West Indies

For his part, Pollard crafted a masterful unbeaten 75 as the team posted 180 for 7, but in the rain-affected fixture the hosts chased down the total with a 179 for five response from 15.2 overs to win via the Duckworth/Lewis method.

Despite setting a reasonable total there will be plenty for the West Indies to ponder in the loss.  They got off to a fast start after racing to 58 without loss in 19 balls courtesy of Andre Fletcher’s 14-ball 34, following his dismissal the team lost five wickets in 11 balls.

In chasing down the target, Jimmy Neesham and Devon Conway led a New Zealand recovery, pulling the team back from 63 for 4 mid-way the seventh over to get a comfortable victory in the end.  They were aided by plenty of wayward bowling.  Keemo Paul and Kesrick Williams being were particularly culpable. Paul bowled five no-balls while giving up 39 runs from his three overs while Williams’ half volleys saw him being taken for 33 runs from two overs.

“We will continue to fight, hopefully, we will get over the line and set up an exciting third match for the final game,” Pollard told members of the media following the match.

“We definitely have to look at our plans and come back, in terms of the bowling aspect of it and try not to lose wickets in clusters, these are conversations that we continue to have but as cricket goes sometimes these things play a part.”

The ongoing T20 series in England has been largely a one-sided affair, with the hosts cruising out to a 4-0 lead.  In addition, England has secured margins of 40 runs and above in three of the four matches played so far.  Even if the regional team could use rust as a factor, there was also the series against Australia last year, where the team lost 3-0 in an ODI series, before also losing 3-0 in a T20 international series.

In 2016, the West Indies Women defeated Australia to claim the World T20 title and previously scored victories over England.

Russell believes a major part of the gulf in recent results has to do with how the big three teams are preparing physically.

“The other teams are going way ahead. I know a lot of focus is being put on the Australian team, on making them better athletes.  They are a lot faster, a lot stronger, they can really hit a ball, they are more agile.  That's where they are getting ahead,” Arnold told the Mason and Guest Radio program.

“Teams like the West Indies are still relying on the flair.  So now and again, when something comes off you will win a game but to get the consistency to improve, these are the things you need to focus on,” he added.

“A few years ago you would say New Zealand is up there with England and Australia, but the New Zealand Women have fallen off because the other teams are totally focused on improving not only their skills but also their athleticism, which allows for better performances.  It’s a case of the lesser teams not being able to focus on those areas or not focusing.”

The particular nature of the series, played in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, allowed the Caribbean team to arrive in England at the end of last month.  The players have been since locked away in a biosecure environment where they have had the time to get used to conditions.

“The good thing is that we have been here for a while now.  It feels like home.  Normally when we go on a tour it feels like we are the away team.  This time it feels like we are the home team.

“The girls are in good spirits.  We’ve had a few weeks to get out there and get used to the conditions,” she added.

 All matches will be played behind closed doors at Derby, where West Indies have been based for three weeks.  The England Women has dominated the West Indies in recent meetings and have racked up comfortable victories in multiple formats.   Monday's series opener will be the first women's international since 86,174 people watched Australia defeat India in the T20 World Cup final in March.

The men’s program restarted under similar circumstances when the team became one of the first to resume playing international cricket, with its tour against England last month.  With the women’s inactive for the entire period, concerns were raised regarding a need to keep them engaged and active.

With South Africa pulling out of the tour, due to prevailing concerns regarding the coronavirus pandemic, the regional team was invited to fill the spot.

“It’s similar to the men in as much as the ECB has said they understand the financial position that we are in and they have agreed to pick up the cost.  So, this provides us with the best opportunity to restart our women’s program,” Grave told the Mason and Guest radio show.

“With the Guyana and Trinidad borders shut, getting the women together has been impossible.  They haven’t been training since March, since they returned from the World T20 in Australia.  This provides us with the opportunity to have three weeks of training camp prior to a couple of weeks’ worth of games.  We are playing five international T20s.  So, it really has kickstarted our women’s program, which we have been trying to do.”

Heading into the series against New Zealand, which bowls off on Friday, the Windies will stand a full three places below their hosts on the global charts.  In terms of world titles in the format, however, it is the West Indies who lead having claimed two, with New Zealand yet to win one.  Fletcher does not believe the rankings will influence the team; in terms of the way it operates playing cricket internationally.

“Sometimes it’s tough winning two World Cups and ranking at 9^th in the world.  It’s kind of unbalanced but we will get back up there with the ranking as long as we continue to play our brand of cricket,” Fletcher told members of the media.

“I don’t think anything will change, we’ll continue playing our brand of cricket,” he added.

Of course, one disparity that could account for the difference between the titles and world ranking is the fact that the West Indies often has key players missing for T20 internationals, due to other T20 league commitments or injury.  They remain the only team to have claimed the title on two occasions.

The Windies are riding momentum following a hard-fought 2-0 series win away to Bangladesh and a strong performance in a 3-0 One Day International (ODI) series sweep over Sri Lanka.

Despite the recent success, however, Brathwaite, who officially replaced Jason Holder as captain to start the series, insists the team will be looking for a fierce fight from the tourists.

“It’s Test cricket so we won’t be taking them for granted.  I think they have some experienced batsmen that have played a lot of Tests, have scored a number of Test 100s, and an experienced bowler in Lakmal,” Brathwaite told members of the media via a Zoom press conference on Saturday.

“Going into the game we won’t be underestimating them.  I think they will come and fight because the Sri Lanka team always tends to fight,” he added.

Sri Lanka have shown plenty of fight, despite losing both the T20 and ODI series their spinners gave the West Indies batsmen a lot to think about once they were deployed.

Cornwall ended the first day of the third Test, with the West Indies and England locked 1-1, with figures of 0-71 from 21 overs, while England were 258-4.

England’s batsmen, except for an lbw shout looked comfortable against Cornwall’s spin and when Ollie Pope, 91, and Jos Buttler, 56, started coming down the wicket, Cornwall struggled to keep them back in their crease.

Despite the struggles which saw Cornwall go at 3.38 runs per over, the most expensive of the West Indies bowlers, Brathwaite still believed it was a good outing.

“I thought Rahkeem was good. The pitch spun a bit and I thought he controlled the runs,” said Brathwaite.

Cornwall was involved in something spectacular though, a one-handed grab at slip that came from the slashing blade of Rory Burns, 57, off the bowling of Roston Chase.

Chase only bowled eight overs but had more luck than Cornwall, bagging 1-24.

But according to Brathwaite, there is enough there for Cornwall to be hopeful about.

“He didn’t go for too many runs, which was good. It was unfortunate that he didn’t get a wicket but I thought he was decent,” said the West Indies vice-captain.

The best of the West Indies bowlers was kemar Roach, who ended the day with 2-56, while Shannon Gabriel, 0-47, and Jason Holder, 0-45, were not as penetrative as in previous Tests.

The West Indies Women, on seven points from their seven games, following no-result against South Africa on Wednesday, March 23, needed either Bangladesh to defeat England or South Africa to defeat India for them to advance.

England crushed Bangladesh by 100 runs earlier Saturday, which meant that the West Indies Women were dependent on a positive result from the South Africa versus India encounter.

The situation looked grim when India posted 274-7 in their 50 overs thanks to half centuries of 71 from Smriti Mandhana, 53 from Shafali Verma, 68 from Captain Mithali Raj as well as Harmanpreet Kaur's 48.

However, Laura Woolvardt smashed 80, Laura Goodall scored 49 and Mignon du Preez an unbeaten 52 as South Africa scored 275-7, the winning run coming off the last ball of the match.

The South African victory set off wild celebrations among the West Indies Women, whose members had gathered to watch the match.

They will now face unbeaten Australia in the semi-final on Tuesday.

Williamson was unbeaten on 97 at the close with the hosts on 243-2 on a grassy pitch at Seddon Park in Hamilton. Opener Tom Latham was dismissed for 86 but Ross Taylor is 31 not out.

West Indies captain Jason Holder won the toss and chose to bowl first on a well-grassed pitch after morning rain washed out the entire first session.

When play finally got going after lunch, West Indies struck in the fourth over when Shannon Gabriel trapped Will Young lbw for four. Young had escaped being caught behind the ball before when wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich inexplicably pulled out of a catch after Gabriel’s rising delivery took the edge of the opener’s bat.

Notwithstanding the early success, the West Indies bowlers were not nearly as effective as they could have been. They struggled with line and in some instances, length which allowed Williamson and Latham to proceed relatively untroubled.

A vast number of deliveries were simply allowed to go by to the wicketkeeper.

Aided in part by the wayward bowling, Williamson and Latham posted a second-wicket stand of 154 before the latter was bowled by Kemar Roach.

Any hopes of further breakthroughs were quickly dashed however as Taylor and his captain put on an unbroken stand of 75 by the end of the day’s play.

Wilson, 57, boasts a wealth of experience, having stood in matches across all three formats of international cricket, and was also a member of the 2015, 2019 and 2023 Cricket World Cup match officials, while Richardson, 62, a West Indies legend, has been a prominent match referee since his appointment to the Elite Panel in 2015.

The two are among 20 umpires and six match referees, selected by ICC, to officiate in June 1-29 tournament, which will for the first time see 20 teams in action across 55 matches over 28 days at nine venues, making it the largest ICC T20 World Cup to date.

Also included on the elite list of umpires is last year’s winner of the David Shepherd Trophy for ICC Umpire of the Year, Richard Illingworth, along with Kumar Dharmasena, Chris Gaffaney and Paul Reiffel, who all featured in the 2022 T20 World Cup final between England and Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The match referees' team includes Ranjan Madugalle, who officiated the 2022 final, along with the format's most experienced referee, Jeff Crowe of New Zealand.

Crowe holds the record for officiating in most number of T20Is, having made 175 appearances, while Andrew Pycroft, also part of the elite list, is just one match away from reaching the milestone of 150 T20Is.

ICC’s General Manager Wasim Khan, reflected on the selection of the Match Officials for the historic event.

“We are pleased to announce our team of match referees and umpires for the historic ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Within the selected cohort, we have a compliment of experienced match officials and other high performing members who have been recognized for their strong and consistent performances. The throughput from the pathway programme will continue to see the development and emergence of high-quality match officials across the game,” Khan said.

“With 20 teams and 55 matches played over 28 days, this will be the biggest T20 World Cup ever and we are proud of the team we have assembled. We are confident that our officials will perform strongly. We wish them all the best of luck for what promises to be a very exciting tournament,” he added.

The Match Officials for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024:

Umpires: Chris Brown, Kumar Dharmasena, Chris Gaffaney, Michael Gough, Adrian Holdstock, Richard Illingworth, Allahudien Paleker, Richard Kettleborough, Jayaraman Madanagopal, Nitin Menon, Sam Nogajski, Ahsan Raza, Rashid Riaz, Paul Reiffel, Langton Rusere, Shahid Saikat, Rodney Tucker, Alex Wharf, Joel Wilson and Asif Yaqoob.

Match referees: David Boon, Jeff Crowe, Ranjan Madugalle, Andrew Pycroft, Richie Richardson and Javagal Srinath.

The hard-fought victory spearheaded by the efforts of Jermaine Blackwood, who scored a match-winning 95, Jason Holder’s seven wickets and Shannon Gabriel’s nine-wicket haul, earned the West Indies their first points on the ICC World Test Championship table for 2019/2021.

Under the rules of the championship, each team plays six series, with each series counting for 120 points, distributed over the number of matches in a series. A two-match series will mean 60 points for each Test while a three-match series will give 40 points to each Test match.

A tie will be 50 per cent of the points available, whilst a draw will be a 3:1 points ratio.

When the West Indies beat England in their three-match #Raisethebat series, the Caribbean side picked up its first 40 points, which sees the side sitting seventh on the table, 16 points ahead of South Africa that has 24 points from seven matches played.

Bangladesh has not yet scored after three matches.

However, the West Indies, who have only played three matches in the championship so far, have a long way to go if they are to get into the top levels of the standings that are being led by India with 360 points from nine matches played. They have seven wins and two losses.

Australia, who have played 10 matches have seven wins, two losses and a draw for 296 points.

New Zealand are third with 180 points from their seven matches – the points coming from the three matches won. They have lost four.

England are not having a good time of it in fourth with 146 points. Their recent loss to the West Indies means they lost four Tests of the 10 played so far. They also have five wins and a draw.

Pakistan 140 and Sri Lanka 80 are fifth and sixth respectively.

If the West Indies wins their next match against England they will move into a tie on points with Sri Lanka and draw that much closer to Pakistan.

The ICC World Test Championship is a league competition for Test cricket run by the International Cricket Council (ICC), which started on August 1, 2019. It is intended to be the premier championship for Test cricket in line with the ICC's goal of having one pinnacle tournament for each of the three formats of international cricket.

In October 2017, the ICC announced that a Test league had been agreed by its members, which would involve the top nine teams playing series over two years with the top two teams qualifying for a World Test League Championship Final.

The first ICC World Test Championship started after the 2019 Cricket World Cup from August 1, 2019, with the Ashes series. The second ICC World Test Championship will run from July 2021 to June 2023.

Asked to face 26 testing overs at the end of the day, the West Indies reached 49 without loss. Kraigg Brathwaite and John Campbell on 20 and 22, respectively, will resume on Day 3 with the visitors still 470 runs behind a New Zealand total made possible by Kane Williamson’s imperious 251.

Resuming from his overnight score of 97 and New Zealand 243 for 2, the Black Caps captain’s marathon knock was the backbone of the home side’s massive total. Kane faced 412 deliveries in his almost 10 and a half hour stay at the crease.

Ross Taylor, who joined Williamson at the crease at 168 for 2, added seven runs to his overnight score of 31 before becoming Shannon Gabriel’s second victim when he edged to wicketkeeper Shamarh Brooks, who replaced an injured Shane Dowrich.

Williamson dominance of subsequent partnerships of 30 with Henry Nicholls (7); 72 with Tom Blundell (14) and 56 with Daryl Mitchell (9), emphasized his impact on the New Zealand’s innings. His was the last wicket New Zealand to fall when he was caught by Roston Chase at deep midwicket from an Alzarri Joseph after a 94-run seventh-wicket stand of 94 with Kyle Jamieson, who remained unbeaten on 51 when the declaration came.

Williamson’s 251 included 34 fours and two sixes.

Gabriel finished with 3 for 89, while Kemar Roach, who should have got Williamson’s wicket but for a no-ball, returned 3 for 114 from 30 overs. Joseph had figures of 1 for 99.

For decades the Caribbean has created some of the world’s most exciting stroke players, with the likes of Everton Weekes, Gary Sobers, and, later on, Viv Richards and Brian Lara thrilling crowds with their incredible run-scoring ability.

The likes of Pollard, Gayle, and Andre Russell have fallen very much into that mold and a new generation that includes players like Nicholas Pooran, Evin Lewis, Shimron Hetmeyer, and Brandon King have followed in their footsteps.

The 37-year-old all-rounder Bravo, one of the T20 cricket’s most devastating wicket-takers in his own right, was quick to commend Pollard and Gayle for passing the torch.

 “I think these young guys look up to players like Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, what these guys have done in white-ball cricket,” Bravo told Khaleej Times after leading the Delhi Bulls to a win in the Abu Dhabi T10 league on Friday.

“The players from the younger generation now aspire to be like them (Gayle, Pollard) you know. Before them, they had Sir Viv (Richards) or (Brian) Lara and (Shivnarine) Chanderpaul, these players and the likes of Gayle and (Ramnaresh) Sarwan. The young players were looking up to those players,” he added.

“But now because of Pollard, Andre Russell, Gayle, you know, you have seen the likes of Pooran, Heytmayer, Rutherford, and Brandon King.”

Pujara earned widespread commendation for a gutsy performance against Australia last month, where the India batman took hits to the head, elbows, hands, and ribs.  In total, ten balls crashed into him throughout his 211-ball innings.  His stubborn 56, however, was crucial to a historic win for an understrength India, in Australia.

Bonner may not have had to put up with as much physical punishment from the Bangladesh bowlers, but certainly showed plenty of determination in his gritty 86 from 245.  The knock, alongside a cracking 212 from Kyle Mayers, was critical in anchoring an understrength West Indies to a surprise win, in Bangladesh.  Bonner admits he has been taking close note of the India batsman and tries to emulate a few of his qualities.

“I like to see how he goes about his batting.  I think he is very tough mentally and it’s something that I’ve taken from him,” Bonner told members of the media, via a Zoom press conference on Tuesday.

“There is nothing that really troubles him, so I idolize him a lot,” he added.

This, as West Indies batsman Brandon King climbed into the top 10, and England spinner Adil Rasheed assumed the new World number one ranking.

King, who stroked an unbeaten 82 in Barbados that gave West Indies a 2-0 series lead, is up six places to sixth, while Nicholas Pooran is up two spots to 12th.

Rashid has been rewarded for his good consistent form in the Caribbean, as he moved up two places to take the top spot from Afghanistan's Rashid Khan. West Indies spinner Akeal Hosein is the sixth-ranked T20 bowler.

Meanwhile, there remains only one West Indies player holding a top 20 position in the latest One-day Internation (ODI) rankings, with West Indies skipper Shai Hope being the highest rated at 11th on the batting list.

India wrapped up the three-match T20 series with an 8 run win over the West Indies, after setting a more than competitive 186 for 5 in the first innings.  Thanks to the efforts of Powell and Pooran, however, the team managed to get close to the score on the back of their 100-run partnership, in 60 balls.

It was the second time in just a few weeks the duo was combining to good effect.  Against England in the third T20 international, the duo combined for 122 for 67.  In fact, Pooran and Powell have been one of the most productive partnerships over the last four years, scoring 346 in 7 innings.

“Me and Pooran, from the last series, we have been developing a nice little bromance, a nice little partnership in a sense with him batting 3 and me batting four.  It’s important for us at that point, at that position, where we bat three and four to get partnerships,” Pooran told members of the media, following the match.

“We got another partnership of 100 plus today, it’s for us to take all the things we did right today and improve the stuff that needs to improve going forward.”

For two decades, Sir Vivian, one of the greatest batsmen of all time, destroyed bowling attacks across the globe, plundering 8540 runs in 121 Tests. The nature of his dominance was such that he once held the world record for the fastest-ever Test century, getting to the hallowed milestone from just 56 balls. It is against this background that that his criticism of the current crop of West Indies batsmen is seen as being telling. 

During the recent tour of New Zealand, the West Indies batsmen were harried and bullied by the pace and bounce of Trent Boult, Neil Wagner, Kyle Jamieson and Tim Southee, who between them took 38 wickets.

In the first Test at Hamilton, New Zealand, batting first on a green wicket, made 519 for 7 declared with Captain Kane Williamson getting 251 runs. In reply, the West Indies could only manage 138 and following on, 247, losing by an innings and 134 runs.

It was a similar situation in the second Test at Wellington where after New Zealand made 460 all out reduced the West Indies to 131, and following on, 317, losing by an innings and 12 runs.

Of note, is that no West Indies batsman in four innings cumulatively managed to score more runs than Williamson’s score in the first Test. Jermaine Blackwood, who scored a century and a half century over the two Tests came closest with 216 runs.

Richards, in a recent interview with the Antigua Observer, said the West Indies batsmen were not able to withstand the hostility of the home team’s bowlers.

“We are struggling to play the short ball, and we look like the individuals we used to deal with. We are looking very timid and West Indians over the years have always been part of that destructive force when it comes to playing fast bowling,” said Sir Vivian.

“There are certain improvements in the team but we are seeing it in bits and pieces and we are not seeing those pieces being out together, we are not seeing that.”

Richards said it was becoming hard to watch the West Indies play under the current state of affairs.

The Caribbean side was beaten by Ireland, in a One Day International series, for the first time in their history earlier this week.  The team had a poor showing all-around but as has become custom in recent times their substandard display at the crease was noticeable.

The team struggled to come to grips with not just the surface, but also the Irish bowlers, particularly Andy McBrine who took 10 wickets over the three games. O’Brien believes a major part of the issues at the crease stems from the batting unit’s outdated philosophy of run-scoring.

“The West Indies, they’re playing a very old school type of cricket.  They just stand around in the crease and either block or try to hit the ball for four or six.  Unfortunately, when you are playing international cricket that doesn’t happen very often.  Very rarely do you see a West Indies batter come down the pitch, using their feet, knock it to long-on, or long-off for singles, rotate the strike, or manipulate the field.  We saw very few sweeps, when Shamarh Brooks did play a sweep he was out lbw,” O'Brien told the Mason and Guest radio show.

“When you’re a batter if you’re going to stand in the crease waiting for a bad ball, this is international cricket, the bad balls don’t come very often…It’s a technical thing, it’s a tactical thing…it’s something for West Indies cricket, it’s been a pattern for many, many years they don’t play spin very well.  They really on their brute force and teams are getting more clever with how to go about that.”

Simmons was speaking on Sunday following the dismal performance of the defending champions while losing to England by six wickets in Dubai. The West Indies were bowled out for 55 in just 14.2 overs, a target achieved by England in 8.2 over albeit for the loss of four wickets.

During the match, several West Indies batsmen got out trying to clear the boundary, most notably opening bat Lendl Simmons, who swiped Moeen Ali and was caught on the midwicket boundary mirroring his dismissal to Mohammed Nabi in the team’s final warm-up game against Afghanistan.

Simmons conceded that this was a concern for the team.

“There is a concern from yesterday (Saturday) because the game awareness and situational awareness was not at its best. From that point of view, definitely and it is something that is being addressed, not just with him (Lendl) but with all the players as to how we assess the situation that we are in because it can be assessed inside; those in the middle must assess the situation and play accordingly.”

Notwithstanding those concerns, Simmons said the team will continue to play its natural game.

“Well, the style in which we play our cricket has always been in the style in which we play our cricket, but we got to assess the situation at the time and play according to the situation. We will continue to be in our aggressive state but our shot selection and assessment of the situation must be a lot better.”

The team and management unit has been in isolation since arriving in the country last Friday.  Under New Zealand’s rigorous testing program, the team had to spend the first three days in isolation and then return a negative test before they could begin training in small groups at New Zealand Cricket’s High Performance Centre.

The squad must now undergo two further tests on Day 6 and Day 12 before they are allowed to train in larger groups.

 The tour will bowl off with a T20I series against the Black Caps at Eden Park in Auckland under lights. The series then moves to Mount Maunganui for two matches at Bay Oval – the first a day match and the second under lights.  The team will then travel to Hamilton for the first Test at Seddon Park and then south to Wellington for the second match at the historic Basin Reserve.

Match Schedule:

November 27: 1st T20I at Eden Park, Auckland

November 29: 2nd T20I at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui

November 30: 3rd T20I at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui

December 3-7: 1st Test at Seddon Park, Hamilton

December 11-15: 2nd Test at Basin Reserve, Wellington