ENGLAND dominated day one of the second Test match against West Indies at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, on Wednesday.
England captain Joe Root lashed a century to give the thousands of English fans something to cheer about. The English fans made up the majority of the crowd, outnumbering the local supporters.
Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline was played repeatedly as Root slammed an unbeaten 119 off 246 balls to lead from the front in sweltering conditions.
After Zak Crawley fell for four caught by wicket-keeper Joshua Da Silva off fast bowler Jayden Seales, England seized control of the contest with a patient display of batting between opener Alex Lees and Root.
West Indies Women all-rounder, Hayley Matthews, insists the team is not yet feeling any pressure despite suffering a second consecutive loss at the ICC Women’s World Cup on Monday.
Against top-ranked Australia, the Windies found very little joy and suffered a lopsided 7-wickets loss in their fourth match of the tournament. Prior to that, the team struggled to deal with India’s powerful batting line-up in a 155-run defeat.
The results stand in sharp contrast to the Caribbean women's heady start to the tournament, which featured victories over New Zealand and England. It is those victories, however, that Matthews believes stands the team in good stead, despite its recent patch of bad form.
“Coming into this tournament we knew our first four games were likely going to be the hardest. We kind of said to ourselves if we can get two or three wins out of these four games we would be in a strong position and we’ve done exactly that,” Matthews told members of the media.
EXPERIENCED West Indies Women’s cricketer Britney Cooper expects that there will be greater exposure for younger regional players, when the inaugural Women’s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL) takes place from August 30 to September 30, 2022.
“It will be the first time a lot of young players in the Caribbean would be exposed to playing cricket on live television, and it will be a big opportunity for other franchises from Australia, England and even India to see their talent and to pick more West Indians in those competitions,” said Cooper, during a telephone interview on Monday.
Cooper was a part of the WI team who won the ICC T20 Women’s World Cup in India in 2016. However, she has been out of action since the beginning of 2022 due to injury.
Rookie West Indies seamer Jayden Seales believes the flat surface for the opening Test in Antigua last week proved a learning curve in his fledgling career.
The 20-year-old was part of a four-pronged West Indies pace attack which toiled with little assistance from the unresponsive pitch at the Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium, as the contest against England predictably ended in a draw.
Seales, who made his Test debut last year, snatched four first-innings wickets but went without success in the second innings as England piled up 349 for six declared.
“I am pleased [with my performance] but I know I could’ve done a lot better,” the Trinidadian explained.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Expressing concern that grassroots cricket in the region is under threat, Cricket West Indies (CWI) Director of Cricket Jimmy Adams says administrators are desperately trying to regain momentum to preserve and nurture current and future talent.
He said there is a particular need to identify and develop female talent in the sport.
Speaking at a press conference where he discussed the launch of the CWI Emerging Players Academy which is aimed at supporting the development of world-class players from the Caribbean, Adams said while there is raw talent across CWI territories, “if we don’t protect our grassroots cricket, then we might not be saying that in 10 years’ time”.
“Our grassroots cricket is under attack at the minute. We’re trying desperately to work with governments across the region to ensure that we don’t lose that base that we’ve had and that we depend on going forward,” he said.
