The West Indies Academy completed a tense three-wicket win over the Barbados Pride on Saturday’s fourth and final day of their seventh round West Indies Championship clash at Coolidge.
The Pride, who began Saturday 228-5 off 92 overs leading the Academy by 138, carried on to post 308 from 113.3 overs to leave the Academy needing 219 for victory.
Raymon Reifer, who entered Saturday on 43*, went on to make 82 off 160 balls while Demetrius Richards contributed 46.
Ashmead Nedd finished with 3-80 from 33.3 overs to support Joshua Bishop who ended with 3-59 from 30 overs.
The Academy then needed 67.4 overs to reach 219-7 and secure the win.
Openers Rashawn Worrell and Kadeem Alleyne led the way with 63 and 52, respectively, before Carlon Bowen-Tuckett guided his team home with an unbeaten 27*.
Captain Kraigg Brathwaite took 3-28 from 10.4 overs while Jomel Warrican took 3-62 from 24 overs.
Full Scores: Barbados Pride 153 all out off 39.5 overs (Jonathan Drakes 33, Kevin Wickham 27, Shian Brathwaite 26, Johann Layne 3-23, McKenny Clarke 3-26, Joshua Bishop 2-23, Ramon Simmonds 2-43) & 308 all out off 113.3 overs (Kraigg Brathwaite 90, Raymon Reifer 82, Demetrius Richards 46, Kevin Wickham 35, Joshua Bishop 3-59, Ashmead Nedd 3-80)
West Indies Academy 243 all out off 61.3 overs (Ackeem Auguste 76, Carlon Bowen-Tuckett 49, Johann Layne 38, Akeem Jordan 4-76, Raymon Reifer 2-32, Jair McAllister 2-40) & 219-7 off 67.4 overs (Rashawn Worrell 63, Kadeem Alleyne 52, Carlon Bowen-Tuckett 27*, Kraigg Brathwaite 3-28, Jomel Warrican 3-62).
The game between the Windward Islands Volcanoes and Leeward Islands Hurricanes at the Queen’s Park Oval ended in a draw.
On a rain-shortened fourth and final day, the Windwards eventually reached 296-7 off 94 overs, 120 runs short of their target after starting the day 112-1.
Full Scores: Leeward Islands Hurricanes 300 all out off 82.5 overs (Mikyle Louis 100, Jewel Andrew 68, Jeremiah Louis 43, Ryan John 3-67, Gilon Tyson 2-33) & 294 all out off 79.2 overs (Keacy Carty 65, Mikyle Louis 33, Kavem Hodge 3-60, Gilon Tyson 3-91)
Windward Islands Volcanoes 179 all out off 53 overs (Johann Jeremiah 42, Shamar Springer 33, Daniel Doram 6-34, Hayden Walsh Jr 3-21) & 296-7 off 94 overs (Stephan Pascal 63, Johann Jeremiah 51, Shamar Springer 35, Daniel Doram 4-65, Hayden Walsh Jr 2-46).
These results confirmed the Guyana Harpy Eagles as champions of the West Indies Championship for the second straight season. The Harpy Eagles dismantled the Jamaica Scorpions by an innings and 125 runs inside three days at Sabina Park in round seven.
CWI's Lead Selector Haynes confident in T20 World Cup squad- “We’ve got a team that can win this World Cup”
CWI Lead Selector, Dr. The Hon. Desmond Haynes, believes the squad that has been selected to represent the West Indies at the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup set for June 1-29 in the Caribbean and the USA can replicate the performances of the region’s title-winning squads in 2012 and 2016.
“This is a very good time in West Indies cricket. I believe that we’ve got a team that can win this World Cup and I feel damn good about this,” Haynes said in a Friday press conference announcing the squad.
“We’ve had preparations for the last year. The majority of the players, we had them involved and they were very successful. This is a very exciting time for us and I would hope that everyone in the Caribbean and all the West Indies fans support us because this is our best chance,” he added.
Also on hand at Friday’s press conference was West Indies Men’s ODI and T20I head coach Daren Sammy who also expressed confidence in the squad ahead of the tournament.
“We’ve known how to select winning teams. We’ve done it before and I think, as a selection group, we’re really excited about it,” Sammy said.
“It’s an exciting time and this preparation did not start now. It started from the last World Cup in Australia. What we’ve been able to do throughout the last year as a T20 group, the players we’ve exposed, has brought us to this moment and I think we’re about to knock it out of this world,” he added.
Two of the standout names in the 15-man squad were pacer Shamar Joseph and Shimron Hetmyer.
Joseph made his Test debut during the recent tour to Australia and became a worldwide phenomenon when he took a seven-wicket haul in the final innings despite an injured foot to give West Indies a dramatic eight-run win at the Gabba in the second Test. It was West Indies' first Test win in Australia since 1997.
This will be his first opportunity to represent the West Indies in the T20I format. He’s currently getting his first crack at franchise T20 cricket as he is a member of the Lucknow Super Giants in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL).
“You really can’t question Shamar Joseph’s skills. We saw him in Australia. We were looking at someone up front to bowl in the first powerplay and we think he ticks that box for us,” Haynes said.
Hetmyer is making his return to the squad after being left out for the tour of Australia. Haynes said it was a tough time deciding whether to pick Hetmyer or Kyle Mayers.
“It was a very close decision between Kyle and Hettie but we look at it from the point of view that we wanted the extra batsman to be one batting down the order,” he said.
Since the start of Daren Sammy’s tenure as head coach, he has always placed an emphasis on the importance of roles in a successful T20 outfit.
He believes that this 15-man group has covered all the necessary bases.
“We are ready. When you look at role definition from the group we’ve selected, I think we’ve come up with the best combination to help us win this World Cup.
The hosts will open their campaign against Papua New Guinea at Providence in Guyana on June 2.
Full squad: Rovman Powell (C), Alzarri Joseph (VC), Johnson Charles, Roston Chase, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King, Gudakesh Motie, Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd
Shamar Joseph in as West Indies announces 15-member T20 World Cup squad
There were no real surprises, as West Indies announced their 15-member squad for the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which will be co-hosted in the Caribbean and United States.
The Darren Sammy-coached squad to be led by Jamaican Rovman Powell includes all the usual suspects, with rising fast bowling sensation Shamar Joseph being the only fresh face to the T20 unit.
West Indies, a two-time champion, having won the tournament in 2012 and 2016, will contest Group C of the global showpiece alongside Afghanistan, New Zealand, and two ICC Associate teams, Papua New Guinea and Uganda.
The Caribbean side is scheduled to kick off its title charge against Papa New Guinea on June 2, in Guyana.
All teams are allowed to make changes to their squad until 25 May, after which any alteration will require approval from ICC's Event Technical Committee.
More to come...
Squad: Rovman Powell (c), Alzarri Joseph, Johnson Charles, Roston Chase, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosain, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King, Gudakesh Motie, Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd
"We are where we want to be": Spooner pleased with response at box offices despite early glitches
Despite some early glitches at Kensington Oval’s box, in Barbados, Philip Spooner says things remain on the up where ticket sales for the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is concerned.
Spooner, the tournament’s global media operations Manager, acknowledged the early problems, but said efforts were made to rectify the issues, as cricket fans flocked the venues to secure tickets for the highly-anticipated June 1-29 tournament, to be hosted in the Caribbean and United States.
To celebrate 30 days to go to the start of the tournament, box offices were opened on Thursday until the end of the event across the six host locations -Antigua and Barbuda: Antigua Recreation Ground; Barbados: Kensington Oval; Guyana: Guyana Cricket Board Office; Saint Lucia: Daren Sammy Cricket Ground; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: Commercial Centre, and Trinidad and Tobago: Queen’s Park Oval and National Cricket Centre -in the West Indies.
“We apologise to the members of the public for the challenges that they faced, but we are very happy to see people coming out because it shows the level of interest, and this is a tremendous first day of operations.
“People want to be part of this event and they are participating meaningfully. We are very happy about that. We will put everything in place that needs to be put in place for our customers, our fans, who are the biggest supporters of the games,” Spooner said in an interview with Barbados Today.
“So far, the atmosphere has been amazing; there has been a lot of attention to the tournament globally, it is literally out of this world. We had the launch of the amazing anthem and the music video with Sean Paul and Kes, two of the best and most visible global artists in the region. We are very happy with that aspect of how things are going. The preparations of the fields and pitches have also been good, obviously, there is still work to be done as we are a month away, but we are where we want to be,” he added.
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