WEST INDIES wicketkeeper/ batsman Nicholas Pooran will not be allowed to play for the Leeward Islands Hurricanes in the upcoming West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Regional Professional Four-Day tournament after signing with the Khulna Titans in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), which bowled off yesterday. The former West Indies Under-19 player will also be ineligible for the Regional Super50 tournament scheduled for early next year.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the WICB Michael Muirhead explained that there are consequences if a player commits himself to a regional team and backs out of his agreement.
Muirhead stated, “Nicholas Pooran has decided not to play for the franchise (Leeward Islands Hurricanes) that he was selected for. All persons who are entering the (WICB Four-Day) draft, sign that they will make themselves available and commit themselves to playing for whoever they are drafted by. If you fail to honour that then there are consequences.
The West Indies Cricket Board has refused to confirm whether marquee batsman Darren Bravo was offered a lower level Grade C central contract for the upcoming year. The Trinidad NewsDay reported yesterday that the 27-year-old leader of the West Indies batting group had been overlooked for a top tier retainer, and given a Grade C contract worth US$100 000. Earlier this week, the WICB disclosed that Bravo had declined a retainer contract, along with veteran batsman Marlon Samuels and Twenty20 captain Carlos Brathwaite. WICB communications manager, Carole Beckford, subsequently told the NewsDay the board did not have a policy of releasing information on player contract scales. “No, we wouldn’t give that information. If the players want to reveal their scales that’s fine but we don’t,” she was quoted as saying. “We have supplied the ranges in the last press release and we thought that was sufficient.” She continued: “I don’t think it’s important or necessary to give the scale. We have decided that we’re not giving the scale, that the range is sufficient.
West Indies opener Kraigg Brathwaite has moved into the top 20 of the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen for the first time after playing a stellar role in his team’s five-wicket win over Pakistan in the third and final Test in Sharjah that ended on Thursday.
Brathwaite, who became the first opener to remain unbeaten in both innings of a Test match with scores of 142 and 60, has gained 13 places to reach a career-best 19th rank while helping the West Indies pull one back in the series that Pakistan won 2-1.
Pakistan, which was top-ranked till India overtook it last month, has lost two points in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings despite the series win because it went in with a 44-point lead over the West Indies and the rankings are weighted to reflect this difference. But Pakistan remains in second position with 109 points, six points behind India and just one point ahead of third-placed Australia. The West Indies has gained two points to reach 69 points and remains in eighth position.
Brathwaite was not the only West Indies batsman to gain in the rankings led by Australia captain Steve Smith as wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich has gained 27 slots to reach a career-best 58th position. He scored 47 and 60 not out and figured in an unbroken stand of 87 with Brathwaite to see the team through to a target of 153 in Sharjah.
St John’s, ANTIGUA - The following is the 15-man squad for the upcoming one-day-international Tri-Nation series in Zimbabwe. The tour is scheduled for November 12 – 30. The series will consist of seven ODIs. West Indies will open series against Sri Lanka in Harare on Wednesday, November 16.
FULL SQUAD
1. Sulieman Benn 2. Carlos Brathwaite 3. Kraigg Brathwaite 4. Darren Bravo 5. Jonathan Carter 6. Johnson Charles 7. Miguel Cummins – replaces Alzarri Joseph 8. Shane Dowrich – replaces Marlon Samuels 9. Shannon Gabriel 10. Jason Holder (Captain) 11. Shai Hope 12. Evin Lewis 13. Sunil Narine 14. Ashley Nurse 15. Rovman Powell
“We have been inconsistent for the last number of years. I’m here to do a job and I’m trying to do the best I possibly can,” cried out a visibly frustrated Jason Holder, following a 133-run defeat to Pakistan at Abu Dhabi. Holder, the 36th Test captain of the West Indies in Test cricket and their 14th since Richie Richardson — precisely the time when their downfall began in Test cricket — is now latest in the line to try out his luck. In the last 19 years, West Indies have tried out as many as 14 captains, and none of them have been able to stem the rot; 4 of them did not even win a Test. West Indies have only plummeted and the criticism has grown harsher, with none sparing a thought ever for the young men who were handed out monumental tasks, irrespective of whether they were ready or not. Not demeaning anything which the current West Indies captain has achieved so far at the international stage, but before the final Test against Pakistan, it looked as if all that Holder had done in Test cricket was scoring a century against England a year and half back at home, and a cameo in a documentary on the glory days of cricket in the Caribbean.
