At Coolidge, Trinidad & Tobago easily got the better of Guyana by seven wickets. The Guyanese batted first and were only able to make 75 in 32.4 overs.
Yasir Deen and Darrius Batoosingh starred with the ball for the young Trinidadians with 3-8 off four overs and 3-10 off six overs, respectively.
It only took 15.2 overs for T&T to successfully reach their target, finishing 76-3. Christian Lall led the way with 34*.
At the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, the Windward Islands beat the Leeward Islands by 99 runs. The Windwards piled up an impressive 263-3 off their 50 overs thanks to a brilliant 130* off 146 balls by Earsinho Fontaine.
They also got healthy contributions from Jonathan Daniel (52) and captain Theo Edward (37).
In reply, the Leewards were dismissed for 164 in 44.1 overs. Jaheem Clarke led the way with 40* while captain Matthew Miller made 26 and Eirette Richards 23 against 3-15 from captain Edward and 3-14 from Elran Glasgow.
At the Liberta Sports Club, Jamaica pulled off an exciting 18-run win over defending champions Barbados.
Batting first, the Jamaicans made a modest 165 off 42.3 overs. Demarco Scott led the way with 49 while Savio Jones got 34 as R’Jai Gittens ripped through the Jamaica line-up to claim 4-24 from his seven overs.
The Barbados chase seemed to be going smoothly at 144-4 in the 36th over but things quickly went south as they lost their final six wickets for just three runs to be bowled out for 147 in 39 overs.
Gadson Bowens led the wat with 64 while Justin Parris got 47. The Jamaican fightback was led by hero with the bat, Demarco Scott, and Adrian Silvera. Scott took 3-12 in his six overs and Silvera bowled eight overs, finishing with 3-22.
Action continues Friday with Jamaica taking on Guyana at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, the Leeward Islands facing Barbados at Coolidge and Trinidad & Tobago battling the Windward Islands at the Liberta Sports Club.
The Honourable Shamfa Cudjoe, Minister of Sport and Community Development stated: “The Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is excited to partner with the Hero Caribbean Premier League, and welcomes back the Biggest Party in Sport to the home of Carnival, as we host the 2022 edition of the Hero CPL. This opportunity serves as an investment into positioning Trinidad & Tobago as a regional leader in sports tourism, especially in this redefined sphere of sports events in the post-pandemic era. Live spectators are an essential element of sport, so fans are welcomed to return to the stands in support of their teams and favourite players. In T&T we continue to champion safe practices while having fun as all COVID-19 protocols would be adhered to during the games.”
Trinidad & Tobago was the host for the Hero CPL in 2020 where the matches were played behind closed doors as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. With restrictions now being relaxed in Trinidad and Tobago, the unique energy and excitement of cricket fans will come alive at all the matches, bringing a return to the fantastic atmosphere the tournament has missed over the previous two seasons.
Eager fans can expect a favourable schedule, half of the matches will be at 10 am, offering great family entertainment with the Hero CPL planning to work with local schools and sports clubs to encourage young cricket fans and their families to attend. There will also be the traditional evening games, where the Trinbago Knight Riders will play all their matches. The home team will be looking to continue their excellent form when playing in front of their passionate fans.
Pete Russell, Hero CPL’s CEO, said: “Trinidad & Tobago has been a huge part of the success of Hero CPL and we are delighted to be back for 2022. The atmosphere at venues in Trinidad has always been fantastic and we know that the fans will be hugely excited to be back at the Biggest Party in Sport.”
There were six men’s matches and four Women’s matches in Trinidad between 5 and 10 September with games taking place at the Queen’s Park Oval and the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, including the WCPL final.
The total event impact is calculated by world renowned research organization, YouGov Sport. The figure is based on organizer spend, visitor spend and media value for Trinidad & Tobago.
The tournament filled 13,961 hotel room nights in Trinidad, made up by CPL’s significant cohort which included players, coaches, administrators, TV and media crews, team owner groups, league and franchise event management teams, alongside overseas visitors who arrived to watch the games. A large part of the total economic impact figure stems from the money spent by these overseas visitors who spend time in Trinidad & Tobago during the event.
Trinidad & Tobago also benefited from the tournament being broadcast around the world with CPL’s audience reaching 853.5million total viewers in 2023. As always, the tournament worked closely with the local tourism authorities to create world class content which highlighted the unique sports tourism opportunities that Trinidad & Tobago had to offer. These exclusive features and vignettes were shown during the CPL matches, further promoting the tourism message.
Pete Russell, Republic Bank CPL’s CEO, said: “History was created in Trinidad & Tobago in 2023 when the Barbados Royals won an expanded WCPL in front of a sell-out crowd at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, and it was fantastic to once again be somewhere that is the beating heart of CPL cricket. ”
Also weighing in in on the League’s impact was Minister of Sport and Community Development, the Honourable Shamfa Cudjoe-Lewis, who said: “Once again, the Caribbean Premier League had demonstrated its remarkable impact on generating economic activity in Trinidad and Tobago. CPL’s statistics underscore the league’s pivotal role in advancing and developing our nation’s sport tourism portfolio. The Government of Trinidad and Tobago, through the Ministry of Sport and Community Development and the Sports Company of Trinidad and Tobago (SporTT), looks forward to the return of the CPL in 2024, as we remain committed to harnessing the power of sport to drive economic growth and fostering community development across the nation.”
The final three upcoming tournaments are the Women’s Rising Stars Under 19s, Men’s Rising Stars Under 17s and Men’s Rising Stars Under 19s Championships which are all important steps in the development pathway for the next generation of West Indies men’s and women’s cricketers.
The Women’s Rising Stars Under 19s Championship, consisting of six rounds of 30-over matches, will take place in Trinidad from 2 to 16 July. The Men’s Rising Stars Under 19s Championship will take place in St Vincent between 2 July and 1 August, consisting of five rounds of 50-over white ball matches and four rounds of three-day red ball matches.
The Men’s Rising Stars Under 17s Championship will take place in Trinidad between 10 August and 1 September featuring five rounds of 50-over matches and for the first time also three rounds of two-day red ball matches.
The Men’s Rising Stars Championships will feature both red ball and 50-over white ball cricket which will help the players develop a strong foundation of skill-sets, both mental and technical, that they can build on as they progress through the CWI development pathway system.
Jimmy Adams, CWI’s Director of Cricket spoke of the importance of the West Indies Rising Stars Championships and age group cricket across the region and how essential they are to develop the next generation of young talent in the West Indies.
“These age group tournaments are of paramount importance, and we want to ensure the players get maximum opportunities and exposure. Many of our current and former international players have graduated from these tournaments and we continue to see this as the ‘nursery’ for West Indies cricket,” Adams said.
“With over 250 teenagers due to participate in these championships, this is the ideal platform for them to launch their careers and the tournaments will allow for ongoing talent identification and development of our best young players”.
TOURNAMENT DATES
2 to 16 July: Women’s Rising Stars Under 19s Championship, Trinidad
2 July to 1 August: Men’s Rising Stars Under 19s Championship in St Vincent
10 August to 1 September: Men's’ Rising Stars Under 17s Championship in Trinidad
Under Dillon, in the WICB Regional Four Day competition, the Red Force finished one place above the previous season’s third-place finish, with the coach promising to do better in the next campaign.
At the end of 2019, Red Force stormed into the semi-finals of the 50-Over tournament with seven wins in eight matches in Group B. They, however, lost in the semi-finals by four wickets to the Leeward Islands Hurricanes.
According to reports, the TTCB has indicated that due to the impact of the pandemic they would have been unable to pay Dillon. The coach’s position had, however, been advertised in April, despite his insistence that he was keen on returning to the post. A spat with out of favor West Indies wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin had also surfaced during Dillon’s tenure. Ramdin officially filed a complaint with the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) but was told the matter could not be looked into until the end of the season.
"Given what he achieved in the truncated 2020 season in lifting Trinidad and Tobago Red Force to a second-place finish in the campaign, the absence of Mervyn Dillon will be a loss to the twin-island republic as they get ready for the new season,” Mohammed told T&T’s 7pmnews.
“It must be feeling as a slight to Dillon himself, whatever the reasons for him being replaced. We understand that it could be purely financial, and one appreciates the challenges in these difficult times for sports generally,” he added.
"It would certainly help if the administration headed by Azim Bassarath would be very forthright and very transparent in explaining the circumstances in which Mervyn Dillon is going to be replaced as coach of the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force.”
As a consequence, the Canadian team has insufficient available players to be able to take any further part in the event. Canada’s plate play-off semi-final with Scotland on 29 January is cancelled and in accordance with the playing conditions, Scotland will progress to the 13th/14th play-off as a result of having a better net run rate than Canada from all matches played in the event.
The 15th/16th play-off that would have featured Canada against either Uganda or PNG will also not take place.
“We are incredibly disappointed to have to cancel two ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup games due to COVID-19 at this stage of the event,” said ICC Head of Events, Chris Tetley.
“We were expecting to see some positive cases throughout the event and to date, these have been managed in accordance with our bio-safety plan without impacting on fixtures. However, with so many players from the Canadian team testing positive it will not be possible to stage these games.
“The players are now self-isolating and will receive full support from the event medical team under the guidance of the Bio-Safety Advisory Group.”
The cancelled matches are as follows:
29 January - Canada v Scotland, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad and Tobago
30 January - 15th/16 Play-Off, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad and Tobago
Walsh Jr, who first hammered three fours and three sixes in an unbeaten 60 off 55 balls, to guide the Hurricanes to a competitive 239, returned to snare five wickets for 48 runs in nine overs which restricted West Indies Academy to a paltry 173 and in the process, handed them their first defeat of the tournament.
Scores: Leeward Islands Hurricanes 239 all out (48.5 overs); West Indies Academy 173 all out (40 overs)
Asked to take first strike, the Hurricanes –unlike the brisk start in their opening eight-wicket win over reigning champions Jamaica Scorpions –were slow into stride, as they lost Kofi James (three) with six runs on the board.
However, first match hero Kieran Powell (33) and Keacy Carty (37), balanced things out before the former’s 36-ball knock which included five boundaries was brought to an end by Ashmead Nedd.
Carty pushed on in his 55-ball innings which had four boundaries, but when Joshua Bishop accounted for his and Karima Gore’s (nine) scalp, Hurricanes were left at 101-4 in the 21st over.
Jahmar Hamilton (27) and Rahkeem Cornwall (14) had good starts but couldn’t click on, as they too succumbed to Bishop’s spin, with the score at 157-6.
But Justin Greaves, who had a solitary boundary in a patient 34 off 59 balls, stood with Walsh Jr to add 66 valuable runs for the seventh wicket, especially as the remaining batsmen, including captain Alzarri Joseph, fell cheaply.
Bishop led the Academy bowlers with four wickets for 27 runs from his 10 overs, while Nedd had two wickets for 43 runs from his 10 overs, and Matthew Forde snared two wickets for 45 runs from 5.5 overs.
The Academy’s chase started positively, with Kimani Melius (37) and Matthew Nandu (29), posted a 64-run opening stand, but when both fell, things quickly took turn in favour of the Hurricanes.
This, as the Academy lost wickets at regular intervals, with Teddy Bishop (27), Nyeem Young (25) and Ackeem Aguste (21), the only other batsmen to offer any resistance to Walsh Jr’s leg spin. Another slow bowler, Daniel Doram, who picked up seven wickets against the Scorpions, took three wickets for 33 runs on this occasion.
India was fined five per cent of their match fee for falling one over short of the minimum over rate, while West Indies have been fined 10 per cent of their match fee for falling two overs short of the minimum over rate.
Richie Richardson of the Emirates ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees imposed the sanction after Hardik Pandya and Rovman Powell’s sides were ruled to be one and two overs short respectively of the target after time allowances were taken into consideration.
In accordance with Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to minimum over-rate offences, players are fined five per cent of their match fees for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time, subject to a cap of 50 per cent of the match fee.
Pandya and Powell pleaded guilty to the offences and accepted the proposed sanctions, so there was no need for a formal hearing.
On-field umpires Gregory Brathwaite and Patrick Gustard, third umpire Nigel Duguid and fourth umpire Leslie Reifer leveled the charges.
Rovman Powell will lead the side as captain, with Roston Chase serving as vice-captain. The squad also features a mix of experienced campaigners and emerging talents, including the likes of Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, and Alick Athanaze. Notably absent from the squad are Andre Russell and Jason Holder, who have both requested periods of rest and recovery following a grueling season that included five consecutive Test matches against England and South Africa. Brandon King also remains sidelined as he continues his rehabilitation from an injury sustained during the World Cup.
Director of Cricket, Miles Bascombe, emphasized the importance of rest and recovery for the absent players, stating, “During this period, they all will work closely with the CWI science and medicine team.”
Head Coach Daren Sammy views the upcoming series as an opportunity for the West Indies to reset and refocus. “Facing a strong South Africa side is an excellent opportunity for our team to reset and refocus with our game plan. We have played them recently and had mixed results, so this should be an exciting and important series. I’m confident in the squad we’ve selected, and with eyes already on the next T20 World Cup in 2026, I know the guys will be keen to show their hunger for success,” Sammy remarked.
The West Indies, currently ranked 4th in the ICC Men’s T20I Team Rankings, will be looking to capitalize on their recent form, having won four of their last five series. South Africa, ranked 5th, presents a formidable challenge, especially after ending the West Indies' World Cup campaign in the Super 8 stage. However, with a squad full of dynamic players, including the explosive Fabian Allen and the reliable Shai Hope, the West Indies are poised to put up a strong fight.
The T20I series against South Africa also marks a historic occasion as it will feature doubleheaders with the Massy Women’s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL) for the first time. Fans will have the unique opportunity to witness both the top male and female cricketers in action with a single ticket.
The full squad for the T20I series is as follows: Rovman Powell (Captain), Roston Chase (Vice-Captain), Alick Athanaze, Fabian Allen, Johnson Charles, Matthew Forde, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Shamar Joseph, Obed McCoy, Gudakesh Motie, Nicholas Pooran, Sherfane Rutherford and Romario Shepherd.
The team management unit for the series includes Head Coach Daren Sammy, along with Assistant Coaches Rayon Griffith, Floyd Reifer, and Ramesh Subasinghe. The support staff also comprises Physiotherapist Denis Byam, Strength & Conditioning Coach Ronald Rogers, and others.
Tickets for the T20I Series are available for purchase online, and fans in the Caribbean can catch all the action live on RUSH SPORTS or via the Flow Sports bluu. App and the SportsMax App. Fans worldwide can follow live ball-by-ball commentary on the Windies Cricket YouTube page and get live scores on the Windies Cricket Match Centre.
As the West Indies gear up to face South Africa, cricket fans across the region will be eagerly watching to see how the team responds after their recent Test series disappointment. The upcoming T20I series promises to be an exciting chapter in the ongoing rivalry between the two cricketing nations.
The 57-year-old former West Indies spinner made the points while he was a guest on Isports on i95.5fm with host Andre Errol Baptiste on Saturday.
“We need to have World Class players in our West Indies teams, players who will compete in terms of performance and in terms of the world teams and that is how our cricket and our teams will get to the top of the pile,” Harper said.
“What we have to encourage our players to do is think bigger, aim higher and think of putting in World Class performances to match with World Class players.”
However, for this to happen the regional territories need to take more responsibility.
“The West Indies team comes from the territories, they don’t fall out of the sky so we are always pointing to the West Indies board but I think the territories have a serious responsibility as well, they are the ones who need to take responsibility,” he said.
He said that perhaps the time has come to go back to the past to move forward.
“You need to get back to what was done in the past and take the responsibility to develop quality and World Class players. We have several World Class players, we have a number of them in the shortest format of the game and shortest format in particular but we also have World Class players in the Test format. You just look at the Test captain Jason Holder, who has been ranked the number one all-rounder in Test cricket for a while and then Kemar Roach up there for a while, and Shannon Gabriel whose has been doing pretty well but we need to have a team of World Class players not a scattering of World Class players."
Brathwaite ended the day unbeaten on 37, with the Caribbean side at 86-1 in their first innings, still 352 runs behind the visitors, after losing Chanderpaul for 33 shortly before close in this, the 100th Test between the two teams. India lead the two-test series 1-0.
India resumed from their overnight score of 288-4 and though West Indies bowled with some amount of purpose, they couldn’t stop the opponents from posting a daunting 438 all out, just prior to the tea interval.
Kohli scored 121, his first hundred away from home in five years, while Ravendra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin, both added half-centuries to what is massive total, give the feeble nature of West Indies batting.
Left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican snared two of the last four wickets to end with 3-89 from 39 overs. He had support from veteran pacer Kemar Roach, who had 3-104 from 22 overs, and Jason Holder, who had 2-57 from 21 overs, as West Indies took the last four Indian wickets for a mere 43 runs.
West Indies started their reply in a solid manner, as Chanderpaul and Brathwaite withstood early pressure from India’s seamers, and later capitalised on the hard, easy-paced surface.
The openers hardly played a stroke wrong and had the bowling at their mercy until Jadeja, bowling his left-arm spin, had Chanderpaul caught at backward point, from an ill-advised lofted drive.
It brought Jamaican debutant Kirk McKenzie to the middle and the young left-handed batsman displayed confidence throughout his half-hour knock which included a lofted drive over long-off for six off Ashwin’s off-spin. He will resume on 14 alongside his captain on Saturday’s third day in which they will be targeting at least 239 to avoid being asked to follow-on.
Earlier, Kohli raised a well-deserved century, partnering with Jadeja in a 159-run fifth wicket stand that pushed India past the 350-run mark.
Kohli’s 76th milestone knock came from 180 balls and included 11 boundaries.
Jadeja reached his 50 from 105 balls, before West Indies grabbed a breakthrough when Kohli was run out by Alzarri Joseph.
Further success came for the hosts five overs later when Roach got Jadeja caught behind for 61 after reviewing a negative verdict from South African umpire Marais Erasmus.
West Indies maintained steady bowling in tough conditions after the visitors continued from their lunchtime total of 373 for six, and it paid dividends, though Ashwin defied them to carve out 56.
Holder had Ishan Kishan caught behind for 25, and after being frustrated by Jaydev Unadkat and Ashwin, they eventually made inroads when Warrican had the former stumped.
The spinner then accounted for Mohammed Siraj for a duck, before Roach brought the innings to a close when he had the last laugh in against Ashwin, who smashed three boundaries off in the same over in is 75-ball 50.
During the camp the players will have five matches at the National Cricket Centre at Couva. Three matches will be against the Trinidad and Tobago Under 23 team while the other two will be against the USA Under 19 squad, who will also be participating in the World Cup.
The West Indies will again be led by Stepan Pascal and the squad includes several members who toured Sri Lanka for four-day “Tests” and Youth One-Day Internationals in August and September.
The next ICC Men’s U19 Cricket World Cup will be played in Sri Lanka in January and February 2024. The West Indies squad for the tournament will be named in early December.
FULL SQUAD: Stephan Pascal (captain), Jewel Andrew, Mavendra Dindyal, Joshua Dorne, Nathan Edward, Tarrique Edward, Reon Edwards, Deshawn James, Divonie Joseph, Zishan Motara, Tamarie Redwood, Nathan Sealy, Raneico Smith, Steven Wedderburn, Adrian Weir,
MATCH SCHEDULE (all matches at National Cricket Centre, Couva)
16 November: vs Trinidad and Tobago Under-23
18 November: vs Trinidad and Tobago Under-23
20 November: vs Trinidad and Tobago Under-23
23 November: vs USA Under-19
25 November: vs USA Under-19
In the match played at the Diego Martin Sports Complex in Trinidad and Tobago, Zimbabwe Under-19s won the toss and elected to bat first.
This proved to be a good decision as they batted well to amass 256-4 off their 50 overs thanks to half-centuries from David Bennett who made 77 not out off 105 balls and Brian Bennett, who made 62 off 84 balls. Connor Mitchell provided the Zimbabweans with an important late innings push with 42 not out off 26 balls.
Johann Layne took 2-44 off seven overs for the West Indies.
A pair of stunning innings from Kevin Wickham and Teddy Bishop ensured the West Indies chased their target without much trouble.
Wickham scored a well-played 104 off 116 balls with 17 fours.
The 18-year-old Barbadian, who was originally one of the reserves for the squad, got his third score of 50 or more in four matches in the tournament after getting 56 against Sri Lanka and 61 against Papua New Guinea.
Bishop got the second hundred of the innings and third for the West Indies in the tournament with a brilliant 112 not out off 121 balls with 11 fours and one six.
Rivaldo Clarke got 28 not out and was at the crease with Bishop when the young Windies eventually got to 262-2 off 49.2 overs to seal the win.
Wickham, with 243 runs in four innings including one hundred and two fifties, was the West Indies leading runs scorer while pace bowler Shiva Sankar was the team’s leading wicket-taker with nine scalps in six matches.
UAE won the toss and elected to bat first, reaching 224-9 off their 50 overs thanks to half-centuries from Aayan Khan (93) and Shival Bawa (51).
Shiva Sankar led the way for the Windies bowlers with 3-31 off nine overs while Nathan Edward and Matthew Nandu took two wickets each.
Jash Giyanani and Dhruv Parashar then combined to take seven wickets between them to restrict the West Indians to a modest 142 all out in reply.
Nathan Edward (51), Kevin Wickham (22), and Isai Thorne (17) were the only batsmen to score double figures against Giyanani’s 3-21 off 10 overs and Parashar’s 4-30 off nine.
The West Indies will now play the loser of the Plate semi-final between Ireland and Zimbabwe in the 11th place playoff while UAE will play the winner in the ninth-place playoff.
The gigantic 27-year-old Antiguan all-rounder is currently playing for the St Lucia Zouks in the 2020 Hero CPL and it is an opportunity to perhaps get his foot in the door of the international franchises that have signed many of his Caribbean colleagues, who have flourished.
However, his primary focus is on becoming a permanent fixture in the West Indies senior Test side.
“If I can play the T20 format and travel the world and play leagues it would be good but my aim is to be one of the most successful Test players out there,” Cornwall said in a recent interview.
“Playing Test cricket is the art of cricket, everyone wants to play Test cricket and do well. I have already played the format, I just want to make sure I get what I am really looking for in Test cricket and when my times comes to retire, I don’t have any regrets.”
In the three Tests he has played, Cornwall has taken 13 wickets.
Powell will replace Fabian Allen in the Patriots squad and will be available for their match against the Guyana Amazon Warriors on Wednesday, August 19.
As a native of St Kitts & Nevis, Powell was invited to join the Patriots squad as a training player but he will now be eligible to play for the franchise.
Powell has played 40 Tests and 46 ODIs as well as one T20 International. Powell has played for the Patriots before, most recently during the 2016 Hero CPL. Powell was the leading scorer in last year’s Regional Super 50 competition, making 524 runs for the Leeward Islands.
Powell travelled into Trinidad & Tobago on August 2 and he has gone through the rigorous quarantine and testing process that Hero CPL and the Ministry of Health put in place.
This year’s CPL is taking place behind closed doors in two venues in Trinidad & Tobago with the final taking place at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy on 10 September 2020.
The 36-year-old all-rounder was recalled recently to the West Indies squad that defeated Sri Lanka 2-0 in their T20 internationals in early March.
He sees where the Caribbean side, two-time world champions, can rise to the top once more despite a fall-off in form that has seen them currently ranked 10th in the ICC T20 rankings. Those signs he said were evident during the Sri Lanka series.
"Prior to that [T20I series in Sri Lanka], we weren't really consistent as a team over the years in T20 cricket. We T20 guys had a chat among ourselves along with the management and made a pledge that we want to start back winning series. We said we wanted to be back being the most dominant team in the T20 format,” said Bravo who over the past decade, established himself as one of the best T20 players in the world and one of the format’s best bowlers with almost 500 wickets.
He argued that the West Indies have too many world-class T20 players not to show it on the field of play.
"We have to stamp our authority,” he said.
"We have produced some of the best players in the world and when we are together in the same team, we have to stamp our authority, and to get the cricketing world to respect West Indies cricket again and especially West Indies' T20 team. We said, 'All hands on deck, let's start with this Sri Lanka series and make sure we send the message.'"
The Plate tournament is contested between the eight teams that failed to advance to the Super League quarter-final stage of the competition and is an important phase of the competition for the development of the young cricketers.
The young Windies finished third in Group D behind Sri Lanka Under-19s and Australia Under-19s after only picking up one win in their three group games, a seven-wicket win over Scotland.
The other plate quarter-final matchups are UAE U-19s vs Uganda U-19s, Ireland U-19s vs Canada U-19s and Zimbabwe U-19s vs Scotland U-19s.
After the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals are completed, the winner of the Plate tournament will be crowned overall ninth-place finishers at the ICC Men’s Under-19 Cricket World Cup.
The Super League quarter-finals will see England U-19s facing South Africa U-19s, an All-Asia affair with Afghanistan U-19s facing Sri Lanka U-19s, a rematch of the 2020 final with India U-19s facing defending champions Bangladesh U-19s before Australia U-19s do battle with Pakistan U-19s.
The champions will be crowned on February 5 at the final at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua and Barbuda.
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.
“The upcoming training camp in Trinidad for our Women's U19 squad will be an important component of their preparation for their inaugural tour of India which immediately follows, and also for the ICC Women’s Under-19 T20 World Cup which takes place in South Africa in January,” said CWI Director of Cricket Jimmy Adams.
“During the eight-day camp, the squad will continue its ongoing program of technical, tactical, physical and mental preparation. The entire experience of the camp, and subsequent tour to India, will play a big role in the development of our next generation of international female cricketers who have had limited experience of playing outside the region before now.”
Following the practice matches, the players will have a skills and fitness sessions from November 4-6 under the guidance of Head Coach Steve Liburd. This is part of the preparations for upcoming tour of India from November 7-25.
This series in the sub-continent will form a crucial part of the team’s preparations for the inaugural ICC Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup 2023.
The global event will feature 41 matches be played from January 14-29, 2023 in South Africa. The official warm-up matches will be from January 9-11.
The 16 participating teams will play in four groups in the preliminary round. West indies have been drawn in Group C alongside New Zealand, Ireland and Indonesia.
Full training squad: Asabi Callender, Kenika Cassar, Jahzara Claxton, Naijanni Cumberbatch, Destiny Edward, Earnisha Fontaine, Jannillea Glasgow, Realeanna Grimmond, Trishan Holder, Zaida James, Djenaba Joseph, Maria La Foucade, Namiah Marcellin, KDJazz Mitchell, Ashmini Munisar, Niveena Ramnauth, Cyanna Retemiah, Selena Ross, Shalini Samaroo, Shunelle Sawh, Lena Scott, Abini St Jean and Kate Wilmott.
