The Guyana Harpy Eagles held on for a narrow one-wicket win over the Windward Volcanoes as the West Indies Championship encounter at the Queen's Park Oval came to a thrilling conclusion on Saturday.
Resuming the day on 157 for 7, with Larry Edward (29) and Kenneth Dember (9) the batsmen at the crease, the Windwards could only manage another 33 runs before they were all out for 190 in the 64 overs. Dember was the first to be dismissed after managing to add just 5 to his overnight total, before being caught by Anthony Bramble off Veerasammy Permaul.
Edward briefly partnered with Preston McSween to add 17 for the 9th wicket, but that did not last long as Edward was next to depart, caught by Hetmyer off Permaul for 43. McSween could not repeat the heroics of the first innings and followed soon after. Permaul finished the innings with figures of 53 for 5.
The tally meant Guyana needed 203 for victory. The Eagles seemed well set to reach the target as they coasted to 89 without loss on the back of a smooth 60 from 72 balls from Chandrapaul Hemraj and Tagenarine Chanderpaul (28).
The bowling of off-spinner Kenneth Dember threw a wrench in those proceedings as he claimed 5-80 and triggered a collapse. The Eagles slipped to 140-6 and then 183-9.
Permaul, however, played a crucial, steady innings late on with an unbeaten knock of 20 which pushed the Eagles to the target. Vishaul Singh added 24 with Leon Johnson 21 and Clinton Pestano 20 also making handy contributions.
An assured 71 not out from veteran left-hander Jonathan Carter ensured the Barbados Pride secured a four-wicket win over the Leeward Islands Hurricanes on day four of their West Indies Championship fixture at the Kensington Oval on Saturday.
The Hurricanes entered day four on 294-7 in their second innings, leading the Pride by 142 runs.
They batted sensibly to eventually get to 346 all out off 109.2 overs with Devon Thomas getting a magnificent 112 off 140 balls, including 17 fours.
He was well supported by Keacy Carty who got 52 and captain Jahmar Hamilton who got 47, against 4-64 off 21 overs by debutant Ramon Simmonds.
Set 195 for victory, Barbados had a decent start before Carter anchored a fairly comfortable chase with his 71 not out, coming off 131 balls, including five fours and two sixes.
He was well supported by Raymon Reifer who got 45 and captain Kraigg Brathwaite who got 29 in the chase that saw the Pride end on 195-6.
Jeremiah Louis was the pick of the Hurricanes bowlers in the second innings with 4-50 off 14 overs.
Final scores: Leeward Islands Hurricanes 172-9 declared and 346, Barbados Pride 324 and 195-6.
Stuart Broad has hit out at his omission from England's squad for the upcoming Test series against the West Indies, from which James Anderson is also absent.
England's all-time leading Test wicket-takers Broad and Anderson have been left out of the squad for next month's tour after a dismal Ashes series led to the departure of head coach Chris Silverwood.
Interim managing director of cricket Andrew Strauss, interim coach Paul Collingwood, and head scout James Taylor made up a three-man selection committee ahead of the series, which begins in Antigua on March 8, and have settled on a 16-man squad that does not include either of the seamers.
Despite Strauss contending that there was a way back for both bowlers, who have taken 1,177 Test wickets between them, Broad has used his newspaper column to hit out at the decision.
"I have to confess that I wasn't expecting the phone call I received from Andrew Strauss on Tuesday that started with him saying: 'I've got some bad news'," Broad wrote in the Daily Mail.
"I am waking up more confused and angrier with each passing day. I feel gutted.
"Do I need to prove myself again? In my mind, I've nothing to prove. I am a proven performer, so it is now about the English cricketing summer and targeting the home series against New Zealand in June."
The 35-year-old pace bowler, whose tally of 73 career Test wickets against the West Indies is only beaten by Anderson's 87 amongst active players, also moved to defend his recent England performances and denied that any behind-the-scenes unrest had contributed to the decision.
"I could take being dropped if I had let my standards slip but being overlooked when they haven't is another thing," Broad's column continued.
"I am struggling to put things into context. It's hard to do so when all you've had is a five-minute phone call.
"If I had spoken to one person who had said they agreed with the decision to leave myself and Jimmy out, I could perhaps begin to understand.
"Do I believe I warrant a place in England's best team? Of course, I do.
"People will ask if there has therefore been some fall-out behind the scenes, a bit of a rumble during the Ashes, but I can categorically say that is not the case. Hence, neither Jimmy nor I saw this coming. We were blindsided."
England's last series win in the West Indies came back in 2003-04.
Jamaica and Texas A&M high jumper Lamara Distin set the field alight with a new national record and world-leading mark at the Don Kirby Invitational on Friday.
The 21-year-old sophomore recorded a clearance of 1.92m, which bettered her own previous best of 1.88m that had seen her tied on the country’s national best list with two other jumpers, Kimberly Williamson and Sheree Ruff, for second place.
Her new mark broke the record of 1.90m set in March 2002 by Maresa Cadienhead. On the way to the record, Distin cleared heights of 1.78m, 1.83m, 1.86m, and 1.89m before soaring to the record and the event title.
The jump also moved Distin ahead of Texas Tech's Sydney Sapp in the NCAA leaders table after both were previously tied at 1.88m.
Jamaica Olympic bronze medallist Shericka Jackson clocked the fastest indoor time of her career over 60m for second place at the Tyson Invitational, held at the Randal Tyson Track Center on Friday.
Making her indoor debut for the season, Jackson clocked a new best of 7.12 but was well behind winner Mary Beth Sant-Price of the United States who clocked 7.04 to win the event.
Sant-Price’s time is the second-fastest in the world this year behind Eva Swoboda who clocked 7.00 at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver meeting in Lodz. Another Jamaican, Natasha Morrison finished third in 7.35, with the Bahamas’ Anthonique Strachan fifth in 7.41. A third Jamaican in the race Shockoria Wallace finished 6th in 7.47.
The men’s equivalent was captured by another Jamaica, Nigel Ellis, who took top spot in 6.90. His compatriot long jumper Tajya Gayle, who is expected to do more sprinting this season, was second with 6.95, which was also his personal best.
In other events, Jamaica’s Ronald Levy finished third in the men’s 60m hurdles with a time of 7.98. The event was won by Australia’s Chris Douglas in 7.64, with Jamal Britt second in 7.83.
The Trinidad and Tobago Red Force survived a second-innings collapse to secure a three-wicket victory over Jamaica Scorpions on day four of their West Indies Championship fixture at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy on Saturday.
The Red Force entered the fourth day 22-0, needing only 59 more runs to win with Keagan Simmons on 11 and Isaiah Rajah on eight.
Marquino Mindley got the ball rolling for the Scorpions on the final day with two wickets in quick succession to leave the Red Force 40-2.
The hosts then inexplicably lost four wickets for three runs to find themselves in a dogfight at 60-6.
Captain Imran Khan arrived at the crease and brought stability to the innings before they lost another wicket to find themselves 69-7.
Khan then combined with Anderson Phillip to bring the score to 81-7 and secure a three-wicket victory.
Simmons was the Red Force top scorer in the second innings with 38, while the Jamaican fightback was led by spin with Jamie Merchant taking 3-18 from 10.4 overs and Patrick Harty taking 2-21 from nine overs.
Final Scores: Jamaica Scorpions 141 and 212, Trinidad and Tobago Red Force 273 and 81-7.
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.
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