West Indies

With the first day and a part of the second a wash-out, the West Indies intra-squad game came down to a one-inning affair and by necessity, a draw.

There were two points of interest with the bat, none of them coming from the usual suspects.

On day three Joshua Da Silva scored an unbeaten 133 as Jason Holder’s XI recovered from 120-5 on Tuesday to post 272 against the bowling of Preston McSween, 3-28, and Chemar Holder, 2-35.

There was also a wicket apiece for Oshane Thomas, 1-24, Keon Harding, 1-69, Markino Mindley, 1-32, Anderson Phillip, 1-16, and Rahkeem Cornwall, 1-32.

Da Silva formed good partnerships with Raymon Reifer, who scored 22, and Alzarri Joseph, who scored 38. On Wednesday, only Sunil Ambris, with 25 managed a score in the double digits.

In fact, the next best scorer for Holder’s XI, who faced a team led by his vice-captain Kraigg Brathwaite, was the extras column, with 43 runs going a-begging.

In reply, Brathwaite’s XI scored a paltry 178 all out, the only bright element of the innings coming from Kyle Mayers, who scored an unbeaten 74, running out of partners before he could get to three figures.

But Mayers failure to get to three figures wasn't for a lack of effort. He was savage, scoring his 74 from just 56 deliveries in which he clubbed three sixes and nine fours.

Shannon Gabriel was the pick of the bowlers for Holder’s XI, showing himself to be somewhere back to full fitness with an impressive bowling performance of 4-42.

Kemar Roach, 2-25, Holder, 1-21, Joseph, 2-64, and Reifer, 1-21, also got in on the action.

The West Indies are in preparation mode for the #RaisetheBat series against England, with the first match of a three-Test affair slated to begin on July 8 at the Rose Bowl in South Hampton.

The team will then play in two games at their Old Trafford base on July 16 and 24.

At the close of play, having overhauled Bangladesh the West Indies were 340 for 5 and had a lead of 106 runs.  The team’s strong position was in large part due to the work of Mayers who put together a dominant 126 from 180 deliveries,  providing the base of the West Indies' response to the Bangladesh first innings total of 234.

 The batsman came to the crease just before lunch with the team struggling at 132 for four and immediately went to work by putting on a big partnership with Jermaine Blackwood.

The duo steadied a shaky situation with a 116-run fifth-wicket stand after the team had fallen to 137 for 4.  Blackwood was dismissed just after tea, by spinner Mehidy Hasan, having added 40 to the tally.

Mayers, who scored 210 on debut against the same opponents last year, pressed on and helped himself to 15 fours and two sixes.  Wicketkeeper-batsman Joshua Da Silva joined him at the crease to add 26, and 92 for the sixth wicket, before the close of play.

Earlier, having resumed the day at 67 without loss, West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite and John Campbell pushed the score to 100 without loss.  The partnership was finally broken when pacer Shoriful Islam produced some extra bounce to Campbell who was then gobbled up by the wicketkeeper, on 45.

Brathwaite was next to follow and was bowled after being deceived by a flighted delivery from Mehidy, shortly after reaching a half-century.  The struggles of Raymond Reifer in the number three spot continued.  He never looked really comfortable before being dismissed by Khaled Ahmed after getting to 22.  Up next, Nkrumah Bonner, who also had success against Bangladesh last year, continued to struggle through a rough patch as he was dismissed for his second duck of the series.

Da Silva's maiden Test century to give the hosts a first innings lead of 93 was then backed up by Mayers, who produced an astonishing 5-9 on day three, as England collapsed to 8-103 by the close of play.

The 29-year-old, who only made his Test debut in February 2021, believes he and the Windies team were spurred on by Da Silva's efforts.

"I think it was very special for me," he told BT Sport. "Seeing Josh perform this morning inspired me. The team always wanted this victory so we decided we were going to give it our all in this innings and it just worked out."

Mayers rattled through the English top order, claiming the wickets of opener Alex Lees, as well as captain Joe Root, before Dan Lawrence and Ben Stokes.

The medium-pacer said the key to success on an evolving wicket was simple.

"Making the batsmen play as much as possible," Mayers said. "The pitch had varying bounce and pace so straighter deliveries were working for me."

Da Silva's first Test ton – with his good friend Jayden Seales providing fight at the crease from the tail end – was transformative according to Mayers.

"I think it was very special," he said. "He couldn't have done it more special than today actually getting it with his best friend. When you see Josh, you see Jayden.

"We saw that Jayden played a special part in that. It was beautiful, it was really emotional for me as well. You saw him crying, it was very, very good for him."

With Sri Lanka on 170-1, a half-hour after tea, Mayers produced two brilliant outswingers – to remove Oshada Fernando for 91 with his first delivery and then Dinesh Chandimal for four in his next over. Both were caught behind by 'keeper Joshua Da Silva.

Kemar Roach added the wicket of Lahiru Thirimanne for 76 a few overs later as Sri Lanka lost three wickets for 19 runs in the space of 45 balls. Mayers finished the day with 2-10 off four overs while Roach has 2-28 – overall figures of 5-75 in the match so far.

Thirimanne and Fernando added a superb partnership of 162 – a record for the second wicket at this venue. It surpassed the previous record of 136 between Simon Katich and Ricky Ponting of Australia in 2008. Then, Dhananjaya de Silva ended the day 46 not out and Pathum Nissanka, unbeaten on 21, to see Sri Lanka to the close on 255-4. The overall lead is 153 with two days left to play.

Speaking on the Sandals Players Zone, Mayers said he was delighted to make a contribution with the ball, as he started his career as a bowling all-rounder.

“I’m happy to get my first Test wicket I like to be in the game – I’m that kind of person. I like to win games for my side, so bowling, batting, fielding – any part of cricket at all I can play to win the game for my side, I will do that. I think the wicket is a good one – it has flattened out nicely. Obviously, they had the upper hand, but the game is still evenly poised. We’re still in the game,” he said.

The match resumes on Wednesday at 10 am (9 am Jamaica Time).

After winning the toss and choosing to bat first, for the first time all series, the Caribbean team posted 308 for 5 in their 50 overs at the crease.  The Windies had lost opener Shai Hope with 58 runs on the board after he was caught by Vivian Kingma off the bowling of Ryan Klein.

Mayers and Brooks, however, came together for a damaging 184-run partnership that powered the regional team to a comfortable 242 before Mayers was dismissed by Ryan Klein.  From there the team would suffer a mini-collapse of sorts with captain Nicholas Pooran (7), and Brandon King (10) both going cheaply.

In response, Vikramjit Singh and Max O'Dowd each put on a half-century to open the innings as the team got to 97 with loss before Mayers struck to remove Singh.  O'Dowd went on to put 89 on the board,  forming the backbone of the innings but The Netherlands continued to lose wickets at regular intervals and ended all-out at 288.

 Shermon Lewis was the pick of the Windies bowlers after taking 3 for 36, while Akeal Hosein and Hayden Walsh each took two wickets.

After winning the toss and electing to field first, the hosts had a brilliant outing with the ball to restrict the Indians to 138 all out, their lowest first innings total in T20Is in the West Indies.

Hardik Pandya (31), Ravindra Jadeja (27) and Rishabh Pant (24) were the main contributors for the tourists as Obed McCoy ripped through the Indian line-up to finish with figures of 6-17 from four overs, the best by a West Indian in T20 internationals.

Jason Holder provided most support to McCoy with 2-23 from 3.4 overs.

In the Caribbean side’s turn at the crease, opener Brandon King made a crucial 68 to orchestrate a somewhat tricky yet successful chase in the end.

The Windies were cruising at one point, finding themselves 71-2 at the fall of captain Nicholas Pooran’s wicket in the 10^th over.

Things got tricky at that point thanks to some tight bowling from the Indians that saw the wickets of King, Shimron Hetmyer (6) and Rovman Powell (5) all fall within overs 13 and 19 to eventually leave the West Indies needing 17 off 10 balls with Devon Thomas and Odean Smith at the crease.

At the start of the final over, the hosts needed 10 runs for victory and things got much easier when Avesh Khan started the over with a no-ball.

Thomas then proceeded to hit the resulting free-hit for six to leave the Windies needing just two from five. He then hit a boundary off the next ball to finish 31 not out off 19 balls and complete the five-wicket victory for the hosts to tie the series 1-1.

The Panel named 13 squad members and two traveling reserve players for the match which will be played at Windsor Park in Dominica from 12 to 16 July.

There is a first-time call-up for left-handed batter Kirk McKenzie, while fellow left-hander Alick Athanaze is the other uncapped player in the squad. There are recalls for allrounder Rahkeem Cornwall, who played his last Test in November 2021, and left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican who was in the squad which toured Zimbabwe but missed the last tour of South Africa in February.

Left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie is unavailable for selection as he is undergoing rehabilitation from injury.

“We were very impressed with the approach to batsmanship of McKenzie and Athanaze on the recent ‘A’ Team tour of Bangladesh. These are two young players who got good scores and played with great maturity, and we believe they deserve an opportunity,” said Lead Selector, The Most Hon. Dr Desmond Haynes.

“We are without Motie, who is doing his rehabilitation, and this has created an opportunity for Warrican and Cornwall in the spin bowling department. They have both played at Test match level before and are capable of doing the job.”

Haynes added: “We had Jayden Seales here in the camp and he has made good progress during his rehab from surgery. However, we felt he is not yet quite ready to return, and we don’t want to risk him at this stage. Kyle Mayers was also considered but he has some niggles, and the precaution is not to have him in the rigors of a five-day match at this stage.

“Looking ahead to the series we know it will be a challenging one as we start the new cycle of the ICC Test Match Championship. We want to build and improve and strive to move up the ladder.”

West Indies squad will travel to Dominica on Sunday following their ongoing pre-series camp at Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua. They will have training sessions on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning in the build-up to the match.

The Cycle Pure Agarbathi Test Series powered by Yes Bank will be the first fixtures for both West Indies and India in the new 2023-2025 ICC World Test Championship. The first match bowls off on Wednesday at 10am (9am Jamaica/7:30pm India). The second Test on 20-24 July at Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad will be historic – marking the 100th Test match between West Indies and India.

Fans can purchase tickets in their preferred viewing locations from the Windies Tickets service, presented by Mastercard, at tickets.windiescricket.com – where they will be able to download tickets securely to their mobile device, or print out their ticket to present for scanning at the entrance point.

FULL SQUAD

Kraigg Brathwaite (Captain)

Jermaine Blackwood (Vice Captain)

Alick Athanaze

Tagenarine Chanderpaul

Rahkeem Cornwall

Joshua Da Silva

Shannon Gabriel

Jason Holder

Alzarri Joseph

Kirk McKenzie

Raymon Reifer

Kemar Roach

Jomel Warrican

Traveling Reserves:

Tevin Imlach

Akeem Jordan

FULL MATCH SCHEDULE:

Cycle Pure Agarbathi Test Series powered by Yes Bank

12-16 July: 1st Cycle Pure Agarbathi Test Match, Windsor Park, Dominica

20-24 July: 2nd Cycle Pure Agarbathi Test Match, Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad

• start at 10am local time (9am Jamaica/7:30pm India)

CG United ODI Series powered by Yes Bank

27 July: 1st CG United ODI, Kensington Oval, Barbados

29 July: 2nd CG United ODI, Kensington Oval, Barbados

1 August: 3rd CG United ODI, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad

• start time at 9:30am (8:30am Jamaica/7pm India)

T20 Internationals

3 August: 1st T20I, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad

6 August: 2nd T20I, National Stadium, Guyana

8 August: 3rd T20I, National Stadium Guyana

12 August: 4th T20I, Broward County Stadium, Lauderhill, Florida

13 August: 5th T20I, Broward County Stadium, Lauderhill, Florida

• start time at: 10:30am (9:30am Jamaica/8pm India)

Having beaten the same opponents in last year’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, Scotland repeated the feat with a seven-wicket success which had McMullen at its heart.

The all-rounder claimed three for 32 before scoring 69 in the successful reply as Scotland got home with 6.3 overs to spare, Matthew Cross hitting the winning runs to finish unbeaten on 74.

The defeat ends West Indies’ chances of making it to India while Scotland now face two crunch encounters, starting against hosts Zimbabwe on Tuesday.

Richie Berrington opted to field upon winning the toss and the decision was quickly vindicated with four wickets falling inside the opening powerplay.

McMullen removed both Johnson Charles and Shamarh Brooks without scoring, Chris McBride and Mark Watt respectively taking sharp catches, before holding on to a return catch to dismiss Brandon King (22) as Windies slipped to 25 for three.

That became 30 for four when Chris Sole got in on the act, sending Kyle Mayers’ off stump cartwheeling out the ground.

Captain Shai Hope (13) and Nicholas Pooran (21) led a brief recovery but when the latter picked out McBride at deep mid-wicket, West Indies were reeling on 81 for six in the 21^st over.

A 77-run stand between Jason Holder (45) and Romario Shepherd (36) carried the score towards respectability but both fell in consecutive overs, Safyaan Sharif holding on to a superb diving catch to dismiss Shepherd and hand Watt his second scalp.

Sole and Chris Greaves also finished with two wickets apiece as they accounted for the tail, leaving West Indies bowled out for 181 with 6.1 overs unused.

Knowing they needed to defend it to keep their qualification hopes intact, West Indies made a perfect start with the ball as McBride chipped the first ball of the run chase to mid-wicket.

That was as good as it got for the fielding side, however, as McMullen and Cross took control.

The pair were happy to rotate the strike and quick to punish anything loose, with McMullen first to his half century, which came from 85 deliveries.

Cross followed suit shortly afterwards, boosted by three consecutive boundaries off the bowling of Kevin Sinclair, but he lost the company of McMullen when he holed out to long-on with 57 required.

George Munsey (18) also picked out a boundary fielder but captain Berrington joined Cross to complete the job, the wicketkeeper-batter sealing the deal with a pull through deep mid-wicket to seal Scotland’s first-ever ODI victory over West Indies.

The debate has continued to rage around the selection of the squad after the selection panel was unable to even considered some players for the World Cup squad after they had reportedly not made the requisite CWI fitness standard.

Among that crown were batsman Sherfane Rutherford, promising fast bowler Odean Smith and spinner Sunil Narine. With that considered, for some, the selection of players like Chris Gayle and Ravi Rampaul proved problematic, but both players were given exemptions by the CWI’s medical committee.

At current, all players are required to pass the popular Yoyo fitness test, but the results of the tests are graded on a sliding scale.  The CWI has repeatedly insisted that its policy, along with the exemptions is a standard international practice.  It has, however, continued to stir debate.

“You have to be seen to be fair across the board.  Either everybody does it (meet fitness standard) or nobody does it,” Radford told the Mason and Guest radio program.

“You can’t choose who gets tested and who gets an exemption, it doesn’t seem to be a fair system.  I think it either all the players are tested and they all need to pass it or they don’t,” he added.

“Otherwise, it makes a mockery of the test.  You’re leaving out players who are on form and younger and fitter, generally, saying they haven’t passed the test and you are taking people 10 years older who struggle to run between wickets and the field.”

With Bangladesh resuming from their overnight 242 for 5, with Shakib Al Hasan on 39 and Liton Bas on 34, the West Indies had an early breakthrough when Warrican, 3 for 58 overnight, bowled Das for 38 to have the home side 248 for 6.

However, the visitors were made to toil as Mehidy Hasan Miraz scored his first Test century while featuring in three partnerships that spurred a lower-order rally that gradually pushed his side into the ascendancy.

Mehidy put on 67 with Shakib Al Hasan (68) for the seventh wicket, 44 with Taijul Islam (18) for the eighth and then 57 with Nayeem Hasan (42) for the ninth before finally losing his wicket to Rahkeem Cornwall for 103.

The West Indies were made to pay for dropping him twice, on 24 and then on 85. He was first let off the hook by debutant Shayne Moseley who put him down at silly mid-off despite having two chances to hold on. The second chance was spilt by Cornwall at slip off the bowling of Nkrumah Bonner.

Warrican ended with figures of 4 for 133 while Cornwall had 2 for 114. There was a wicket each for Bonner, Kemar Roach and Shannon Gabriel.

In reply, the West Indies found batting difficult against the swing and accuracy of fast-medium bowler Mustafizur Rahman who trapped John Campbell (3) and Shayne Moseley (2) lbw as the visitors slumped to 24 for 2.

However, Captain Kraigg Brathwaite survived a few anxious moments to get to the close unbeaten on 49. Bonner is at the other end on 17.

The win, their third of the tournament, saw the Caribbean lads top Group B with the maximum six points. The young West Indians had previously won their matches against Australia and England.

On Thursday, after winning the toss and choosing to bat, the Caribbean side racked up a mammoth 303 for 8 from their 50 overs, their best score in the tournament so far.

The score was built largely on half-centuries from captain Kimani Melius, who scored 65 and allrounder Matthew Patrick, who top-scored with 68. The latter and Joshua James, who scored a 30-ball 43, put together a 90-run seventh-wicket partnership that propelled the West Indies to their mammoth total.

There were two wickets each for Peter Aho (2-53), Abdulrahman Jimoh (2-56) and Sylvester Okpe (2-66).

In the face of the huge total, Nigeria crumbled to 57 all out.

Jayden Seales (4-19) tore the top order taking their first four wickets to fall as the Nigerians stumbled to 23 for four, four balls into the ninth over.

They never recovered as Ashmead Nedd (3 for 15) and Patrick (2 for 16) ripped out any resistance that might have remained within the Nigerian batting that only managed to survive for 21.4 overs.

Jimoh (17) and Okpe (10) were the only batsmen in double figures.

The 66-year-old former West Indies fast bowler was speaking on Mason on Guest from the Cayman Islands on Tuesday when he revealed his plans to retire from what has been a long and illustrious career providing commentary and analysis on Test cricket.

Holding began his Test-commentary career in 1991 in the Caribbean and currently works with Skysports in the United Kingdom and Supersport in South Africa. But, after 29 years in the commentary booth, Holding says the end is drawing near.

“I am not too sure how much farther than 2020 I will be going with commentary,” Holding said. “The last contract I signed with Sky was for one year, 2020 because I told them I could not commit to more than a year at a time. If this year gets totally destroyed (because of the pandemic), I might have to think about 2021 because I can’t just walk away from Sky, a company that has done so much good for me, after a complete dud of a season, but I can’t see myself going too much further down the road with this thing.

“I am 66 years old. I am no longer 36, 46 or 56.”

Nicknamed Whispering Death because of his quiet approach to the wicket and his blistering pace, Holding played 60 Tests for the West Indies between 1975 and 1987. He took 249 wickets at an average of 23.68.

A member of the Sky Sports commentary panel for more than 20 years, Holding was known for his objective, no-nonsense approach to commentary that earned him admirers across the globe.

The 66-year-old Jamaican had hinted at his impending retirement in April 2020, while a guest on the Mason&Guest talk show in Barbados.

“I am not too sure how much further than 2020 I will be going with commentary. I cannot see myself going much further down the road at my age. I am 66 years old now, I am not 36, 46 or 56,” he said then.

“I told [ Sky] that I could not commit to more than a year at a time. If this year gets totally destroyed, I might have to think about 2021 because I can’t just walk away from Sky, a company that has done so much good for me.”

He also rose to greater global prominence in 2020 when during a rain delay in a Test match in England he spoke for more than four minutes about his support of the Black Lives Matter movement. His comments were made in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota at the hands of Derek Chauvin, a police officer who knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes.  

He subsequently wrote a book chronicling his own experiences with racism as well as those experienced by some of the world’s best-known sports stars including Usain Bolt and Naomi Osaka.

Holding played 60 Test matches for the West Indies between 1975 and 1987 taking 249 wickets of 23.68. During a career in which he came to known as ‘Whispering Death’ because of his silent run-up to the crease before unleashing deliveries of blistering pace, he famously took his Test-best figures of 14-149 at the Oval in 1976.

In 1980, he bowled what is widely regarded as the best over ever bowled in Test cricket to obdurate England opener Geoffrey Boycott. He bowled the batsman neck and crop with the final ball of the over.

Bascombe, 37, played one T20 International for the West Indies in 2011 and played first-class cricket between 2007 and 2017, for both the Windward Islands and the Combined Campuses and Colleges.  He is a graduate of the University of the West Indies with both Bachelor's and Master’s degrees and is a certified coach.

Bascombe, who was a CWI Men’s Selector between 2019 and 2021, has been the Technical Director at the Windward Islands Cricket Board over the last two years. Under his technical leadership, there have been a remarkable turnaround of fortunes for both male and female cricket across different levels, including an unbeaten first-class season in 2023.

Johnny Grave, CWI Chief Executive Officer said: “Following a thorough recruitment process, Miles stood out to the panel with his skills, experience and intimate knowledge of our cricket system, especially at Territorial Board level. His passion and understanding of the game at all levels are outstanding. He is a critical thinker with a strong analytical and strategic mindset, which will be hugely beneficial to us as we embark on formulating our new 4-year strategic plan. I have no doubt he will hit the ground running and will relish the challenge before us to develop higher standards and better structures within our cricket system.”

Miles Bascombe said: “West Indies Cricket is at a critical stage with an urgent need to improve performances. We have made significant progress with establishing a central High-Performance system that now needs to be rolled out across all of our Territories. I am looking forward to working as a member of the CWI senior leadership team and closely with the Territorial Boards to bring about the necessary improvements that I am confident will lead to more success by implementing a robust system based on achieving world-class standards and by driving a winning culture.”

CWI High Performance Manager, Graeme West will act as the interim Director of Cricket until Bascombe takes up his new role on 1 August 2023.

The 26-year-old was called to the West Indies red-ball camp a few weeks ago, as part of the team’s preparations to face South Africa in two weeks time.

The player was, however, forced to isolate, as part of strict COVID-19 protocols, after returning a positive PCR test.  The player was put into isolation at the team hotel away from the other players and the coaching staff.

He was cleared to resume training with the rest of the camp on Thursday, after returning a second negative RT-PCR test result.

Mindley even managed a short spell on the final day the intra-squad four-day match, which concluded on Thursday.  The bowler, however, missed the majority of the Best vs Best four-day match, which was used to select the squad for the two-match Test series against South Africa beginning June 10. Both Tests will be played at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground.

In the end, the 28-year-old Barbadian, who struck 20 fours and seven sixes, was unbeaten on 210, the second-highest score by a West Indian batsman on his Test debut. Only Lawrence Rowe’s 214 against New Zealand at Sabina Park in February 1972 was higher.

Mayers, the Man-of-the-Match, featured in a record stand of 216 with fellow debutant Nkrumah Bonner, who made a valiant 86 that laid the foundation for the incredible victory. It was the highest-ever fourth-wicket stand in the fourth innings of a Test match and led to the highest successful run chase in Asia.

Resuming from their overnight total of 110 for 3, needed a further 295 for victory, Mayers was on 37 and Bonner 15.

When Mayers got to 70 and Bonner 20, the pair that rode its luck early, put together the first 100-run partnership of the match for the West Indies. It took all of 205 balls. They took the score to 197 for 3 at lunch with Mayers unbeaten on 91 and Bonner on 43.

By tea, the score had swelled to 266 for 3 with Mayers on 117 and Bonner, 75.

At 275 for 3, the record stand was broken by Taijul Islam, who trapped Bonner lbw with a flatter length ball in the line of the stumps that the Jamaican looked to work it towards square leg but missed. His 86 came off 245 balls he faced in more than five and a half hours of resolute batting.

There were signs of a possible collapse when Nayeem Hasan bowled Jermaine Blackwood for 9 to make it 292 for 5. However, Joshua da Silva proved to be a stabilizing force, who with Mayers put on 100 runs for the sixth wicket that took the West Indies within three runs of an improbable victory.

The Trinidadian wicketkeeper/batsman faced 59 balls in his 83-minute stay before Taijul Islam bowled him for 20.

It was fitting that Mayers scored the winning run, a quick single to mid-on to hand the West Indies victory.

Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who scored a century in Bangladesh’s first innings score of 430, took 4-113, for eight wickets in the match.  He would have likely been Man-of-the-Match had it not been for Kyle Mayers’ historic knock.

 Scores: Bangladesh 430 and 223 for 8 declared; West Indies 259 and 395 for 7.

The former Pakistan batsman must quarantine for 10 days after he was the only member of the touring party to return a positive PCR test.

Misbah had been due to head home a day after Pakistan salvaged a 1-1 Test series draw with West Indies, winning by 109 runs at Sabina Park.

A Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) statement said: "Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-Haq has tested positive and, as such, will not depart for Lahore with his side later today (Wednesday).

"Misbah, who is asymptomatic, will now undergo a 10-day quarantine, following which he will depart for Pakistan.

"Misbah was the only Pakistan squad member who failed two pre-departure PCR tests. All other members will leave Jamaica as per schedule later today.

"The PCB is constantly in touch with Cricket West Indies who have confirmed that Misbah will be shifted to another hotel for the 10-day quarantine with a medical specialist assigned to look after his health and wellbeing."

Pakistan's next assignment is a home ODI series against New Zealand next month.

The 76-year-old former wicketkeeper played 88 matches in 10 years for what is generally referred to as the ‘all-conquering’ West Indies squad.  The team proved themselves to be the best in the world after capturing back-to-back ICC World Cup titles with wins over Australia and England at the 1975 and 1979 editions. 

For the current crop, however, those glory days have long faded.  The team has captured two world titles of its own in the freshly minted T20 format, but when it comes to the traditional ODI and Test formats, they have for the most part lost far more often than they have won.

Murray believes a part of the team’s recent failures is down to losing the significance of what it means to be on the pitch for the West Indies and the passion required to succeed.

“I’d love to give them an understanding of what it really means to represent the West Indies.  I think that is something that would be difficult to assimilate without the kind of mentorship that I had and I’m sure a number of youngsters coming into the team in my era had,” Murray told Barbados radio show, Mason and Guest, recently.

“I think now people talk about cricket as a job, you have to be professional. You have to do this you have to do that.  You have to hit a 100 balls in practice.  That’s not what international cricket is about.  International cricket is about the desire to play a Test match, to win a Test match, to win a Test series,” he added.

“It has nothing to do with how much you get paid or how much the coach gets paid or whatever.  It’s about wanting to do something, and you want to do it and go out and train.  Because you train for 35 minutes a day you recognize you really could train 40 minutes and it won’t hurt me.  When you do 40 minutes you think I can do an hour and you keep going.”

“…You need to get into the passion for what it is that you are doing and how you are doing it.  You need to believe that there is a meritocracy and feel that if you are the best the coaches and selectors will pick you…it’s as much as about the psychological game as much as the actual technique of batting and bowling.”

Moeen took a break from Tests after being dropped during last year's Ashes series but is set to be involved in a three-day practice game from July 1, after which point the squad for the first Test at the Ageas Bowl seven days later will be chosen.

The expanded group will convene at the Southampton venue for training from June 23.

Essex batsman Dan Lawrence, Gloucestershire wicketkeeper-batsman James Bracey, Sussex seamer Ollie Robinson, Somerset paceman Jamie Overton and Surrey off-spinner Amar Virdi are all included having not represented England at senior level in any format.

Somerset all-rounder Lewis Gregory, Lancashire leg-spinner Matt Parkinson and his fast bowling county colleague Saqib Mahmood have limited-overs caps.

All the established members of Joe Root's Test side are present, with seamers James Anderson, Mark Wood and Jofra Archer all recovered from injury complaints, along with opener Rory Burns.

To assist with operating with a larger group in bio-secure conditions, head coach Chris Silverwood will be joined by an expanded backroom team.

Assistant head coach Graham Thorpe is to be joined by Kent head coach Matthew Walker in overseeing the batsmen, with Lancashire boss Glen Chapple to work alongside Silverwood as bowling coach.

Ex-England wicketkeeper Chris Read will take care of the glovesmen, with the ECB's national lead fielding coach Carl Hopkinson completing the coaching staff.

Assistant coach Paul Collingwood will take charge of England's ODI matches against Ireland later in the season, subject to those matches being confirmed.

West Indies Nicholas Pooran won the toss and sent the home team to bat. The visitors had immediate success when Babar Azam was dismissed in the first over bowled by Akeal Hosein, who got the Pakistan captain to nick one into the gloves of Shai Hope behind the stumps.

The West Indies had further success in the fifth over when Fahkar Azam skied a Romario Shepherd delivery and was caught by Shamarh Brooks for 10 to have Pakistan at 35-2.

Despite the loss of those two wickets, Pakistan maintained a healthy strike rate with Rizwan and Ali putting together a stand of 105 in 62 balls before Rizwan was caught in the deep by Odean Smith, who gifted Shepherd with his second wicket of the match.

Rizwan ran well between the wickets and hit 10 fours in his score of 78 from 52 balls.

The West Indies fought back with the wickets of Asif Ali removed by Oshane Thomas for 1 and Iftikhar Ahmed dismissed by Smith for seven as Pakistan slipped from 140-3 to 161-5.

However, Ali and Mohammad Nawaz, kept Pakistan above nine an over, the latter being rather brutal hitting three fours and two sixes in his unbeaten 10-ball 30.

Between them, they scored 30 from 11 balls before Ali was the last man out for 68 in the 20^th over bowled by Dominic Drakes.

Drakes ended with figures of 1-43 from his four overs. Smith proved expensive with 1-52 from his four while Shepherd was the best of the bowlers with 2-43. Twenty-one of those runs came off his last over, the 19^th of the innings.

 At the time of publication, West Indies were 33-2 from four overs. Brandon King (1) and Nicholas Pooran (18) are the batsmen out.