Andre Russell has a favourite six. One that he thinks of when his head hits the pillow at night. Out of all the cloud-busting strikes that have flown from his blade in the last 15 years, all the boundary-clearing smites across the globe, delivered with dead-eyed assassin temperament under his trademark bleached mohawk. One shot stands out. One six to rule them all.
“The one off Hardik Pandya at the Wankhede in the 2016 World Cup,” he says. “That one was just massive. Perfect swing. Right out of the middle.” There’s a moment of silence before Russell blows out his cheeks at the memory. “That one was crazy.” You can look it up and decide for yourself, watch the umpire Richard Kettleborough’s chuckle of astonishment as the ball soars into the top tier of Mumbai’s famous stadium and he signals the obvious. Yeah, that’s a six all right.
Russell has just arrived in a “chilly” Durham before West Indies’ T20I series opener against England. The 37-year-old all-rounder is “feeling strong, feeling good” and is acclimatising to the north-east from the heat of the IPL, where he recently completed his 13th tournament and 11th stint with Kolkata Knight Riders.
For more than a decade “Dre Russ” has been traversing the planet as one of world cricket’s most in-demand T20 franchise players. From Kolkata to LA, London to Lahore, Montreal to Sydney, for Tigers and Leopards, Warriors and Gladiators, Sultans, Royals, Kings, Tallawahs, Daredevils, Renegades and Rapids. To reel off all the teams Russell has represented is to sound like Billy Joel doing We Didn’t Start the Fire.
FOLLOWING allegations of overspending and misuse of funds, lawyers of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) attempted to clear the air on funding given by the government and their supporting arms at a media conference held at the board’s office in Balmain, Couva, on June 4.
Attorneys Henry Chase and Navindra Ramnanan represented the TTCB at the media conference. President of the TTCB Azim Bassarath and other executive members did not attend the media conference.
“We appear today on behalf of the TTCB to address recent public allegations published in the press,” Chase said. “Allegations that are not only categorically false but also deeply damaging to the integrity of an institution that has served TT’s sporting community for decades.”
Cricket West Indies (CWI) advises that two players, spinner Akeal Hosein and young talent Jyd Goolie, have experienced challenges in joining the squad for the upcoming T20 Internationals against England and Ireland, which begin on Friday, June 6th.
The challenges are due to updated UK visa entry requirements for Trinidad and Tobago citizens, which came into effect on April 23rd and May 12th, 2025. These changes required both players to submit visa applications and attend mandatory in-person appointments.
Director of Cricket, Miles Bascombe, explained:
“As soon as the updated visa requirements were announced, CWI began the necessary application processes. This was only possible after Akeal returned to Trinidad, and following the confirmation of Jyd’s selection to the Ireland squad", said Bascombe.
England were held up by the late arrival of the West Indies team bus at the Kia Oval, then charged to victory like a team determined to beat the traffic. Jamie Smith's 25-ball half-century, his first in ODIs, led them to 100 for 1 in a reduced eight-over Powerplay, and they cruised to a DLS-adjusted target of 246 with 10.2 overs to spare.
It meant a perfect start to captaincy for Harry Brook, sweeping his first series in permanent charge three-nil to draw a line under England's wretched white-ball results earlier this year. "It's a hell of a lot of fun when you're enjoying it with a lot of mates," Brook said. "I think we've got such a good side. The depth in batting is amazing, and we have a lot of skilful bowlers as well."
This was England's first ODI series win since September 2023, and their first series clean-sweep since a three-nil win in the Netherlands which marked the end of Eoin Morgan's tenure. The result also eases their concerns about automatic qualification for the 2027 World Cup, and leaves West Indies looking nervously over their shoulders at tenth-ranked Bangladesh.
West Indies' four-mile journey from their Chelsea hotel to Kennington took nearly two hours due to road closures and heavy congestion, and their delayed innings was further interrupted by rain. Sherfane Rutherford, returning from the IPL, hit 70 to hold their innings together but they were reeling at 154 for 7 when he fell to a sharp catch by Brook at mid-on.
It took a counter-attacking eighth-wicket partnership worth 91 off 68 balls between Gudakesh Motie and Alzarri Joseph to take West Indies to 251. Motie walked in at No. 8 after wickets off consecutive deliveries, but smeared Adil Rashid's hat-trick ball over midwicket for six; he hit five fours and two further sixes on his way to his highest ODI score.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) has announced the squads for the three (3) T20 International matches against England from June 6-10 and another three (3) matches against Ireland from June 12-15.
The series will be the first for newly appointed T20 captain Shai Hope, who will have a dynamic and exciting squad which will see the return of Jason Holder who last represented the Caribbean team in the shortest format in February 2024.
Andre Russell makes a return to the squad after sustaining an injury during the first match of last year’s series against England in Barbados but has only been selected for the England leg of the tour.
Following an extended stint in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Nicholas Pooran asked to be rested for both series.
