The West Indies and England will return to international cricket with a three-Test match series, in England, next month. With the prevalence of the coronavirus still a major concern and ongoing racial equality protests around the globe, the situation to begin the tour is anything but typical.
In a bid to mitigate the risks of exposure to COVID-19, the teams will spend the entire period of the tour in what has been termed a bio-secure environment, which will keep everyone associated with the series quarantined from the general public. With all the distractions, Bradshaw believes the task of focusing on just cricket is likely to be tougher for the team.
“We could lose the series mentality if we are distracted before the start of that series. So, it’s going to be incumbent on the management team to keep the guys focused,” Bradshaw told the Mason and Guest Radio program.
“These are trying circumstances that they are playing under, but they are professionals and they must act as professionals and really utilize the preparation time to the best of their advantage.”
At the close of play, the Hurricanes were 23 without loss, having earlier blown away the Red Force for 140, well short of their first innings total of 357. Resuming the day at 308 – 7, overnight batsman Jeremiah Lewis eventually went to a useful 42, but eventually ran out of partners at the crease.
In pursuit of the total, Red Force got off to a disastrous start. Top-order batsmen Tion Webster (0), Jeremy Solazano (0), and Jason Mohammed (0) all perished with scoring, while Darren Bravo added just 7 before being dismissed by Colin Archibald to leave the team in tatters at 10 for 4.
Joshua Da Silva briefly attempted to resuscitate the innings and top-scored with an industrious 65 from 115 balls and partnered with Bryan Charles (25) to push the score to 128 for 7 before Charles was caught by Rahkeem Cornwall off the bowling of Sheeno Berridge.
Da Silva’s brave resistance ended four overs later when he was caught by Carty off Archibald. Louis who accounted for four of the five top-order batsmen, ended with figures of 4 for 32, while Archibald finished with figures of 4 for 27.
Batting again for the Leewards Montcin Hodge (5) and Powell (15) were the not-out batsman at the end of day 2.
Zaida James told CWI Media, “It’s certainly a great feeling to have an all-round performance like this and even better that we had a team victory. Our focus is one game at a time and to finish the group stage strong, then we will look at the remaining stages of the tournament.”
The victory sees the West Indies move to the top of the table in Group C, with 2 points and a Net Run Rate of +0.350. They play Indonesia on Tuesday January 17 at North-West University Oval, Potchefstroom – 7:45am Eastern Caribbean/6:45am Jamaica.
West Indies Rising Stars
125/3 (20 overs)
Zaida James 52
Freya Sargent 4-0-9-2
Naijanni Cumberbatch 21
Ireland Women's U19
118/7 (20 overs)
Annabel Squires 42
Zaida James 4-0-20-4
Amy Hunter 21
Dottin recently missed out on taking part in the CG Insurance Regional Super50 championship, for Barbados, after taking time to recover from an injury. The player, however, left for England earlier this week and is expected to be available for the team’s first match against Northern Diamonds on Sunday.
The all-rounder will be available for the team’s first four matches in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy before joining up with Manchester Originals for The Hundred at the beginning of August. For her part, the player is looking forward to joining the team for the inaugural competition.
“I am really excited to be in Manchester and ready to play in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy for the first time with the Thunder,” Dottin said.
“I already know a few members of the squad following my time in the KSL six years ago and it will be a good opportunity to reunite with them and have some more fun playing cricket here.
“I am looking forward to playing at Emirates Old Trafford again, one of my favourite grounds in cricket.”
Dottin is in line for her first international appearance since her 2022 retirement when the West Indies take on South Africa in their first group match on October 4.
The best cricketer in the world right now, Hayley Matthews, will once again lead the side that also sees the inclusion of regulars like Stafanie Taylor, Afy Fletcher, Chinelle Henry, Chedean Nation, Shamilia Connell, Aaliyah Alleyne, Shemaine Campbelle and Karishma Ramharack.
The squad also boasts a fine mixture of youth and experience with the presence of 19-year-old Zaida James and 20-year-old Ashmini Munisar, who both represented the West Indies at the most recent ICC Under-19 Women’s World Cup.
St. Lucian Nerissa Crafton is the only member of the squad with no international experience while this will be the first T20 World Cup for Qiana Joseph and Mandy Mangru.
In addition to South Africa, the West Indies will take on Bangladesh, England and Scotland in Group B of the tournament.
After facing South Africa on October 4, they will Scotland on October 6, Bangladesh on October 10 and England on October 15.
The top two teams from the group will advance to the semi-finals.
Full Squad: Hayley Matthews (C), Shemaine Campbelle, Aaliyah Alleyne, Afy Fletcher, Ashmini Munisar, Chedean Nation, Chinelle Henry, Deandra Dottin, Karishma Ramharack, Mandy Mangru, Nerissa Crafton, Shamilia Connell, Stafanie Taylor, Zaida James, Qiana Joseph
England Women won the toss and elected to bat first. West Indies Women made two changes with Chedean Nation and Sheneta Grimmond replacing Britney Cooper and Aaliyah Alleyne.
Shamilia Connell had the English batters on the backfoot early in the powerplay as she removed both openers, Tammy Beaumont and Danielle Wyatt in the third over, to register a much better performance in her opening spell that what she had in the second match last Wednesday.
Deandra Dottin returned to international bowling for the first time since February 2019 when the West Indies Women played three T20I matches in Karachi Pakistan. Dottin and the other West Indies bowlers were able to constrain the English batters for most of their innings, except for the nineteenth over, when they were able to score 17 runs off Stafanie Taylor.
England Women finished their innings on 154 for 6. Nat Sciver was their top scorer with 82 followed by captain Heather Knight with 29. Shamilia Connell was the pick of the West Indies bowlers, finishing with figures of 2 for 13 from three overs, followed by Deandra Dottin with 2 for 29.
Deandra Dottin once again started the West Indies run chase in expedient fashion as she notched four boundaries inside the powerplay. But, two quick wickets of Lee Ann Kirby and Shemaine Cambelle, saw the scoring rate dip just for a moment. Hayley Matthews, batting at number four, and Dottin started the innings rebuild. The pair posted a 48-run partnership before Matthews was trapped lbw for 21.
Dottin in her prolific return to international cricket, reached 2500 T20 International runs on her way to a West Indies Women’s top-score of 63 off 56 deliveries, which included 9-fours and a six.
West Indies were at one stage 83 for 2 in the 13th over but lost momentum in the second half of the innings and finished on 134 for 5 – 20 runs short of the target. The win gave England an unassailable 3-0 lead with two more matches to be played on Monday night and Wednesday night at the same venue.
Scores
West Indies Women 134 for 5 from 20 overs England’s 154 for 6 from 20 overs
With scores of 69 and 38 in the T20 series so far, Dottin has looked anything but rusty. Notably, however, the player is yet to have a turn with the ball. Dottin, as she often has, would prove more than a valuable weapon for the West Indies with the ball as well. In 115 matches, she has claimed 59 wickets.
Having suffered a serious injury to her right shoulder in early 2019, which required reconstructive surgery in June of last year, however, Coley insists the team is still doing recovery work with the all-rounder.
“She’s just recovered from injury. It’s no secret that our players haven’t been able to do much for a very long time,” Coley said.
“Deandra is on a back to bowling program. She started that whilst we were here, so she is still on that. We need to make sure that she is 100 percent, to be able to bowl competitively. She has been doing bowling work behind the scenes in training,” he added.
“We are comfortable in terms of where she is at, but we want to make sure that long term she is ok and she can bowl at the intensity she wants to consistently and not just for a game or two.”
Jason Holder (46) and Dowrich (47) ensured the Windies avoided the follow-on, but Stuart Broad (6-31) took all four wickets in the morning session to dismiss them for 197.
There was more pain for the tourists after England started their second innings with a lead of 162 at Old Trafford, Holder the first to be in pain after being struck on the thumb.
The captain was able to continue, but Dowrich went off the field after a short delivery from Shannon Gabriel went through his gloves and appeared to hit him in the face.
Shai Hope initially took the gloves before the uncapped Da Silva, who will not be able to bat in the second innings, came on to take his place and soon missed a chance to stump Rory Burns.
England were 50 without loss in the afternoon session, leading by 222 runs as they bid to regain the Wisden Trophy, knowing rain is likely to wipe out day four.
In late 2020, the 32-year-old wicketkeeper/batsman, who represented the West Indies in 35 Tests and one ODI, suffered a finger injury while on a tour of New Zealand. He was subsequently granted permission to leave the tour for "personal reasons".
However, according to the suit filed in court in Barbados, CWI failed to follow up with the player to determine whether he had managed to put his ‘personal issues' behind him and was ready to resume representing the regional side. CWI, it is being claimed, failed to have him evaluated by a doctor when he indicated that he was ready to return to play.
Dowrich, who was on a US$150,000 central contract at the time, had his contract rescinded presumably because he had missed the number of games required to qualify. This resulted in his earnings being significantly reduced.
The diminutive Barbadian was recently recalled to the West Indies ODI squad for their series against England in December but withdrew from the squad after announcing his retirement from international cricket mere days before the first game.
Cricket West Indies has until the end of February to file a defence to the lawsuit with the first court date set for April.
Calls to CWI CEO Johnny Grave went unanswered up to the point of publication.
The pair posted an unbroken stand of 131 before lunch as Brathwaite's XI stretched their overnight lead of 181 to 313.
Resuming on 99 for three, Brathwaite’s XI had an early setback when Shannon Gabriel trapped Roston Chase lbw for his overnight score of four. He then sent down a torrent of bouncers to Dowrich as things got tense between the two sides.
Brooks, meanwhile, got off to a slow start but gradually scored at better than a run a ball to go to the break unbeaten on 66 from 99 balls. Dowrich was not out 56 (83 balls) having taken a liking to the spin bowling of Rahkeem Cornwall and Jomel Warrican.
Uncapped 22-year-old Holder was named in the touring party following some outstanding domestic performances for Barbados Pride in the West Indies Championship.
The Barbadian gave a demonstration of his huge potential back in 2016 when the Windies won the Under-19 Cricket World Cup and could make his senior debut during a three-match series in England, which starts behind closed doors at the Ageas Bowl next Wednesday.
Former West Indies fast bowler and assistant coach Drakes has helped to nurture Holder's talent and thinks he can cause England problems if he is given an opportunity.
Drakes told Stats Perform News: "I've known Chemar from a young age, he went to school with my son, Dominic, and they have come through the system together and been part of the group of West Indies Emerging Players.
"I have done some one-to-one coaching work with him and he's got some good attributes, good skill sets. He's a hard worker and used to be a sprinter, he was a 400 metres runner and also competed in the 1500 metres.
"When he gets it right, he's consistently in the high 80s [miles per hour]. The only way to find out if he's ready is to throw him in at the deep end against England.
"He would have played against England A team last year and would have gone to England the year before that as part of the Emerging Players group, so he would have had the experience of bowling in those conditions."
Kemar Roach was among 12 members of the Windies squad who Drakes worked with before they flew out to England for the first international cricket since the coronavirus pandemic brought the vast majority of sport to a halt.
Roach was man of the series when West Indies won a Test series against England in the Caribbean last year and Drakes, who was assistant coach for that 2-1 triumph, says he can make a big impact again.
Asked if Roach will be the spearhead of the attack, he replied: "Absolutely. One of the things he did well last year was he took early wickets.
"Without giving away too much methodology in how to deconstruct the opposition gameplan and counter them, Kemar Roach has the ability to take early wickets, releasing the ball from wide of the crease and moving away from batsmen - particularly the right-handers.
"His track record against left-handers is phenomenal and England have some left-handers. Kemar and Jason [captain Holder], they set the tone along with [Alzarri] Joseph and Shannon Gabriel can be a threat with his pace and uncertainty he creates.
"It will be interesting to see if that combination can work as it did in the Caribbean."
Earlier this week regional cricket governing body Cricket West Indies (CWI) announced the decision to replace lead selector Roger Harper and Miles Bascombe, following a disastrous showing at the ICC T20 World Cup earlier this year, and subsequent fruitless tours of Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
For Murray, however, the decisions may not run deep enough in tackling the substance of the issue.
“Yeah, they’re going to change the selectors, but are they going to exchange some for others or is it going to be a real radical change in the way West Indies cricket is run,” Murray queried on the Mason and Guest radio program.
“If our cricket is ever going to improve, the first thing to do is to get the board structure right. The way the board is constituted now, at least three reports have been absolutely clear, The Patterson report, the Caricom Report, and the Wehby report all have said exactly the same thing, the structure, and composition of the West Indies board has to change,” he added.
“The way it’s constructed at the moment, all you are going to get is people vying to get people picked who are their friends or come from the same territories and we’re not going anywhere.”
Fourteen years ago, former Jamaica Prime Minister PJ Patterson, Sir Alister McIntyre, and Dr. Ian McDonald produced a Governance Report, which listed 65 recommendations to improve West Indies cricket. At the time, the document was dismissed as not relevant by the then administration. In 2015, a Caricom Governance of Cricket report was submitted by a panel chaired by Professor V Eudine Barriteau, which included former President of the Caribbean Court of Justice Sir Denis Byron, Murray, Warren Smith, and Dwain Gill.
Two years ago, another report, conducted by an independent task force led by former Jamaica Senator Don Wehby, which also included Sir Hilary Beckles, O.K Melhado, Charles Wilkin QC, and Murray, produced 36-pages of recommedations that also pointed to the need for structural reforms. The majority of the recommendations from any of the three documents are yet to be implemented.
Hope was among the few standout players when the team played England in the 2017 series. In fact, his two finely crafted 100s played a critical role in the team turning the tables on England for a shock victory in the second Test at Headingly.
To say Hope has struggled since then, however, could only be construed as a massive understatement. He has averaged below 25 in 21 Tests, with no hundreds and managed scores of 16, 9, 25 and 7 in the first two Tests against England. With the final and decisive Test on the horizon, Ambrose believes some time out of the spotlight could be good for the 26-year-old, and that on the flip side, repeated failure could permanently damage the player.
"Something has gone terribly wrong for him since those two centuries at Headingley - he hasn't done anything really in Test cricket since then," said Ambrose recently told Sky Sports.
"He is a much better player than what he is showing at the moment and is obviously very low on confidence,” he added.
"Maybe in the next game we should rest him so he can regain some confidence. If you keep playing him and he keeps failing it will only get worse. You are going to destroy him if it continues like that.”
Former West Indies and Barbados batsman Philo Wallace has pointed to team captain Jason Holder’s lack of aggressive killer instinct as one of the issues that ailed the regional team in its recent loss to England.
West Indies have only themselves to blame, dropping two catches in the final over bowled by Sheldon Cottrell and that proved costly in the end.
Chasing 146 for victory, Australia owed their victory to Aaron Finch (58) and Matthew Wade (39*) whose sixth-wicket partnership turned the match in favour of the hosts who had lost half their wickets early.
The pair came together with Australia struggling after Sheldon Cottell’s two wickets and one each from Yannic Cariah, Jason Holder and Alzarri Joseph had reduced the hosts were 58-5 after eight overs.
They eventually repelled the West Indies attack with a 69-run partnership that for a while took the match away from the tourists. The match swung significantly in Australia’s favour when Sheldon Cottrell, who had earlier removed David Warner and Mitchell Marsh in his first over, leaked 18 runs in his third over, the 12th of the Australian innings.
Bowling his final over, Joseph broke the stand when he dismissed Finch for 58 with the score at 127 with Australia needing just 19 from 17 balls.
The Antiguan conceded only four runs from that over to finish with the impressive figures of 2-17.
Odean Smith bowled Cummins for four to leave Australia needing 11 from the final over.
Cottrell gave up a four to Wade off the first ball setting the stage for Australia to achieve the target but with a lot of help from the West Indies.
Wade escaped the second ball when Reifer dropped him in the deep and square of the wicket which resulted in Australia getting two runs.
The hosts needed four runs from three balls when Mayers dropped Starc from Cottrell’s fourth and Australia took two more runs.
Starc got two from the Cottrell’s fifth to get Australia over the line with a ball to spare.
Cottrell finished with 2-49 while Smith bowled well to end with 1-19.
Earlier, Kyle Mayers scored 39 at the top of the order and Odean Smith 27 at the end as the West Indies posted 145-9 from their 20 overs. Brandon King (13) and Raymon Reifer (19) each got starts but the West Indies lost wickets regularly and were unable to get any momentum during their innings.
Josh Hazelwood was the best of the Australian bowlers with 3-35. Pat Cummins 2-22 and Mitchell Starc 2-40 were solid in support.
The 42-year-old batsman has faced heavy scrutiny in recent weeks and has managed just a total of 25 runs in two heavy losses for the Windies at the tournament so far. The storm of criticism surrounding the batsman, however, extends beyond that.
Heading into the tournament, Gayle had struggled to look like anything close to the player who has scored over 14,000 runs in T20 cricket. In the last 16 matches, the batsman has averaged 15.93 and scored 239 runs with a strike rate of 13.80, well below his career average of 138.46.
Despite that, however, Lara, considered one of the game’s greatest ever batsmen, believes the player could still have a role to play in the team and should remain a part of the line-up at this point in time.
"Chris Gayle is already in the World Cup and his experience and the fact that he can pass on something to the younger players is key,” Lara said recently on Star Sports.
"I personally believe that Chris Gayle has to be given a proper send-off. This, I think, is his last tournament. Dismissing Chris Gayle at this stage of the tournament, I am not sure it's the right thing. I would like to see some sort of nice approach for the rest of the tournament. I think he can still make an impression on the younger players even if he doesn't score," he added.
Stokes slammed four fours and three sixes to lead England to 129-3 from just 19 overs of batting. The innings gave England two things, runs and time.
It made sure they got 85 overs to bowl at the West Indies, as well as a fair number of runs to act as a buffer in case they couldn’t get 10 wickets.
Speaking about the innings, West Indies coach, Phil Simmons, said he was not surprised, but he was disappointed because the West Indies got a chance to stop the carnage early out.
When Stokes was on 29, John Campbell, fielding at deep extra-cover, floored a chance off Shannon Gabriel, that may have changed the course of the game.
“The thing about him is that we know he can do that. And if you go out and drop him within six balls of the start, well then you’ve got problems then,” said Simmons.
“I think it was our doing that he got the opportunity to go on and show what he’s made of and we know what he’s made of.”
England, thanks to an all-round bowling performance would go on to win by 113 runs, bowling out the West Indies for 198, with Shamarh Brooks, 62, Jermaine Blackwood, 55, and Jason Holder, 35, the main contributors.
The #raisethebat Series for the Wisden Trophy now lies at 1-1 with the series decider on Friday at the same venue.
Bravo brought up the landmark while playing for Trinbago Knight Riders in a Caribbean Premier League match against St Lucia Zouks.
He had a helping hand from Colin Munro, quite literally as he took a fine low catch after Cornwall miscued an attempted drive off a full delivery outside off stump.
Former Windies captain Bravo, who came out of T20 international retirement last December, has accumulated his incredible haul while playing for 23 different sides across 14 years.
Lasith Malinga is Bravo's nearest challenger on 390 T20 wickets.
Bravo memorably took 3-37 in the Windies' dramatic T20 World Cup final win over England in 2016.
Darren Bravo, 34, recently led the Trinidad & Tobago Red Force to the CG United Super50 Cup title and finished the tournament as the leading run-scorer with 416 runs in eight innings at an average of 83.20 with one hundred and three fifties.
His production proved to be not enough in the eyes of the selectors, however, as they opted to go with younger players who they have invested in with an eye on the 2027 World Cup, according to Haynes in a press conference on Monday.
“SMH!!! When will the BS stop?!” I’m not surprised with my brother’s non-selection, but with the recent changes in WI cricket management, I held onto a bit of hope for the better,” Bravo said in a statement on Instagram on Monday.
“This is NOT acceptable, and I just can’t make sense of it! So here are my burning questions: What’s the criteria for West Indies team selection? Surely, it can’t be solely based on performance?” he added.
The former all-rounder then went into the aforementioned stats that Darren bravo put together in the Super50 Cup before asking more questions.
“I usually stay away from these discussions but the mistreatment, disrespect, and dishonesty towards players over the years demand a voice. When will it stop? When will this BS actually stop?”
He then directed his ire toward Haynes, Sammy, and newly appointed director of cricket Miles Bascombe.
“To Mr. Desmond Haynes, your statement didn’t surprise me. It feels like another former player singing for his supper. I hoped for trust in the system with figures like you, Sammy, and the new director of cricket, but the system failed again,” he said.
Bravo ended by offering encouragement to his brother and congratulating some of the new and returning members of the squad.
“To my brother, this too shall pass. Keep your head up, stay focused and trust in the Almighty. And, as always, I extend my best wishes to the team and selected players. It’s refreshing to see (Kjorn) Ottley, (Sherfane) Rutherford and (Shane) Dowrich back in the mix. Good luck guys,” he ended.
The legendary duo has played all six tournaments since its inception in 2007 in South Africa and will want to have maximum impact as we enter the seventh edition in the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
They later played in 2009 in England, 2010 at home in the Caribbean, 2012 in Sri Lanka, 2014 in Bangladesh and the last edition in 2016 in India. Gayle is the undisputed king of T20 cricket and the Universe Boss has dominated this format everywhere he has set foot on the planet. Bravo is not far behind with his expert bowling and is a sharp thinker and tactician.
Back in 2012, Gayle adopted The Gangnam style as the unofficial theme song for the team and fans joined the global street party. For Bravo, it was an extra-special moment in time as the epic performance came on the night of his birthday. He had the pleasure of taking the catch to seal the sensational result. To savour the memory, he kept the ball and still has it at home.
“It was my 29th birthday and was a very special moment. It was the first time we won the T20 World Cup and as players, we wanted to prove to the world, we were the best, as individuals and as a team,” Bravo said.
“To do it on my birthday was special and something I could never forget. I still have that ball at home … was a dream come true. A lot of people didn’t give us and chance and picked four teams and didn’t have West Indies among their top four. To win on that night against Sri Lanka on their home turf was a great end to the tournament and we proved ourselves as a team.”
Bravo and Gayle have also had some other great moments in T20 World Cups. None better than at Eden Gardens in Kolkata in 2016 when West Indies celebrated that famous victory over England with Bravo leading the merriment with his song “Champion”.
Gayle is the only man to hit two centuries in the T20 World Cup. In his very first outing against South Africa back in September 2007, he set ablaze the Wanderers in Johannesburg with a sizzling 117 off just 57 balls. It was just the start kind of start that world cricket needed and set the trend for more of his power-packing pyrotechnic displays.
With a sense of occasion, and with an estimated global viewing audience of over 500 million fixed eyes fixed to the Wankhede Stadium, Gayle set the tone for the tournament. It was magical and memorable as he muscled 11 mammoth sixes and lit up the Mumbai night sky to score 100 not out off just 48 balls.
Bravo recalled the moments.
“I remember I had a launch event in Mumbai and had my teammates and friends. We had a good start to the tournament, and we formed a great unit. Chris made a hundred and started the dance and everyone was inspired and motivated … it became the anthem, and we did the dance and kept on winning,” the allrounder said.
”We won the final the song was the most played. It was a special moment for West Indian people around the world. Everywhere we went there were celebrations. We want to do it again this time around.”
