WEST Indies T20 captain Kieron Pollard hinted that Dwayne Bravo will retire from international cricket in the near future.
Before the final T20 between West Indies and Pakistan on Tuesday, which was eventually abandoned, Pollard said the match would be Bravo’s last match for West Indies on Caribbean soil.
In a video posted on the Windies Cricket Twitter page, Pollard said, “We just want to take this opportunity to wish one of our stalwarts of the game in West Indies cricket (the best) in all three formats of the game…yes, he has retired from the other formats a long time, but Bravo (is being) given this opportunity here to play his final game in maroon on Caribbean soil, so we look forward to that.”
Bravo, 37, has been among the wickets during the West Indies' busy period at home over the past few months. In 2021, West Indies have already played Sri Lanka, South Africa, Australia and Pakistan in T20 series.
The West Indies cricket team will be hoping that the weather gods smile down on them today in Guyana as they look to get some action under their belt in the fourth and final T20 International against Pakistan at the National Stadium, starting at 10 a.m.
The host trail one zero in the now four-match series, and with one game to play, a win will be nothing less on the cards for the Phil Simmons-coached side, who look to square the series and share the spoils.
Inclement weather has taken all the limelight in the series, claiming two of the contest, with one game being removed from the schedule altogether.
The only completed match saw Pakistan winning the second T20 by seven runs, with captain Babar Azam opening with the bat in getting 51, and Mohammad Hafeez put in a Player of the Match performance, following a miserly spell with the ball, which saw him conceding just six runs from his four overs.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Cricket West Indies (CWI) today announced the players for the Rising Stars U19 High-Performance Camp in Antigua. The camp has been designed to help lift the players to the next level of physical and mental skills development, in the ongoing preparation program for the 2022 ICC U19 Cricket World Cup to be played in the West Indies in January and February next year. The players have begun arriving in Antigua over the past weekend.
Along with targeted coaching sessions, the players will also compete in warm-up matches, and more intense “trial” matches at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium and Coolidge Cricket Ground international venues. The final squad of 18 players will be selected for the West Indies Rising Stars U19 Tour of England in September where they will play six Youth One-Day Internationals.
“Given all the challenges we faced over the last twelve months, a huge amount of work has taken place across the region to identify and start developing those players in the provisional pool for the ICC U19 World Cup,” said Graeme West, CWI’s High-Performance Manager.
Chief selector Roger Harper has also taken aim at the quality of the Kensington Oval pitch for the recent one-day series against Australia, but also conceded West Indies’ batsmen had also failed to make the adjustments required. The former West Indies off-spinner said the pitch had produced too much variation for a limited overs game, and it left the home side’s batsmen with an enormous challenge with which they never really came to grips.
“Coming to Barbados in the ODIs – different format, longer format – I think the team generally found the pitches a little challenging and didn’t adapt as well as they should’ve from a batting perspective,” Harper explained.
“They never really came to terms with the pitch and were not able to produce the sort of collective batting performance that was required.
The Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) Saint Lucia franchise are to change their name from the Zouks to the Kings. The team is owned by K.P.H. Dream Cricket Private Limited who also run the Punjab Kings franchise at the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The Saint Lucia Kings will share branding and other assets with their colleagues at the IPL as the ownership team moves to further cement ties between the two brands. This synergy will help build on the successes the team has had since the new owners arrived after they finished as runners-up at last year’s Hero CPL tournament.
The Kings will play their first match of this season against the Jamaica Tallawahs on Friday 27 August. The Kings side will be coached by Andy Flower and will have the likes of Faf du Plessis, Andre Fletcher, Rakheem Cornwall and Wahab Riaz in their ranks.
Commenting on the new brand identity Darren Sammy, Assistant Coach and Mentor, Saint Lucia Kings, said: “I love the logo and I love the new name. It’s a pleasure to be associated with the Kings Franchise and I truly hope that the name can inspire our players to play like the true Kings that we are!”
