At stumps, Warrican had claimed figures of the 3 for 58 as Bangladesh ended the day on 242 for 5. Another wicket was claimed by pace bowler Kemar Roach with a run out accounting for the other.
The spinner could indeed have plenty of reason to delight in the field placing, and performance for that matter, as two of his wickets resulted from catches. Firstly, John Campbell took a sharp catch at short midwicket after Mominul Haque lost some patience and failed to keep a lofted drive down. The other was a brilliant catch at slip by Raheem Cornwall, after Mushfiqur Rahim attempted a defensive stroke that carried to the fielder. In-between, the bowler ended the run of a dangerous looking Shadman Islam, when the batsman was given lbw just before tea.
“Being disciplined and accurate at the same time, as well as setting the right field,” Warrican responded when asked about the keys to his opening day success.
“I thought it best to bring them on the front foot as much as possible because when they play back they have a lot of time. The more you bring them on the front foot is the more you ask questions,” he added.
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.”
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
Dr Gonsalves was speaking on Mason on Guest on the Voice of Barbados station on Tuesday night.
Following discussions that began at the start of the month between CWI and the England and Wales Cricket Board, it seems likely that the tour will go ahead. CWI CEO Johnny Grave alluded as much when he spoke with Sportsmax.TV recently.
“The ECB is confident that they can deliver a safe plan for bio-secure behind closed doors cricket that will meet the UK Government guidelines and will therefore likely secure their board's approval,” Grave said.
The CWI Board is expected to arrive at a decision on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Dr Gonsalves said that if CWI decides to greenlight the tour, they have his full support.
“Once the CWI is properly advised by the relevant epidemiologists and other persons dealing with the science in England and the Caribbean laying out the facts of the circumstances and the protocols to be applied; and once they are satisfied, and upon a proper interrogation of those protocols, we can send the young men representing the senior West Indies team, that they can go off in cricket battle, I have absolutely no problem with it at all,” Dr Gonsalves said.
Should the tour go ahead the West Indies will play three Tests against England in defence of the Wisden Trophy.
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.”
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.
The shortest format of the game, which began to gain prominence in the mid-2000s, initially had a bumpy introduction to the region as leagues clashed with the schedule of international cricket.
The scheduling clash, combined with the rules of the then administration, saw several of the team’s top players unable to take part in the longer formats of ODI and Test cricket. The discrepancy saw an experienced West Indies team claim two T20 World Championships but continue to struggle in the other formats.
Bishop believes the availability of the likes of Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Sunil Narine, and Kieron Pollard, during the period, could have added much-needed experience and firepower to the Windies line-up.
“In the West Indies initially, there was a bad effect on the game since the administrators did not know the value of T20 cricket and the ability of a player as a sole contractor where they had to choose when they wanted to play. We did not handle that well. We lost a few significant players from West Indies cricket for a period of time I wish did not happen,” Bishop told the Hindustan Times.
“And it’s only now when we see England allowing their players to go and play in the IPL. The West Indies have taken a different view now under their leadership that they need to allow their players to earn their living but when they were available, we will have a compromise. But we have missed so many important players. I think it’s set back West Indies cricket a little bit.”
The series, which consists of three Test matches, was scheduled to begin in London on June 4, followed by matches at Edgbaston and Lord's starting on 12 and 25 June respectively. As the world battles to contain the pandemic, playing the series in the heavily hit England looked increasingly unlikely.
Initially, it had been suggested that the West Indies would be willing to step in and host the series, but Cricket West Indies CEO Johnny Grave was quick to paint the suggestion as a highly unlikely scenario.
With all professional halted until May 28, the ECB has had to reckon with the prospect of starting the season later than expected.
The West Indies could have the option of playing the series in two potential windows, either side of their home Test series against South Africa at the end of July. The series could be squeezed in at the start of that month or in September, which would allow England to play their three-Test series against Pakistan as planned in August.
The former Manchester United youth standout was invited to train with the club earlier this month after leaving Eredivisie minnows ADO Den Haag in January. The Owls were weighing up the decision to give the midfielder a contract until the end of the season but decided against doing so.
The club would have needed to register the 28-year-old last week, in order to add him to the first-team squad for the rest of the season. The team currently finds itself mired in the relegation zone, in 23rd position, with only a handful of games to save themselves.
For his part, Morrison will be looking for his 12th club in what has been a nomadic career to date. Some of the player’s former clubs have included West Ham United, Lazio, Queens Park Rangers, and Middlesbrough.
Interestingly Wednesday is coached by another Jamaica international Darren Moore. Moore's men entered the international break in good heart following a positive win over Barnsley.
Wednesday return to action on Friday when they travel to automatic promotion contenders Watford.
The regional team would have been encouraged by its batting, despite the failures of the middle order, with most of the top four coming good before the lower order showed a lot of grit in laying the finishing touches to an innings that had lost significant steam. Their bowlers couldn’t quite haul them to victory, but they pushed Sri Lanka to the limit, making the home team earn their win.
Sri Lanka will also have been encouraged, most notably the number of contributions they received from all around the batting order. Now, the key for them would be to retain that level of consistency and seal the series, something they haven’t been quite adept at doing in the recent past. But with the familiarity of home, and a hard-earned win to boot, they sure do have the belief that it can be done.
The 25-year-old has seen his stock rise after a big-hitting display in the Indian Premier League (IPL) last year, a trend that he has continued in the Abu Dhabi T10 league. In a league with the likes of his West Indian compatriot Chris Gayle and Chris Lynn, it is Pooran who leads the way with 33 sixes and 21 fours in 9 matches.
In fact, Nicholas Pooran has scored more runs from fours and sixes than Gayle - his 89 off 24 balls for Northern Warriors against Bangla Tigers last month included 84 runs from boundaries, while Gayle chalked up 78 in his savage 84 off just 22 balls on Wednesday.
"He's different level that guy," Banton said in an interview with ESPNcricinfo
"Anyone that bowls to him, he'll get hold of. I reckon he's the best in the world at the minute at [hitting sixes],” he added.
"We're actually playing them in a few days' time so I'm going to try and talk to him and actually see what he does. He probably doesn't do anything different to anyone else, he's just a lot better than everyone else."
Pooran’s Northern Warriors are currently second in the Super League standings but are at the top of group A.
Showers all day forced a late start at the Incaro County Ground on Wednesday and the visitors scored a challenging 41 for 3 off their 30 balls faced. Deandra Dottin made 11 off seven balls including a historic six, which was the 100th of her T20I career, she is the first woman to achieve this milestone.
Fast bowler Shamilia Connell demonstrated superb control in her two overs. She took three wickets – one from a stupendous diving catch by captain Stafanie Taylor at extra cover. The strongly-built fast bowler ended with career-best figures of 3-14 to take home the Player-of-the-Match award. England reached 42-7 off 4.3 overs – to record their fifth win of the series.
The decision has been taken with the team’s upcoming tour of the West Indies in mind, and with consideration to rising coronavirus cases. With the series scheduled to get underway in Barbados on January 22, all the players are expected to be back in England on January 7.
In a statement, released on Sunday, the ECB confirmed that the players were expected to be released by their clubs. The list includes George Garton, Reece Topley, Sam Billings, James Vince, and Tymal Mills. Chris Jordan had already left the country.
"The six English players currently playing in the KFC BBL who have been selected for England’s T20 International series against the West Indies will be returning to the UK by January 7,” the release read.
Pace bowlers Jofra Archer, James Anderson, and Mark Wood are missing from the England team for the second Test, which could be seen to leave the hosts short on firepower. While Anderson and Wood have been rested with a long summer of Test cricket ahead, Archer has been omitted after breaking the protocol by leaving the series’ bio-secure environment.
Even without the trio, however, Brathwaite believes England has plenty of bowling options to remain dangerous.
“I wouldn’t say we have an advantage, they still have plenty of world-class players. There is still Broad, Curran, and Woakes, these guys do well, so it will still be challenging,” Brathwaite told members of the media via a Zoom press conference on Thursday.
“I think it will be very challenging because they are all still world-class players,” he added.
In addition to the above-mentioned bowlers, England will also still have the service of all-rounder Ben Stokes with the ball. Stokes claimed 6 wickets for England in the first Test, which ended in a four-wicket win for the West Indies. Broad was omitted from the line-up for the first Test.
The teams will be the first to return to international cricket amidst the COVID-19 pandemic when the series bowls off at 5:00 am (6:00 am ECT) on Wednesday morning. This time around the battle for the Wisden Trophy will take place in unusual circumstances, as it will be played in a bio-secure environment completely free of fans and fast bowlers will not be allowed to put saliva on the ball to encourage reverse swing.
The unique conditions under which the series will take place aside, Holder believes one thing will remain the same, the England team has a formidable record on home soil. They have not lost a Test in England since being shocked by Sri Lanka in 2014. The West Indies will have to look much further back than that for success having not won in England since 1988.
“England are probably favourites, in their home conditions they are very, very strong. They are a very strong side in their home conditions, and it is proven,” Holder told members of the media during a Zoom conference call on Tuesday.
“They have a really good track record at home. So, we got our work cut out for us if we want to beat them. England are not going to roll over and die they are going to come at us very, very hard,” he added.
“Those guys want to win just as badly as we do, so I’m expecting a keen contest and it’s a matter for us to dethrone England in their backyard, which is not going to be an easy task.”
The West Indies are the current holders of the Wisden Trophy after defeating the England team 2-1 in the Caribbean last year. It was the Englishmen who won 2-1 when the teams last met, in England, in 2017.
For the third time in four tosses, England won and elected to bat first against the West Indies. Shamilia Connell set up the opening over of the first match, with Aaliyah Alleyne making the breakthrough in the second over when she had Danni Wyatt caught behind for a duck.
Connell bowled the third over, once again setting up the tense situation for Alleyne to capitalize. Alleyne did not waste it as she once again teamed up with wicketkeeper Shemaine Cambelle to have England’s top scorer from the last match Nat Sciver caught behind for 6.
Karishma Ramharack playing in her first match of the series had opener Tammy Beaumont trapped LBW, while attempting a reverse sweep. For the first time in the series, England had less than 70 runs on the board after ten overs.
However, a bit of sloppy fielding and bad line and length allowed England to claw their way back to a demanding total. Amy Jones top-scored for the hosts with 55 after being dropped on 2 by Lee Ann Kirby, followed by her captain Heather Knight with 42 as England finished their innings on 166 for 6. Aaliyah Alleyne was the best West Indies bowler, taking 2 for 25 from her four overs.
For the first time in this series, Deandra Dottin was dismissed for single digits in the first over of the match, when she was bowled by Katherine Brunt for 4. Shemaine Campbelle joined Lee Ann Kirby and the pair started a cautious rebuild of the innings despite a required run-rate of 8.36 per over.
Kirby was bowled by Sciver for 4 with the score on 26 in the third over. Aaliyah Alleyne and Chedean Nation held a sixth-wicket record partnership of 38 runs for the West Indies against England Women, surpassing the previous record of 30 between Shanel Daly and Britney Cooper, which stood since 2010.
However, this partnership was not enough to sustain the innings. It was soon over when the West Indies finished their innings on 122 for 9. Nation was the highest runs-scorer with 30, followed by Alleyne with 15. Bowling for England, Sarah Glenn finished with 2 for 15 from three overs, while Katherine Brunt had 2 for 21 from her allotted four overs.
England scored 166 for 6 from their 20 overs and the West Indies Women made 122 for 9 from their 20 overs.
The symbolic gesture has been used by sports teams around the world to take a stand against racism and discrimination. However, some teams, for various reasons, have chosen not to adopt the action.
The England teams took part in the anti-racism gesture ahead of each of the three Tests that were played in England last summer and for a limited-overs series against Ireland soon after. The team was, however, later criticised for not continuing the gesture in subsequent series. The team’s captain Eion Morgan has confirmed that England would join the West Indies ahead of the opener and would continue further discussion with the ICC.
“We have heard from the West Indies that they will be taking a knee and we will be joining them for the first game,” Morgan said on Tuesday.
“Games going on from there, we’ve been speaking to the ICC about the potential moment of unity before the game that we’ve been doing as part of our own piece at home,” Morgan added.
“It hasn’t been cleared up whether that’s a possibility yet.”
The 40-year-old left-handed ball beater was expected to be the tournament’s biggest star, but things were put on hold due to the effects of the global coronavirus pandemic. The organisers of the competition are yet to determine the best date for a possible restart but insist the securing the services of Gayle and other overseas players remain very much on the cards.
“Of course the availability dates for Chris Gayle and other foreign players shall be considered, and shall be put on priority,” said Aamir Akhtar, the league’s managing director.
“We would love to have him in EPL if everything works out. He has a huge fan following in Nepal.”
In January Gayle announced he had signed for Pokhara Rhinos for the fourth season of the Twenty20 competition in Kathmandu. The West Indian was heading an impressive list of overseas players bound for the competition, with the likes of Mohammed Shahzad, Paul Stirling , Kevin O’Brien, Upul Tharanga and Corey Anderson all due to feature.
The tournament was postponed shortly before its scheduled March 14 start date because of the situation surrounding Covid-19.
The tournament, which was slated to be held from March 14-28 at TU Cricket Ground, in Nepal, became just the latest in a number of sporting events to disrupted by the global pandemic. The decision comes on the heels of the National Sports Council (NSC)’s decision to halt all the sports-related activities in view of the fast-spreading coronavirus.
The NSC’s decision came on the heels of the government instituting a ban on holding mass meetings and gatherings.
The 40-year-old Gayle was set to be among a host of other stars booked for the tournament. The list also included retired West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Smith. Gayle was slated to represent the Pokhara Rhinos with Smith drafted by the Bhairahawa Gladiators.
