AP
Sri Lanka completed a series sweep of the West Indies Friday winning the second Test by 164 runs at Galle. Needing to make 297 or bat out 93 overs on the final day, the West Indies folded for 132 all out in 56.1 overs.
Lasith Embuldeniya 5-35 and Man-of-the-Series Ramesh Mendis 5-66 bamboozled the West Indies, which had gone to lunch at 65-2 after facing 30.4 overs in the pre-lunch session. However, on the resumption, the Caribbean men lost their remaining eight wickets for 67 runs.
Nkrumah Bonner made 44 in another defiant performance.
After Kraigg Brathwaite was dismissed for six with the score on 15, Bonner and Jermaine Blackwood had mounted a partnership of 50 runs without much drama until Blackwood was out on the stroke of lunch for 36.
After lunch, Shai Hope (16) and Kemar Roach (13) were the only batsmen to make double figures as the Sri Lankan spinners cut through the lineup that offered little resistance as the West Indies were all out in 25.3 overs after the interval.
Resuming after lunch at 65-2, Hope and Bonner had taken the score to 92 when Mendis took three wickets - Hope, Roston Chase (0) and Kyle Mayers (0) - in the 44th over.
Holder (3) and Bonner followed shortly thereafter as the West Indies slipped further from 92-5 to 108-7 before Roach and Joshua da Silva, who remained unbeaten on four, attempted to mount another lower-order stand. However, when Roach became Embuldeniya's fourth victim at 128, it did not take long for Sri Lanka to wrap up the innings as Mendis claimed Veerasammy Permaul for one and Embuldeniya delivered the final rites when he dismissed Jomel Warrican for three.
Earlier, Sri Lanka had resumed from their overnight score of 328-8 with Man of the Match Dhananjaya de Silva on 153 and Embuldeniya on 25. The pair extended the ninth-wicket partnership of 107 to 126 before Embuldeniya was bowled by Jason Holder for 39.
De Silva remained not out on 155 as Sri Lanka declared at 345-9.
Holder finished with figures of 1-26. Veerasammy Permaul, who had eight wickets in the match, took 3-106 and Roston Chase 2-82.
Sri Lanka won the first Test by 187 runs.
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McKenzie hits two fifties to lead Kingston CC to first JCA Senior Cup title since 2001
West Indies batsman Kirk McKenzie was the catalyst as Kingston Cricket Club won their first Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) Senior Cup title since 2001 at Sabina Park over the weekend.
Kingston took first strike after opponents, the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), won the toss and elected to field first on day one on Saturday.
McKenzie led the way with a 127-ball 83 including 10 fours and five sixes as Kingston were bowled out for 251 in their first innings.
He was well supported by Jamaica Scorpions players Brad Barnes and Romaine Morris who made 57 and 44, respectively.
Tevin Gilzene, who represented the Jamaica Scorpions in the 2023 West Indies Championship, led the way for the soldiers with 5-60 from 18.5 overs while Andrae Dennis, who made his first-class debut in the final round of the recently concluded West Indies Championship, took 3-33 off nine overs in support.
Pacers Andre Bailey and Odean Smith then combined for six wickets to help reduce JDF to 185 all out in their first innings.
Bailey took 3-41from 11 overs while Smith took 3-43 from 12.
Andre Fowler led the way for JDF with a patient 108-ball 43 at the top of the order.
Kingston were 219-8 in their second innings on day two when play was called to an end.
McKenzie followed up his first innings exploits with 84 off 114 balls including 10 fours and four sixes while Smith made 45 off 27 balls including seven fours and two sixes.
Scorpions pacer Gordon Bryan took 5-28 for JDF in the second innings.
With the win, Kingston CC took home a prize of $750,00 while JDF pocketed $500,000. Patrick Harty Jr was named tournament MVP and was also the leading wicket-taker while Melbourne Cricket Club’s Javelle Glenn was the tournament’s top run scorer.
Full scores: Kingston CC 251 (Kirk McKenzie 83, Brad Barnes 57, Romaine Morris 44, Tevin Gilzene 5-60, Andrae Dennis 3-33) & 219-8 (Kirk McKenzie 84, Odean Smith 45, Gordon Bryan 5-28)
JDF 185 (Andre Fowler 43, Andre Bailey 3-41, Odean Smith 3-43)
Windies to test T20 World Cup readiness against South Africa, Australia in Jamaica and T&T; final squad to be named this week
With the ICC Men’s Twenty 20 World Cup now just about a month away, Darren Sammy and his West Indies team will up the tempo on preparations, before testing their readiness for the June 1-29 global showpiece, with a final warm-up match against Australia in Trinidad and Tobago.
Sammy’s final squad, which is expected to be named sometime this week, will be one of nine teams to travel to the Trinidad and Tobago in May for eight warm-up matches, four of which will take place at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, while the other four is scheduled for the historic Queen’s Park Oval. The teams will arrive in twin island republic on May 21.
The revelation came from Cricket West Indies’s (CWI) CEO Johnny Grave during the recently-concluded CARICOM conference on West Indies cricket themed ‘Reinvigorating West Indies Cricket’, in Port of Spain.
Grave explained that the final West Indies squad will not convene in full until they travel to Jamaica at the end of May to engage South Africa in three warm-up contests. However, he pointed out that there will be a camp in Antigua prior, which will involve members of the final squad, who are not plying their trade in the Indian Premier League.
From Jamaica, the Rovman Powell-captained squad will then travel to Trinidad and Tobago for the clash against 50-over World Cup winners Australia, ahead of the tournament to be hosted in the Caribbean and United States.
West Indies, the 2012 and 2016 champions, are hunting a third T20 World Cup title.
“We’re going to have a week-long preparation camp in Antigua from May 12, before heading to Jamaica. We’re then going to leave Jamaica and come here to Trinidad and Tobago for a week’s preparation, including playing at the historic Queen’s Park Oval on May 30, in an evening fixture against one of the tournament favourites Australia,” Grave shared.
“That will probably be one of the only games in the warm-up schedule that will be ticketed, and we certainly hope that the fans here in Trinidad, and particularly those in Port of Spain, will come out and rally behind the West Indies in that warm-up match, which is the final game we’ll play before we head to Guyana for the opening game on June 2,” he added.
West Indies, who are drawn in Group C alongside New Zealand, Afghanistan, Uganda and Papua New Guinea, will open against the latter at the Guyana National Stadium on June 2.
Grave urged fans to come out and rally behind the West Indies outfit in their push to start the tournament on a high.
“Making sure we have a huge party in Georgetown, and we get off to a winning start (will be crucial). We all know in these global tournaments, confidence and momentum are important and we can think of nothing better than starting with a victory in Guyana and ending it in Barbados on June 29 with a similar victory,” Grave said.
Archer included in England's T20 World Cup squad
Jofra Archer has been recalled to England’s provisional squad for the T20 World Cup in the West Indies and United States this June.
The 29-year-old, who has not played competitive cricket since May due to a long-term elbow injury, could make his first appearance for the international team since a tour of Bangladesh in March 2023.
Archer has been limited to just 15 T20Is since his England debut in 2019 and missed their 2022 World Cup success in Australia due to the same injury.
There is a recall for fellow fast-bowler Chris Jordan, who last played for England against New Zealand in September 2023, at the expense of Chris Woakes.
Uncapped Lancashire left-arm spinner, Tom Hartley, is also named in Jos Buttler’s 15-man squad, which includes nine players from the 2022 World Cup.
England will play a four-match T20 series against Pakistan at Headingley in May before they begin their T20 World Cup title defence against Scotland in Barbados on 4 June.
England’s provisional squad:
Jos Buttler (captain), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, To Hartley, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingston, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, Mark Wood.
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