West Indies great Brian Lara does not think their current issues in Test cricket would be resolved by solely investing more money.
They are eighth in the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Test rankings, having been a dominant force in the 1980s when they set a then-record 11 consecutive Test victories.
In contrast they failed to win any of their three Test series in 2023, but did pick up their first red-ball win in Australia since 1997 earlier this year.
“If you put 100 million, 200 million dollars into the West Indies’ bank account, is it going to change the way we play the game? I’m not sure,” Lara told BBC World Service’s Stumped podcast.
He said all he wanted to do was contribute to a win. James Anderson got his wish, though the Lord's crowd were denied the fairytale five-for that seemed there for the taking at the start of day three. He finished with three in the innings, four in the match, and 704 for a Test career that has spanned more than two decades, as England completed the formalities of a crushing victory over West Indies.
As Anderson took his final bow, the centre stage was claimed by his latest successor. Gus Atkinson ripped out three more wickets to finish a brilliant first outing with match figures of 12 for 106 - the best by an Englishman on Test debut since 1890. Atkinson's sheepish grin was perhaps partly in recognition that he had denied Anderson the chance to bookend his extraordinary Test career with twin appearances on the Lord's honours board, but his ruthlessness was to be applauded as he blew through the West Indies tail.
Anderson even missed the opportunity to finish the match with a catch off his own bowling, dropping a chance dollied back to him by the No. 9, Gudakesh Motie. The moment drew gasps and groans, though Anderson could smile as he sank to his knees mid-pitch, the ball having rebounded out of his grasp as he went for it one-handed. Unlike his longtime new-ball partner, Stuart Broad, the Hollywood ending was not to be.
Anderson was phlegmatic when interviewed on Sky Sports at the close, cradling a pint of Guinness in the changing room: "I'm gutted I dropped that catch, to be honest. It's been an amazing week, I've been quite overwhelmed with the reaction, proud of what I've achieved."
England need four more wickets to secure an innings win over West Indies inside three days, after James Anderson, Gus Atkinson and Ben Stokes shared six wickets on the second evening. The hosts were dominant with the bat, scoring at more than four runs per over across their first innings and then turned the screw with the ball to close in on a 1-0 lead.
Needing to score 250 - more than double their first-innings total - just to make England bat again, West Indies slumped to 37 for 4 inside 19 overs. Anderson's inswinger knocked back Kraigg Brathwaite's middle stump, Stokes removed Mikyle Louis and Kirk McKenzie during a ten-over spell, and Kavem Hodge chopped Atkinson onto his own stumps.
West Indies' batters were far too passive, looking to survive rather than score but ultimately managing neither. Alick Athanaze was a rare exception from No. 4, but he fell for 22 to a textbook Anderson set-up: he was worked over from around the wicket, with some balls shaping in and others leaving him before edging behind as he attempted to push through the covers.
Joshua da Silva and Jason Holder added 24 for the sixth wicket - damningly, West Indies' third-highest stand of the match - but England struck with the final ball of the day. Stokes laid a short-ball trap with two men out on the hook, and Holder could only fend Atkinson's bumper to Ollie Pope at short leg.
Kavem Hodge sunk to his knees in shock. Both his gloved hands were clasped on the top of the bat handle as he looked at Alzarri Joseph, his batting partner, in disbelief.
Ollie Pope, standing well in front of the normal point position, had just caught a stunning catch to intercept a fiercely-cut square drive from Hodge off Chris Woakes, who shook his head, too, in disbelief. After staying at the crease for nearly 20 seconds in the aftermath of his dismissal, Hodge would finally start to head back slowly to the dressing room, while continuing to shake his head at what had just happened.
Pope had no business to pluck a catch like that and make it look ridiculously simple. He was standing on the outer edge of the third pitch from the Pavilion End when he instinctively put out both hands to his left as soon as Hodge cut a short Woakes delivery which was far outside his off stump for what he thought was a certain four. On reflection, did Hodge think he could have left that innocuous delivery? Or did he feel justified in going after a short delivery?
That kind of scrutiny is necessary because of the state of play at the time: West Indies, having been put into bat, were 88 for 6. The previous over, Gus Atkinson had erased West Indies middle order picking the trio of Alick Athanaze, Jason Holder and Joshua da Silva in four deliveries. Hodge was the last specialist batter. The match was still young: Woakes' was the 36th over of the match and eighth post-lunch.
Samara Ramnath shone with the bat and ball to lead TT to a six-wicket victory over Windward Islands when round three of the West Indies Rising Stars Women’s U19 T20 Championship continued at Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Tarouba, on July 9.
The off-spinner wreaked havoc with the ball and took a mesmerising three wickets for five runs from fours overs and was key to restricting the visitors to a paltry 60/9, batting first.
TT, defending champions, made light work of the target as opener Ramnath led the hosts to a victorious 61/4, with her top score of 28 not out.
When Windwards batted, they lost opener Cian Felix (five) and Jaeda Tyrell (golden duck) with 14 runs on the board. Natalia Phillip (19) and skipper Zaida James (17) added 17 runs to the total before the latter was bowled by a right-hand medium pacer Kenika Cassar, who was also instrumental with her haul of three wickets for 13 runs.
Phillip and James were their main contributors as the remaining batters fell for single-digit scores and Windwards stuttered to 60/9.
TT’s right-arm medium pacer Kirah Manpaul also snapped up two wickets for eight runs.
