Cricket West Indies (CWI) has signed a five-year deal with BT Sport for the exclusive live coverage in the United Kingdom of all West Indies international home matches played in the Caribbean.
As part of the agreement, BT Sport will have rights to West Indies next international home series against England, scheduled for early 2022.
This upcoming series will have added interest as it will be the first time that the two teams play the Richards-Botham Trophy Test Series — named in honour of Sir Vivian Richards and Sir Ian Botham — two of the greatest cricketers of all time.
England's visits to the Caribbean are an iconic fixture in the international cricket calendar and regularly attract one of the largest live TV cricket audiences in the UK.
“On behalf of CWI, and all who helped make this deal come together, I am delighted to announce one of our largest ever broadcast rights agreements in the form of this unprecedented partnership with BT Sport,” said CWI President Ricky Skerritt.
“Our tour to England last year helped to remind us how strong the West Indies brand continues to be in the UK, and we thank BT Sport for so highly valuing West Indies cricket by committing their broadcast support over the next five years. I am especially pleased that, in partnership with ESPN, BT Sport will also show much of the upcoming CG Insurance Super50 Cup which starts next Sunday, 7th February.”
As well as England’s tour to the Caribbean in 2022, BT Sport will have access to a packed schedule of international cricket from the West Indies in 2021 on its sports channels and across its digital platforms, starting with Sri Lanka, who they face across all formats in March before the tours to the Caribbean by South Africa, Australia and Pakistan in June, July and August.
“The first-ever Richards-Botham Trophy in March 2022 will be an eagerly anticipated Test Series, not just for our fans in the UK hailing from the Caribbean, but also to the many UK sports and cricket fans who will be able to watch live on their TV or mobile devices after school or work,” said CWI CEO Johnny Grave.
“West Indies home series are the second most-watched cricket in the UK after England’s home matches, and this agreement ensures that the best action from the Caribbean will be broadcast in an extremely important sports and tourism market for the region.”
Rachel Knight, Rights Director, BT Sport said; “We want to provide customers with the best sport from across the globe, so we are delighted to add the England men’s and women’s cricket teams to our line up. In addition to some hugely important and enticing Test and T20 International matches over the next 18 months, the new rights in New Zealand and West Indies will see the world’s top cricketers regularly on BT Sport.”
This is a long-term agreement and has huge significance because the UK is the West Indies’ second-largest commercial market, and where a large number of fans with West Indian heritage reside.
“We are in a very good space mentally,” says West Indies Interim Head Coach Andre Coley ahead of third South Africa ODI
The West Indies will enter the third and final ODI against South Africa on Tuesday with an opportunity to complete a series win over the hosts for the first time.
Interim Head Coach of the West Indies Senior Men’s team Andre Coley says the group are in a good place mentally ahead of the decisive game.
“Every game brings new possibilities. We are in a very good space mentally and we are happy with our preparation,” he said in a press conference on Monday.
“We are just making sure we are ready for this game. We will have to see the conditions and work out the best approach. We have been taking it on a match-by-match basis so we are in a good place and have had good plans,” Coley added.
The tourists went 1-0 up in the series thanks to an excellent batting display, including an unbeaten century from Shai Hope in his first innings as ODI captain.
Coley, while being pleased with the team’s exploits with the bat, hopes other batsmen can go deep into the innings after getting starts.
The Windies amassed 335-8. While Hope made 128*, Brandon King (30), Kyle Mayers (36), Nicholas Pooran (39) and Rovman Powell (46) all got starts and failed to kick on.
“It was satisfying. Firstly, getting a total of 300 plus on the back of Shai’s hundred batting through the innings. We had significant partnerships,” he said.
“It would still have been good to see more batters go on from their starts but very encouraging signs, nonetheless,” Coley added.
On the bowling front, Coley did not make much of the fact that South Africa got off to a fast start, putting it down to the state of the game.
“Chasing a total like that, they wanted to make the powerplay count. We expected that. That is the nature of the game,” he said before acknowledging how well his team responded to the early onslaught.
“We were put under pressure quite early and I thought we responded well. Kyle (Mayers) got that key wicket of Quinton (De Kock) who was going well for them. As the innings progressed, we were able to respond and, in the end, we ended up with a comfortable win,” he added.
The game is scheduled for 3:00 AM Jamaica Time (4:00 AM ECT).
Harpy Eagles hold 11.2-point lead atop West Indies Championship table entering round four
The Guyana Harpy Eagles have an 11.2-point lead at the top of the 2022/23 West Indies Championship table heading into round four starting on Wednesday.
Guyana, who won five straight regional four-day titles from 2015-2019, have two wins and a draw from their three games to lead the table with 49 points.
The Windward Islands Volcanoes find themselves second on 37.8 points thanks to a win and two draws, a similar record to the Leeward Islands Hurricanes who are third with 34.2 points
Three points behind the Hurricanes are reigning back-to-back champions the Barbados Pride after a win and two losses.
The Trinidad & Tobago Red Force, with two draws and a loss, are fifth on 24.8 points while the Jamaica Scorpions are way back in sixth on 15.8 points after two losses and a draw.
Round four will see the Harpy Eagles taking on the Jamaica Scorpions at Providence, the Leeward Islands Hurricanes taking on the Windward Islands Volcanoes at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy and the Trinidad & Tobago Red Force facing the Barbados Pride at the Queen’s Park Oval.
Karunaratne wants to step down as Sri Lanka captain
Dimuth Karunaratne wants to step down as Sri Lanka captain following the Test series against Ireland next month.
The opening batter revealed after a hammering by an innings and 58 runs in the second Test against New Zealand that he has offered his resignation.
Karunaratne, who was appointed in 2019, hopes his reign will come to an end after the second and final match of the series versus Ireland in Galle.
He said: "I've talked with the selectors about stepping down as captain after the Ireland series. In the next WTC cycle, you've got to do two years.
"I think it's best if a new captain does that whole cycle than for me to do half and hand over. I've talked to the selectors about this, but I haven't got a response yet. My preference is to handover to a new leader after the next series."
Karunaratne made half-centuries in both innings of a heavy defeat to the Black Caps at Basin Reserve, which consigned the tourists to a 2-0 defeat.
The 34-year-old was not content with his knocks of 89 and 51 in Wellington.
"I played Tests after eight months. I only got to play one innings in a four-day match in between," Karunaratne said.
"!'m someone who gets a big one after getting a start, so I think I don't have that patience at the moment, and I need to go back to domestic cricket and develop that again.
"After eight months, although I made some runs here, I could have done more, I think. Twice, I think I could have turned half-centuries into hundreds, and I wasted them."
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