BRISBANE, Australia (CMC) – Veteran seamer Kemar Roach has warned understudy Shamar Joseph to be wary of “distractions” after his huge impact on the opening Test against Australia last week.
The 24-year-old, with only five first-class matches under his belt, produced a stunning effort on debut to claim five wickets in the first innings at Adelaide Oval, emerging as the brightest spark for the tourists amid their 10-wicket thrashing inside three days.
With the Twenty20 franchise leagues now likely to come calling, Roach urged Joseph to be clear in what his objectives were.
“The best advice I can give him is to build his own legacy,” said the 35-year-old Roach, who has featured in 80 Tests since making his debut 15 years ago.
“Understand what you want from cricket. That’s up to him to determine if it’s monetary or if it’s just statistics.
“There’s going to be a lot of distractions, he’s a hot commodity right now.”
FORMER West Indies off-spinner Anisa Mohammed said she is "available" and willing to serve West Indies or TT cricket, after announcing her retirement from the international women's game on Thursday.
Mohammed, 35, along with Shakera Selman and twin sisters Kycia and Kyshona Knight all retired from West Indies duty last week. Cricket West Indies (CWI) paid homage to the quartet who all formed part of West Indies' championship team at the 2016 International Cricket Council (ICC) Twenty/20 women's World Cup.
Mohammed began her career as a 14-year-old, playing her first One-day international (ODI) against Japan in a World Cup qualifier in Amstelveen, Holland in 2003. Her T20I debut came five years later against Ireland, and the off-spinner became the first international cricketer to get to 100 T20I wickets when West Indies took on Pakistan during the triumphant T20 World Cup campaign in 2016. To this day, her 100-wicket feat, along with the Windies' World Cup win, remain the favourite moments in her career.
Mohammed took 305 wickets across the ODI and T20I formats for West Indies, with her last international game coming against Australia at the semi-final stage of the 2022 50-over World Cup.
Mohammed said it was time for younger players to seize the opportunities she once had.
"When I look at the bunch of players we have now, I think it is time for me to step away and give the other players a chance to go out there and live their dream like I have lived mine," Mohammed told Newsday.
Cricket West Indies chief executive Johnny Grave has dismissed the notion that players are paid a “pittance” by the board, but said the emergence of even more franchise leagues meant an increase in economic opportunities for them, while further imperilling their availability for international tours.
Speaking to former England Test captains Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast, Grave said CWI was actively seeking “balance and compromise” with players, in order to ensure full strength sides were selected for its Future Tours Programme obligations.
Last month, West Indies were forced to select a rookie side for the ongoing two-Test tour of Australia after the established likes of all-rounders Jason Holder and Kyle Mayers, chose to “explore T20 franchise opportunities.”
“We do pay our players very, very well. I think there is a perception in the world that we pay them pittance,” Englishman Grave asserted.
ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – West Indies Women's cricketers Anisa Mohammed, Shakera Selman, Kycia Knight and Kyshona Knight have confirmed their retirement from international cricket. Mohammed and Selman both served as vice-captains during their 20- and 18-year careers respectively, all players recently communicated their decisions to Cricket West Indies (CWI).
Mohammed made her debut for the West Indies Women in 2003 at the age of 15 against Japan Women in an ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier in the Netherlands. Her last match was against Australia Women in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in March 2022.
She played 141 One Day Internationals (ODIs) and 117 T20 Internationals (T20Is). She took 180 ODI wickets, with a career best of 7-14 against Pakistan. She took 125 T20I wickets and in 2016 she became the first cricketer (male or female) to take 100 T20I wickets. She also has the distinction of being the first West Indian bowler to take a hat-trick in a Women’s T20I. She was a member of the West Indies Women’s team which won the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, India in 2016.
ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – Cricket West Indies (CWI) today announced the 2024 West Indies Championship schedule, confirming the expansion in the number of participating teams and rounds for the premier four (4)-Day competition.
After a winning performance in the Headley-Weekes tournament in 2023, the West Indies Academy are all set to make their debut in the West Indies First-Class season, along with the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) who are making a return, re-joining the tournament after a few years’ absence.
The 2024 West Indies Championship is set to begin in February, with the opening three rounds spanning from 7 to 24 February. In the first block of games, matches will take place in two Host Countries: St. Kitts and Nevis at two venues, Warner Park and the Conaree Cricket Centre, and in Jamaica, at three venues, Sabina Park, Kensington Cricket Club, and Chedwin Park. The second block of matches resume on 13 March, with the fourth and fifth rounds scheduled to be held in Trinidad and Tobago at the Queen’s Park Oval, the Diego Martin Sports Complex and the Sir Frank Worrell Cricket Ground at UWI Spec, and in Antigua and Barbuda at the Coolidge Cricket Ground. The tournament will then restart after Easter with the final two rounds from 10 to 20 April with matches in Antigua and Barbuda, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.
