West Indies

At 73-7 in their second innings, South Africa's lead was 222, and there was the prospect of West Indies possibly chasing a target under 250 to win the game and tie the two-match series.

But Van der Dussen and Rabada combined to add 70 for the eighth wicket, with tail-ender Rabada racing to a Test-best 40, including a six off Kemar Roach. South Africa made it to 174 all out, setting a victory target of 324.

Van der Dussen finished unbeaten on 75, while in the course of the innings former West Indies captain Jason Holder became just the 15th man in Test history to reach 50 catches, 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in a career. He joined that club with a spectacular catch at second slip to see off Keshav Maharaj.

West Indies' batting fragility had been exposed by South Africa on Saturday, the second day of the match, when they were bowled out for 149, exactly half of the tourists' first-innings 298 total. It meant the hosts were on the back foot heading into day three, but they had South Africa rattled as the Proteas top order offered desperately little resistance.

The morning session was wiped out due to rain in St Lucia, but when play began at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Roach was quick to make an impact, having openers Aiden Markram and Dean Elgar both caught cheaply at second slip by Jason Holder.

Keegan Petersen chopped Kyle Mayers' second ball of the innings into his stumps to fall for 18, and Kyle Verreynne, Quinton de Kock, Wiaan Mulder and Maharaj then contributed an aggregate 12 runs. 

Medium-pacer Mayers drew edges to get rid of Verreynne and Mulder and post figures of 3-19, before Van der Dussen and Rabada set about the rescue act.

They made batting look achievable, if not always easy, with Rabada the aggressor as he cracked five fours before lashing a ball of good length from Roach over long-on for six.

That saw him go past his Test-best of 34 not out, but his innings was soon over, Roach (4-52) taking his revenge as Rabada top-edged to Darren Bravo.

West Indies trundled to 15-0 in their second innings before fading light brought an end to play, still needing 309 more runs for victory.

Rabada revives flagging South Africa

Given West Indies' form with the bat in this short series, it was hard to imagine them successfully chasing anything above 200, but had they skittled their visitors for a double-figure total the energy behind such a performance might have inspired the home batsmen.

Rabada might not have fancied bowling at a team newly imbued with confidence, and he soon set about changing the complexion of the match, slapping away the ball to the boundary with gusto, particularly when he picked the moment to go deep off Roach.

Holder joins starry list

Holder became the latest man to reach the 50 catches, 1,000 runs and 100 wickets club, Cricinfo statistics showed.

The first to that all-round haul was England's Wilfred Rhodes, while the list includes the likes of luminaries Richie Benaud, Garfield Sobers, Ian Botham, Ben Stokes, Shane Warne, Anil Kumble and Jacques Kallis.

The tourists carried a lead of 143 into day three and completed the job before lunch at the Daren Sammy Stadium for their first away Test victory since 2017.

Resuming play on 82-4, West Indies lost Jermaine Blackwood (13) and Jason Holder (four) early on before Roston Chase provided some temporary respite.

Chase added 62 runs for the hosts, but he was bowled by left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj and Rahkeem Cornwall was caught at mid-off by Rassie van der Dussen for a duck.

A fifth wicket for Rabada followed soon after, with Joshua Da Silva (nine) doing little to extend the session.

Anrich Nortje claimed the last wicket as Jayden Seales (three) flashed at a wide ball and edged to Wiaan Mulder, giving South Africa a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.

RABADA LEADS THE WAY

The likes of Lungi Ngidi and Nortje played a big part in South Africa's dominant victory, but Rabada deserves particular praise after his first Test five-for since March 2018.

West Indies had no response to Rabada's bowling, which included the wickets of Kraigg Brathwaite, Kieran Powell, Blackwood, Da Silva and Cornwall.

CHASE RUNS NOT ENOUGH

The West Indies lost by an innings at home for the sixth time in 253 matches despite the best efforts of Chase, who top-scored for his side with 62 runs.

Chase was the only West Indies player to score above 20, a tally that included back-to-back boundaries to bring up his half-century off 122 balls.

 A growing number of athletes have spoken out in support of ongoing protests that have roiled the United States, where the killing of 46-year-old African American George Floyd by a white police officer has struck a raw nerve.

The Minneapolis cop, Derek Chauvin, was videoed pressing his knee into the back of Floyd’s neck, ignoring the desperate pleas that he was unable to breathe.  Floyd went unconscious at the scene and was later pronounced dead at hospital.   Chauvin has been charged with third-degree murder, but protests have boiled over to encompasses a global demand for an end to racial injustice and discrimination.  

In his Instagram post, which conveyed visible frustration, Gayle pointed to the issue of racism in cricket.

“I have travelled the globe and experienced racial remarks towards me because I am black, believe me, the list goes on,” Gayle said on Monday.

“Racism is not only in football, it’s in cricket too. Even within teams as a black man, I get the end of the stick. Black and powerful. Black and proud,” he said.

“Black lives matter just like any other life. Black people matter, p***k all racist people, stop taking black people for fools, even our own black people wise the p***k up and stop bringing down your own!,” Gayle wrote.

Karishma Ramharack had the NSW ladies spun tightly in her web of off-spin and were restricted to posted 105-9 from their 20 overs. Ramharack finished with figures of 3-12. Captain Hayley Matthews supported with some wizardry of her own taking 2-7 from her two overs.

NSW skipper Sammy-Jo Johnson was the top-scorer with 28 with Hannah Darlington making 24.

Shemaine Campbelle led the West Indies Women's run-chase posting 33 from 34 deliveries which included five boundaries. Skipper Matthews was next best with 24 off 27. Aaliyah Alleyne 19 not out and Zaida James 15 not out took the visitors home to victory in 17.5 overs.

Head Coach Shane Deitz was pleased with the team's first outing since arriving in Australia four days ago.

“It's good to get the first win on tour. I think we've got a lot of areas we need to improve on, especially getting used to batting on these wickets with some extra pace and bounce. Overall, I think we played generally good all-round and it's going to put us in a good position to play on Sunday,” he said.

The ODI series against Australia is West Indies’ fourth fixture in the ICC Women’s Championship 2022-2025 after playing New Zealand, England and Ireland.

Each match provides West Indies with opportunity to win valuable points to climb the Championship table where they currently lie ninth of 10 teams.

Following the Australia Series, West Indies Women will play four three-match ODI series over the next two years. At the end of the cycle, the top five teams in the ICC Women’s Championship will book berths in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in 2025 along with hosts India.

The remaining teams will have to go through the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier.

During the short period of action that was possible in the match reduce to 20 overs per side, West Indies bowlers, were spot on with fast bowlers Shamilia Connell and Aaliyah Alleyne, both grabbing four wickets in quick succession, leaving the Irish reeling at 36 for five after eight overs, before the weather interrupted.

Alleyne had 2-4 off two overs, while Connell bagged 2-14, off her two.

West Indies lead the three-match series 1-0 after winning the first game by 56 runs.

After starting the day on 113-6, a strong partnership between former captain, Jason Holder and Kyle Mayers propelled the Windies to 163-6 before Mayers was deceived by off-spinner, Dhananjaya de Silva, and lobbed a catch to captain, Dimuth Karunaratne, at short cover for a top score of 45.

Holder was next to go, caught at point by Dushmantha Chameera off the bowling of Praveen Jayawickrama for 36 with the score on 175.

He tried to play a cut shot off a ball that got some extra bounce and ended up lobbing the ball in the air to Chameera, who took a good catch diving to his right.

Rakheem Cornwall then joined wicketkeeper Joshua da Silva at the crease and the two steadied the ship, bringing the score up to 224 before Cornwall went, caught by Ramesh Mendis, off the bowling of pacer Suranga Lakmal for 38.

Cornwall’s wicket fell on the last ball of the 80^th over and the rest of the day’s play was washed out by rain.

The West Indies will start day four on 224-9, still 162 runs behind Sri Lanka’s first innings total of 386 with Joshua da Silva at the crease on 11 and Shannon Gabriel yet to score.

The West Indies, after starting the day 145-4, were eventually dismissed for 233 in 91.5 overs, trailing South Africa by 124, after the day’s first two sessions were rained out.

Jason Holder and Kavem Hodge, the not our batsmen overnight heading into the day, made 36 and 25, respectively while Jomel Warrican made a significant contribution with 35* batting at number 10.

Maharaj was causing consistent problems for the West Indies batsmen, eventually taking 4-76 off an impressive 40 overs while Rabada took 3-56 off 18 overs.

At stumps, South Africa reached 30-0 off five overs in their second innings, leading the West Indies by 154 runs. Tony de Zorzi was 14* and Aiden Markram 9*.

Full Scores:

South Africa 357 off 117.4 overs (Temba Bavuma 86, Tony de Zorzi 78, Wiaan Mulder 41*, Kyle Verreynne 39, Jomel Warrican 4-69, Jayden Seales 3-67, Kemar Roach 2-53) & 30-0 off 5 overs

West Indies 233 off 91.5 overs (Keacy Carty 42, Jason Holder 36, Kraigg Brathwaite 35, Mikyle Louis 35, Jomel Warrican 35*, Keshav Maharaj 4-76, Kagiso Rabada 3-56)

The day had started with showers and the teams didn't even arrive at Queen's Park Oval until after lunch. The rain relented briefly before returning once again in the afternoon to force an end to the game.

India won the series 1-0, having brushed West Indies aside in three days in the first Test in Dominica.

West Indies will not be in action in Test cricket until their trip to Australia in January 2024.

Scores: India 438 (Kohli 121, Rohit 80, Warrican 3-89) and 181 for 2 dec (Rohit 57, Kishan 52*) drew with West Indies 255 (Brathwaite 75, Siraj 5-60) and 76 for 2 (Ashwin 2-33)

Batting first Marizanne Kapp top-scored with 36 as the visitors put 135 for three on the board.  In pursuit, the Windies Women were off to a tough start, after losing Deandra Dottin to injury and Hayley Matthews for 8 before the rain intervened.  Despite not playing the full encounter West Indies stand-in captain Anisa Mohammed took positives from the encounter.

"I’m really happy with the way the girls bowled today. I think we had them good up until the 18th over but with wickets in hand, we expected them to come hard at us. Having said that I still believe that 135 was a good total for us to chase unfortunately the rain had other plans. We now have a day to refocus and fine-tune carrying through the consistency until the end of 20 overs,” Mohammed told CWI Media.

The second and third CG Insurance T20Is take place at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground on Thursday, September 02, and Saturday, September 04 respectively. The five CG Insurance ODIs will be played from September 7 to 19, with the first three matches being played at the Coolidge Cricket Ground (CCG) and the last two at the SVRCG.

Markram was dismissed on nine by Jason Holder (1-2) in the 14th over.

Kemar Roach (0-6) had Markram on the back foot throughout, though it was Holder who made the breakthrough with a wicked delivery that sent the South African's off-stump tumbling.

Tony de Zorzi reached 32 not-out and Tristan Stubbs was on two not-out when, during the tea break, play was abandoned for the day.

It means 75 overs of play were lost on day one in Trinidad, where play will start early on day two.

Repeated inspections of a wet outfield did not yield suitable conditions, as rain continued to fall throughout Saturday.

It meant Pakistan remained on 212-4, as they were at stumps the previous day having staged a recovery from a rocky start.

West Indies had the tourists on the ropes in Kingston when they were put in to bat and remarkably reduced to 2-3.

Yet a huge partnership between Fawad Alam and Babar Azam lasted for 298 balls and 158 runs and was only ended when the former retired hurt with cramps.

That stand brought Pakistan firmly back into contention, and they would have hoped to set a big total on day two, only for the rain to intervene.

West Indies won the first match of the two-Test series.

A fairly tidy display from the Caribbean bowlers restricted South Africa to 45-1 in the just over an hour’s play that was possible, as the visitors won the toss and opted to take first strike.

Jason Holder got that breakthrough when he bowled Aiden Markram (9) shortly before the showers came.

Tony de Zorzi, unbeaten on 32, and Tristan Stubbs, on two, will resume batting for South Africa on Thursday’s second day, weather permitting.

Play is scheduled to begin half-hour earlier at 9:30 am.

The match was called off after just 14 balls due to heavy rain. West Indies were asked to bat first and reached 25-1 off 2.2 overs at Mount Maunganui.

Brandon King hit a four and a six but fell for 11 off seven balls. At the break Andre Fletcher was on four not out and Kyle Mayers unbeaten on five.

The abandonment of the match meant New Zealand won the series 2-0 following their wins by five wickets in the first match at Eden Park on Friday night and by 72 runs in the second contest at the Bay Oval on Sunday afternoon.

The two teams will now travel to Hamilton for the first Test match at Seddon Park starting on Thursday (Wednesday 6pm Eastern Caribbean Time/5pm Jamaica Time).

No result was declared after the game was called off approaching 22:00 local time – Ireland boasting a 1-0 lead in the three-game series.

Career-best figures from captain Kieron Pollard helped restrict Ireland to 147-9 from 19 overs, with a rain delay leading to a reduction in overs.

Confidence was high in the Ireland camp after their memorable four-run triumph in the opening T20I in Grenada.

But Pollard claimed 4-25 from four overs – the 10th best performance for the Windies in T20I history, dismissing Gareth Delany (44), skipper Andy Balbirnie (36), Gary Wilson (5) and George Dockrell (2).

Sheldon Cottrell (2-10) and Romario Shepherd (1-38) also chopped in with wickets for the Windies.

West Indies managed to start their run chase and they reached 16-1 after Lendl Simmons (10) fell victim to Paul Stirling (1-11) before the rain set in for good.

England and West Indies showed their solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement on day one of the first Test, which saw the hosts lose Dom Sibley as only 17.4 overs were possible.

International cricket had been on hold since March because of the coronavirus pandemic, but the three-Test behind-closed-doors series between England and the Windies marking its long-awaited return.

Perhaps predictably for a series staged in England, rain ruled on day one at the Rose Bowl, limiting time on the field before stumps were called with the hosts 35-1.

There were inspiring scenes before the start of play as both sets of players kneeled in support of Black Lives Matter, which has received widespread backing following the death of African American George Floyd in police custody in Minnesota in May.

After stand-in captain Ben Stokes won the toss and elected to bat, England were met with an early barrage from the Windies attack.

Rory Burns survived an lbw review in the first over from Kemar Roach, but Sibley went for a duck when a misjudged leave saw him bowled by Shannon Gabriel.

Interruptions were frequent thereafter but Burns (20) and Joe Denly (14) steadied England and will hope to build a significant partnership on day two, though more rain is expected on Thursday.

There was no place in the England side for Stuart Broad for the first time in a home Test since 2012, with James Anderson, Jofra Archer and Mark Wood preferred.

The Kings won the toss and opted to field first and for the first half of the TKR innings, they had full control of the game. However, a late salvo from Kieron Pollard and Tim Seifert helped the Knight Riders to post a challenging total. 

In reply, Andre Fletcher played a fine lone hand for the Kings, but the team never got going as a disciplined Trinbago bowling attack kept a firm stranglehold on proceedings throughout.

The Knight Riders opened their innings with the familiar pair of Lendl Simmons and Sunil Narine and they put on a partnership of 23 from 18 balls before Wahab Riaz trapped the former plumb in front. 

It took the introduction of Tim Seifert for the Knight Riders innings to gain impetus after Tion Webster, Narine and Colin Munro had all fallen in consecutive overs.

Along with Kieron Pollard the pair put on 78 runs from 44 balls to help post a competitive total.

Just like the TKR innings, the Kings struggled to find any momentum in the first half of their reply amidst some exceptional and parsimonious bowling from Sunil Narine and Akeal Hosein that left them needing an unlikely 82 runs from 36 balls.

Despite Andre Fletcher’s unbeaten 81 from 55 balls, three wickets by the tournament’s top wicket-taker Ravi Rampaul ensured no one was able to stick with him to chase down the TKR total.

Da Silva made 46 and Reifer remained unbeaten on 49 as the West Indies pushed their overnight score of 179 for 5 to 291 all out. Chasing 389 for victory, the Board XI were 63 for 2 when play ended.

The disappointment for the West Indies was that Nkrumah Bonner failed to add to his overnight score of 80, falling with the score at 183 to the bowling of Khaled Ahmed who took 3 for 42. Rahkeem Cornwall fell shortly after for just 4 to Mukidul Islam to leave the West Indies at 190 for 7 and facing a lower-order capitulation.

However, Da Silva, who was on nought overnight, partnered with Reifer for the stand that took the score to 272 before he became the third of Mukidul’s four victims in the innings. The Trinidadian wicketkeeper/batsman faced 116 balls and struck three fours in his knock that lasted 130 minutes.

Reifer was more aggressive striking five fours and a six in the 94 balls he faced by the time the innings came to an end.

Jomel Warrican was the last man out for 2 as Mukidul ended with 4 for 59. Saif Hasan took 2 for 45.

As the match progressed to the expected draw Reifer took two early Bangladeshi wickets while conceding just seven runs from the four overs he bowled.

However, Shadman Islam (23) and Yasir Ali (33) put together an unbroken stand of 49 that ensured that the visiting bowlers made no further inroads and sealed the stalemate.

The veteran all-rounder announced he was coming out of international retirement for T20s last December in the hope of playing at the T20 World Cup in Australia this year.

Bravo last represented the Windies against Pakistan in September 2016 and has 1,142 runs and 52 wickets in 66 T20Is.

Speaking about Bravo's recall, Harper said it was his work with the ball that was key in the decision.

"Dwayne Bravo was recalled with the specific intention of bolstering our 'death' bowling, which was identified as an area that really needs improving," he said. 

"His record in this department speaks for itself. He will also be able to act as a mentor to the other 'death' bowlers and lend his experience wherever needed."

Jason Holder is rested for the three-match series, while all-rounder Rovman Powell is recalled.

Squad in full: Kieron Pollard (c), Dwayne Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Shimron Hetmyer, Brandon King, Evin Lewis, Khary Pierre, Nicholas Pooran, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Lendl Simmons, Hayden Walsh jr., Kesrick Williams.

Currently, the 40-year-old big hitter has tallied a total of 978 sixes in T20 cricket so far.  If he can add another 22 to his 326 IPL sixes, the batsman will repeat the all too familiar habit of writing his name in the T20 cricket record books.

Gayle will be odds on favourite to achieve the feat as well.  In 11 seasons of IPL cricket to date, he has never failed to hit 22 sixes.  Last season he cleared the boundary rope 34 times and 27 times in the previous season.  Should he reach the tally it would only add to an already impressive resume racked up for the format.

Gayle has scored the most runs in T20 cricket (13,296), has the highest score (175), most sixes in an innings (18), and the fastest 100.  He has also hit the most fours with 1,026.

The West Indian is currently in training camp in Dubai, where he is preparing to face the new IPL season with Kings XI Punjab.  The batsman had been slated to take part in the recently concluded Caribbean Premier League (CPL) for beaten finalist, St Lucia Zouks, but pulled out of the competition due to personal reasons.

The Scorpions found themselves on the back foot early on when Red Force pace bowler Jaden Seales struck to remove opener Leroy Lugg, with just 10 runs on the board.

 Charles, who ended the match with outstanding figures of 6 for 48, began his relentless attack on the Scorpions line-up by breaking up the dangerous partnership of John Campbell and Jermaine Blackwood.  The duo had already come together to put on 64 for the second wicket when Campbell was caught by Imran Khan off Charles.

Blackwood seemed on track for a half-century but was also uprooted on 44, by Charles, four overs later.  A shocking collapse then saw the Jamaica-based franchise lose their next four wickets for just 5 runs as Alwyn Williams (5), Romaine Morrison (0), Derval Green (0), and Jamie Merchant (0) all departed in quick succession.  Paul Palmer combined with Marquino Mindley for a late-innings 33-run partnership to avoid further embarrassment.

Seales provided the most support for Charles after claiming 2 for 17.  In response, Trinidad and Tobago were 98 for 3 at the close of play, having lost openers Keagan Simmons (11) and Khan (9), and Jason Mohammed (22). Joshua Da Silva (22) and Yannick Cariah (11) are the not-out batsmen at the crease.