West Indies captain Shai Hope and fast bowler Alzarri Joseph have made big strides in the ICC Men’s One-Day International plyer rankings, announced on Wednesday.
Following the recent series in South Africa, Hope has moved up two places in the batting to 12th position. He made a match-wining 128 not out – his 14th ODI century – in his first match as captain which the West Indies defeated the home side at Buffalo Park in East London.
Joseph made a giant leap of eight places to 11th spot after the two matches. He bowled with genuine pace and penetration and took 3-53 in East London which was followed up by 3-50 in the next match at JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom.
Heinrich Klaasen’s second ODI century led South Africa to a series-levelling victory over West Indies in a non-Super League contest. Chasing 261 on a fairly flat surface in Potchefstroom, South Africa were in some trouble on 87 for 4 before Klaasen shared in a half-century stand with David Miller and a 103-run partnership with Marco Jansen, and notched up the fourth-fastest century by a South African to make light work of the target.
The result denied West Indies the opportunity to win their third away bilateral series since 2011, and their first against a team ranked in the top eight. They have also never won a bilateral ODI series in South Africa and last claimed a fifty-over trophy here 30 years ago, when they were successful in a triangular series which also involved Pakistan.
On reflection, West Indies will look at the performance of their middle order, who squandered a strong start – they were 110 for 1 – and lost 6 for 96 between overs 19 and 40. They did not bat out their overs but gave the attack something to defend with 50 runs off the last 50 balls faced. Their bowlers started well against a South African line-up missing Quinton de Kock (rested) and Temba Bavuma (injured) but Klaasen’s clean-hitting turned it into a no-contest as South Africa won with more than 20 overs to spare.
Klaasen was called on after a vicious opening spell by Alzarri Joseph and the departure of stand-in captain Aiden Markram, with a job to do. Joseph sent down a fiery short-ball barrage to remove makeshift opener Ryan Rickelton who fended him to Kyle Mayers at first slip, and No. 3 Rassie van der Dussen who was rushed into the pull shot. Markram saw out the powerplay but then edged a Mayers’ legcutter to Shai Hope to bring Klaasen into play in the 11th over. Nine balls later, West Indies’ successfully reviewed an Akeal Hosein lbw appeal against Tony de Zorzi, that ball-tracking showed was going to hit middle-stump. South Africa were in trouble at 87 for 4.
Former West Indies all-rounder Deandra Dottin says she is "deeply disappointed" by the "bewildering reasoning" given by the Gujarat Giants explaining her omission from the squad for the inaugural WPL.
The Giants had stated prior to the season that the 31-year-old was "recovering from a medical situation", and subsequently announced Australia’s Kim Garth as her replacement.
Dottin tweeted that she was "recovering from nothing" at the time of the announcement.
At a media interaction after Dottin's response, Giants issued a clarification that they had to seek a replacement because they were unable to obtain a medical clearance in time for Dottin.
Dottin put out a detailed statement on Twitter on Sunday, saying, "I remain deeply disappointed by what can only, plausibly, be described as bewildering reasoning for my omission from the tournament.
"At the commencement of the tournament, the franchise claimed that I was excluded from the team because I was apparently 'recovering from a medical situation'. This was followed by a subsequent, clarifying statement that contended that I was, in fact 'unable to obtain medical clearance' despite being granted as recently as February 20th."
The 2022 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) generated a huge economic impact for the countries who hosted matches with a total figure of US$200,935,772, a 47% increase on the amount generated during the 2019 tournament, the last time the Hero CPL travelled around the region.
The total direct economic impact on the region from Hero CPL 2022 was US$134,686,551 with an additional US$66,250,232 in sponsorship value as a result of the Hero CPL broadcast which was watched by over 700million viewers in 2022.
The four countries who held Hero CPL matches were St Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago and Guyana. St Kitts & Nevis also hosted the first running of the Massy Women’s CPL (WCPL) and the SKYEXCH 6IXTY. The tournament has created jobs and generated income in all of these countries as the Caribbean continues to be central to the success of the Hero CPL.
A career-defining century by a cricket captain should be enough to win a game of cricket, according to Shai Hope. And he wasn’t talking about himself.
“Temba Bavuma – an innings like that deserves to be a victorious innings but it just so happened that we came out on top at the end. I must give him credit for the way he controlled the innings. He played the situation well and he really deserved to win the game but there can only be one winner,” Hope said after West Indies successfully defended 335 runs – their highest score against South Africa – in East London.
It’s something we speak about in the meetings. We are just trying to win more cricket games. We didn’t have a successful 2022 and we are trying everything to turn it around,” he said.
So how will he manage the many roles he has to play in what is a big ODI year for West Indies? “I am definitely going to take it on full speed. It’s about giving my all to the team,” Hope said. “I am getting support from all ends. I have got support from guys off the field and on the field. I’ve got to keep embracing the responsibility and when the time comes to shine, I’ll do so.”
