Daniel Doram impressed with his 13 wickets during the group stages of the CG United Insurance Super50 competition.
Cricket commentator and SportsMax analyst Nikhil Uttamchandani believes the innovation of the bonus-points system implemented in this year’s CG United Insurance Super 50 Cup competition, has been a positive one.
Speaking on a recent edition of the Sportsmax Zone, Uttamchandani, while reviewing the group stages of the tournament stated, “I credit CWI, Miles Bascombe and his team for the innovation. There was no point coming into this tournament doing the same things over and over again. It is about now building towards the 2027 World Cup.”
Commenting on specific improvements seen during the group stage, Uttamchandani highlighted two key areas.
“Coming into this, I looked closely to see where the West Indies have fallen behind in ODIs in the last few years, and it’s in the middle overs. It is no secret that we have struggled.”
Since the 2019 ODI World Cup, the West Indies have ranked 12th of the 19 teams in the world between overs 11 and 40, only scoring at 4.69 runs per over. “It was refreshing to see the two youngest teams being the only two teams above five runs per over in overs 11-40 during the group stages. It shows that while the bowling will not be the same at the international level, there is added impetus being shown in the middle overs.”
The Combined Campuses and Colleges team was the best middle-over team of the preliminary stages, scoring at 5.58 runs per over, while the West Indies Academy was second best at 5.04. He also accentuated the increased intensity in the first 10 overs of the innings, where five teams had scored better than five runs per over in this year’s competition, a significant improvement over last season.
From a bowling perspective, Uttamchandani revealed that he was impressed by new Leeward Islands sensation Daniel Doram, the tall left-arm spinner who took 13 wickets in six matches, including a 7-29 against Jamaica. However, while he was impressed with his uniqueness, Uttamchandani wants to see Doram perform well in two to three more tournaments before being considered for play internationally.
“He is different to Motie and Hosein. He has been impressive, but if he can go into the four-day championship, CPL, if selected, or even the next Super 50 and put out good performances, it will create a better environment for West Indies cricket and offer more for the selectors to choose from. In bouncy conditions, Doram provides an alternative option. I’m excited for the future of his career.”
The analyst believes the impact of the bonus points system and this year’s Super 50 Cup will be further reflected in the England and Australia series bowling off in the next few months.
Record-breaking Root edges England closer to Sri Lanka victory
Joe Root hit a record-breaking century as England edged closer to sealing their series victory over Sri Lanka at Lord's.
Root, who equalled Alastair Cook's record during the first innings of the second Test, made 103 from 111 balls for his 34th Test ton.
England resumed on 25-1 at the start of day three, with Root leading the way for the hosts and the crowd rose as one when a sweeping four completed his landmark century.
He helped his nation set their opponents a target of 483 after they were 251 all out.
As the light faded over Lord's, so too did Sri Lanka's momentum in their record-attempting chase, with Gus Atkinson and Olly Stone claiming Nishan Madushka and Pathum Nissanka respectively.
Play was eventually halted due to bad light, and called off to be resumed on Sunday with the tourists at 53-2 with Dimuth Karunaratne (23) and Prabath Jayasuriya (three) at the crease.
Data Debrief: Root revels on record-breaking day
Day three of the second Test belonged to Root, whose century was also his quickest in Test cricket.
Adding to his 143 in England's first innings, he registered two tons in a match for the first time, while becoming only the fourth player to achieve that feat in a Test at Lord's.
Root also joins Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar in scoring 5,000 Test runs in two different decades, while closing the gap on Cook's all-time England tally (12,472) to just 95.
If that was not enough for him, he also took the catches for both of Sri Lanka's wickets, making him the first England player to reach 200 in Test cricket.
Last Hurrah: Dwayne Bravo to call time on CPL career after this year's edition
Former West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo says this year’s edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) will be his last hurrah as he announced his retirement from the tournament on Saturday.
Bravo, who represents the Trinbago Knight Riders, made the revelation on his Instagram account hours ahead of the franchise’s opening contest against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in Basseterre, scheduled for 7:00pm.
“It's been a great journey, and I'm looking forward to playing my final professional tournament in front of my Caribbean people," Bravo said in his post.
“TKR is the place where everything started for me and will end with my team,” he added.
The 40-year-old’s post all but indicates the end of a decorated professional career, as he retired from international cricket in 2021 after the T20 World Cup and also announced his retirement from the Indian Premier League (IPL) a year later after being part of four title-winning Chennai Super Kings campaigns.
Bravo, known for his flair and skillful batting and bowling, is currently the CPL’s highest wicket-taker with 128 scalps in 103 games at an average of 22.40 and economy rate of 8.69.
In fact, Bravo is the leading wicket-taker in all T20s, with 630 scalps in 578 matches. He has also scored 6,970 runs with the bat.
No doubt the electrifying Trinidad and Tobago stalwart will go down as one of T20's early legends, having played seven World Cups in the format, winning two titles, as well as over 15 franchise league titles. He is the first bowler to get to 500 T20 wickets.
CWI targets domestic T20 competition in 2025 to identify Caribbean representative(s) for 2028 Olympic Games
Cricket West Indies (CWI) president Dr. Kishore Shallow says plans are already afoot to host a domestic T20 competition next year to determine the Caribbean representative(s) for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Shallow, once again welcoming cricket’s return to the Olympic Games, pointed out that his administration is already in dialogue with the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) hierarchy to stage the domestic competition in 2025.
Cricket, which last featured at an Olympic Games in 1900, was always set for a long-awaited return to the global multi-sport showpiece, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last year confirmed it and four other sports—baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse, and squash—for the LA Games.
“To add cricket to the agenda in the next Olympics is certainly going to be something tremendous, as we did in the Commonwealth Games a couple years ago when we had one of our teams representing the females. We at the time chose our original women’s tournament, and the winner at the time was Barbados, so they represented the region,” Shallow said.
“We anticipate something similar will be done unless they tell us all the teams can come and participate, which would be ideal, but it is unlikely for that to happen,” he added.
Shallow also explained that the CPL champions cannot represent the region at the Olympic Games given that the tournament is franchise-based and involves players from other parts of the world.
As such, he revealed that he has engaged CARICOM leaders regarding plans for a domestic T20 competition from which the winner or top finishers would secure the coveted Olympic Games spot(s).
“We have been in discussion with CPL for them to fund a domestic T20 tournament starting next year. I think Miles Bascombe and his team have already scheduled a window for that next year in 2025. Once we are able to have that tournament, then we can use that to determine which team or teams will participate in the Olympics on behalf of CWI,” Shallow shared.
“We can’t use the CPL as it is now because it’s franchises. But in the domestic tournament that we’re having, which will still have a commercial model to it but not to the extent of CPL, but that will more than likely be territories instead of franchises, so we will be able to identify teams,” he noted.
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