ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Cricket West Indies (CWI) today announced the match schedule and venues for the final three rounds of the West Indies Championship, the region’s first-class four-day red ball tournament, which will be played in Trinidad and Guyana.
Two rounds have been played so far and the tournament will resume on 15 to 18 March with Trinidad & Tobago Red Force hosting current West Indies Championship leaders, Guyana Harpy Eagles at Brian Lara Cricket Academy. The other two matches in the third round will see Leeward Islands Hurricanes face Barbados Pride at Queen’s Park Oval¸Trinidad and the Jamaica Scorpions facing Windward Islands Volcanoes at the Guyana National Stadium. The fourth round will be played from 22 to 25 March with the fifth and final round from 29 March to 1 April.
Roland Holder, CWI’s Manager of Cricket Operations said: “The first two rounds of matches last month offered great excitement and we are delighted to see the resumption of the West Indies Championship. Based on what we saw in the first phase of matches, we can expect more keen competition among the six teams as they vie for the prestigious Headley/Weekes Trophy. There is a lot to play for, as players also have the opportunity to compete for places in the Headley/Weekes Series which will follow at the end of the West Indies Championship and prepare to compete for spots on the international stage.”
Jason Holder became the second West Indies player after Sir Garry Sobers to take 150 Test wickets and score 2500 runs but does not think he will be able to break Sobers' record because of the dearth of Test cricket facing teams like West Indies.
"The way world cricket is going now, apart from the big three, every team is barely playing any Test cricket," Holder said after the second day's play between South Africa and West Indies in Centurion. "We average six to eight Test matches over the last three years. This year we've got six, next year around six. You have to be in the XI for every single game to get anywhere close to 100 Tests."
Holder is playing his 61st Test and with West Indies only due to play India (two Tests at home in July) this year, and 24 more Tests in the current FTP, even if he plays in all of them, he will not catch up with Sobers' 93. Nor is Kraigg Brathwaite, who debuted in May 2011 and has 83 Tests, likely to catch up with Joe Root, who started playing Tests in December 2012 and already has 129 caps to his name.
DR KISHORE Shallow has confirmed he has accepted the nomination for president of Cricket West Indies (CWI) and will contest the March 25 elections at the CWI 24th Annual General Meeting in Antigua.
Shallow has served as vice-president of CWI since 2019 under president Ricky Skerritt and chaired the taskforce which developed the first West Indies selection policy. Further to this, he chaired the Franchise Review Committee and played an integral role in stabilising the financial state of the organisation during the covid19 pandemic.
Skerritt, who has served two terms, will not contest the elections.
On Wednesday, in a CWI media release, Shallow said, “I wish to express gratitude to the territories for reposing confidence in me, understanding that the continued effort to reinvigorate our beloved cricket is a mammoth of a task, which requires capable and progressive leadership.”
Kagiso Rabada took six wickets as South Africa recovered from a batting collapse on day three to beat West Indies by 87 runs in the first Test in Centurion.
A haul of 6-50 from Rabada carried the hosts home as West Indies were bowled out for 159 in their second innings, with Jermaine Blackwood's terrific 79 from 93 balls providing the chief resistance.
The SuperSport Park crowd had seen South Africa fall from their overnight 49-4 to 116 all out in the morning session, with Aiden Markram following his century in the first innings with 47 as only two others reached double figures.
Kemar Roach took 5-47, with Markram among his victims, to fuel hopes of a first Test win for West Indies against South Africa since December 2007.
Yet momentum began to tilt back the Proteas' way when West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite fell to Rabada just before lunch, before any runs went on the board in the chase.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Cricket West Indies (CWI) today announced a new licensing partnership with NextWave Multimedia, Nazara Technologies’ independent subsidiary, which will feature 27 of the West Indies Men’s team in the latest version of the mobile game “World Cricket Championship 3 (WCC3)”, the world’s No.1 cricket game on mobile. The collaboration is the first time that West Indies players have ever featured in a mobile game with the West Indies being the first official cricket team to be featured in the game.
Twenty-seven players from across the Men’s Test, One-Day International (ODI) and T20 International (T20I) squads are featured in the game as well as the West Indies famous team kits and shield. CWI recently embarked on a new team licensing programme, in partnership with the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA), which gives fans the opportunity to download, purchase and engage with licensed team products, driving additional revenues for CWI to invest back into cricket and to generate new revenues for the players payment pool.
WCC3 serves as a next-gen sequel to the World Cricket Championship 2. Leveraging advanced AI, NextWave Multimedia has used state-of-the-art gameplay feathers, realistic animations and professional commentary to give the players an immersive experience. To make the game more realistic, they have also added real-time motion capture of professional cricketers. With the collaboration with the official West Indies team players, gamers will no longer have to play with fictitious player names, random players and jerseys. Instead, they will now be able to play with the real West Indies team. The game will feature the West Indies team in ODI, T20 and Test formats and include the official roster, player likeness and team kits of all formats. Player lookalikes, real player names and kits will add authenticity to the game and greatly enhance the gaming experience of the fans.
