Shimron Hetmyer, who has not played for the West Indies since November 2021, has been training with the squad but according to the Windies' white-ball captain, the Guyanese middle-order batsman, still has a lot of work to do on his fitness before he can suit up once again.
“He is here doing a lot of work on his fitness and that is really nice to see, the effort that he has been putting in,” Pooran said during a media session on Thursday.
“He wants to play for the West Indies and trainers and coaches working with him, so expect to see him sooner than later.
“I have full confidence that he will be putting on the maroon colours again. He has a fitness test to pass shortly, so he is preparing himself for that.”
There are recalls for experienced left-arm fast bowler Sheldon Cottrell; Shimron Hetmyer, the left-handed top-order batsman; and Roston Chase, the right-handed all-rounder.
The CG Insurance ODI Series will be played at Kensington Oval in Barbados on July 20, 22 and 24 with all three matches scheduled as day/night encounters. The first ball is 2:30 pm (1:30 pm Jamaica Time). There is great anticipation as this is Australia’s first tour of the West Indies since the tri-nation series back in 2016.
The series forms part of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) ODI Super League where both teams are aiming to win points to be one of the top seven teams that will secure automatic qualification for the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup in India.
“This squad is coming off a comprehensive series win against Sri Lanka which should boost their confidence going into what is expected to be a tougher contest against Australia. The return of Shimron Hetmyer, Roston Chase and Sheldon Cottrell adds greater depth and experience to the squad,” said Roger Harper, CWI's Chief Selector.
“Playing in familiar home conditions, hopefully, will bring out the best in each player thereby enabling the team to perform at a consistently high standard. This CG Insurance ODI series against Australia is part of the ICC Cricket World Cup qualification process where every game and every point counts, so it is very important.”
FULL SQUAD: Kieron Pollard (Captain), Shai Hope (Vice-Captain), Fabian Allen, Darren Bravo, Roston Chase, Sheldon Cottrell, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Evin Lewis, Jason Mohammed, Anderson Philip, Nicholas Pooran and Romario Shepherd.
Matthews faced 122 balls for an even hundred that included 11 fours as she guided the home side to yet another victory over the visiting Pakistan Women. She shared in an opening stand of 56 with Kyshona Knight, who contributed 18 before being trapped lbw by Anam Amin.
Britney Cooper joined Matthews at the crease and together the pair put together a stand of 106 in 24 overs during which Cooper hit three fours in her score of 45 that came off 68 balls.
She was eventually out caught in the deep by Ayesha Naseem off the bowling of Fatima Sana.
Chedean Nation ended unbeaten on 13 as she and Matthews completed the chase without further loss with 59 balls to spare.
Matthews said her century was the result of hard work.
"I've been working really hard over the past couple of months to improve on my batting and on my consistency and it's really good to see it finally paying off,” she said, revealing that she was a bit concerned when she realized that runs were running out and she was not yet at three figures.
“I don't think nervous necessarily but probably when I got into the nineties and realized it was about 10 runs to win the game and five runs for me to get my hundred and then the rain started setting up, I felt a bit anxious about actually getting the runs but I never doubted I was going to get my hundred."
Earlier, Umaima Sohail top-scored with 62 in Pakistan Women’s score of 182.
Chinelle Henry took two of the first three wickets as Pakistan slipped to 56-3 in over number 16, despite opener Muneeba Ali’s contribution of 25.
However, Nida Dar and Sohial put together a fourth-wicket stand of 87 before Dar was dismissed by Matthews for 24.
Wickets fell with regularity afterwards with Chinelle Henry, who finished with 3-37, Anisa Mohammed (3-25) and Matthews (2-30), combining to tear through the middle order.
Only Rameen Shamim’s 19 from 21 balls managed to get Pakistan to 182, a score that proved to be not nearly enough.
Chasing a target of 233, Man-of-the-Match Hope scored 110 and Lewis featured in an opening stand of 143, a record-opening stand for the West Indies against Sri Lanka in the West Indies, which was ended when the latter was bowled by an in-swinging yorker from Dushmantha Chameera for 65.
Lewis had faced 90 balls in his 109-minute stay at the crease hitting four fours and two sixes.
Hope, who dropped from the West Indies Test squad last year for loss of form, was a picture of composure, facing 136 balls from which he hit 12 fours and a six in his 10th ODI century before he, too, was bowled by Dushmantha Chameera who finished with 2-50 from his 10 overs.
Hope also shared in a 72-run second-wicket stand with Darren Bravo who hit two fours and a six and in his unbeaten on 37 at the end. With him was Jason Mohammed, who was not out on 13.
Sri Lanka would have been disappointed after winning the toss and opting to take first strike, were given a solid platform of 105.
The partnership was broken two balls into the 20th over by Kieron Pollard, who brilliantly caught Dimuth Karunaratne off his own bowling for 52. He had faced 61 balls and struck four fours in his 89 minutes at the crease.
Eleven balls later it was 112 for 2 when Danushka Gunathilaka, who was going well on 55 when he was controversially given out for obstructing the field, ending his 98-minute stay at the crease during which he struck seven fours from the 61 balls he faced.
The incident seemed to rattle Sri Lanka as two run-outs (Pathum Nissanka and Angelo Matthews) followed that saw Sri Lanka slide to 126 for 4.
Ashen Bandara scored the third half-century of the Sri Lankan innings that provided some stability to the lower order but by then the run rate had fallen before five runs and over and he was without a partner who could successfully take on the West Indies bowling attack.
His was the ninth wicket to fall in the 48th over bowled by Jason Holder for an even 50 that included four fours.
Holder, who also accounted for the wicket of Chameera returned figures of 2-39. Jason Mohammed, who was introduced into the attack late had 2-12 from his four overs having claimed the wickets of Kamindu Mendis and Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva.
There was a wicket each for Alzarri Joseph, Pollard and Fabian Allen, in a performance of which Coach Phil Simmons would be proud.
Taylor, the Player of the Match scored 105 from 116 balls and hit 11 fours and two sixes as the West Indies Women cruised to 209-5 from 47.5 overs, chasing Pakistan Women’s 205-9. It was Taylor’s sixth ODI century and she celebrated by signalling towards her teammates in the dressing room and raising her hands towards the heavens.
Taylor added a significant partnership sixth-wicket partnership of 42 with Britney Cooper to see the team home. After coming together at 167-5 in the 43rd over, they put on the unbroken stand during which Cooper played some breathtaking strokes over the off-side as she ended on 17 not out off 21 balls with three fours.
Earlier, Taylor was also excellent with the ball as she took 3-29 from her 10 overs to help restrict the Pakistan batters. Nida Dar top scored with 55 and there were worthwhile contributions from openers Muneeba Ali and Ayesha Zafar, who scored 36 and 46, respectively, and featured in an opening stand of 70 before the former was run out.
Anisa Mohammed took 2-31 and there was a wicket each for Shamilla Connell and Shakera Selmon
This will be Ireland’s second full white-ball tour to the West Indies having previously toured in 2020 which included a thrilling one-wicket, last-over win for the West Indies in the second match of the 2020 CG Insurance ODI Series.
“We are looking forward to welcoming Ireland back to the West Indies in January. They last visited the Caribbean in 2020 and we had some exciting encounters, so we can anticipate a competitive series to start the new year,” said CWI CEO Johnny Grave.
“This will be the start of a very busy year for us at CWI, as we host several international teams as well as the ICC Men’s U19 Cricket World Cup.
“We want to thank the Government of Jamaica and our colleagues at the Jamaica Cricket Association, who have been working closely with us to make sure that the tour can take place safely and smoothly. We’d also like to thank title sponsors CG Insurance for their ongoing support and investment in cricket, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, as it has been vital funding to help us to sustain the sport across our Caribbean countries and communities.”
Naz Farrow, CEO of CG Insurance said his company is happy to be able to support CWI during these challenging times.
“When we first began our partnership a few years ago, we would have never imagined that the teams, and the world, were about to face one of the biggest challenges of this generation,” he said.
“Throughout the pandemic, we have been thrilled to see the players and teams work through the various obstacles to constantly deliver world-class cricket. Even now, as Ireland joins to play the ODIs in January, we are proud to continue to support CWI, and this series, and look forward to these exciting matches in 2022.”
The CG Insurance ODI Series between West Indies and Ireland will be West Indies fifth ODI series out of the 12 in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League, in which the top seven teams can secure automatic qualification for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 in India.
The CG Insurance ODIs will start at 9:30 am local time (10:30 am Eastern Caribbean/2:30 pm Ireland) and the T20I will start at 4 pm local time (5 pm Eastern Caribbean/9 pm Ireland). All matches will be available in Ireland and the United Kingdom on BT Sport on its sports channels and across its digital platforms.
Match schedule – at Sabina Park
January 8: 1st CG Insurance ODI – 9:30 am (10:30 am Eastern Caribbean/2:30 pm Ireland)
January 11: 2nd CG Insurance ODI – 9:30 am (10:30 am Eastern Caribbean/2:30 pm Ireland)
January 14: 3rd CG Insurance ODI – 9:30 am (10:30 am Eastern Caribbean/2:30 pm Ireland)
January 16: T20I International – 4 pm (5 pm Eastern Caribbean/9 pm Ireland).
The match was reduced to 36 overs per side because of excess moisture on the pitch. The umpires deliberated and delayed the toss and start of the match allowing the pitch time to dry. The game was then reduced by a further two overs to 34 overs per side as the rains came and forced a stop in play.
When play began, Pakistan women took advantage of some wayward bowling by the West Indies Women, both in the opening overs and then the back end of the innings which allowed them to post 190-8.
Muneeba Ali was the top scorer for Pakistan with 39 while Omaima Sohail scored 34 against the bowling of Shabika Gajnabi, who finished with figures of 2-26 and Chinelle Henry 2-37.
At the innings break, the umpires gave the West Indies Women a revised target of 194 runs from the 34 overs. The West Indies Women struggled to maintain or exceed the required run-rate, leaving too many runs to get in the final overs with wickets falling consistently.
Only Britney Cooper, who led all scorers with 40 and Deandra Dottin 37, offered any real resistance to the bowling of Fatima Sana Khan, who returned figures of 5-39 and Diana Baig 2-32, as the West Indies Women were bowled out for 171.
However, West Indies Women's Head Coach Courtney Walsh was pleased with the overall performance of the team throughout the series despite the back to back losses.
"There's a fair amount of positives with the cricket upfront. We lacked consistency in the last two games, we didn't show that hunger,” Walsh said.
“I wouldn't say it was complacency but we made some crucial mistakes that cost us right throughout. The results of both series wins were very good because we hadn't had a series for a while. Moving forward we have to look at where we are. We have the qualifiers coming up and World Cup after, so we have to address a number of areas."
Captain Stafanie Taylor shared similar Walsh’s sentiments.
"We will take away the series win but I guess when you look back on these two last games, I think we should have done a lot better,” said Taylor, who was nonetheless happy for the series win.
“It's very pleasing, we haven't won a series at home or away (in a long time), to actually win a series at home, once you win at home you can transfer that to a win away, so I'm really pleased we're back up and running when it comes to winning."
