The West Indies showed some ominous signs as the ICC Men's T20 World Cup co-hosts registered an impressive 35-run victory over Australia in their warm-up fixture in Trinidad on Thursday.
Nicholas Pooran was the star of the show with a superb 75 as the West Indies posted a massive total of 257/4 at Queens Park Oval and that score proved too much for Australia as the Caribbean side cruised home to victory ahead of their opening match at the T20 World Cup against Papua New Guinea on Sunday.
Pooran smashed a whopping eight sixes during his 25-ball stay and skipper Rovman Powell (52), left-hander Sherfane Rutherford (47*) and opener Johnson Charles (40) also got in the act as the two-time T20 World Cup champions delighted their home crowd with some scintillating power-hitting.
WEST Indies captain Rovman Powell said choosing a starting XI for the first match of the ICC T20 World Cup will be a challenging task, as many players have put up their hand to earn selection.
West Indies will open their Group C campaign against Papua New Guinea on June 2 at 10.30 am in Providence, Guyana. West Indies will also play Uganda, New Zealand and Afghanistan in the group. The regional team showed promise in a T20 series against South Africa which ended on May 26, sweeping the series 3-0.
Roston Chase, not known for his ball-striking ability, cracked 67 not out off 38 balls in the second match of the series.
Opener Johnson Charles also gave Windies coach Daren Sammy and Powell something to smile about with 69 off 26 deliveries in the third match. Left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie was a consistent wicket-taker. Nicholas Pooran may have a key role to play for West Indies as he showed his quality in the Indian Premier League. In the tournament which ended on May 26, Pooran scored 499 runs at an average of 62.37, playing for the Lucknow Super Giants.
West Indies held a training session at the Sir Frank Worrell Memorial Ground at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus on May 29. “It is always difficult to pick a West Indies starting XI especially when you have guys playing well,” Powell said. “It is good that’s a headache we have going into this World Cup, not a headache we have had in the past as a West Indies team. It shows that the guys are playing well and it shows that there is competition for spots.
While optimistic of more international cricket returning to the island, recently elected president of the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) Dr Donovan Bennett says football will continue to be hosted at Sabina Park because it brings in revenue.
The West Indies senior men’s team returned to Jamaican soil for the first time since 2022 when they beat visitors South Africa 3-0 in their Twenty20 series ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and the United States.
Regarded as a cricketing mecca, Sabina Park over the last two years has hosted a number of football events, including the Wray & Nephew Jamaica Premier League and Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association football competitions.
The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) has also utilised the venue, hosting international matches involving the Reggae Boyz and Reggae Girlz.
Due to that fact and the absence of international cricket as well as the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20, some have referred to Sabina Park as mainly a football stadium these.
But Bennett, who began his presidency in April, told the Jamaica Observer that he has no issues with football being played at Sabina Park and will continue to welcome matches in the future.
“I don’t think we can do without the football because we have to keep the park and to keep the park, we have to make an income. The park is partially owned by the JCA and Kingston Cricket Club, so we’re cognisant of the fact that the park has to be maintained so that is why we have football being played there. There’s just no option at this time,” he said.
In the leadup to the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, co-hosts West Indies took on South Africa at home, and have made substantial gains in the ICC Men's T20I Team Rankings on the back of a 3-0 series win.
Despite missing a few big faces, West Indies managed to sweep the series.
With the series win, West Indies (254 rating points), the champions of the 2012 and 2016 editions of the T20 World Cup, are at the fourth place in the list led by 2007 champions India (264 rating points), with 2021 champions Australia (257 rating points) and defending champions England (254 rating points) at the second and third place respectively.
There were individual bright spots for West Indies in the series, who gained substantially in the T20I Player Rankings. This included stand-in skipper Brandon King, whose 159 runs helped him jump up five places to the eighth position in the Men’s T20I Batting Rankings.
Historic Kensington Oval has undergone a comprehensive transformation, in keeping with plans to transform the venerable cricket ground into becoming a premier destination for world-class events.
Damien Gaskin, Chair of the Kensington Oval Management Inc. (KOMI), unveiled the extensive upgrades over the weekend just in time for the upcoming International Cricket Council’s Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup. Barbados will host nine matches which bowl off on Sunday, including the finals on June 29.
One of the most significant upgrades is the installation of new lighting.
“We’ve got brand new light towers up . . . We’ve installed 468 brand new lights on the towers,” Gaskin explained. “The construction company told us this is the second most lights they’ve installed anywhere in the world, including NFL and Major League Baseball stadiums.” This ensures that the Oval meets international standards for night games and other events.
