The 2022 West Indies Championship will resume on Wednesday, May 18, Cricket West Indies (CWI) announced on Tuesday.
CWI unveiled the match schedule for the final three rounds of the four-day first-class red ball tournament for the six professional regional franchises.
The first and second rounds were played in February ahead of the Apex Test Series which concluded yesterday with West Indies beating England 1-0 to win the newly-minted Richards-Botham trophy.
The West Indies Championship returns with all matches being played in Trinidad at the Queen’s Park Oval, Brian Lara Cricket Academy and the Diego Martin Sporting Complex. The third round will run from May 18-21, the fourth from May 25-28, with the fifth and final round from June 1-4.
Defending champions Barbados Pride lead the points table with 42 points, with Trinidad & Tobago Red Force second on 38.6 points – both recorded wins in their first two matches. They are followed by Leeward Islands Hurricanes on 24.6 points, Guyana Harpy Eagles on 21.4 points, Windward Islands Hurricanes on 10.8 points, and Jamaica Scorpions on 8.8 points.
The teams will be competing for the Headley Weekes Trophy named in honour of West Indies legends George Headley and Sir Everton Weekes. The current top two teams face each other in Round 4 at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy with the chasing four teams aiming to win their games in round 3 of the West Indies Championship to close the points gap ahead of the concluding matches.
“The resumption of the West Indies Championship, our regional four-day competition, has been good to see. While we cannot recover the two years lost to the COVID-19 pandemic, we can now re-start critical aspects of our development pathway that depended on this tournament. I'm especially pleased for all the players and support staff that have had to put their own development on hold during the enforced break,” said Jimmy Adams, CWI’s Director of Cricket welcoming the return of the four-day format and reiterating this competition plays a critical role in the player-development pathway.
For the ongoing tournament, each squad will consist of 15 players due to the COVID-19 pandemic. CWI is also implementing a special “player loan” system to try to ensure that each team will be able to complete their fixtures. If a team has a player(s) ruled out due to a positive COVID-19 result, they can request to use a player(s) from another team and/or from a pool of locally registered reserve players
LIVE ball-by-ball scoring of each game will be available through the www.windiescricket.com match centre. CWI will be streaming each of the matches with commentary via the Windies cricket YouTube channel. The Championship will also be streamed live in India on FanCode, as part of CWI’s partnership with the Indian broadcaster.
Matthews takes 2-21, hits 41 as Melbourne Renegades get first win of the season in WBBL
West Indies captain Hayley Matthews produced a strong all-round performance to help the Melbourne Renegades get their first win of the season on the Women’s Big Bash League in Australia, a six-wicket win over the Perth Scorchers at the Junction Oval in Melbourne on Saturday.
The Scorchers were bowled out for 140 in 19.4 overs after winning the toss and batting first.
Opener Beth Mooney led the way with 36 while Alana King (26) and captain Sophie Devine (22) also made valuable contributions.
Sophie Molineux was the outstanding bowler on the day for the Renegades with 4-17 from her four overs and was well supported by Alice Capsey (2-15 from three overs), Matthews (2-21 from 2.4 overs) and Georgia Wareham (2-35 from four overs).
The Renegades then needed just 17.4 overs to reach 145-4 and secure their first win in three tries this season.
A 102-run opening partnership between Matthews and Courtney Webb set up the chase beautifully.
Webb led the way with 61 off 40 balls including nine fours and a six while Matthews made 41 off 27 balls including seven fours and a six.
Deandra Dottin hit a six to seal the win off Alana King who took 2-35 from 3.4 overs.
Jadeja and Ashwin boost India hopes of avoiding series whitewash
India boosted their hopes of avoiding a series whitewash by taking control on day two of the third Test against New Zealand in Mumbai.
Ravindra Jadeja (4-52) and Ravichandran Ashwin (3-63) led the hosts' charge, as they reduced the tourists to 171-9 at the close.
Following their late 10-minute collapse on Friday, which left them at 84-4, Rishabh Pant (60 off 59 balls) and Shubnam Gill (90 from 146 deliveries) ensured India made a progressive start to the second day.
Washington Sundar also chipped in with 38 from 36 balls, but Jadeja and Sarfaraz Khan went in quick succession as New Zealand claimed three wickets in the space of 10 overs after lunch.
The Black Caps trailed by 28 after bowling their opponents out for 263, but lost Tom Latham in the opening over, with Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra following soon after to leave them at 44-3.
Will Young (51 off 100) chalked up his second 50 of the Test, though it proved a false down for the tourists, as Jadeja and Ashwin took a combined seven wickets to keep their side's deficit down to just 143 with one wicket remaining.
Data Debrief:
India are desperately trying to prevent New Zealand from inflicting their first-ever home whitewash in a series of three or more Tests.
Pant certainly did his bit by taking just 36 balls to notch up India's fastest Test 50 against the Black Caps, for whom Patel (5-103) took his second five-wicket haul in the city of his birth, as well as his sixth overall in Test cricket.
Jadeja was also inspired in the field, though, as he took his wicket tally for the Test to nine.
Webster hits 95* as defending champions Red Force move to two wins from two with seven-wicket victory over Volcanoes at Brian Lara Cricket Academy
Hosts and defending champions Trinidad & Tobago Red Force comfortably defeated the Windward Islands Volcanoes by seven wickets at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy on Friday to move to two wins out of two this season.
The Red Force first restricted the Volcanoes to 182 all out off 45 overs after winning the toss and bowling first.
Joshua James, Yannic Cariah and Anderson Phillip all took two-wicket hauls for the Red Force while Jeremy Solozano and Sunil Ambris each made 47 for the Volcanoes.
The Red Force then needed only 38 overs to reach 186-3 and secure their second win in as many games this season.
Tion Webster led the way with the bat with 95* off 115 balls including 14 fours and one six while Amir Jangoo hit 31.
Captain Joshua Da Silva finished 21* alongside Webster.
Full Scores:
Windward Islands Volcanoes 182 off 45 overs (Sunil Ambris 47, Jeremy Solozano 47, Joshua James 2-15, Anderson Phillip 2-21, Yannic Cariah 2-35)
Trinidad & Tobago Red Force 186-3 off 38 overs (Tion Webster 95*, Amir Jangoo 31)
The Red Force will next play the Leeward Islands Hurricanes at the same venue on Sunday while the Volcanoes will next play the Jamaica Scorpions at the Queen’s Park Oval on Tuesday.
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