ST JOHN’S, Antigua — Following PCR tests administered on Sunday, January 24, Cricket West Indies (CWI) can confirm that three players from two teams have tested positive for COVID-19 and will now undergo a period of self-isolation.
Kyle Hope and his brother Shai Hope of Barbados Pride and Trevon Griffith of Guyana Jaguars have returned positive COVID-19 tests. They will therefore remain in their home territories and will miss the upcoming CG Insurance Super50 Cup tournament.
Kemol Savory has been named as the replacement in the Guyana Jaguars 15-man squad while Barbados Pride named Zachary McCaskie and Tevyn Walcott as their replacements.
CHATTOGRAM, Bangladesh (CMC) — Head Coach Phil Simmons was frank in his assessment of West Indies following their chastening whitewash here yesterday, lamenting the lack of “heart and character” shown in the three-match series.
The Caribbean side failed to seriously challenge the hosts in any department, losing all three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) comprehensively on the back of woeful batting performances.
“I think our performance has been under par. I don't think we batted as well as we can do,” Simmons said following his side's 120-run defeat at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium here.
“The bowling wasn't that bad — on this wicket, to limit them to under 300 has been good but our batting has been poor throughout the series.”
ST JOHN’S, Antigua — Cricket West Indies (CWI) has announced the return of regional 50-over cricket to the Caribbean with the fixtures for the rescheduled CG Insurance Super50 Cup to be played in Antigua in February. The health risks related to the COVID-19 pandemic caused major disruption to all domestic cricket since late March 2020, with no competitive cricket allowed regionally except for an abridged version of the Caribbean Premier League which took place last August in Trinidad.
This year’s annual CG Insurance Super50 Cup will provide a platform for the region’s six major cricketing rivals to clash in 19 action-packed 50-over matches starting from Sunday, February 7 when Leeward Islands Hurricanes host the Windward Islands Volcanoes.
The tournament will come to an exciting climax when the new champions are crowned on Saturday, February 27. The 2019-20 champions, West Indies Emerging Players, are unable to defend their 2019 trophy due to COVID-19 constraints, however several of those players now feature in the squads of the six competing franchise teams, one of which will emerge as the CG Insurance Super50 Cup champions.
CHATTOGRAM, Bangladesh (CMC) — West Indies Head Coach Phil Simmons believes the challenging conditions for the two-Test series here next month will be an important test of players' mettle as much as their skill.
The Caribbean side take on Bangladesh in matches here in the coastal south-eastern city and in the country's capital, Dhaka, in conditions expected to favour the hosts' spin attack.
And with the series also being played amid the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, Simmons said players would definitely benefit from the overall experience.
“To each player, it will mean a lot,” Simmons said ahead of the series set to bowl off here on February 3.
West Indies legendary wicketkeeper, Jeffrey Dujon, is convinced that out-of-favour Shai Hope remains the team’s best batsman, despite recently running into a rough patch of form.
The 27-years-old Hope was dropped from the team last year ahead of the West Indies tour of New Zealand. The decision followed several months of off-colour form, which saw the player return scores of 16, 9, 25, 7, 17, and 31 during the team’s three-Test tour of England in July. Overall, in Test cricket, Hope averaged 19.48 since December 2017 and just 14.45 since February 2019.
The decision to drop the player, however, still stirred vigorous debate around the region, with many arguing that he should have been allowed to play his way back into form. For his part, Dujon has backed the player to figure things out sooner, rather than later.
“There’s no question in my mind that he is the best batsman that we have,” Dujon told the Mason and Guest radio program.
