The West Indies T20 outfit will get their first opportunity to compete since their Super Eight exit at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in June when they take on South Africa in the first of three T20 Internationals at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba on Friday.
In what promises to be a competitive series, the hosts will be looking for revenge against the team that knocked them out of their home tournament with a three-wicket win via the DLS method in Antigua in their final Super Eight match on June 23.
South Africa eventually got all the way to the final before narrowly losing to India.
West Indies skipper Rovman Powell likes the chemistry he’s seen from his group during their preparation for the upcoming series.
“I think it’s very good. It’s the first series since the World Cup so it’s an important one in the sense that we have to get back on track as a T20 team and I think so far, so good,” he said in a pre-match interview on Thursday.
The squad for the series comprises 12 of the 15 players that represented the region in the World Cup with Powell emphasizing keeping the core of the squad together with one eye on the 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.
Alick Athanaze, Fabian Allen and Matthew Forde are the three new members of the squad, replacing Brandon King, Alzarri Joseph and Andre Russell.
“We try our best as a selection group to keep it as close as possible to those guys in the World Cup looking forward to 2026,” Powell said.
“It’s also an opportunity for us to see other players like Alick (Athanaze), Fabian (Allen), Matthew (Forde) that we identified. Hopefully, once given the opportunity, they can grasp it with both hands,” he added.
Speaking about the team’s performance at the World Cup, Powell found some positives despite exiting the tournament earlier than they had hoped.
“I think we played good cricket. We had a clean slate right through the preliminary stage and faltered in the quarterfinals. I think we showed that we are a quality unit and if we prepare well and have the right plans, we can be successful at the international level,” he said.
With the West Indies currently sitting fourth in the ICC rankings, Powell also spoke about where the team wants to be at the end of 2025. Is it a case of wanting to just be high in the rankings or playing good cricket?
“I think it’s a mixture of both. Gone are the days when you played series just to play them. You use these series as building blocks and nothing is more important than winning. Once you win games you improve your ranking in the ICC standings and also guys become more familiar with roles and more encouraged to play for West Indies because the atmosphere and environment is a winning one,” he said.
“People want to associate themselves with winners so this is a building block for 2026. It might seem a long way away but we just need to continue to play good cricket series by series,” he added.
Bradley Jacks is a budding journalist and an avid sports fan. His love of research and sports has led him to SportsMax.tv, a place where those passions work hand in hand to allow him to produce content.
Smith and Brook inch England ahead of Sri Lanka on rain-affected day two
Jamie Smith and Harry Brook made half-centuries as England ended a rain-affected second day with a slender advantage over Sri Lanka in the first Test at Old Trafford.
Having bowled the tourists out before avoiding any late wickets on an enjoyable opening day, England were made to wait on Thursday as rain washed out the morning session.
When they were able to pick up the bat, England lost Ben Ducket (18) and stand-in captain Ollie Pope (6) to Asitha Fernando within the space of two overs, the Sri Lanka paceman sending the latter packing with an emphatic delivery.
The wicket of Dan Lawrence (30) left England teetering at 67-3 before Brook (56) and Smith (72 not out) took charge.
Brook saw his knock brought to an end by a ripping turner from the impressive Prabath Jayasuriya, who also accounted for Chris Woakes (25) and ended the day 2-58 from 21 overs bowled.
Playing in just his fourth Test, Smith remained unbeaten when play was abandoned due to further rain and diminishing light with 22 overs unused.
Having reached 259-6 by that point, England hold a lead of just 23 runs and will hope for further progress on Friday, with both teams' hopes threatened by further rain being forecast throughout the next three days.
Data Debrief: Smith closes in on century
Moving up a place to number six in the batting order, Smith showcased his potential with an assured performance on Thursday, slamming five fours and one maximum with a strike rate of 74.22.
If England are to build a more commanding first-innings advantage, they may need more of the same from the 25-year-old on Friday.
A first Test century is within his sights, having fallen five runs short against West Indies at Edgbaston last month.
Rizwan and Shakeel build healthy lead for Pakistan against Bangladesh
Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel put on a 240-run fifth-wicket stand as Pakistan cruised through day two of the first Test against Bangladesh, building a 421-run lead by stumps.
Having resumed at 158-4, Pakistan surged to 448-6 before captain Shan Masood declared, though the hosts were unable to pick up an early wicket as Bangladesh's openers survived a tense finish before stumps.
Shakeel (141) and Rizwan (171 not out) both produced magnificent knocks to ensure Bangladesh's momentum from a rain-affected first day in Rawalpindi was stunted.
Shakeel and Rizwan battled through most of two sessions before their mammoth stand was finally broken shortly before tea, the former falling to Mehidy Hasan Miraz's off break.
Miraz later caught Agha Salman for 19 off Shakib Al Hasan's delivery, but Bangladesh were unable to make any further inroads and could have found themselves further behind, if not for Masood's decision to put them in for an hour before stumps.
Openers Shadman Islam and Zakir Hasan survived 12 overs, Khurram Shahzad going close to dismissing the latter with a fierce delivery that almost kissed the outside edge in the 10th over.
However, Bangladesh now have it all to do against Pakistan's bowling attack on day three, with the hosts possessing a relatively new ball and a commanding lead on the scoreboard.
Data Debrief: Career-best knock for Rizwan
Masood's declaration was welcomed by most as a sensible decision, giving Pakistan the chance to launch an early assault on the Bangladesh openers, but it might have frustrated Rizwan.
His score of 171 represented his best in any Test, bettering his 115 against South Africa in 2021.
Rizwan racked up 11 fours and six maximums on Thursday with a strike rate of 71.54, and he might have had half an eye on a double century had Pakistan continued with the bat.
Nerveless Matthews seals win for Royals
An impressive all-round bowling performance and ice-veined innings from captain Hayley Matthews saw Barbados Royals defeat Guyana Amazon Warriors by one wicket with a solitary delivery remaining in a thrilling opening match of the 2024 Massy Women’s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL).
Matthews won the toss and chose to field first at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, Trinidad and her side restricted the Warriors to what was thought to be a below-par score of 118-9 off their 20 overs. The wickets were shared around between Royals’ seam and spin bowlers, Aaliyah Alleyne taking 3-21 from her four overs including the crucial wicket of a well-set Stafanie Taylor for 38.
It was far from a comfortable chase for the Royals, the 2023 champions found themselves 44-3 and 50-4 during their innings but Matthews kept her head with wickets falling all around her, finishing unbeaten on 61 not out off 58 deliveries having batted through the innings to secure victory for her side and get the defence of their trophy off to a winning start.
An undulating match began with the Warriors struggling to get any momentum with the bat after losing both openers inside the PowerPlay. Captain Lauren Winford-Hill was bowled by a fast delivery from Alleyne that zipped off the floodlit wicket and Natasha McLean fended off Qiana Joseph to be well caught inside the inner circle by a diving Cherry-Ann Fraser.
At 59-2 after 10 overs the Warriors then lost wickets regularly in the second half of their innings which duly served to stifle their run scoring.
Stafanie Taylor played a typically classy knock, hitting four fours and a six to anchor the innings for the Warriors before Alleyne made the crucial breakthrough by bowling her with the second ball of the 17th over. Amanda-Jade Wellington found turn and a kept a tight line for the Royals, the Australian leg-spinner finishing impressively with 2-19 off her four overs to set up a seemingly straightforward chase.
The Royals also lost regular wickets in their reply, Shabnim Isamil the pick of bowlers for the Warriors, picking 4-16 from her four overs and looking threatening with almost every delivery she sent down.
Erin Burns pulled off an early contender for catch of the competition, a flashing drive by Georgia Redmayne seeing Burns produce a wonderfully athletic diving grab at point. Definitely one for the highlights reel and the repeat button.
Chloe Tryon ensured the game went down to the wire by stitching together five consecutive dots to Shabika Gajnabi in a penultimate over that went for just one run.
With seven needed off the final six balls, Winford-Hill entrusted 19-year-old leg-spinner Nyia Latchman with the final over. The teenager kept her nerve impressively but it wasn’t enough to stop Matthews using all her skill and experience to find the gaps in the outfield and get her side over the line at the last.
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