Executive Member of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Shaun Massiah has been appointed a Director of Cricket West Indies (CWI) and will represent Guyana at the CWI’s Board of Directors meeting on September 28, 2024, at the Hilton Hotel in Trinidad and Tobago.
Massiah, who holds the key position of Chairman of the GCB Competitions Committee, is a former first-division cricketer and captained the Transport Club senior team for a number of years.
He is a qualified cricket coach having been accredited at Level One and Level Two of the CWI Coaching Education Programme.
Andre Fletcher, the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots captain, didn't mince words after his side ended their CPL 2024 campaign with a ninth successive defeat, at the hands of Trinbago Knight Riders in Tarouba.
On Sunday alone, they dropped Pooran at least four times after which the TKR batter aced a chase of 194 with an unbeaten 93 off 43 balls. Overall in the tournament, they had dropped at least 23 catches, according to ESPNcricinfo's logs, which cost them a number of a games, Fletcher has said.
"The guys [bowlers] executed well and dropping five catches in a crucial game, especially a world-class player as Pooran…I know, but not many people know, we dropped 28 catches in the tournament," Fletcher said. "As a fielding team, it's poor, way below poor. It actually cost us a lot of games, which we lost."
An lbw decision against Antigua and Barbuda Falcons batter Imad Wasim that swayed between out and not out for over 10 minutes led to "chaos", controversy and an unusual delay in the CPL game against Trinbago Knight Riders in Port-of-Spain.
The initial not-out decision was briefly overturned by the third umpire Nigel Duguid before Wasim was called back to resume batting, which sparked off animated chats between TKR captain Kieron Pollard and the on-field umpires Christopher Taylor and Patrick Gustard.
The incident happened on the second ball of the tenth over of the chase right after Sunil Narine had Hassan Khan stumped for 36 off 20 balls. Falcons needed another 67 off 65 deliveries when Wasim looked to defend his first ball with a forward press in front of the stumps, and Narine, from around the wicket, pitched the ball on a good length, before it went on to hit Wasim's pads right in front of middle stump. The loud lbw appeal was first given not out by umpire Taylor, which Narine asked Pollard to review. When Pollard did, ball-tracking showed the ball hitting leg stump, which would have meant a golden duck for Wasim.
Wasim, however, looked confident that he had edged the ball before it hit his pad. He was seen chatting with the umpires before he started walking off, and was even willing to, in turn, review TKR's review as replays on the big screen showed he had edged it. Falcons assistant coach Curtly Ambrose was watching the replays in the dugout too with the rest of the squad, and was seen gesticulating from just beyond the boundary to protest against Wasim's dismissal.
Another intriguing match full of incident in Port of Spain saw the previous evening’s winners, Trinbago Knight Riders lose to Antigua & Barbuda Falcons by six wickets with an over to spare.
The win sees the Falcons keep their slim chances of progression alive and also gave them double bragging rights over the Knight Riders in this year’s Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
The Falcons won the toss and chose to field first, canny bowling restricted the Knight Riders to a below par 134/8, Kieron Pollard's 37-ball 47 giving the home side a shot in the arm on a dewy night that made run scoring quite tricky. Last evening’s man of the hour Tim David chipped in with 25 off 20 balls to help haul his side to a competitive total.
Back to back sixes off the bat of Tim David at the start of the final over saw Trinbago Knight Riders defeat Guyana Amazon Warriors by five wickets in a pulsating match in Port of Spain. Both sides had periods of dominance in a mid-table clash that lived up to its billing as one of the standout fixtures of the 2024 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
Kieron Pollard called the coin toss correctly and elected to field first at the Queens Park Oval and his side gave Dwayne Bravo a touching guard of honour in what could be the veteran all-rounder’s final game at the iconic ground having announced his CPL retirement earlier in the competition.
No inch was given with the ball though as the Warriors were reduced to 76/7 before Romario Shepherd posted a crucial half century from the lower order in order to rescue his side and put up a competitive total of 148/7.
