ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Coach Courtney Walsh is pleased with the new players added to the West Indies Women’s training squad for the month-long high-performance camp currently taking place in Antigua.
Despite a few areas that need more attention, the West Indies bowling legend is not overly concerned as he knows the women can switch gears as the camp progresses. The only concern he has so far is the level of fitness of some of the players. The coaching staff has ramped up the preparation in achieving improvements and balance between both fitness and skills.
He has identified an improvement in the batting both in the nets and during the practice matches played so far and he is confident the bowling will start showing that improvement in the coming weeks before the camp ends.
Chris Gayle, Shakib al Hasan and Faf du Plessis will be playing at 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) which takes place in St Kitts & Nevis from 28 August to 19 September.
Chris Gayle will be back with the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots, a team he played for in 2017 and 2018. Gayle guided the Patriots to their only Hero CPL final in his first year with the franchise. As the leading run-scorer in T20 history, he brings a huge amount of experience to the Patriots squad.
Shakib al Hasan has joined the Jamaica Tallawahs for the 2021 season. This will be the second time that the world’s leading spin-bowling allrounder has represented the Tallawahs having been with the franchise in 2016 and 2017.
Faf du Plessis will be playing for the St Lucia Zouks this season. The former South Africa captain has been in outstanding form in recent months for the Chennai Super Kings at the Indian Premier League where he made four consecutive half-centuries, including 95 not out against Kolkata Knight Riders. This is his second stint at the Hero CPL having played for the Patriots in 2016.
ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – Cricket West Indies (CWI) hosted the Professional Cricketers Draft for the 2021-2022 season, which took place over two rounds via a video call with representatives from all six Territorial Board Franchises. Several teams drafted young, emerging players to complete their 15-member squads, while others chose to boost their ranks with more experienced players.
Among those drafted, are several former West Indies Under-19 players, two of whom won the ICC Under-19 World Cup in 2016. Batsmen Jyd Goolie and Kirstan Kallicharan, who were both members of the team which won the world title in Bangladesh, were drafted by their native Trinidad and Tobago to the Red Force team. The left-handed Goolie, who turned 24 earlier this month, has so far played four first-class matches and has a high score of 128.
Left-arm spinner Barbadian Joshua Bishop, who bowled impressively in this year’s CG Insurance Super50 Cup, was snapped up by the Barbados Pride. The Pride’s second pick was another Barbadian, seam bowler Akeem Jordan, who, like Bishop, took a five-wicket haul in the marquee 50-over event earlier this year. Windward Islands Volcanoes has also chosen youthful talents in Darius Martin, a fast bowler from St Vincent and the Grenadines and Gilon Tyson, a Dominican fast bowler who is also a capable lower-order batsman.
Mohammad Amir, Shoaib Malik and Sandeep Lamichhane will be playing at the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League which takes place in St Kitts & Nevis in August and September.
The Barbados Tridents have secured the services of Pakistani left-arm seamer Mohammad Amir. With 220 T20 wickets to his name, 59 of them coming in international matches, Amir has a huge amount of experience and a track record of success across the globe.
Shoaib Malik returns to the Guyana Amazon Warriors. Malik was central to the success of the Amazon Warriors in 2019 when they won 11 consecutive matches. Malik has played 417 T20 matches and won 12 trophies in the format.
LAHORE, Pakistan (CMC) — Shimron Hetmyer's gradual isolation from Test cricket continued Saturday when he was signed by Multan Sultans for next month's continuation of the Pakistan Super League (PSL).
The left-hander, along with T20 World Cup winner Johnson Charles, was picked up by the franchise in a replacement draft staged online earlier this week.
Hetmyer was one of several West Indies players who returned to the Caribbean earlier this month after the lucrative Indian Premier League was suspended due to the country's COVID-19 crisis.
Significantly, the Guyanese was not included in a 30-man squad selected to participate in a three-week high-performance camp in St Lucia, in preparation for the two-Test series against South Africa bowling off June 10 in the Caribbean island.
Hetmyer has not played a Test in one-and-half years and averages just under 28 from 16 matches which have seen him score five half-centuries.
