Former West Indies batsmen Lendl Simmons and Dwayne Smith, both produced much-needed cameos but their efforts were in vain, as Atlanta Riders suffered a seven-wicket loss to New York Warriors in the US Masters T10 competition on Monday.
Smith led the way with a 24-ball 36, while Simmons contributed 21 off 11 balls, which assisted Riders to 97 for four off their allotment, at the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium.
Simmons, 38, put on 29 for the first wicket with captain Robin Uthappa (24), and added another 28 in a second-wicket partnership Smith, who had four boundaries in his knock.
Former Pakistan seamer Sohail Khan was the chief destroyer for the Warriors, as he claimed three for 21, with former West Indies seamer Jerome Taylor taking the other wicket.
Meanwhile, Kamran Akmal struck a brisk 34 off 11 balls, including three fours and three sixes, in a 63-run opening stand with Tillakaratne Dilshan, who struck 28 from 14 balls.
Though former Bangladesh left-arm spinner Elias Sunny slowed their progress, snaring two of the three wickets that fell in quick succession, former West Indies all-rounder Jonathan Carter and Shahid Afridi took the game away from the Riders, with an unbroken 40-run stand for the fourth wicket.
Carter struck one boundary and a maximum in his 17, while Afridi was unbeaten on 22.
Sunny ended with two wickets for 11 runs.
Another former West Indies player Chris Barnwell struck an unbeaten 28 off a mere 10 deliveries to lead New Jersey Tritons to victory over the Warriors on Sunday.
Barnwell’s knock, which included four sixes saw the Tritons chased down 85 in a contest reduced to five overs per side due to rain.
West Indies batsman Lendl Simmons has retired from international cricket, according to an Instagram post from his sports agency 124notout on Monday.
The post further said that Simmons had written a letter to Cricket West Indies last Friday informing them about his decision to become a free agent and pursue opportunities on the franchise circuit.
Simmons' international career spanned 16 years. He represented West Indies in eight Tests, 68 ODIs and 68 T20Is, scoring 3763 runs across all formats. He made his ODI debut against Pakistan in Faisalabad in 2006. His T20I debut came a year later against England at The Oval and he made his Test debut in 2009 against England in Port-of-Spain.
Simmons has also enjoyed a stellar career in franchise cricket representing several teams like Mumbai Indians, Trinbago Knight Riders, Karachi Kings and Sylhet Sunrisers.
He is the leading run-scorer in CPL history with 2629 runs from 91 innings including 20 half-centuries.
He also helped the Mumbai Indians to two IPL titles in 2015 and 2017, scoring a total of 1079 runs from 29 innings during his time with the franchise.
Simmons played a key role in West Indies' triumph during the 2016 T20 World Cup, blasting a 51-ball 82 in the semi-final against hosts India. In total, Simmons scored 1527 runs in T20Is at a strike rate of 120.80, with nine half-centuries.
He last represented West Indies during the 2021 T20 World Cup.
West Indies head coach has admitted that the game and situational awareness of the team was not at its best against England on Saturday but said the team will continue to be aggressive in its approach when they take on South Africa on Tuesday.
Trinbago Knight Riders moved back into the top four of the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) table with a seven-wicket victory over the Jamaica Tallawahs
TKR won the toss and elected to field first. This proved an inspired decision as their vaunted bowling attack ran through the Tallawahs top order. However, Carlos Brathwaite and Imad Wasim managed to rebuild the innings to give the Tallawahs a total to try and defend.
In reply, TKR overcame a rain delay to win the game with ease although they had several fielding mishaps to help them on their way. Lendl Simmons returned to form as his 70 lead the way for the Knight Riders.
With several enforced changes as a result of injuries in the camp, the Tallawahs got their innings off to a poor start with five wickets falling in the PowerPlay.
At the halfway stage of the innings, they could only muster 34 runs as the TKR bowling combinations of Akeal Hosein, Ravi Rampaul, Sunil Narine and Khary Pierre offered no freebies.
Once Imad Wasim, making his first appearance for the Tallawahs in this Hero CPL, and Brathwaite got their eye in they were able to launch a counter-attack.
The pair put on an 83-run partnership from 64 balls to rebuild the innings and that was supplemented by some late Andre Russell sixes to give TKR a tricky total to negotiate.
TKR got their innings off to a watchful start, but Sunil Narine was dismissed just before the heavens opened leading to a rain delay.
Once play resumed TKR easily chased the 145 required as Simmons and Colin Munro put together a 102-run partnership to ensure there would be no drama in the chase.
Trinbago Knight Riders 145-3 (Simmons 70, Munro 34; Imad 2-19, Pretorius 1-39) beat Jamaica Tallawahs 144-7 (Brathwaite 58, Imad 42; Hosein 2-12, Rampaul 2-26) by seven wickets.
Lendl Simmons made his sixth List A century as Trinidad and Tobago Red Force notched their second win of the 2021 CG Insurance Super50 Cup on Saturday night at the Coolidge Cricket Ground.
Lendl Simmons came up trumps for the Northern Warriors Friday in their seven-wicket win over Team Abu Dhabi with two balls to spare to advance to the final of the Abu Dhabi T10 tournament.
On many a Sunday, I realize that people have looked at the stories they've seen throughout the week with different lenses. I have my own personal take on some of these trending issues and I will share them with you. Welcome to #INCASEYOUMISSEDIT the 2021 edition with Mariah
Chelsea have given their new manager Thomas Tuchel 18 months to reverse the club’s fortunes after sacking Frank Lampard. Tuchel’s first match in charge ended in a 0-0 home draw with Wolves on Wednesday, a clear sign that the task ahead is not an easy one. The big question looming is how can he avoid the same fate as Lampard?
The 42-year-old German is more experienced than his predecessor having had spells at Mainz and Borussia Dortmund as well as two and a half years at PSG in France, leading them to back-to-back French league titles.
He also led the French champions to the 2019/20 Champions League final.
Winning cup competitions and making the top-four in the EPL would help him keep his job at the end of the season but going forward that will not be enough for team owner Roman Abramovich.
Notwithstanding his proven coaching acumen, Tuchel has developed somewhat of a reputation of getting into power struggles with club hierarchies. He was fired by Dortmund after falling out with officials there, similar to his exit from PSG. He would be advised to stay in Abramovich’s good books.
He would also do well to capitalize on his relationships with Thiago Silva who he coached at PSG and Christian Pulisic from Dortmund.
The task at hand is not impossible and Tuchel seems ready to take on his latest project.
“I decided not to worry about that too much and to go to do it, to be brave enough to take this adventure. It’s my character to believe more in the chances than in the risks,” he said.
The ICC T20 World Cup set for October in India is still some time away but the excitement in the Abu Dhabi T10 has reignited the hope that West Indies just might have a chance. The first week of the Abu Dhabi T10 was filled with brilliant performances both with bat and ball from notable Windies players.
Several Windies players have found form early in the tournament. The Northern Warriors’ Lendl Simmons blasted an unbeaten 54 in his first match. Evin Lewis also started off with a bang having scored 100 runs in three matches that included a top score of 55. He was also not out twice and is the third-highest run-scorer for this 2021 edition.
Nicholas Pooran has also been brilliant with the bat. After two matches he has 73 runs with a high score of 54. The Pune Devils Kennar Lewis in his first match scored a 28-ball 57 not out to lead his team to victory.
There have also been noteworthy performances with the ball as the Northern Warriors’ Rayad Emrit is ranked fifth for most wickets in the tournament. He has bowled 4 overs for 46 runs and taken three wickets. His teammate Fabian Allen has bowled two overs for 11 runs and taken two wickets. Deccan Gladiators Sunil Narine has grabbed two wickets from his two overs.
Kieron Pollard will lead a powerful TT Red Force squad when the CG Insurance Super50 Cup bowls off in Antigua and Barbuda from February 7-27.
Pollard heads a seasoned squad of players that include the likes of Evin Lewis, Lendl Simmons and the hard-hitting Nicholas Pooran. Darren Bravo, who will form part of the strong squad will also serve as vice-captain for the team that were semi-finalists last time out.
The T&T selectors have also picked the experienced Jason Mohammed, who is on West Indies duty in Bangladesh as well as former West Indies representatives Sunil Narine, Denesh Ramdin and Ravi Rampaul.
Imran Khan, Akeal Hosein, opener Kjorn Ottley, Khary Pierre, Anderson Phillip and Jayden Seales are also in line to represent the team from the twin-island republic that on paper should start as favourites to win the shortened version of the competition in 2021.
The full squad reads: Kieron Pollard (captain), Darren Bravo (vice-captain), Evin Lewis, Lendl Simmons, Jason Mohammed, Nicholas Pooran, Sunil Narine, Denesh Ramdin, Imran Khan, Akeal Hosein, Ravi Rampaul, Jayden Seales, Kjorn Ottley, Anderson Phillip, Khary Pierre.
Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Carlos Brathwaite are among several West Indies players who have made themselves available for the Pakistan Super League draft set for January 10, 2021, in Lahore.
Evin Lewis and Lendl Simmons were also the players whose names were released on Tuesday by the PSL. They are among 25 international players who will be available for the six-team competition even though some of them will only be available for a part of the season due to a packed international calendar during the February to March window.
Gayle has played previously in the PSL for the Karachi Kings and the Lahore Qalanders.
Other notable players who are in the draft pool include Imran Tahir, Chris Jordan, Chris Lyn, Mohammed Nabi, Alex Hales and Morne Morkel.
The 25 foreign players have been placed in the 'Platinum' category, from which the six franchises will select.
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