The Cricket West Indies Selection Panel on Thursday named the 16-member West Indies Women’s squad to play in a T20 International (T20I) Tri-Series against South Africa and India in East London from 19 to 30 January 2023 as part of their final preparations for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in February.
The West Indies Women will play at least four matches, playing two matches each against hosts South Africa and India. The two leading teams will then play each other in the Tri-Series Final at Buffalo Park on 2 February. West Indies will also play a warm-up match against South Africa ahead of the Tri-Series at Beacon Bay on 16 January.
Lead Selector Ann Browne-John said: “The selection panel has named a squad that we believe has the talent and experience to compete against India and South Africa. The squad sees the return of Stafanie Taylor who missed the recent series against England due to injury and Britney Cooper, the middle order batter who last played against South Africa Women in September 2021.
Browne-John added: “Our batting in the most recent series was less than par against a very good England bowling attack. We believe that with the return of some experienced batters, they will the able to support captain Hayley Matthews at the top of the order. Shamilia Connell and Shakera Selman also return after injury and will fortify the pace attack with Chinelle Henry, Cherry Ann Fraser and Aaliyah Alleyne. The team had commendable performances in South Africa in early 2022 and we know that the entire team will be drawing on that experience as they take on the home team and India in this Tri-Series and then potentially again at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup also in South Africa.”
All matches in the Tri-Series will be played at the Buffalo Park in East London.
Final squads for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa must be submitted by 2 February. The eighth edition of the marquee ICC Women’s Event will begin on 10 February with hosts South Africa taking on Sri Lanka. West Indies have been drawn in Group 2 alongside England, India, Pakistan and Ireland.
Newlands, Cape Town, Boland Park, Paarl and St. George’s Park, Gqeberha are the host venues for the tournament with both Semi-Finals and Final being played in Cape Town. The Final at Newlands will be held on 26 February.
FULL SQUAD
Match Schedule
16 January: Warm up Match vs South Africa, Beacon Bay
T20I Tri-Series West Indies Match Schedule – all matches to be played at Buffalo Park, East London
21 January: vs South Africa, 3pm local time (9am Eastern Caribbean/8am Jamaica)
23 January: vs India, 7pm local time (1pm Eastern Caribbean/12noon Jamaica)
25 January: vs South Africa, 3pm local time (9am Eastern Caribbean/8am Jamaica)
30 January: vs India, 3pm local time (9am Eastern Caribbean/8am Jamaica)
2 February: Tri-Series Final, 3pm local time (9am Eastern Caribbean/8am Jamaica)
ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Group 2 West Indies Match schedule
13 February: vs England, Boland Park, Paarl, 3pm (9am Eastern Caribbean/8am Jamaica)
15 February: vs India, Newlands, Cape Town, 3pm (9am Eastern Caribbean/8am Jamaica)
17 February: vs Ireland, Newlands, Cape Town,7pm (1pm Eastern Caribbean/12noon Jamaica)
19 February: vs Pakistan, Boland Park, Paarl, 3pm (9am Eastern Caribbean/8am Jamaica)
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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