Vishaul Singh fell just short of a 9th first-class 100 but led a brilliant Guyana Harpy Eagles fightback, which left the game against the Windward Volcanoes very much in the balance heading into Saturday's final day.
At the close of play, the Windwards batting a second time were 157 for 7 with Larry Edward (29) and Kenneth Dember (9) the batsmen at the crease. Asked to bat again, the Windwards found the going hard early on as the typically dependable Devon Smith was dismissed for a duck in the first over, bowled by Nial Smith. They lost Teddy Bishop (15), the team’s other opener, soon after, to leave the score at 20 for 2.
Alrick Athanaze maintained his good form for the match after first hunkering down at the crease with Kavem Hodge to briefly stop the rot. Hodge was, however, uprooted when he was dismissed lbw off the bowling of Keemo Paul for 15. Keron Cottoy added 12 before being dismissed by Clinton Pestano and Denis Smith added just four runs before departing two overs later with the score at 77 for 5, after also falling victim to Pestano.
Veerasammy Permaul delivered the crucial wicket of Athanaze, who made 58, in the 29th over with the team struggling at 125 for 7. Paul, Permaul, and Pestano have so far taken two wickets each with Smith claiming one.
Earlier, resuming the day at 181 – 5, still trailing the Winwards first innings tally of 339 by 155 runs, Singh held the Harpy Eagles innings together along with Paul as the pair put on a solid 146 for the 6th wicket to change the complexion of the match. Paul was eventually dismissed, after putting 77 on the board, when he was trapped lbw by Kenneth Dember. Singh departed two overs later, just seven runs short of a century when he was stumped by Smith off Dember. With the score then at 290 for 7, the team added another 37 runs to move to within 12 of the total.
West Indies coach Phil Simmons has admitted the team's persistent and obvious struggles with the bat are hurtful, particularly as he believes the unit had started to show improvement last year.
Despite commendable performances from its bowling line-up, the Windies batting line-up continued to struggle for yet another series after going down 3-0 to India on Thursday. At the crease, in South Asia, the team at times looked ill-prepared or unable to find the resolve or technical ability needed to put partnerships together at crucial times or cope with the India bowlers for any prolonged period.
Similar to its performance against Ireland last month, where they lost an ODI series against that opponent for the first time, the Windies looked, perhaps more than ever, susceptible to losing wickets in huge clusters, which made it impossible to chase even modest targets. In three matches, the team failed to reach 200 with its highest score of 193 coming in an all-out effort in the second match, in pursuit of 237 for 9.
For the batsmen, it was Jason Holder who led the way with a modest 65 over three matches, followed by Nicholas Pooran with 61, while lower-order all-rounder Odean Smith had 60. By comparison, India’s top three featured Kuldeep Yadav who made 104 in three matches, Rishabh Pant made 85, while Shreyas Iyer made 80 in just one match. Overall, the India batting line-up, which chased a low target in the first match, outscored the West Indies line-up by 148 runs.
“This is difficult, the last six games have been difficult in this format. We started putting things together last year when we played Sri Lanka, it was difficult against Australia, but we started putting things together. For this (type of performance) to come now, it’s hard to take, it’s hard to take from the batsmen,” Simmons told members of the media on Thursday.
“It’s not outwardly showing, but it’s hurtful and the players know that. We have to make sure that we do the right things moving forward to get this batting line-up or whoever the batting line-up is to function as a batting line-up, to have big partnerships and assess the thing properly.”
The team’s highest partnership of the series was a 78 run seventh-wicket stand between Fabian Allen and Jason Holder. Overall, the majority of the team’s biggest partnerships came from batting places below the 5th wicket.
“The mode of dismissals is the biggest issue. If we are assessing the situation and we are playing according to the situation, and you get out then that’s execution. But not assessing the situation and knowing what you want to do in the situations and the modes of dismissal it’s hurtful, and it doesn’t make for good watching as we’ve seen. It’s something the players have to sit and get right as soon as possible. We can’t keep going like this.”
The Jamaica Scorpions and the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force entered day 3 of their West Indies Championship match at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy evenly poised.
After starting the day 234-6, the Red Force were bowled out for 273 after 114.3 overs to lead the Scorpions by 132 runs.
Yannic Cariah led the way for the Red Force with 72 while Isaiah Rajah finished with 65.
Marquino Mindley completed his fourth five-wicket haul in first-class cricket with 5-70 off 28.3 overs while Nicholson Gordon provided good support with 4-65 off 28 overs.
In their second innings, the Scorpions fought gallantly to reach 212 all out, setting the hosts a target of 81 for victory, thanks to 45 from captain John Campbell and crucial knocks of 41 not out from Derval Green, 30 from Jamie Merchant, and 28 from Alwyn Williams.
Anderson Phillip was the pick of the Red Force bowlers in the second innings with 5-82 off 15 overs while captain Imran Khan supported him well with 3-46 off 16.5 overs.
At the close of play, the Red Force were 22-0 needing a further 59 runs on Saturday for outright victory with Keagan Simmons on 11 and Isaiah Rajah on eight.
Tokyo Olympics triple gold medallist Elaine Thompson-Herah says she has no intention of going after the World Indoor 60m record this season but based on how well she has been training she would not rule out the possibility.
The West Indies just played three One-Day Internationals against India and failed to make 200 runs in any of them.
176, 193 and 169 were the scores the Caribbean side managed to put up during the series and Head Coach Phil Simmons, speaking in the post-series press conference on Friday, says this trend is concerning.
“It needs urgent attention. It cost us the last two games. If you bowl India out for 230 and 260, you expect to chase it,” he said.
The West Indies, not too long ago, showed improvement in their batting performances in ODIs, particularly in Sri Lanka’s tour of the West Indies in early 2021 which saw the regional side make scores of 236-2, 274-5 and 276-5 in the three matches.
“Just under a year ago, we were cruising to 280 and 290 against Sri Lanka who has similar spinners so the batting is a huge concern and people have got to stand up now as we go into our next set of ODIs in June,” Simmons added.
On a more positive note, Simmons praised the performance of his bowlers in the series.
“I think a positive is that the bowlers have done what we’ve asked of them. We’ve kept a strong India batting line-up to 230 and 260 and I think that’s a huge positive. The way how we’ve gone about our task on the field when bowling and fielding have been a huge positive all-round,” he added.
The West Indies will play India in three T20Is beginning on Wednesday while their next ODI assignment will be a three-match tour of the Netherlands in June.
The West Indies struggles in One-Day International cricket continue after suffering a 96-run loss in the third ODI against India, in Ahmedabad on Friday, suffering a 3-0 series sweep in the process.
The hosts, who won the toss and chose to bat first, suffered a poor start after losing captain Rohit Sharma (13), Shikhar Dhawan (10) and Virat Kohli (0) in the first 10 overs.
With the Indians teetering at 42-3, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant rescued the innings with a partnership of 110 before Pant was dismissed for 56 in the 30th over to leave the Indians 152-4.
Shreyas eventually got to a top score of 80 off 111 balls, including nine fours, before he was dismissed in the 38th over to leave India 187-6.
A crucial 53-run seventh-wicket partnership between Deepak Chahar (38) and Washington Sundar (33) ensured that India eventually posted a respectable 265 all out off their 50 overs, a score they would’ve been very happy with based on the start they had.
Jason Holder was outstanding for the West Indies with 4-34 off eight overs while Alzarri Joseph and Hayden Walsh supported well with two wickets each.
The Windies reply never got out of first gear with only Odean Smith (36) and captain Nicholas Pooran (34) managing to pass 30.
Alzarri Joseph also contributed 29 in a disappointing batting effort which saw the West Indies bowled out for 169 after 37.1 overs.
Prasidh Krishna (3-27 off 8.1 overs) and Mohammed Siraj (3-29 off 9 overs) led the way for the Indians with the ball.
The two teams will now turn their attention to the three-match T20 International series which begins on Wednesday.
Guyana Harpy Eagles batsman Vishaul Singh was close to a half-century at the end of play, but the team still had a long way to go in pursuit of Windwards Volcanoes' sizeable first innings total of 339.
With Singh on 40 and Keemo Paul on 20, the Eagles navigated early trouble to end the day on 181 – 5, still trailing by 155 runs. In pursuit of the target, the Guyana franchise was pegged back early when
Chanderpaul Hemraj was dismissed for 5, in just the fourth over, with 10 runs on the board. Tagenarine Chanderpaul then partnered with Shimron Hetmyer to stage a decent recovery taking the score to 58 without further loss, before Hetmyer (24) was caught by Ryan John off the bowling of Sherman Lewis.
Only another 15 went on the board before Chanderpaul (30) found himself striding back to the pavilion after being caught by Alrick Athanaze, again off Lewis.
Leon Johnson and Singh then combined to put a partnership worth 32 on the board to take the score to 95 for 4, for the fourth wicket. Their time together at the crease came to an end when Johnson was bowled by Preston McSween. Anthony Bramble added a useful 26 but was trapped lbw by Lewis, with the score at 141 for 5.
Lewis was the pick of the Volcanoes bowlers after claiming 3 for 47, McSween grabbed 2 for 44.
Earlier in the day, it was the same duo that racked up a record 10th wicket stand of 124, much to the frustration of Guyana. McSween was eventually caught on 86 by Anthony Bramble off the bowling of Gudakesh Moti.
Half-centuries from Shane Dowrich and Shamar Springer meant the Barbados Pride closed day 2 of their West Indies Championship game against the Leeward Islands Hurricanes with a 152-run lead on first innings.
After starting day 2 on 27-0, with captain Kraigg Brathwaite on 11 and Shayne Mosely on eight, the pair carried the score up to 36 before Mosely was dismissed for 13. This saw a string of wickets fall with Brathwaite (29), Raymon Reifer (23), Jonathan Carter (25), and Justin Greaves (7) all being dismissed before they got to 150.
This brought Springer to the crease to join Dowrich and the pair put on a mammoth 175 before Springer was dismissed for 91, his third first-class 50 and highest first-class score, leaving the Pride 299-6.
Dowrich, who has three Test match hundreds to his name, carried on his knock before he eventually got dismissed for a well-played 86, his 29th first-class half-century.
Some late-innings fireworks from Chemar Holder (22) meant that Barbados would eventually be bowled out for 324 at the end of the day’s play, a lead of 152 runs after the Hurricanes declared their first innings on 172-9.
Rakheem Cornwall led the bowling for the Hurricanes with 4-99 off 33 overs while Colin Archibald supported well with 3-47 off 20 overs.
Trinidad and Tobago Red Force ended a rain-affected day 2 of their West Indies Championship encounter with the Jamaica Scorpions at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in a commanding position.
The Red Force entered the day 98-3, trailing the Scorpions first innings score of 141 by 43 runs with Joshua Da Silva and Yannic Cariah at the crease on 32 and 11 respectively.
Da Silva added 5 to his overnight score before he was dismissed for 37 by Derval Green to leave the hosts 104-4.
Jyd Goolie was next to go for just six to leave the Red Force in a spot of bother at 118-5 before a magnificent 116-run partnership between Cariah and Isaiah Rajah put them in a comfortable position leading up to the end of play.
Cariah, who brought up his 10th first class half-century off 181 balls in the 80th over, eventually fell near the close of play for a patient 72 off 222 balls.
Rajah batted fluently to end the day, making 58 not out off 268 balls, including seven fours.
The Red Force ended Day 2 on 234-6 off 98 overs, leading the Scorpions by 93 runs.
Nicholson Gordon has so far led the way for the Jamaican bowlers with 3-51 off 21 overs while opening bowling partner Marquino Mindley has taken 2-52 off 20 overs.
Olympic and world 110m hurdles champion Omar McLeod has told his clubmates at Tumbleweed Track Club in Jacksonville, Florida that he is leaving, multiple sources have confirmed for Sportsmax.TV. However, he has given no reason why or indication of where he is headed.
The 43rd Western Relays was launched at the Deja All-Inclusive Resort on the Jimmy Cliff Boulevard in Montego Bay on Tuesday without its long-time sponsor Milo. The meet set for Saturday, February 12, is scheduled to begin at 100:00 am and end at 5:00 PM at the GC Foster College in St. Catherine.
There will be a reduced number of events at this year’s staging because of Covid-related restrictions that include no spectators. Arising from the development, the organizers have arranged to stream the meet live on the TrackAlerts YouTube channel.
The events on the schedule this year include 100m, 400m, 4x100m relays, 4x400m relays, 4x800m relays and the Sprint Medley Relay.
Regarding the absence of the usual title sponsor, Chairman of the Organizing Committee Ray Harvey said that a number of sponsors have come on board to make up for some of the shortfalls of funds to stage a successful but scaled-down version of the meet.
He said he was pleased that the meet was able to return to the calendar for the 2022 season.
"The fact that we didn't have our meet last year told us we should have our meet this year. We did not want to have the two-year hiatus,” Harvey said.
“We have been away from Montego Bay for four years now but that is acceptable but having no meet in is not acceptable. So despite the early setback of not having Milo's sponsorship we were determined that the 2022 Western Relays should take place.”
Among the sponsors that have come aboard is the Sports Development Foundation (SDF).
"The history of the event speaks for itself. When I got the call and I took it to the board, there wasn't any great convincing,” said SDF General Manager Denzil Wilks.
“We all knew what this thing was all about and when we were told that the major sponsor dropped out, we recognized immediately that we couldn't let this one fall by the wayside.”
The Jamaica Olympic Association's (JOA) has also come on board to provide financial support for the meet.
"We are very pleased to be a part of the Western Relays. We think it’s an important event for the West because it provides the opportunity for young people not only to demonstrate their athletic prowess but also to be educated and grow with the meet in statue,” said President Christopher Samuda.
“We came on board in response to a need and we always respond to needs. We interface directly with our member associations but certainly when a brief is given to us and we understand that there is a need then we respond positively. “
Also among the sponsors are WATA, Powerade, Custom Marble, Trackalerts, Gibson McCook Relays, World-Class Athletics and On Di Run Events Managements as well as some of Ray Harvey's batch-mates at Nebraska University.
The issue of whether or not spectators will be allowed to attend the upcoming Carifta Games is yet to be resolved and remains a key area of focus for organisers.
The regional junior track and field event is expected to be staged in Jamaica for the first time since 2011 and more specifically return to the city of Kingston for the first time since 1996, in April of this year.
With the country and globe still in the midst of battling the coronavirus pandemic, however, the situation regarding the possibility of spectators and the number of spectators that can attend a given event, as always, remains a fluid and often tenuous process.
For example, recently it was announced that another upcoming track meet, the Gibson Relays, would be allowed to have spectators in attendance. Only a few weeks ago, however, the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) was denied permission for fans to enter the National Stadium for the country’s World Cup qualifiers.
Chairman of the local organising committee of the 2022 Carifta Games, Mike Fennell, revealed negotiations regarding the situation of fans were ongoing.
“We have a meeting set up with the agencies and ministries in providing the sort of regulations that will exist,” Fennell said.
“We have not finalized anything yet because we know that that is a moving target and the times are not static, but we continue to have meetings and there is goodwill all around,” he added.
“Everyone accepts the importance of having these games. They're not for the seniors, they’re for the juniors but it is critical in the development of the sport.”
Free of injury and embracing a new mindset are among the key factors why Danielle Williams is enjoying her sport once more.
West Indies all-rounder Odean Smith insists he still has a lot to learn despite a number of positive performances for the men in maroon in recent matches.
On Wednesday, Smith was one of the few bright sparks as the West Indies crumbled in pursuit of a modest 237, set by India, in the second One Day International match between the teams. The player put on a solid 24 runs from 20 deliveries at the tail of the innings, a figure made more impressive considering it was the third-highest score for the team on the day.
Prior to that, during India's turn at the crease, Smith had bowled with plenty of pace and hostility in claiming 2 for 29, removing both dangerous batsmen Rishabh Pant and Virat Kohli. His figures were the best for a West Indies bowler on the day. The player, however, insists he remains determined to better both his approach to the game and performances.
“I have a lot of work to do in both departments, bowling, and batting, so going forward I’m going to have to do a lot more work,” Smith said following the match.
“I was saying the batsmen should have tried more to bat time. I should probably have done the same thing. We needed 44 from four overs, it’s not a lot and if we had taken it to two overs it would have been a different game, instead of trying to get it (runs) as quick as possible,” he added.
“So, I have a lot of work to do, but everything comes with time. It’s around my fifth ODI game, so, I think I have a lot of time to continue learning.”
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