The 29-year-old recently returned to the Caribbean following the postponement of the Indian Premier League (IPL), where he represented Sunrisers Hyderabad. The West Indies are expected to begin camp in St Lucia, on Sunday, ahead of the series which will take place between June 10 and July 3.
The camp, which comprises 30 players, will include two 'best v best' inter-squad matches. Holder, who was replaced as Test captain earlier this year, will join the camp at the end of the month.
The team’s Test captain Kraigg Brathwaite and fast bowlers Kemar Roach and Alzarri Joseph will also not be attending the camp, as they are currently competing in English County Championship and will return to the West Indies for the Test series if selected.
The regional team, who are off to the third overseas tour since the sport was impacted by the pandemic, will be missing 12 first-team players. Team captains Jason Holder, Kieron Pollard, and Test vice-captain Roston Chase are among the players that opted out of the tour for health and safety concerns.
Brathwaite will be joined by in-form batsman Jermaine Blackwood and bowlers, Kemar Roach, Shannon Gabriel, and Alzarri Joseph as some of the available first-team players on the tour, but for the most part, the team will consist of fringe players and a few debutants. The stand-in captain, however, insists the Windies are up for the challenge.
“We are all up for the challenge… it will be a tough series in Bangladesh but we have confidence and we have belief that we will do very well,” Brathwaite said.
“We have some members of the squad who will be playing there for the first time so it will be something new to them, but they know they have the talent and are capable of performing at this level.”
The tour will comprise of two Test matches, as part of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) World Test Championship, and three One-Day Internationals (ODI) as part of the ICC’s Cricket World Cup Super League. The ODIs present the first opportunity for the West Indies to earn Super League points which count towards the pre-qualification for the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2023.
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 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.
The gigantic 27-year-old Antiguan all-rounder is currently playing for the St Lucia Zouks in the 2020 Hero CPL and it is an opportunity to perhaps get his foot in the door of the international franchises that have signed many of his Caribbean colleagues, who have flourished.
However, his primary focus is on becoming a permanent fixture in the West Indies senior Test side.
“If I can play the T20 format and travel the world and play leagues it would be good but my aim is to be one of the most successful Test players out there,” Cornwall said in a recent interview.
“Playing Test cricket is the art of cricket, everyone wants to play Test cricket and do well. I have already played the format, I just want to make sure I get what I am really looking for in Test cricket and when my times comes to retire, I don’t have any regrets.”
In the three Tests he has played, Cornwall has taken 13 wickets.
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.
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.”
A lot of the talk so far heading into the England versus West Indies match-up has centered on worries about how the regional team’s often inconsistent batting line-up will fend off an explosively quick Jofra Archer and an experienced England bowling line-up.
The first team’s batting performances in the recent intra-squad preparational matches would not have done much to inspire confidence. In the final warm-up, a top-five of Kraigg Brathwaite, John Campbell, Shamarh Brooks, Shai Hope, and Roston Chase subsided to nine for three and 49 for five.
“Some of us got the opportunity to bat at the crease but having said that, it’s still a batsman and bowlers game. Our bowlers bowled well, especially in the second practice game. I think they came with a different level of intensity in the last game and it showed in terms of us losing wickets. That’s the game sometimes but we are still backing our preparation to bring success in the series,” Brooks told members of the media.
“Spending time at the crease will be key, as long as we apply ourselves and spend some time out there it will get easier,” he added.
“Not to put down the England bowling attack but we need as a batting unit to stand up in this series and I know it will make a difference,” he added.
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.”
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
The West Indies became one of the first teams to resume international cricket, in wake of the coronavirus pandemic, when they toured England in August. The entirety of the tour was conducted within a biosecure environment. New Zealand officials had said last month that they were examining the series with the hope of staging a similar version. Pakistan is also expected to be invited to tour the country.
New Zealand Cricket chief executive David White said the tours would help the sport through the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s a huge boost for us, it’s our financial lifeline,” he told reporters on Friday. “International cricket funds the whole game of cricket in New Zealand, so it’s very, very important for us."
White said the teams would fly to Auckland then catch a charter to Christchurch, where they would stay in quarantine while training at NZC’s high-performance centre in Lincoln University. White said all players would follow health and testing protocols set down by the government.
“It’s not going to come cheap; we will be footing the bill but we are happy to do that and fully understand it’s a user-pays model.”
New Zealand has been one of the world's most successful nations at containing the new coronavirus and the country's borders remain closed to almost all visitors.
The camp provides an opportunity for established Test and developing players alike to sharpen and enhance their red-ball skills in a high-performance environment after a month-long break after the Sri Lanka Series.
The camp will include two ‘best v best’ inter-squad matches, as the West Indies look ahead to their final series in the ICC World Test Championship with two Test Matches against the Proteas in June.
Most players attending have been involved in recent West Indies Test squads and high-performance camps.
A few players, however, will be receiving their first international training experience since the beginning of the pandemic including Guyanese fast bowler Nial Smith, Jamaican top-order batsman Paul Palmer, Vincentian leg-spinning all-rounder Keron Cottoy and St. Kitts & Nevis’ left-hand batter, Kieran Powell.
Test captain Kraigg Brathwaite and fast bowlers Kemar Roach and Alzarri Joseph will not be attending as they are currently competing in the English County Championship and will return to the West Indies for the Test Series if selected. Current world #1 ranked Test all-rounder Jason Holder is being rested due to his workload across all formats of the game and will arrive in St Lucia at the end of the month.
The squad will arrive in St. Lucia and complete the quarantine protocols established by the Ministry of Health for the bio-secure environment before they start training led by Head Coach, Phil Simmons and his team management unit. Coach Simmons said:
“This camp is very important for our preparation for the upcoming Test Series against South Africa and for the rest of our busy and exciting summer. We will continue the work which we begun last year in England, to further develop our Test team into a force to be reckoned with in world cricket.
We welcome the good news of a rise to sixth in the ICC Test Rankings, however, this is just the beginning of our journey and we know we have lots of hard work ahead of us.”
ENGvWI Warm Up.jpg
CWI’s Director of Cricket, Jimmy Adams, is looking forward to the camp as CWI continues its investment in and focus on building a high-performance environment:
“The pandemic has made it necessary to assemble larger squads during the pre-tour phase to allow our preparation to be facilitated within one bio-secure bubble.
This has turned into a positive for us by creating a much-needed level of focus and intensity leading into tours while also allowing for players to make a case for selection if they perform well in the warm-up games. Given the lack of regional 4-day cricket so far this year, these camps have taken on even greater importance in our test match preparations.”
Cricket West Indies (CWI), in partnership with the St. Lucia National Cricket Association, has been working closely with the Government and Ministry of Health to create a safe bio-secure bubble for the players and staff. Everyone entering the bio-secure bubble will undergo two COVID-19 PCR tests prior to their arrival in St. Lucia and throughout the duration of their stay.
The Daren Sammy Cricket Stadium (DSCG) will host both Test matches against South Africa, the first bilateral cricket that they have played in the Caribbean since 2010, with the first Test to be played from June 10-14 and the second from June 18-22.
CWI HIGH-PERFORMANCE TRAINING SQUAD: Jermaine Blackwood, Nkrumah Bonner, Darren Bravo, Shamarh Brooks, John Campbell, Roston Chase, Rahkeem Cornwall, Keron Cottoy, Joshua Da Silva, Shannon Gabriel, Keon Harding, Jahmar Hamilton, Kavem Hodge, Chemar Holder, Shai Hope, Kyle Mayers, Obed McCoy, Preston McSween, Marquino Mindley, Shayne Moseley, Paul Palmer, Veerasammy Permaul, Anderson Phillip, Kieran Powell, Raymon Reifer, Jayden Seales, Nial Smith, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh Jr. and Jomel Warrican.
After weeks of negotiation and a delay due to positive COVID tests, the teams have finally settled on the official dates of the tour, which will take place in Antigua between Wednesday, March 3 and Friday, April 2. The teams will play three T20Is, three One-Day Internationals (ODIs), and two Test matches.
With the team having played the last three Test matches away from home, in England, New Zealand, and Sri Lanka, Grave admits it will be good to see international cricket back on West Indies soil.
“It’s been a long time since we hosted Ireland in the Caribbean back in January of 2020, so I’m just delighted that we’ve been able to get Sri Lanka to fulfil their obligations under the ICC Futures Program.
“We’ve had to delay the tour by a few days due to two of the Sri Lanka party testing positive for Covid-19 but we’ve been working really closely with our counterparts at Sri Lanka cricket and we were delighted to confirm that the tour is on and that we have been able to keep all the matches, all three formats.”
The tournament will take place under biosecure conditions, with Covid protocols in full effect for the duration of the series.
The Australians may well be cursing the inclement weather as they had looked in control at the break. Anchored by half-centuries from Liam Scott and Cooper Connolly, the Australians put 319 for 8 on the board. Matthew Patrick was the pick of the Windies bowlers after claiming 3 for 43.
In pursuit, the West Indies began briskly with openers Kimani Melius and Leonardo Julien scoring 62 runs in 12.3 overs. Melius was dismissed for 39 but no more play was possible when the skies opened up after the player left the field and the rain never let up. The situation forced the umpires to call off the match. The Windies ended with a run rate of 4.96, which was behind the required Australia rate of 6.88.
According to tournament rules, in case of a washed-out knockout game, the team that finished higher on points at the end of the group stage would finish higher. West Indies were unbeaten in Group B, while Australia had lost to West Indies.
Despite the team widely being acknowledged as having a potent bowling line-up heading into the series, many have raised concerns about how the Windies will fare at the crease against experienced English bowlers and potentially damp, cold conditions.
The absence of the talented duo of Shimron Hetmyer and Darren Bravo, who opted out of the tour for health reasons, have done little to assuage those fears but Reifer, who was recently returned to the coaching unit, insists the team’s hard work so far gives them a good chance of success for the upcoming series.
“I keep hearing everyone saying they are concerned about our batting. We have some experienced guys here and the boys have been working really hard,” Brathwaite told the Mason and Guest Radio program.
“We understand the English conditions now. Young Hope and Brathwaite who were here before are now experienced players…” he added.
“What we have been working on is playing the ball late, in the Caribbean, our batters tend to go fairly hard at the ball but we are working on playing the ball as late as possible, and trying to leave alone as many deliveries as possible on top of the off-stump. It’s important when the ball is moving around you try to play as little as possible and rotate the strike. We have been having a lot of discussion on battling their spells and building innings.”
The Caribbean team will not need to look far for an example of its batting line-up struggling in English conditions than the first Test of the tour three years ago. After England made 514, the West Indies were dismissed for 168 and 137.
Roach ended the second Test with overall figures of 4 for 95 but that did not tell the full story. Prior to that, the pace bowler, despite crafting excellent, economic spells, had failed to claim a wicket for the entire first Test. In fact, Roach’s dismissal of Ben Stokes ended a wicket drought going back to August 31, 2019, and lasting 521 deliveries, or 86.5 overs.
It was a strange for the fast bowler, who starred for the West Indies team the last time the team’s met in the Caribbean, where he claimed 13 wickets, with one five and two four-wicket hauls. Now that he has got the monkey off his back, however, Simmons expects more wickets to come, which would be good news for the Windies.
“It’s great to see him getting wickets, it’s been a while since I have seen him bowl so well and not get wickets,” Simmons told members of the media on Sunday.
“I’m glad he is back in the wickets that will just fuel his fire for the next Test match.”
The West Indies will play England in the decisive Test, at Old Trafford, beginning on Friday.
Heading into the series, concerns had been raised about how the team’s top order would fare against an experienced England bowling attack. So far, they have not proven to be unfounded. With the exception of Brathwaite, the top team’s top three has failed to fire so far.
John Campbell and Shai Hope have only managed to muster high scores of 28 and 25, respectively, so far this series, and failed to make it to double digits in two of four innings. Though offering no confirmation, Simmons admitted it could be time for some changes.
“It’s something that we have to look at over the next couple days and decide which direction we go then,” Simmons told members of the media, via a Zoom press conference.
“They haven’t fired so we have to consider it (changes) over the next couple days,” he added.
In the end, West Indies and Sri Lanka played to a 0-0 Test series draw with neither team really able to press home advantages at various stages in both matches. In a reversal of fortunes, it was the West Indies who had headed into the final day of the final Test with a big lead and looking to put the pressure on the visitors. The team, however, managed to take two wickets as Sri Lanka closed the day on 193 for 2. Ambrose, however, believes the West Indies did not give themselves enough time to win the game.
“I think that we didn’t show enough intent to try and win that game. We batted too long in my opinion, we took too long to score the runs which means we didn’t have enough time to bowl out Sri Lanka on a very placid surface and I thought that the urgency in getting those quick runs wasn’t there. We batted too long,” Ambrose told the Antigua Observer.
During the second innings, with team captain Kraigg Brathwaite anchoring the unit on the third day, Ambrose believes the batting line-up should have been re-tooled in an attempt to score more quickly.
“We know the captain Kraigg Brathwaite isn’t going to take an attacker path. He is one of those guys who are going to bat for long and accumulate his runs and nothing is wrong with that,” Ambrose added.
“Kyle Mayers we know will go on the attack but I thought that later on after Kyle Mayers got out, we should have at least sent Jimbo [Rahkeem Cornwall] or Alzarri Joseph ahead of Da Silva to get some quicker runs so we could have enough time after the declaration to try and bowl out Sir Lanka. Sending Da Silva to me wasn’t a good move at that particular stage.”
Ambrose insisted, however, that there were several positives to be taken from the display.
“You can see that the guys are putting a lot more thought into the cricket which is very good to see. They have been patient, they try to construct their innings in terms of the batting and even in the bowling department, you could see they were really trying to bowl in good areas and not just trying to get a wicket every ball."
The Caribbean team will head to South Asia immediately following the conclusion of the ongoing series against England, where they are currently leading 2-1. The series has featured a number of standout performances so far, with the likes of Akeal Hosein, Romario Shepherd, and some of the more commonly known names like Rovman Powell and Nicholas Pooran all putting together noteworthy performances during the series so far.
“They have got some really good one-day players, but we have unearthed some new talents in the ongoing series against England,” Sammy said of the team’s chances for the upcoming series.
“I think the West Indies would do well, but you would need the guys to take the wickets with the new ball.”
The former captain also believes the team’s cause could be helped by the knowledge of current captain Kieron Pollard.
“He has been playing in India for so long (at the IPL) and knows the conditions very well,” Sammy said. “Hopefully that experience and knowledge he could bring on to the field.”
