The Barbados Pride secured their second win in as many games in the West Indies Championship with a 10-wicket win over the Jamaica Scorpions on day four at the Kensington Oval on Friday.

Entering day four 56-1, the Scorpions looked fairly comfortable throughout the first two sessions, losing only three more wickets to be 174-4 at the tea interval.

That comfort disappeared quickly as they lost their final six wickets in quick succession, eventually being bowled out for 233 leaving the Pride needing just 41 for victory.

Jermaine Blackwood got a top score of 61 while Jamie Merchant chipped in with 47 for the Scorpions against 6-78 from Jomel Warrican.

Kraigg Brathwaite and Shayne Moseley then ensured that the Pride got to their target with no problems, reaching 42-0 with Moseley finishing on 34 and Brathwaite on seven.

The Scorpions join the Windward Islands Volcanoes as losers of their first two games.

Final Scores: Jamaica Scorpions 328 and 233, Barbados Pride 521-8 declared and 42-0.

A career best first-class score of 276 from Barbados Pride and West Indies Test captain, Kraigg Brathwaite, put his team in strong position after Thursday’s third day of their West Indies Championship fixture against the Jamaica Scorpions at the Kensington Oval.

The Pride started day three on 243-2 off 78 overs, trailing the Scorpions first innings score of 328 by 85 runs with Brathwaite on 137 and Raymon Reifer on 55.

The Barbados batsmen ensured that the Jamaicans would spend the bulk of the day in the field, eventually declaring after tea on a mammoth 521-8, a lead of 193 runs.

Brathwaite’s 276, his 25th first-class century, came off 406 balls and included 18 fours, while Reifer supported with 71 from 162 balls. Jonathan Carter also contributed 68 off 164 balls.

Patrick Harty was the most successful Jamaica Scorpions bowler with 5-111 off 35 overs.

In their second innings reply, the Scorpions ended the day 56-1 off 17 overs, trailing the Pride by 137 runs with captain John Campbell on 15 and Jermaine Blackwood on 24.

Kraigg Brathwaite scored an unbeaten century and Raymon Reifer took six wickets to lead a Barbados Pride fightback against the Jamaica Scorpions on day two of their West Indies Championships match at Kensington Oval.

An unbeaten century from captain, John Campbell, put the Jamaica Scorpions in a commanding position after day one of their second-round West Indies Championship fixture against the Barbados Pride at the Kensington Oval on Tuesday.

Jamaica won the toss and chose to bat first, posting a formidable 299-3 off 81.3 overs before a rain interruption meant a premature end to the day.

Campbell batted beautifully to be not out on 123 off 205 balls, including 12 fours and one six. He was joined at the crease by Paul Palmer Jr who is on 76 off 106 balls, including nine fours and two sixes.

All the Jamaican batsmen except Jermaine Blackwood (1) got starts as Leroy Lugg (39) and Nkrumah Bonner (49) cashed in on favourable batting conditions.

Jomel Warrican, Raymon Reifer, and Jonathan Carter are the wicket-takers so far for the Pride.

The Trinidad and Tobago Red Force survived a second-innings collapse to secure a three-wicket victory over Jamaica Scorpions on day four of their West Indies Championship fixture at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy on Saturday.

The Red Force entered the fourth day 22-0, needing only 59 more runs to win with Keagan Simmons on 11 and Isaiah Rajah on eight.

Marquino Mindley got the ball rolling for the Scorpions on the final day with two wickets in quick succession to leave the Red Force 40-2.

The hosts then inexplicably lost four wickets for three runs to find themselves in a dogfight at 60-6.

Captain Imran Khan arrived at the crease and brought stability to the innings before they lost another wicket to find themselves 69-7.

Khan then combined with Anderson Phillip to bring the score to 81-7 and secure a three-wicket victory.

Simmons was the Red Force top scorer in the second innings with 38, while the Jamaican fightback was led by spin with Jamie Merchant taking 3-18 from 10.4 overs and Patrick Harty taking 2-21 from nine overs.

Final Scores: Jamaica Scorpions 141 and 212, Trinidad and Tobago Red Force 273 and 81-7.

The Jamaica Scorpions and the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force entered day 3 of their West Indies Championship match at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy evenly poised.

After starting the day 234-6, the Red Force were bowled out for 273 after 114.3 overs to lead the Scorpions by 132 runs.

Yannic Cariah led the way for the Red Force with 72 while Isaiah Rajah finished with 65.

Marquino Mindley completed his fourth five-wicket haul in first-class cricket with 5-70 off 28.3 overs while Nicholson Gordon provided good support with 4-65 off 28 overs.

In their second innings, the Scorpions fought gallantly to reach 212 all out, setting the hosts a target of 81 for victory, thanks to 45 from captain John Campbell and crucial knocks of 41 not out from Derval Green, 30 from Jamie Merchant, and 28 from Alwyn Williams.

Anderson Phillip was the pick of the Red Force bowlers in the second innings with 5-82 off 15 overs while captain Imran Khan supported him well with 3-46 off 16.5 overs.

At the close of play, the Red Force were 22-0 needing a further 59 runs on Saturday for outright victory with Keagan Simmons on 11 and Isaiah Rajah on eight.

Trinidad and Tobago Red Force ended a rain-affected day 2 of their West Indies Championship encounter with the Jamaica Scorpions at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in a commanding position.

The Red Force entered the day 98-3, trailing the Scorpions first innings score of 141 by 43 runs with Joshua Da Silva and Yannic Cariah at the crease on 32 and 11 respectively.

Da Silva added 5 to his overnight score before he was dismissed for 37 by Derval Green to leave the hosts 104-4.

Jyd Goolie was next to go for just six to leave the Red Force in a spot of bother at 118-5 before a magnificent 116-run partnership between Cariah and Isaiah Rajah put them in a comfortable position leading up to the end of play.

Cariah, who brought up his 10^th first class half-century off 181 balls in the 80^th over, eventually fell near the close of play for a patient 72 off 222 balls.

Rajah batted fluently to end the day, making 58 not out off 268 balls, including seven fours.

The Red Force ended Day 2 on 234-6 off 98 overs, leading the Scorpions by 93 runs.

Nicholson Gordon has so far led the way for the Jamaican bowlers with 3-51 off 21 overs while opening bowling partner Marquino Mindley has taken 2-52 off 20 overs.

Jamaica Scorpions head coach, Andre Coley, has backed the team to improve its output at the crease for the new season of the Regional Four Day Competition, with the addition of new blood.

The franchise which has not won the tournament since the 2011-2012 season, has struggled to find consistency in recent editions, particularly at the crease.

“We have gone for younger investment at the top of the order to partner John and we have brought in young wicketkeeper-batsman Romaine Morris with the intention of strengthening the batting,” Coley told members of the media on Tuesday.

“The discussion that we have had with our senior batters is if they can even replicate or do better than what they did last year, along with some production from the younger guys then we should have more consistency in our batting,” he added.

Led by Jermaine Blackwood’s 768 runs, the team had a fair showing at the crease at the last edition of the tournament and scored the second-most in the competition with 3730.  The tally saw the Scorpions finish in third spot overall behind Trinidad and Tobago and champions Barbados.  Morris has been selected ahead of Aldane Thomas to partner with the team captain Campbell at the top of the order.  The Scorpions will bowl things off against the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force on Wednesday.

Cricket West Indies (CWI) on Monday announced the West Indies Championship 2022 will start on Wednesday, February 9, marking the return of first-class cricket in the region since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

CWI has unveiled the match schedule for the first two rounds of the West Indies Championship as part of a five-round tournament scheduled for the six professional regional franchises.

The West Indies Championship marks not only a return of the regional red ball competition but also the opportunity for West Indian players to stake their claim for selection to the West Indies Test squad for the forthcoming Apex Test Series between West Indies and England in March 2022.

The first and second rounds will be played in Barbados and Trinidad from Wednesday, February 9 to Saturday, February 12 and from Tuesday, February 15 to Friday, February 18. The teams will again compete for the Headley/Weekes Trophy named in honour of West Indies legends George Headley and Sir Everton Weekes.

Defending champions, Barbados Pride will face Leeward Islands Hurricanes in the first match at Kensington Oval, home team Trinidad and Tobago Red Force host Jamaica Scorpions at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad while the newly named Guyana Harpy Eagles face Windward Islands Volcanoes at Queens Park Oval in Trinidad.

In the second round, Barbados Pride faces Jamaica Scorpions at Kensington Oval, Trinidad and Tobago Red Force take on Windward Islands Volcanoes at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy and Guyana Harpy Eagles meet Leeward Islands Hurricanes at Queen’s Park Oval.

The last three rounds of the West Indies Championship are scheduled to be contested in May.

For the 2022 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.

Johnny Grave, CEO of CWI, commented on how the West Indies Championship is a critical part of CWI’s professional cricket calendar. Jimmy Adams, CWI’s Director of Cricket also welcomed the return of the four-day format.

“Following detailed planning over the past six months, we are delighted to finally announce the return of the West Indies Championship. This is exciting news as we know the teams have been putting in hours of hard work in the nets, patiently waiting for the matches to be confirmed and are looking forward to being back on the field and entertaining their fans. These upcoming matches are especially crucial as we host England in the Apex Test Series in March, so the ‘Championship’ will be the ideal preparation for our Test players as well,” Grave said.

“I am pleased to see the re-introduction of regional four-day cricket for the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. This competition plays a critical role in our player-development pathway and, after almost two years, we are delighted to have our regional players back playing competitively in this format,” Adams said.

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.

Shimona Nelson outshot Romelda Aiken as the Collingwood Magpies defeated the Queensland Firebird 68-65 in the Suncorp Superleague Netball tournament on Saturday.

Trinidad and Tobago Red Force made it six wins in a row, as they produced a commanding performance to power past the Jamaica Scorpions and into the CG Insurance Super50 final.

This victory was set up by three key efforts,  Ravi Rampaul started with the ball and was then complemented by Lendl Simmons and Nicholas Pooran with the bat.

Firstly Rampaul, in claiming his second CG Insurance Man-of-the-Match award of the tournament, with figures of 29 for 4, played a key role in restricting the Scorpions to a below-par score of 255-7 on a very good batting surface.

In reply, batting second for the sixth consecutive match, Simmons (63) scored his 27th List A half-century to set the perfect platform, before Pooran’s unbeaten innings of 54, his 11th List A half-century, finished things off in style with eight overs to spare.

Earlier on, Jamaica lost the early wicket of Aldaine Thomas but after that John Campbell (88) and Brandon King (58) played well. When they reached 95-1 in the 22nd over, King smashed Jason Mohammed for a big straight six to bring up his second half-century of the tournament.

The Red Force would strike five overs later with the Scorpions, at 113-2 in the 27th over, when King gave Anderson Phillip his second wicket, playing back to a delivery that kept a bit low. The wicket ended the 108-run second-wicket alliance between Campbell and King.

At 168-2 in the 35^th over, the Scorpions looked set for a big final charge. However, the Campbell/McCarthy third-wicket partnership of 58 runs would end as McCarthy (35) presented a catch off veteran leg-spinner Imran Khan to Rampaul at leg on.

Attempting to defend that total, the Scorpions almost got a perfect start in the first over, but Nkrumah Bonner dropped a difficult long-on boundary catch from Simmons off Scorpions off-spinner Jamie Merchant. When Red Force were 29-0 in the fifth over, Evin Lewis (14) was also dropped by Campbell at first slip, again by the unlucky Merchant. As the big-hitting opening duo raced to their 50-partnership in the eighth over, those missed catches were even more critical.

Leading up to the 25th over, Jamaica got three wickets, the last of which when Simmons (68) skied a catch off Allen to Bonner at the long-on boundary. Despite T&T further losing Jason Mohammed (41), who was bowled by Odean Smith, Pooran (54 not out) was joined by captain Pollard (36 not out) who quickly hit five massive sixes to celebrate the win in style and get ready for Saturday's grand final.

Failing with the bat was all the motivation Andre McCarthy needed to inspire him to a match-winning performance with the ball against the Barbados Pride on Sunday.

Andre McCarthy took six wickets including a hat-trick as the Jamaica Scorpions defeated the Barbados Pride by 51 runs at the Coolidge Cricket Ground and book a date with the Trinidad Red Force in the semi-finals of the CG Insurance Super50 on Wednesday.

A last-wicket stand of 85 between Man-of-the-Match Jeavor Royal and Fabian Allen paved the way for Jamaica Scorpions close six-run-win by Duckworth/Lewis over the Leeward Islands Hurricanes earlier today.

Windward Islands Volcanoes recorded their second win of the CG Insurance Super50 Cup as they beat Jamaica Scorpions by 92 runs at the Coolidge Cricket Ground on Tuesday night.

Volcanoes made 260-8 off their 50 overs as left-hander Keron Cottoy top-scored with a 64 off 47 balls with four fours and five sixes.

In reply, Jamaica had a bad start were 61-5 in the 15th over before being bowled out for 168 in the 37th over. Left-arm spinner Larry Edward celebrated his 26th birthday in style with a match-winning spell of 3-36 off 10 overs.

When Windwards batted, Andre Fletcher made 60 from 51 balls at the top of the order with four fours and three sixes.

Cottoy was named the CG Insurance Man-of-the-Match, as he continued his good form to follow up his career-best 72 in the previous match against Trinidad & Tobago Red Force. Volcanoes were 171-5 after 40 overs but Cottoy raised the tempo with a number of breathtaking shots as and the last 10 overs yielded 89 runs.

Andre McCarthy top-scored for Jamaica with a run-a-ball 55 which included six fours and a six as he maintained good form - his previous knocks were 48 against Guyana Jaguars and 40 against Trinidad & Tobago Red Force.

Fabian Allen played a number of brave shots in 39 from 43 balls. At the end, Fletcher showed his new skill set as a leg-spinner and captured the last two wickets.

“It’s always good to perform for your team especially in victories. I’m just glad I’ve been able to put up my hand and bat deep into the innings and it paid dividends,” said Cottoy. “We have to take it one game at a time although it feels good to win two out of three.”

Today:  Leeward Islands Hurricanes vs Trinidad & Tobago Red Force at Coolidge Cricket Ground. First ball is 1:30pm (12:30pm Jamaica Time)