The West Indies will play three ODIs on March 16, 18 and 21, followed by three T20Is on March 25, 26 and 28.
In the ODIs, Shai Hope will have his first series as captain with allrounder Rovman Powell appointed as the new vice-captain. In the T20Is, captain Rovman Powell will be supported by a new vice-captain in batting allrounder Kyle Mayers.
Fast bowler Shannon Gabriel has earned a recall to the ODI squad on the back of his performances during the CG United Super50 Cup last November.
He was the joint leading wicket-taker spearheading the Trinidad & Tobago Red Force bowling attack, taking 15 wickets in seven matches at an average of 14.2. He last played ODIs for the West Indies at the ICC Cricket World Cup in July 2019.
Left-arm pacer Obed McCoy has been named in the T20I squad subject to medical clearance. Fast bowler Jayden Seales remains unavailable for selection following a knee injury and subsequent surgery, while another fast bowler Anderson Phillip has returned to training but is not yet match-fit.
Lead Selector the Most Hon. Dr Desmond Haynes said: “We have had some injuries to our fast-bowling pool so therefore we see Gabriel as an ideal fit heading into South Africa, and the surfaces we expect to play on. It is felt that we need someone to get those early wickets and he is the kind of bowler that can do that. Judging from his performances in the CG United Super50 Cup, he is potentially a wicket-taking option up front.”
Haynes added: “For the T20Is, we have an experienced squad. What we are looking for is to form a cohesive unit and look at the players who we believe can form the nucleus as we build towards doing very well and challenging when we host the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in June 2024.”
FULL SQUADS
One-Day Internationals
Shai Hope (Captain)
Rovman Powell (Vice Captain)
Shamarh Brooks
Yannic Cariah
Keacy Carty
Roston Chase
Shannon Gabriel
Jason Holder
Akeal Hosein
Alzarri Joseph
Brandon King
Kyle Mayers
Nicholas Pooran
Romario Shepherd
Odean Smith
T20 Internationals
Rovman Powell (Captain)
Kyle Mayers (Vice Captain)
Shamarh Brooks
Yannic Cariah
Johnson Charles
Sheldon Cottrell
Jason Holder
Akeal Hosein
Alzarri Joseph
Brandon King
Obed McCoy
Nicholas Pooran
Raymon Reifer
Romario Shepherd
Odean Smith
White ball schedule in South Africa
Thursday, 16 March: 1st ODI at Buffalo Park, East London (day/night)
Saturday, 18 March: 2nd ODI at Buffalo Park, East London (day/night)
Tuesday, 21 March: 3rd ODI at JB Marks Oval, Potchefstroom
Saturday, 25 March: 1st T20Is at SuperSport Park, Centurion
Sunday, 26 March: 2nd T20I at SuperSport Park, Centurion
Tuesday, 28 March: 3rd T20I at Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg (night)
The Patriots won the toss and opted to bowl, taking wickets at regular intervals as the Barbados Royals posted 160-8, with Smit Patel, making his Hero CPL debut, top-scoring with 54.
The Patriots stumbled in their chase, a returning Chris Gayle top-scored with 42 runs and a defeat seemed likely until Sheldon Cottrell and Dominic Drakes put on an unlikely partnership with the bat, which culminated with Cottrell striking a six off the last ball for a dramatic win in front of the home crowd.
Barbados Royals had a steady start to their innings, Johnson Charles and Patel patiently accruing runs after the early dismissal of Shai Hope. Patel would eventually reach his half-century, while captain Jason Holder later made a quick cameo of 19 runs from his 7 balls. DJ Bravo, captaining the side, showed all his craft and guile in the format to take four wickets and stop Barbados Royals from piling on the runs towards the end of their innings. There were also impressive contributions with the ball from fast bowlers Cottrell and Netherlands international Paul van Meekeren.
St Kitts & Nevis Patriots were controlled as they started their innings, losing Evin Lewis in the Powerplay overs, but rebuilding with Devon Thomas and Gayle. It was another Hero CPL debutant, wrist spinner Jake Lintott, who made valuable inroads by first dismissing Gayle and then the dangerous Sherfane Rutherford two balls later. 20-year-old Nyeem Young dismissed the rest of the middle order and it seemed like the Patriots would not be able to chase the target. However, the late onslaught from Drakes and Cottrell with the bat ensured St Kitts & Nevis Patriots maintained their superb start to the tournament.
St Kitts & Nevis Patriots remain top of the Hero CPL league table with five wins out of five.
St Kitts & Nevis Patriots won the toss and chose to bat in this must-win game, but were restricted early on as the Knight Riders rotated five bowlers across the powerplay. Sherfane Rutherford would change the complexion of the innings with a brilliant 78 runs, aided by a spectacular cameo from Dewald Brevis, to take the Patriots to 163-6.
In their chase, the Trinbago Knight Riders struggled to build partnerships as wickets consistently fell. Despite this, they remained with a chance of winning the match as Tim Seifert and Andre Russell scored crucial late runs, but it proved to be in vain as they could only muster 156-7, losing by seven runs.
St Kitts and Nevis Patriots were frustrated by the bowling of the Knight Riders in the first 10 overs, reaching 43-3 and having lost the key wicket of Evin Lewis. Rutherford would then shoulder the responsibility of carrying the innings as he patiently scored runs before accelerating in the last three overs, to finish on 78 runs. Brevis would remarkably score 30 runs from just six balls, constantly clearing the boundary to propel the Patriots to 163-6.
Trinbago Knight Riders lost the early wickets of Leonardo Julien and Colin Munro in their chase, with spinners Kevin Sinclair and Rashid Khan restricting runs. Kieron Pollard and Nicholas Pooran would then lose their wickets as the Knight Riders found themselves in serious trouble.
Seifert kept the chase alive with a valiant half-century. Despite Russell scoring 18 runs in the 19th over, it was not to be enough as Sheldon Cottrell delivered a composed final over to take the Patriots to victory..
Scores: St Kitts and Nevis Patriots 163-6 (Rutherford 78, Brevis 30*; Dupavillon 3-38, Patel 1-7) beat Trinbago Knight Riders 156-7 (Seifert 59, Pollard 31; Cottrell 3-33, Sinclair 2-18) by seven runs.
They join the likes of Andre Fletcher, Sheldon Cottrell, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shimron Hetmyer, Evin Lewis, Fabian Allen, Rovman Powell, Akeal Hosein, Raymon Reifer, Sherfane Rutherford, Ravi Rampaul, Kennar Lewis and Dominic Drakes as West Indians participating in the inaugural edition of the tournament.
Other big names participating include England's Moeen Ali and Alex Hales as well as Sri Lankan leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga.
The ILT20 is set to begin in January next year in the UAE and is competing with South Africa's T20 League for players. There will be six franchises consisting of 18 players each.
The 2023 edition of the ILT20 will have 34 matches. All the teams will play each other twice, before four playoffs, including the final, spread across Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.
The experienced left-hander hit 14 fours and a six in an even 100 – before he retired. He faced just 88 balls and played a number of powerful shots on both side of the wicket but was particularly eye-catching driving through the covers. His effort helped the West Indies post 282 all out off 48.4 overs.
The score, however, wasn’t enough as the Sri Lanka XI made 283-8 off 47.3 overs.
Bravo shared in two crucial partnerships as the West Indies batsmen looked to get valuable time in the middle ahead of the ODI series, which starts on Saturday. He added 113 with Sunil Ambris, who made 41 off 63 balls with six boundaries.
After Ambris fell, Nicholas Pooran joined Bravo and the pair of left-handers dominated the bowling with a stand of 79 in just 12 overs. Pooran, who made his maiden international century against Sri Lanka at last year’s World Cup, scored 41 off 38 balls, with two fours and two huge sixes. In the backend Fabian Allen (28) and Jason Holder (22) played cameos to boost the total.
“My goal was to spend at much time as possible at the crease. I had a particular game plan and it worked out so I’m confident going into the One-Day Series, later this week,” said Bravo.
In the second half of the match, left-arm pacer Sheldon Cottrell (2-22) was sensational with the new ball to have the home side two wickets down in the first over.
Left-arm spinner Fabian Allen (2-62) and leg-spinner Hayden Walsh (2-52) both bowled well but they were trumped by a brilliant knock of 120 from former Sri Lanka captain Upul Tharanga, who hit 16 fours and a six off 124 balls.
The West Indies will remain in Colombo this week, where they will have another warm-up match against the SLC XI on Thursday.
The first ODI is at the Sinhalese Sports Club on Saturday.
In the latest weekly update to the men’s rankings, which considers performances in the last three matches of the series, Hosein moved up 15 places to 18th position after a haul of 4-30 that helped him finish with six wickets in three matches.
“It’s not something I pay close attention to. However, when I play or train, it’s always about aiming to become the best,” Hosein said while speaking with CWI Media.
“It’s about having that mindset of wanting to improve and wanting to be at the top, so definitely it is an aspiration of mine to be the number one bowler in the world someday. Therefore, this move means a lot to me. It shows that my hard work is paying off and that I will be rewarded if I perform well. It’s definitely a good feeling.”
Holder was the star performer with the unique feat of grabbing four wickets in four balls in front of his home crowd. He finished with figures of 5-27 – the best in a T20I at the historic venue. This took his tally to nine wickets in those three matches, as he advanced three places to 23rd with a massive gain of 20 rating points. Overall, he took 15 wickets in the five matches, a new record for the most in a bilateral series, and was named the Player-of-the-Series.
Left-arm pacer Sheldon Cottrell (up 10 places to 31st) is another West Indies bowler to move up in Wednesday’s update while England spinner Moeen Ali (up three places to 32nd) and Liam Livingston (up 33 places to 68th) have also advanced.
In the ranking for batters, Nicholas Pooran is up eight places to 18th after scoring 113 runs in the three matches including a knock of 70, while opener Brandon King (up 25 places to 58th) and West Indies captain Kieron Pollard (up 15 places to 60th) have also advanced. King made a stylish 52 not out in the first match as West Indies won easily, while Pollard had a crucial 41 not out off 25 balls in the final match.
“This definitely means a lot to me, because I put a lot of work into my craft. I work day in and day out, so moving up the rankings is important. The ultimate goal is to be the best. I do pay attention to it (the rankings) because it is a good way to track your growth,” Pooran said.
Rovman Powell made the most of his return to the team with a brilliant 107 in the third matchmaking him the third West Indian to record a century in this format. He followed up with 35 not out off 17 balls in the last game.
Speaking at the end of the enthralling series, West Indies assistant coach Roddy Estwick said the improvement shown was extremely pleasing.
“After the last couple of months that we’ve had, it’s really pleasing that we’ve won a series. Improvement for me is actually more important than winning the series because you’ve got to focus on getting to the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 and doing a lot better than we did in the last one,” he said.
“The crowds coming back to the stadium is very important. The players were a lot freer this time around. The bubble was still there but a lot more relaxed and you could see the players responding to it so credit to the medical staff of the Cricket West Indies.
“Akeal Hosein was really brilliant for us when the chips were down along with Fabian Allen. They turned the tide, put England under pressure, continued to get wickets and that’s all we can ask, that people put their hands up when they need to and lead and fight and battle.”
