Neither Kieron Pollard nor Andre Russell were picked up during the The Hundred Player Draft took place on Thursday, March 23. The successful short-format competition is in its third season and is set to bowl off on August 1 and conclude on August 27.

Despite their power-hitting prowess and propensity for being on winning teams in T20 franchise cricket across the globe, neither player was considered to be good enough for any of the eight Hundred teams.

They were not the only big names to be overlooked as two of the best batters in the world - Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan – were also overlooked by the teams’ selectors.

However, Sunil Narine had much better fortune. He was picked up by the Oval Invincibles and is the only West Indian player in The Hundred for the third season.

Player of the Match Andre Russell’s six-laden half century and an MVP-like performance from Akeal Hosein helped steer Melbourne Renegades to a four-wicket victory over Brisbane Heat with four balls to spare in their Big Bash clash at Geelong on Wednesday.

Hosein took three wickets and scored a quick-fire 30 for Melbourne after Russell had bludgeoned them back into contention after a Michael Neser’s hat-trick had threatened to deny them victory.

Brisbane won the toss and chose to bat first but were two wickets down for 14 in the third over thanks to Mujeeb ur Rahman and Hosein who claimed the wickets of Max Bryant for five and Colin Munro for eight, respectively.

However,  knocks of 25 from Sam Billings, 29 from Matt Renshaw and an unbeaten Jimmy Peirson helped stage a recovery. However, after a partnership of 61 between Billings and Renshaw both were dismissed by Tom Rogers in the 11^th over as Brisbane slipped to 78-4.

It was soon 96-5 as Rogers dismissed Ross Whitely for 8 in the 15 over.

Hosein took the wickets of Neser (3) and James Bazley (0) in three balls in the 15^th over. Peirson smashed 45 from 30 balls with six fours to get Brisbane to a competitive 138-7.

Rogers ended with 4-23 while Hosein took 3-26 in another solid performance with the ball.

Melbourne’s relatively simple chase of just under seven runs an over, became extremely difficult when Neser ripped through the top order with just nine runs on the board.

He dismissed Sam Harper first ball and then Jake Fraser-McGurk from the final ball of the first over and then in his second dismissed Nic Maddinson for two and Johnathan Wells for a duck in consecutive balls of his second over to leave Melbourne facing defeat.

However, Russell and Aaron Finch staged a recovery would set the team firmly on the path to victory.

Russell hit two fours and six sixes and he and Finch put on 81 for the fifth wicket before he got out caught behind off Mark Steketee for 57 from 42 balls.

Hosein picked up from where Russell left off hitting two fours and two sixes in a 39-run partnership with Finch. He eventually holed out to deep midwicket for 30 from 19 balls off the fifth ball of Steketee’s final over with Melbourne needing just nine from seven balls.

Will Sutherland smashed Steketee’s last ball for a massive six over the midwicket boundary leaving Finch to hit the winning runs, a four over extra cover to seal with victory from Bazley’s second ball of the final over.

Melbourne’s third straight win means they have six points and only trail leaders Adelaide Strikers on net run rate.

West Indies superstar Andre Russell says he fears the new T10 format of the game could threaten T20 cricket and, eventually, Test cricket.

“To be honest, T10 cricket can be a threat because you can watch three games in a day, it’s less stress on the body and bowlers just come and bowl two overs,” he told reporters in Australia on Wednesday ahead of the first of four games he will play for the Melbourne Renegades in the ongoing Big Bash League.

“T20 is always going to be ultimate but I just think the amount of cricket at the moment means the players’ availability is going to be a big issue,” he added.

The 2022 edition of the Abu Dhabi T10 league concluded last week, and the competition saw a host of marquee names including Russell, Nicholas Pooran, Eoin Morgan and Adil Rashid taking part.

The number of T10 leagues is steadily increasing, and earlier this year, Cricket West Indies (CWI) became the first full-member board to start its own league, called the 6ixty. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) have already announced that next year, they will be starting their own T10 league known as the ‘Lanka T10 League.’

“Most players, it’s going to make them want to leave the longer format with the direction T10 leagues are going. There are a lot of different T10 leagues in different parts of the world and they announced that just before the finals in Abu Dhabi.”

Russell himself has not played a single red-ball game since 2014 but the veteran is hoping that all players don’t fall into the short-format trap.

“I just hope that players still believe in red-ball cricket, still believe in Test cricket and still want to play those formats because the older generation, they will come out and watch five days of cricket. That’s where it all started.”

Akeal Hosein and Andre Russell played key roles in the Melbourne Renegades opening its Big Bash League season with a 22-run win over Brisbane Heat at Cairns on Thursday.

West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell smashed a 32-ball 63 to help the Deccan Gladiators beat the Morrisville Samp Army by eight wickets in Qualifier 2 and advance to the final of the Abu Dhabi T10 League in the UAE on Saturday.

The Samp Army posted 119-2 from their 10 overs after losing the toss. Captain Moeen Ali hit six fours and six sixes on his way to a top score of 78 not out off just 29 balls while South African David Miller ended not out on 16.

Russell, who opened the batting alongside Tom Kohler-Cadmore, then set the stage for a successful chase with seven fours and four sixes on his way to 63. Captain Nicholas Pooran then added the finishing touches with an unbeaten 38 off just 12 balls as the Gladiators reached 121-2 in 9.4 overs.

Earlier on Saturday, they defeated Team Abu Dhabi by five runs in the eliminator.

Their opponents in Sunday’s final will be Kieron Pollard’s New York Strikers who beat the Samp Army by four wickets in Qualifier 1.

Nicholas Pooran’s purple patch with the bat continued on Sunday as the Deccan Gladiators notched a close 18-run win over Delhi Gladiators in the Abu Dhabi T10.

Pooran, who came into the match with scores of 77 and 80, scored 34 from just 17 balls as Gladiators posted 140-2 from their 10 overs.

After losing Jason Roy for four in the first over, Pooran hit three fours and two sixes as he and opener Tom Kohler-Cadmore added 122 for the second wicket. Pooran was eventually dismissed in the ninth over by Waquas Maqsood, who took 1-21.

Meanwhile, Kohler-Cadmore blasted his way to an unbeaten 82 with eight fours and six sixes.

He and Andre Russell put on 12 in the final eight balls with the Jamaican scoring 10 that included a six over extra cover off Shimraz Ahmed, who conceded 11 in the over.

Imad Wasim had figures of 1-17.

Delhi Bulls made a good fist of it to score 122-4 from their 10 overs.

They owed their solid effort to a 24-ball 48 from Tim David and Rilee Rossouw, who scored 28 from 15. However, needing to score 14 an over proved too much for Delhi Bulls despite a gallant 14 not out from eight balls from Keemo Paul at the end.

David and Rossouw put on 79 for the third wicket after Tom Banton (12) and Rahkeem Cornwall (2) were back in the hutch in the third over with 26 runs on the board.

Russell got rid of the dangerous David in the ninth over effectively swinging the pendulum in Gladiators’ favour for the remaining 10 balls from which the Delhi Bulls could only muster 17 runs.

Russell’s two overs cost 26 runs but Josh Little proved much more effective with the wickets of Cornwall and Rossouw to return figures of 2-11.

Andre Russell has been signed by Big Bash League franchise Melbourne Renegades' as a replacement for Liam Livingstone, who has been called up by England for their upcoming tour of Pakistan.

The 34-year-old Russell, who was not picked by West Indies selectors for the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup, signed a limited contract that makes him available for four games for the Renegades. He had been overlooked in the BBL Draft in August in part due to his limited availability and high price tag.

The Jamaican will now play matches against the Brisbane Heat on December 15 and 21, Sydney Thunder on December 18 and Hobart Hurricanes in Hobart on Christmas Eve.

St Kitts & Nevis Patriots secured a seven-run win over the Trinbago Knight Riders to stay in contention for a 2022 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) play-off spot on Thursday.

St Kitts & Nevis Patriots won the toss and chose to bat in this must-win game, but were restricted early on as the Knight Riders rotated five bowlers across the powerplay. Sherfane Rutherford would change the complexion of the innings with a brilliant 78 runs, aided by a spectacular cameo from Dewald Brevis, to take the Patriots to 163-6. 

In their chase, the Trinbago Knight Riders struggled to build partnerships as wickets consistently fell. Despite this, they remained with a chance of winning the match as Tim Seifert and Andre Russell scored crucial late runs, but it proved to be in vain as they could only muster 156-7, losing by seven runs. 

St Kitts and Nevis Patriots were frustrated by the bowling of the Knight Riders in the first 10 overs, reaching 43-3 and having lost the key wicket of Evin Lewis. Rutherford would then shoulder the responsibility of carrying the innings as he patiently scored runs before accelerating in the last three overs, to finish on 78 runs. Brevis would remarkably score 30 runs from just six balls, constantly clearing the boundary to propel the Patriots to 163-6. 

 Trinbago Knight Riders lost the early wickets of Leonardo Julien and Colin Munro in their chase, with spinners Kevin Sinclair and Rashid Khan restricting runs. Kieron Pollard and Nicholas Pooran would then lose their wickets as the Knight Riders found themselves in serious trouble.

Seifert kept the chase alive with a valiant half-century. Despite Russell scoring 18 runs in the 19th over, it was not to be enough as Sheldon Cottrell delivered a composed final over to take the Patriots to victory..

Scores: St Kitts and Nevis Patriots 163-6 (Rutherford 78, Brevis 30*; Dupavillon 3-38, Patel 1-7) beat Trinbago Knight Riders 156-7 (Seifert 59, Pollard 31; Cottrell 3-33, Sinclair 2-18) by seven runs.

Saint Lucia Kings made it three wins on the spin in the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with a thrilling one-run victory over the Trinbago Knight Riders on Sunday night.

The Knight Riders won the toss and opted to field first and that decision appeared to have backfired when Johnson Charles’ half-century got the Kings off to a lightning start.

Although the Knight Riders pegged the Kings back in the middle overs a devastating 33 off 14 balls from David Wiese ensured the Knight Riders were set a very difficult 148 to win.

 The Knight Riders’ task became even more difficult when they lost three early wickets inside the PowerPlay including that of Nicholas Pooran for a duck. 

 They never really recovered from that and left themselves too much ground to make up in the back end resulting in the narrow defeat.

 The Kings had got off to a flier in the PowerPlay with the tournament’s top scorer Charles hitting another barnstorming fifty. His partnership with Niroshan Dickwella added 59 runs before Ravi Rampaul carried on his good form by removing the latter.

 When Rampaul removed the set Charles it led to a squeeze on the Kings scorecard as 82-3 quickly became 117-5.

 However, David Wiese was able to produce an excellent counter-attacking innings at the death to help the Kings post a challenging 147.

 The Knight Riders' response saw their top order fail again as Leonardo Julien, Colin Munro and Nicholas Pooran all fell inside the powerplay to Roston Chase.

 That left the middle and lower order too much to do and despite a late salvo by Andre Russell in the final over of the game, it was too little too late.

 The two sides swap places in the table following the results and both will now head to Guyana with all to play for in the race for the playoffs. 

Scores: Saint Lucia Kings 147-6 (Charles 54, Wiese 33; Rampaul 2-10, Narine 2-31) beat Trinbago Knight Riders 146-6 (Seifert 44, Pollard 34; Chase 3-17, Joseph 2-26) by 1 run.

Trinbago Knight Riders made it two wins on the spin in the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) campaign with a nervy victory against the Jamaica Tallawahs on Saturday night.

The Tallawahs won the toss and surprisingly opted to bat first and that decision backfired almost immediately.

 Losing four wickets in the PowerPlay, the Tallawahs were in trouble at 25-4 and despite a 50-run partnership between Fabian Allen and Imad Wasim too much was left to do at the back end. 

116-7 never looked like it was enough but the Tallawahs fought gamely to defend the total taking out six wickets in the process. 

However, Andre Russell and Akeal Hosein saw the chase home to move the Knight Riders into the top four. 

Earlier on Ravi Rampaul impressed to uproot the Tallawahs batting, the seam bowler took 4-19 including three in the PowerPlay to put the Knight Riders in complete control. 

 The Tallawahs only had an energetic Fabian Allen half-century to thank to prevent a total collapse. 

 The Knight Riders made hard going of what should have been a simple chase. Openers Nicholas Pooran and Tion Webster both fell for ducks to leave the Knight Riders 0-2 in the first two overs. But Colin Munro and Tim Seifert rebuilt the innings with a 50-run partnership.

 When the pair fell in quick succession the Tallawahs had a moment of hope but Russell and Hosein ensured there would be no dramatic defeat, guiding the Knight Riders home with five balls to spare.

Scores: Trinbago Knight Riders 119-6 (Munro 40, Seifert 28; Amir 2-15, Green 1-12) beat Jamaica Tallawahs 116-7 (Fabian 50, Brooks 20; Rampaul 4-19, Narine 1-21) by 4 wickets.

Cricket West Indies (CWI) Desmond Haynes says the panel decided to not pick T20 big-hitter Andre Russell for the Windies World Cup squad based on a combination of his long-term absence from the regional team and recent struggles.

The 34-year-old has not played for the West Indies since representing the squad at the World Cup last year, despite controversially featuring in several lucrative T20 tournaments since then, including the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Vitality T20 Blast.

In addition, the player has failed to make much of an impression in this season’s Caribbean Premier League (CPL), which is admittedly closely watched by the panel of selectors.  In six matches the all-rounder has averaged 7.40 and has a top score of 17.  With the ball, he has taken four wickets.

“We just didn’t consider Russell for selection and that was it,” Haynes said of the player’s exclusion.

“We haven’t really seen a lot of Russell in playing cricket for the West Indies recently and judging from what is happening now we just decided that we would move on,” he added.

Russell has played 67 matches for the West Indies and averaged 19.50 with a strike rate of 150.  He has taken 37 wickets at an economy rate of 9.18.

Trinbago Knight Riders ended their three-game losing streak and reignited their Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) campaign with an exciting win against the Guyana Amazon Warriors Wednesday night.

 The Amazon Warriors won the toss and opted to field first and they produced a disciplined performance with the ball that kept the Knight Riders in check throughout. 

Led by Tabraiz Shamsi’s 4-36, wickets were taken at regular intervals to ensure that no batter ever felt comfortable at the crease as the Knight Riders reached 150-8.

 Needing 151 to win the Amazon Warriors got off to the worst possible start losing Paul Sterling for a duck and three wickets in total in the power play.

Shimron Hetmyer and Colin Ingram briefly threatened to take the game away from the Knight Riders but when Andre Russell removed Hetmyer the collapse began and the remaining Amazon Warriors batters fell for just 26 runs.

Earlier on the Knight Riders had constructed their best total of the Hero CPL campaign courtesy of a well-compiled 42 from Colin Munro. Overcoming the early loss of Tion Webster and Nicholas Pooran, Munro combined with Tim Siefert to compile a 51-run partnership that set a foundation for some late order risk taking.

 Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard and Ravi Rampaul hit a combined five sixes to help the Knight Riders set a total of 150 runs that always appeared as if it would be tricky to chase.

 This proved to be the case in the Amazon Warrior reply. No batter was able to face more than 20 deliveries despite reaching 81-4 in the 10^th over. The Amazon Warriors lost their remaining six wickets for 43 runs to succumb to a heavy defeat.

 The returning Akeal Hosein proved to be crucial in the Knight Riders' bowling attack taking 3-36 and he was ably supported by the parsimonious Andre Russell (3-16) and Sunil Narine (2-9).

 Scores: Trinbago Knight Riders 150-8 (Munro 42, Seifert 27; Shamsi 4-36, Shepherd 3-22) beat Guyana Amazon Warriors 124 all out (Hemraj 28, Hetmyer 20; Russell 3-16, Hosein 3-36) by 26 runs 

West Indies T20 star Andre Russell insists he is content to focus on the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), at the moment, leaving questions regarding his selection for the upcoming World Cup up to the selectors.

The 34-year-old has found himself at the centre of controversy in recent months, with the majority of the debate surrounding his lack of availability for the West Indies team.  In the last year, despite his appearances at various T20 leagues around the globe, the player has not appeared for the West Indies since the T20 World Cup last year.

It is a situation that has at times left Windies coach Phil Simmons, and some fans, admittedly exasperated.  With the player having not been part of the Windies T20 squad for the last year, many have speculated on the merits of his inclusion for the upcoming tournament.

The all-rounder, who is currently plying his trade for the Trinbago Knight Riders, insists the CPL tournament is his only focus at the moment.

"I am focusing on CPL at the moment. This is where it is for me at the moment. I am taking it one day at a time, one game at a time,” Russell told members of the media.

“Whatever is to happen will happen. I have no control over what’s going on at the (CWI) or what is going on in (the) selectors' minds…whatever happens in the next week or two only God knows, so I am not even going to stress on that,” he added.

“No one has reached out to me, no one has said anything…once I do the performance on the field then I leave everything else in their hands.”

St Kitts and Nevis Patriots will face the Trinbago Knight Riders in the final of the inaugural 6IXTY Men’s competition following victories over the Jamaica Tallawahs and Barbados Royals, respectively at Warner Park in St Kitts on Sunday.

All-rounder Andre Russell put on a six-hitting clinic to help the Trinbago Knight Riders beat the St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots by just three runs in the SKYEXCH 6IXTY in St. Kitts on Saturday.

Russell smashed 72 off just 24 balls including five fours and eight sixes, even hitting six in a row at one point, to help the Knight Riders post 155-5 from their 10 overs after the Patriots won the toss and elected to field first.

Openers Tim Seifert and Tion Webster also contributed 22 each off 13 and 10 balls, respectively. Pacer Jeremiah Louis took 1-21 from his two overs.

The Patriots were equally destructive in their turn at the crease, finishing 152-4 off their 10 overs, narrowly missing out on victory.

Sherfane Rutherford was in fine form, smashing a 15-ball 50 including one four and seven sixes. Dominic Drakes also produced some late-order hitting with 33 not out off just 10 balls including two fours and four sixes.

Anderson Phillip was brilliant with the ball with 3-17 from his two overs.

Between them, the teams scored 306 runs and hit 30 sixes, the most ever in a 10 overs per side fixture.

Both teams advanced to Sunday’s semi-finals alongside the Jamaica Tallawahs and Barbados Royals. In the semis, the Tallawahs will play the Patriots while the Knight Riders will oppose the Royals. The final will also take place on Sunday.

In the Women’s edition, The Barbados Royals booked a spot in Sunday’s final against the Trinbago Knight Riders by defeating the Guyana Amazon Warriors by five wickets.

The Amazon Warriors were held to just 58 all out in 9.5 overs after winning the toss and electing to bat first. Captain Stafanie Taylor top scored with 28 while Royals captain Hayley Matthews took 1-11 from her two overs.

Matthews (25 not out) and South African Chloe Tryon (27 not out) then combined to steer the Royals to a successful chase, reaching 59-1 off 7.3 overs.