Veteran cricket Coach Terrence Corke says West Indies Under-19 batting standout Jordan Johnson has shown he is ready to feature in the regional first-class tournament.
Though the Windies Under-19s lost 0-1 to hosts Sri Lanka in the two-match Youth Tests, the left-handed Johnson was awarded player of the series after plundering 358 runs in three innings.
The 18-year-old Jamaican scored 149 in his single outing in the drawn first Test, followed by knocks of 52 and 157 not out as West Indies lost the second match by seven wickets in Dambulla on Thursday.
Prior to the Youth Tests, the free-scoring Johnson had scores of 18, 105, and 14 in the three-match one-day series, which Sri Lanka won 2-1.
"Jordan is the best age-group cricketer in the region, in the whole West Indies," Corke told the Jamaica Observer.
"He's such an excellent player, has all the shots in his repertoire, runs well between the wickets. He's just a fantastic young player.
“Calypso cricket” is what head coach of the West Indies Women’s team, Shane Deitz, wants his team to play going forward.
The Australian 47-year-old, who was appointed in July this year, believes that the West Indies will have to play a more attacking brand of cricket to compete with the best teams in the world.
“The brand of cricket I want us to play is definitely the traditional West Indian ‘calypso’ brand of attacking, taking it to the opposition and getting on the front foot. It’s the way I’ve always coached cricket around the world and that’s not going to change here,” Deitz said in a press conference on Tuesday.
“It’s a style of play that I think is effective so the players will definitely be getting the message that we’re here to win and we’re going to win by playing attacking, free-flowing cricket,” he added.
Saint Lucia Kings 170/3 (Rajapaksa 86, Munro 55; Shepherd 1/15, Tahir 1/34) beat Guyana Amazon Warriors 167/5 (Khan 40, Hope 38; Joseph 2/31, Raza 1/14) by seven wickets
The Saint Lucia Kings confirmed their place in the 2023 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) Playoffs following a comfortable seven wicket victory over the Guyana Amazon Warriors.
The Amazon Warriors won the toss and opted to bat first and it was a decision that was to backfire as the innings never really got going until the final five overs. Despite some late power hitting the Amazon Warriors could only post 167/5 which appeared subpar at first glance.
That proved to be correct as the Saint Lucia Kings confirmed that by chasing down the 168 to win with 15 balls remaining.
Earlier the Amazon Warriors suffered a slow start as Matthew Nandu was run out for three inside the PowerPlay and that setback contributed to the Warriors only reaching 35/1 at the end of the initial six overs.
DAMBULLA, Sri Lanka (CMC) — Left-hander Jordan Johnson struck a remarkable third hundred of the tour to keep West Indies Under-19s afloat but Sri Lanka Under-19s remained favourites to win the decisive second Youth "Test" here Wednesday.
Trailing by a massive 199 runs in the first innings after dismissing Sri Lanka U19s for 326, the visitors ended day two on 251 for eight in their second innings — a lead of only 52 runs — thanks to Jordan's brilliant unbeaten 133.
Openers Steve Wedderburn (37) and Stephan Pascal (25) both again got starts but failed to capitalise as West Indies U19s slumped from a promising position of 237 for four, losing four quick wickets for 14 runs in the space of 33 deliveries.
Entering at number three after Pascal was caught at the wicket off left-arm spinner Kaveesha Piyumal (2-55) after striking four fours in a breezy 30-ball knock, Johnson set about controlling the innings for his side.
Guyana Amazon Warriors extended their unbeaten run in the 2023 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and ensured a spot in Qualifier 1 with a seven-wicket victory over Jamaica Tallawahs at Providence.
The Warriors won the toss and chose to field first, despite a strong start by opener Brandon King, the Jamaica Tallawahs were unable to score runs fluently as they were restricted to 152/5 after 20 overs.
The home side got off to a dream start in their chase, as openers Saim Ayub and Matthew Nandu would share a 112-run partnership to put the side in firm control. Ayub would go on to score a brilliant 85 to help take the Guyana Amazon Warriors to a comfortable win.
