JAMAICA Cricket Association (JCA) lead selector Junior Bennett is urging regional players to make the best of preparation opportunities that might come their way, with the traditional four-day competition looking certain to be canceled.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) is considering a proposal to have intra-squad matches within each of the six territories to keep players active and give regional selectors the chance to make assessments.
“If the regional tournament is not held then these games are important, because some of the players are in the West Indies set-up and the games will provide welcomed practice for them. The games would give exposure to other players so we have to make sure the matches are competitive and taken seriously, like a regional game,” Bennett told the Jamaica Observer.
“There are more reasons than one for players to take them very seriously. I was told that the West Indies selectors might watch some of them, so players have to go out and put their best foot forward,” the former Jamaica senior team coach said.
Former England captain turned cricket analyst. Michael Vaughan. has questioned the overall fitness of West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell, despite the player’s fair start to the Indian Premier League (IPL) season.
In the second game of the campaign for the Kolkatta Knight Riders, Russell cleaned up the Mumbai Indians' tail for career-best figures of 5-15. In the same match, however, the player was unable to finish the job with the bat as the Knight Riders slumped to a dramatic 10-run defeat as Russell added 9 from 15.
Vaughan pointed to the batsman’s work in the field and running between the crease as evidence the big hitter is not quite at his best.
“You got a player like Andre Russell, who has been a superstar, but on the field, when the ball is coming to him, he is always using his feet. He is obviously someone who cannot go down. It’s a very clever and careful aspect which Eoin Morgan will have to manage,” Vaughan told Cricbuzz.
Wonderful words have been written and spoken about Jason Holder following his award of being named among the Wisden Five Cricketers of the Year.
And fast bowling all-rounder Holder, 29, a former West Indies captain, has responded splendidly.
At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the affable Barbadian led West Indies on a three-match Test tour of England.
It was a very significant series as West Indies were the first team to tour during the pandemic. Holder made his presence felt with a six-wicket haul in the opening Test in Southampton, which his side won by four wickets before losing the other Tests.
“Jason Holder was a giant both on and off the field last summer,” said Lawrence Booth, the editor of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack. “After agreeing to lead his West Indies side on a tour of Covid-hit Britain, he inspired his team to victory over England at the Rose Bowl with first-innings figures of six for 42.
“Holder also led a dignified West Indian response to Black Lives Matter, taking a knee with his teammates before each Test and wearing a black glove, a gesture that recalled American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics.”
With the regional four-day tournament unlikely to be staged this season, Cricket West Indies (CWI) board member Wilford “Billy” Heaven says plans are afoot to organize matches within each territory so that selectors can assess players ahead of the proposed Test series against South Africa and Pakistan.
“It is highly unlikely that we will have the four-day competition in the usual way. What we are contemplating at the moment is to have intra-territorial cricket among the best players from each territory,” Heaven, the president of the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA), said during a telephone interview.
“So Jamaica, for example, will organize within its borders a competition in which two teams will be established and they will play each other. The other five territorial boards will do likewise,” he told the Jamaica Observer.
It is expected that regional selectors will have a keen eye on all matches against the backdrop of a busy home schedule for the regional side.
The Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) has joined forces with the Caribbean Cricket Podcast to bring even more engaging and entertaining content to their ever-growing social media following. The Caribbean Cricket Podcast, hosted by Machel St Patrick Hewitt and Santokie Nagulendran, has seen phenomenal growth over the last 12 months and has been given increasing recognition from established cricketing pundits for the depth and insight their show has offered.
This partnership with Hero CPL will see the Caribbean Cricket Podcast given a much bigger audience with the podcast being available across the CPL’s social media channels which have a combined following of over 6.5 million.
The CPL will work with the Caribbean Cricket Podcast to source guests and improve production values to build on an already very strong show that offers in-depth coverage and opinions on cricket in the Caribbean.
