The Barbados Royals secured their eighth win of the 2022 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) season with a 36-run win over St Kitts & Nevis Patriots at Providence Stadium, Guyana. 

Cricket West Indies (CWI) on Friday announced the initial intake of 15 selectees for the CWI Emerging Players Academy. The group will start work at the Coolidge Cricket Ground (CCG), Antigua from 1 July for high-performance training and development sessions.

Several recent members of the West Indies Rising Stars U19 programme are included. Two notable selectees are Teddy Bishop and Kevin Wickham, who both made centuries for the West Indies Rising Stars U19s during the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup played in the West Indies earlier this year.

Others who have graduated from the West Indies Rising Stars U19s team to the regional franchise teams include Keagen Simmons, Kirk McKenzie and former captain, Ackeem Auguste; along with left-arm spinners Ashmead Nedd and Joshua Bishop; and left-arm fast bowler Ramon Simmonds. Also selected to the Academy squad is allrounder Nyeem Young, who was in the West Indies Men’s white-ball training camp in April.

“We want to offer a special welcome to the young men who have been selected to form the first cohort for the CWI Emerging Players Programme. They are a talented group of players, who we are sure will enjoy the benefits of their hard work,” said CWI’s Director of Cricket Jimmy Adams.

“CWI has been looking at ways of bridging that critical gap between our junior and professional levels and this Academy initiative provides us with a great start towards achieving this. This will also play an important role in building regional capacity within High-Performance player support – technical, physical, mental, and personal development.”

The plan for a CWI Emerging Players Academy was first announced in March. It will function as a nexus between regional junior and senior teams while supporting the development of talented players between the ages of 19 and 25. The Academy will have five primary objectives:

Building capacity of players, support staff and high-performance resources.

Management of Talent.

Personal Development – develop the person first and then the player.

Demonstrate Best Practices, including recruitment, selection and preparation.

Accelerating Player Development and increasing readiness of players for international cricket.

The Selection Panel met and recommended the 15 players based on a formula which included consultations with each of the six Territorial Boards. Six reserves have also been selected as cover for players who may be selected for their franchises for regional competitions.

The first Emerging Players camp has several objectives and the main focus during the initial period will be to ensure the management of talent; players’ personal development – especially creating a breeding ground for leaders in the game; accelerating development – reinforcing the importance of knowledge on the physical components; as well as increasing the readiness of the players for the international stage – with a focus on specific skill sets identified by the Head Coach of the Senior Team.

 “This is a massive opportunity for myself and all the other players involved. I can't wait to get to Antigua to get started and get involved. Being a player who has come through the West Indies Rising Stars U19 system and being at the senior white ball camp a few months back, this is a chance to further my skills. This will benefit all of us as we look to the future and I believe the camp will also help to build camaraderie,” said an eager Nyeem Young.

FULL SQUAD: Kevlon Anderson, Keagan Simmons, Kirk McKenzie, Kevin Wickham, Ackeem Auguste, Ramon Simmonds, McKenny Clarke, Johann Layne, Kelvin Pitman, Ashmead Nedd, Joshua Bishop, Nyeem Young, Joshua James, Leonardo Julien.

Reserves: Anderson Amurdan, Kimani Melius, Kirstan Kallicharan, Brad Barnes, Shaaron Lewis, and Camarie Boyce.

Former West Indies Under-19 representative Nyeem Young is taking a lot of confidence from his selection for the ongoing West Indies white-ball skills camp at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua.

Young was among two relative newcomers selected for the camp that began on March 31 and ends on Wednesday, April 13. Young, an all-rounder and Kaecy Carty joined the more seasoned players like Shai Hope, Shamarh Brooks, Darren Bravo and Nkrumah Bonner in the camp aimed at making the regional players more efficient at the shortest forms of the game. Young said what he has learned so far has made him a more confident player.

“It brings a lot of confidence in myself to be selected to come to a camp like this,” said the 21-year-old Barbadian all-rounder.

“I haven’t played any List-A cricket either, so for the selectors and coaches to have me in mind for a camp like this is very boosting for me.”

Young represented the West Indies at two Under-19 World Cups, 2018 in New Zealand and 2020 in South Africa. He is well aware of the players who, in recent times, have made the transition from youth cricket to the senior ranks across the region.

“I know there are a few youngsters that have come through like Alzarri Joseph, Shimron Hetmyer, Keemo Paul and Jayden Seales, most recently. They all came through at a young age and did pretty well at the international level so I’m just happy to be following in that suit and hopefully it continues,” said Young, who also spoke of his desire to get into the senior team for global tournaments like the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup in Australia starting in October and the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup in India.

“Yes, definitely there’s some stuff coming up. Some World Cups are coming up this year and next year. I’m mostly working on my skills and letting the coaches figure me out as a player and look at my strengths and weaknesses and figuring out what I need to work on whether it’s batting, bowling or fielding and take that forward,” he said.

Newcomers Nyeem Young and Keacy Carty have been named among 16 players selected by Cricket West Indies (CWI) for a white-ball camp to be held at the Coolidge Cricket Ground from Thursday, March 31 to Wednesday, April 13.

Young was a member of the West Indies Rising Stars squad at the 2020 ICC U19 World Cup and has also played for Barbados Royals in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL). Carty, meanwhile, has been a consistent member of the Leeward Islands Hurricanes squad for the last five years. He was Player of the Match in the final of the 2016 ICC U19 World Cup won by the West Indies.

West Indies Head Coach Phil Simmons outlined that the camp will focus on improving skill sets as the West Indies look ahead to two major global events over the next two years – the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia later this year and the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup to be played in India.

“The camp will be a chance for us to do some work with players in the white-ball formats, players who might have a chance to play in the coming white-ball teams later this year,” Simmons said.

“The most important thing is that we will be doing things in the camp that we have not been doing well, such as rotating strike, sweeping, and playing spin better. It’s about working on things that we’re not 100 per cent at yet. We have several players at IPL who will be working at their games as well, so we’re working with the players here to make sure they keep up the standard and improve.”

Simmons also weighed in on the selection of Carty and Young for the camp.

Keacy Carty was a reserve for the team which toured India in February. If there was any reason why players couldn’t go, he was the next batsman in line. He is one of the players we have looked at before,” Simmons revealed.

“Nyeem Young is one of the potentially good young all-rounders we have around the Caribbean, so we just want to bring them in and get them to understand what we expect of them if they get to that level.”

In late May, the West Indies travel to The Netherlands for the first-ever three-match One Day International Series between the two teams, to be followed by the rescheduled three-match ODI Series against Pakistan which was postponed in December.

These fixtures form part of the ICC ODI Super League, where teams will have the opportunity to secure points to try and secure one of the top seven places, excluding hosts India, to gain automatic qualification for the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup.

West Indies will then be hosting tours by Bangladesh, India and New Zealand with all three series featuring white-ball matches. Details of these tours will be announced in the coming weeks.

Players for white-ball camp: Nkrumah Bonner, Darren Bravo, Shamarh Brooks, Keacy Carty, Roston Chase, Justin Greaves, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Shai Hope, Brandon King, Kjorn Ottley, Keemo Paul, Anderson Phillip, Raymon Reifer, Nial Smith, Devon Thomas and Nyeem Young.

Cricket West Indies (CWI) and the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) will continue to offer development opportunities to some of the best young West Indians during the ninth edition of the CPL, which takes place in St Kitts later this year.

Since 2019, and for the third consecutive season, 12 players have been drafted, retained or signed into the two mandatory Emerging Player positions in each of the six CPL franchises.

Each CPL franchise will have to field an Emerging Player a minimum of five times during the tournament, ensuring that these players get at least some competitive playing experience and the opportunity to train with some of the best players and coaches from across the Caribbean, and around the world.

The list of 12 retained and drafted players include recent West Indies Men’s Test and T20I debutants Joshua Da Silva and Kevin Sinclair who will feature for St Kitts & Nevis Patriots and Guyana Amazon Warriors respectively. At relatively young ages, these two players have notably risen through the CWI development ranks in the last 18 months since featuring for the victorious West Indies Emerging team in the 2019 CG Insurance Super50 Cup.

Four of the Emerging Players will be experiencing the CPL for the first time: Joshua James, Kirk McKenzie, Kadeem Alleyne and Leonardo Julien.  McKenzie and James were members of the West Indies Under-19 side that featured in the last ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup, held in South Africa in 2020, who now have a chance to develop their white ball skills with the Jamaica Tallawahs.

CWI’s Director of Cricket, Jimmy Adams congratulated the selected players saying: “CWI is extremely happy for the 12 Emerging Players who will participate in this year’s CPL tournament. The Emerging Player programme is now a focal point of our elite player pathway and the CPL plays a critical role in exposing these young players to elite players and high level competition. We have no doubt that the experience gained by these young players will be a significant factor in establishing the next generation of international players within this format of the game.”

Reflecting on the third year of the CWI and CPL collaboration, CWI’s High-Performance Manager Graeme West said: “The Emerging Player Programme underlines the growth and strength of the CWI and CPL partnership. In a year where running high-performance activities for our talented young players has been challenging, CPL will provide the 12 emerging players a great learning and development opportunity.”

He continued: “With seven players retained from the 2020 CPL, this draft represents a reward for the performances and potential that the franchises saw from the Emerging Players in Trinidad last year. I’m delighted that three players from last year’s West Indies Under-19 squad have been drafted for the first time with McKenzie, James and Julian joining team-mates Nedd, Young and Seales who will look to build on their performances in 2020. The drafting of Kadeem Alleyne is really significant as it demonstrates to all young cricketers in the Caribbean that outstanding performances in local tournaments can be recognized and rewarded.”

The full list of drafted, retained and signed Emerging Players for their respective CPL teams is as follows:

Joshua Bishop​​ (Barbados) - Retained by Barbados Tridents

Nyeem Young (Barbados) - Retained by Barbados Tridents

Ashmead Nedd​​ (Guyana) - Retained by Guyana Warriors

Kevin Sinclair (Guyana) - Retained by Guyana Warriors

Joshua James* (Trinidad & Tobago) - Drafted by Jamaica Tallawahs

Kirk McKenzie​​* (Jamaica) - Drafted by Jamaica Tallawahs

Dominic​ Drakes (Barbados) - Retained by St Kitts & Nevis Patriots

Joshua Da Silva​​ (Trinidad & Tobago) - Retained by St Kitts & Nevis Patriots

Kadeem Alleyne* (Barbados) - Drafted by St Lucia Zouks

Jeavor Royal (Jamaica) - Drafted by St Lucia Zouks

Leonardo Julien* (Trinidad & Tobago) - Signed by Trinbago Knight Riders

Jayden Seales​​ (Trinidad & Tobago) - Retained by Trinbago Knight Riders

 The Barbados Tridents have announced their retentions for the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League which gets underway on August 28 in St Kitts & Nevis.

 The Tridents will welcome back the world’s number one rated Test all-rounder and Tridents’ captain Jason Holder, along with fellow Barbadians Shai Hope, Kyle Mayers, Raymon Reifer, Justin Greaves, Nyeem Young and Joshua Bishop.

 In addition to the local playing contingent, the Tridents have retained opening batsman Johnson Charles and leg spinner Hayden Walsh Jr who was the player of the tournament when the Tridents claimed the Hero CPL title in 2019.

 Tridents have eight spots left to fill in their squad and the remaining players will be announced in the coming weeks.

 Kailash Pardasani, Barbados Tridents Co-CEO, said: “We are really excited to welcome back our retained players and especially look forward to making Barbados and all Tridents’ fans very proud in our upcoming 2021 season. Our primary driving factor is the Barbados Tridents family which comprises our players, their extended families and all fans across the globe. This together with our love and passion for the game of cricket will enable us to bring the Hero CPL 2021 title back home as we did in 2019.“