seventh round Cricket West Indies (CWI) Regional Four-day encounter at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.
Johnson’s workmanlike 58, coupled with a composed 61 from 30-year-old Singh, helped the defending champions not only to overcome the cheap dismissals of Chandrapaul Hemraj (4) and Tagenarine Chanderpaul (10), but also to put the hosts in a position where they can look to get close to Scorpions’ first-innings total of 358. The left-handed pair of Johnson and Singh stitched a 101-run for the fourth-wicket after they were reduced to 62-3 at one stage of the innings.
AN UNBROKEN 108-run eighth wicket partnership between the Barbados Pride duo Ashley Nurse and Tevyn Walcott frustrated the TT Red Force during the last session of day two in the West Indies Four-Day Championships at Kensington Oval in Barbados, yesterday. However, the Red Force still hold the advantage as the Pride trail by 120 runs with three wickets in hand.
The Pride closed the day on 238 for seven in the first innings, after dismissing Red Force for 358 during the first session. It was a see-saw battle throughout the day.
After resuming the day's play on 316/8 in the first innings Red Force added 42 more runs to push the score past 350 before being dismissed. Anderson Phillip scored 22 off 20 deliveries to help boost the team's total. Bowling for the Pride, fast bowler Marquino Mindley grabbed 5/78 in 20 overs, Chemar Holder took 2/68 and Kevin Stoute ended with 2/38.
There is an argument re Jason Holder’s absence from the upcoming third and final Test, that this will bring hope for England. While that argument does hold weight, what might the opinion that the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium is home to the “fastest wicket” in the Caribbean do to that hope? Or the fact that although the Caribbean team does have the option of going with the recently included Keemo Paul, a very realistic replacement for the Windies captain is the impressive young Jamaican fast-bowler—Oshane Thomas?
Unaffected by Holder’s replacement will remain the importance of the coin toss, as was in Barbados as well as Antigua. Also of utmost importance will be the leadership of this West Indian team. As, not only does the West Indies lose a batsman as well as a bowler in Jason Holder, but their leader in every sense of the word. Although we have been very critical of Kraigg Brathwaite’s captaincy in the past; the Bajan, who is set to lead the team for a fifth time in Tests—will do so for only the first time on home soil. To that point, there are many words that could have been used to describe this amazing series win but the most important adjective of them all was ‘deserved’; and so Brathwaite could not have asked for better circumstances in which to try his hand at captaincy again.
After all, this will be the best team which Kraigg Brathwaite has been asked to lead to date:
On the tour of New Zealand in late 2017, his first time leading the team, the Windies top-order was still struggling and “pieces” were being moved around.
October 2018, in the first Test in India, (just following an amazing home summer in which Windies bowlers accounted for ninety-six of a possible one-hundred wickets) he led a team without 2/3 of their main bowlers and a still-struggling top-order.
And being already out of their depth on the spinning wickets in Bangladesh later that year, Shannon Gabriel joined Holder on the side-lines for the final Test.
*To put this top-order struggle into perspective; since Shane Dowrich made his first Test ton in October 2017, he has gone on to add another two and now equals the number of centuries scored by Windies’ top-order batsmen during that time—three.
With yet another change to the opening pair coming into this series, Windies might just have tweaked it correctly this time around; with three consecutive half-century stands between Campbell and Brathwaite, all integral parts of each innings and subsequently each win, and the intangible effect it has had on the rest of the West Indian top-order in this series.
There is no guarantee that Brathwaite will put on a better showing as captain, but with a series win already in the bag, home conditions to boot, a more stable top-order than in recent times, and the best bowling unit (based on current form and talent) he has ever had at his disposal along with calypso on the speakers—it is safe to say that Brathwaite has been handed ideal circumstances to change our “already-made-up-minds” about his leadership qualities.
The visitors who are “sweating” on the fitness of both Ben Stokes and Ben Foakes will have additional reshuffling to do as they try to make room for fast-bowler Mark Wood on a pacey St. Lucia wicket. Not unlike the hosts, who having already won the series, might want to seriously consider leaving Oshane Thomas as a ‘surprise’ for the limited overs leg of the tour. Sure, the English might have seen him on television; but with “pace like fire” coming at you and his bowling action up close and personal, the West Indies might want to think like a big team and give themselves every advantage of success later in the tour.
The question ‘do we have our West Indies back’ has been floating around in the wake of the fast-bowling that has contributed to this series win. My question in response is—why so hasty? We have waited this long, surely, we can wait a bit more. Instead, find joy in how the team exploited home conditions to win this series. Name me a top team in world sport that is not dominant at home. Jason Holder had previously managed to pick up wins without winning a series, now he has won three in the span of fifteen months. Therefore, the next step for Holder’s West Indies should be home dominance, no? This team has won five of the last seven matches at home while losing just once; a rather unfortunate loss to Sri Lanka in Barbados. Engage mission ‘Make the Caribbean Great Again’.
