Retired TT and West Indies batting legend Brian Lara, in conjunction with the Heroes Foundation, invited hundreds of children to the Queen’s Park Oval on Friday to watch day two of the second Test match between West Indies and India.
The children brought energy to the Scotiabank Stand. The initiative is called Sport Against Violence Energy (SAVE) with a goal to highlight the vital role sports can play in nurturing TT’s youth, fostering vibrant communities and consequently making great strides in curbing violence.
Lara thanked all the sponsors who helped him put on the project including Blue Waters and National Lotteries Control Board.
“A day out at Test cricket for me when I was a youngster was something that started for me at 6 am. Our parents would pack our bags and we would head to the Queen’s Park Oval and fight to get in with thousands of people.”
CRICKET WEST Indies president Dr Kishore Shallow said facilities development and facilities management was one vital area for functional cooperation between his organisation and the governments of the Caribbean.
In the Trinidad capital for the historic second Test between West Indies and India at Queen’s Park Oval, Shallow said CWI officials and the CARICOM prime ministerial subcommittee on cricket were scheduled to meet this coming week to further discuss areas for functional cooperation.
He said facilities at the venues around the Caribbean where international matches were played needed improvement, and the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup, to be staged next year in the Caribbean, was the perfect time to get things started.
“The governments have a massive role to play in the development of our cricket, and I understand the difficulties and the global challenges that they face in terms of finance, but they can definitely play a part in facilities improvement,” Shallow said during an in-studio interview on the iSports radio show on Thursday on i95.5 FM in Trinidad.
India's attack toiled away on a placid Port-of-Spain pitch, taking just four wickets on a rain-interrupted third day. In reply to India's 438, West Indies reached 229 for 5 at just over two runs an over at stumps, raising their hopes of a draw. Kraigg Brathwaite led West Indies' stubborn resistance, with 75 off 235 balls, before India's spinners and Mohammed Siraj exposed their lower-middle order.
In the morning, India's debutant Mukesh Kumar first snagged West Indies' debutant Kirk McKenzie for 32 off 57 balls before rain forced an early lunch. R Ashwin then breached the strong defences of Brathwaite in a 15-over shift post lunch. R Ashwin landed a stock offbreak on the footmarks and bowled Brathwaite through the gate with a heady cocktail of loop, drift and turn.
Brathwaite had looked immovable until Ashwin dislodged him in his 26th over. Ashwin, however, had been building up to this dismissal in a marathon spell by scrambling Brathwaite's judgment with drift in particular. Ravindra Jadeja, too, applied pressure on West Indies' batters and ended Jermaine Blackwood's vigil from over the wicket.
Jadeja extracted turn and bounce from that angle, but the dismissal was made possible by a stunning one-handed catch from Ajinkya Rahane at slip. Despite being blinded by wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan, who deflected the ball off his glove, Rahane held on to the ball in a sensational play.
Two destructive spells and three half-centuries were the headline acts in the Cricket West Indies Rising Stars Men’s Under-19 three-day championship on Thursday in St Vincent.
The destructive spells came from Windward Islands off-spinner Tarrique Edward and Barbados captain and left-arm spinner Nathan Sealy that gave their sides the edge against Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago, respectively, on the first day of the second round of matches.
One of the half-centuries came from Sealy’s teammate Zion Brathwaite, and the other two from the pair of Jordan Johnson and Justin Beckford, which helped Jamaica pile up the highest total of the day against defending champions Leeward Islands.
AT CUMBERLAND: Left-hander Jordan continued in his rich vein of form from the preceding One-day tournament and smashed seven fours and four sixes in 97 from 127 balls, and Beckford clubbed only two fours, but six sixes, in 72 from 76 balls to give Jordan brutal support before Jamaica were bowled out for 297 in their first innings.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — Head Coach Andre Coley said Tuesday, West Indies remains a "popular brand" despite their first Test thrashing at the hands of superpowers India, and urged players to have clarity and self-belief as they gear up for Thursday's start of the second Test at Queen's Park Oval here.
The Caribbean side suffered an inning- and 141-run defeat inside three days in the opening Test in Dominica last week to extend their unenviable record of having not won a Test against the Indians in two decades.
And with the heavy defeat following on the heels of the team's failure to qualify for the 50-overs World Cup earlier this month, Coley said how West Indies acquit themselves going forward is now critical.
"West Indies brand is still a popular brand; the world enjoys when we play at our best," he told a media huddle here.
"Yes, we have had some disappointments in the recent weeks and months but it is an opportunity for us to be better, review what has gone before, and then just look ahead."
He continued: "Belief in yourself as individuals and as a team is massive. Having a clear plan and sticking with it, that's really going to be very important.
