ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Rahkeem Cornwall made his maiden Test match half-century and added a vital partnership with Joshua Da Silva which lifted the West Indies to a 99-run lead over Sri Lanka on the second day of the first Sandals Test match at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on Monday.
Cornwall reached 60 not out at the close while wicket-keeper Da Silva made 46 as they added a record eighth-wicket stand of 90 which pulled the innings around to 268-8, in reply to Sri Lanka’s 169.
Alzarri Joseph, the West Indies fast bowler, is to join Worcestershire as their overseas player for the opening weeks of the 2021 season.
Joseph, who is currently playing against Sri Lanka in the first Test in Antigua, will fly into the UK from the Caribbean on April 4, and will be available to Worcestershire for their first seven County Championship fixtures.
The ongoing Test is Joseph's 15th, in which he has claimed 34 wickets, in addition to a further 54 in 34 ODIs. He was part of the West Indies squad that toured England during last summer's bio-secure Test series, claiming three wickets in his two Test appearances at Southampton and Manchester.
"I am thrilled to be joining Worcestershire for the early part of the summer," Joseph said.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) incumbent, Ricky Skerritt, has dismissed threats from presidential candidate Anand Sanasie as part of a ‘hopeful’ strategy designed to disqualify him from seeking re-election.
Earlier this week, Sanasie admitted to beginning procedures to bring Skerritt before the CWI Ethics Committee. If the complaint is ignored at the regional level, the Guyana Cricket Board Secretary has not ruled out instructing his attorneys to bring the matter before the International Cricket Council (ICC).
“He is creating an illusion that somehow I will be disqualified from the election,” Skerritt told Sports Grill.
Legendary West Indies batsman, Viv Richards, was hesitant to compare the talent of players currently available to the West Indies team, with those in his heyday, as he believes eras are simply too different.
Richards represented the West Indies for close to two decades, following his debut in 1974. For the majority of his career, the Windies were known as the world’s best cricket team, securing two World Cups during that time.
The Master Blaster, as he is otherwise known, played alongside some of the game’s greatest players, the likes of Clive Lloyd, Desmond Haynes, Gordon Greenidge, and bowlers Malcolm Marshal, Joel Garner, Collin Croft, and Michael Holding, to name a few, listed among his teammates. Recently, the team has fallen far from that type of dominance.
For some, the quality comparison between the talent that was available then regionally, and the current crop, is an open and shut case with overwhelming favourability for the former. For Richards, however, it isn’t that simple.
“It’s always tough for you to make comparisons of what took place yesterday to what’s happening today because I think the game would have moved on big time as well,” Richards told the Antigua Observer.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Jason Holder had excellent figures of 5-27 as West Indies took full control over Sri Lanka on the opening day of the first Sandals Test match on Sunday. The tall seam bowler engineered a batting collapse as the last five wickets fell for 19 runs as the visitors were bowled out for 169 on a good surface at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
Holder registered his eighth five-wicket haul in Tests off 17.4 overs and in the process reached 200 first-class wickets. He was supported by Kemar Roach who took 3-47, to move to 33 wickets at this venue in his sixth match.
