EXPERIENCED West Indies Women’s cricketer Britney Cooper expects that there will be greater exposure for younger regional players, when the inaugural Women’s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL) takes place from August 30 to September 30, 2022.
“It will be the first time a lot of young players in the Caribbean would be exposed to playing cricket on live television, and it will be a big opportunity for other franchises from Australia, England and even India to see their talent and to pick more West Indians in those competitions,” said Cooper, during a telephone interview on Monday.
Cooper was a part of the WI team who won the ICC T20 Women’s World Cup in India in 2016. However, she has been out of action since the beginning of 2022 due to injury.
Rookie West Indies seamer Jayden Seales believes the flat surface for the opening Test in Antigua last week proved a learning curve in his fledgling career.
The 20-year-old was part of a four-pronged West Indies pace attack which toiled with little assistance from the unresponsive pitch at the Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium, as the contest against England predictably ended in a draw.
Seales, who made his Test debut last year, snatched four first-innings wickets but went without success in the second innings as England piled up 349 for six declared.
“I am pleased [with my performance] but I know I could’ve done a lot better,” the Trinidadian explained.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Expressing concern that grassroots cricket in the region is under threat, Cricket West Indies (CWI) Director of Cricket Jimmy Adams says administrators are desperately trying to regain momentum to preserve and nurture current and future talent.
He said there is a particular need to identify and develop female talent in the sport.
Speaking at a press conference where he discussed the launch of the CWI Emerging Players Academy which is aimed at supporting the development of world-class players from the Caribbean, Adams said while there is raw talent across CWI territories, “if we don’t protect our grassroots cricket, then we might not be saying that in 10 years’ time”.
“Our grassroots cricket is under attack at the minute. We’re trying desperately to work with governments across the region to ensure that we don’t lose that base that we’ve had and that we depend on going forward,” he said.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – Kensington Oval is expected to be a hive of activity for the second Apex Test match, as the historic venue will now be able to operate at full capacity when West Indies host England from March 16-20. Cricket West Indies (CWI) today announced that the venue will be allowed to return to 100 percent capacity for fully vaccinated fans, following a decision taken by the Barbados Government.
Additionally, it was also announced that fans in the ‘Banks Party Stand’, presented by ‘Power By Four’, will no longer be required to take rapid antigen tests to enter, with all fans now just needing to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and be able to present their vaccination documentation.
Needing so desperately to erase the abysmal performance against India in the previous game from the minds of the viewing fans, the West Indies won the toss and elected to bat in Wellington.
The Caribbean side were immediately on the backfoot when Ellyse Perry got the ball to just nip away from the in-form Hayley Matthews, taking the top of the right-handers off-stump; before angling the ball across Kycia Knight, to kiss the edge of the struggling left-handers’ blade, leaving the West Indies 4 for 2 in the second over.
The experienced duo of Deandra Dottin and Stafanie Taylor then set about steadying the ship. The former, however, was caught at slip, flashing outside the off-stump, West Indies three down inside the powerplay.
