Cricket West Indies (CWI) has announced a landmark six-year media rights agreement with ESPN Caribbean, covering the period from 2024 to 2030. This deal grants ESPN Caribbean exclusive broadcast and digital rights to all West Indies Men's and Women's home international matches, as well as the CG United Super50 Cup for both men's and women's regional tournaments. This partnership solidifies ESPN Caribbean's position as the premier destination for West Indies cricket in the region.
Lynford Inverary, CWI's Acting Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer, emphasized the significance of this agreement, saying, "This new six-year agreement with ESPN Caribbean marks the largest media rights deal CWI has ever secured in the Caribbean. It not only reflects the growing commercial value of West Indies cricket but also ensures that fans across the region will continue to enjoy comprehensive coverage of our international series and CG United Super50 Cups. ESPN is a longstanding partner, and this new deal will help CWI meet its long-term financial goals, while expanding the visibility and engagement of West Indies cricket within the region."
Scott McGlone, Senior Director of Programming and Acquisitions at ESPN, expressed enthusiasm about the continued collaboration:
"We are thrilled to continue our strong relationship with CWI with this groundbreaking new deal. ESPN seeks to serve local sports fans anytime, anywhere. What better way to accomplish this goal than a long-term partnership with CWI, that represents such a rich sporting history both locally and internationally."
Under this agreement, CWI retains the right to license post-match highlights on free-to-air and digital platforms throughout the region, ensuring fans have access to additional content during each series and tournament. This partnership, brokered with the assistance of CWI’s media consultants, Pitch International, aligns with CWI’s strategic objectives to enhance the global visibility of West Indies cricket and deepen fan engagement across the Caribbean.
The Trinidad & Tobago Red Force are champions of the CG United Super50 Cup for the 14th time after a dominant seven-wicket win over the Leeward Islands Hurricanes in the final at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy on Saturday.
The Leewards posted a subpar 135 all out from 41.5 overs after winning the toss and choosing to bat. Important to note, the match was eventually reduced to 43 overs per side after a pair of rain delays during the Hurricanes innings.
The Leewards, who have depended heavily on the opening partnership of Kieran Powell and Justin Greaves, lost them both in quick time due to a poor shot and bad luck.
Powell was bowled all ends up by Shannon Gabriel for just eight in the fourth over before, just two overs later, Greaves, who entered this final on the back of four 50-plus scores in a row, was forced to retire hurt on 11 after suffering a hamstring injury while running a single.
This brought Keacy Carty and Jahmar Hamilton together in the middle and the pair brought the score to 40 in the 13th over before Carty played an ill-advised slash at a ball outside the off stump which produced an edge that wicket-keeper Joshua Da Silva gladly snatched up off the bowling of Terrance Hinds for 12.
Things could have gotten even worse for the Leewards as Hamilton was dropped on two occasions in quick succession, first by Nicholas Pooran off the bowling of Sunil Narine in the 14th over then in the very next over by Akeal Hosein off the bowling of Terrance Hinds.
The Red Force didn’t have to wait too long for their next wicket, however, as in that same 14th over, Narine had Terrence Warde trapped in front for a duck.
It was soon 43-4 as Narine dismissed Rakheem Cornwall in a similar fashion. Hamilton and Kofi James then put together a 27-run fifth wicket partnership before James became Khary Pierre’s first victim for seven.
Hayden Walsh Jr was next to go for 20 to leave the Hurricanes 116-6 in the 36th over. Captain Alzarri Joseph then came and went for 2 one over later to leave the score at 121-7.
Greaves then attempted to continue his innings and added just one run to his total before being the eighth wicket to fall, going caught off the bowling of Akeal Hosein for 12.
Hamilton was the ninth wicket to fall for a well-made top score of 62 from 102 balls, his fourth fifty of the tournament. His knock included just three fours and a six.
Daniel Doram was last to go for 5.
Narine, playing his last ever List A game, took 3-17 from nine overs while Terrance Hinds continued his excellent form this season with 3-16 from seven overs.
Narine ended the season as the tournament’s joint-leading wicket taker with 20. He also took home the Gus Logie Award as the tournament's best fielder with nine catches.
The Red Force then started their chase with a revised target of 138 from 43 overs.
Kjorn Ottley and Joshua Da Silva put on 45 for the first wicket before Da Silva fell in the ninth over for a run-a-ball 28.
Ottley was then joined by skipper Darren Bravo and the pair put on a further 39 before Ottley was dismissed for 23 in the 17th over.
Bravo, who finished the tournament as the highest run-scorer with 416 runs at an average of 83, was next to go for a top score of 40.
Nicholas Pooran and Jason Mohammed then guided the Red Force to 141-3 after 23.4 overs.
Pooran finished 39* off just 20 balls and brought up the victory with three consecutive sixes off the bowling of Alzarri Joseph.
Hayden Walsh Jr picked up 2-19 from four overs for the Hurricanes. He ended the season with 20 wickets, tied with Sunil Narine as the highest wicket taker for the tournament. He was also name as the tournament's best all rounder.
Shai Hope took home the award for best wicket-keeper.
Final Scores: Leeward Islands Hurricanes 135 off 41.5 overs (Jahmar Hamilton 62, Terrance Hinds 3-16, Sunil Narine 3-17) Trinidad & Tobago Red Force 141-3 off 23.4 overs (Darren Bravo 40, Nicholas Pooran 39*, Joshua Da Silva 28, Hayden Walsh Jr 2-19)
Cricket West Indies (CWI) announced that Barbados Pride all-rounder, Raymon Reifer has been suspended from bowling his slower balls and cutters in all cricket matches until his action on these deliveries is cleared. Should Reifer use these deliveries in a match, CWI reserves the right to suspend him from bowling altogether.
Reifer, Barbados Pride’s left-arm seamer, was reported by the match officials during the CG United Super50 Cup match between Barbados Pride and Windward Volcanoes on 25 October at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy. In accordance with the procedure for suspected illegal bowling actions, the match footage was sent to Loughborough University for an opinion report. The report has determined that an illegal action was used to bowl the cutters and slower balls.
The Barbados Pride are currently fourth in the table with 24 points after their four matches, having won two and lost one, with one no result due to rain. They are correctly playing their fifth match of the CG United Super 50 Cup against the Combined Campuses & Colleges, which can be watched live on the WindiesCricket YouTube channel.
The semifinals will be played on 8 and 9 November at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy. The CG United Super50 Cup final will be played at 1pm on Saturday, 11 November at the same venue. These will be day/night matches and will be televised exclusively live on ESPN Caribbean with match highlights on the Windies Cricket YouTube channel.
Follow live CG United Super 50 Cup ball-by ball scores on the Windies Cricket live match centre: https://www.windiescricket.com/match-schedules/
Jason Mohammed hit his 22nd List A fifty to help the Trinidad & Tobago Red Force beat the West Indies Academy by four wickets in their CG United Super50 Cup encounter at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad on Saturday.
The Academy first posted a respectable 263-8 from their 50 overs after winning the toss and choosing to bat.
Former West Indies Under-19 Captain Ackeem Auguste led the way for the Academy with a 63-ball 76* including six fours and three sixes while opener Matthew Nandu and all-rounder Kevin Wickham provided good support with 40 and 31, respectively.
Sunil Narine was the pick of the Red Force bowlers with 2-33 from his 10 overs.
The Red Force then needed 48.4 overs to reach 264-6 and bring up their fourth victory in five games.
Mohammed led the way with an unbeaten 70 off 86 balls including seven fours while opener Tion Webster hit a 63-ball 45 in support.
Wickham took 2-54 from his 10 overs for the Academy.
Jamaica Scorpions Captain Rovman Powell said he hoped fans of the team enjoyed their winning the 2022 CG Insurance Super50 title on Saturday night which ended a decade-long wait for the Jamaicans, who had not won a regional title since 2012.
The best women’s cricketers in the West Indies will be back in action as Cricket West Indies (CWI) hosts the CG Insurance Super50 Cup and the T20 Blaze regional tournaments in Guyana.
The CG Insurance Super50 Cup matches will be played at three venues – Everest Cricket Club, Enmore Cricket Ground and the Guyana National Stadium from June 7 to 17.
The T20 Blaze event will feature five full days of entertainment for the fans from June 19 to 25. There will be three matches per day – starting at 10 am 2:30 pm and 7 pm under lights at the Guyana National Stadium.
For this year’s CG Insurance Super50 and the T20 Blaze, several world-class players will be representing their home territories in what promises to be a keenly contested three weeks of action. Barbados are defending champions in both formats.
This will mark a significant return as the women’s tournaments were not played in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During that period CWI continued its investment in the development of women’s players and organized several high-performance camps at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua and also hosted international series, including an inaugural Women’s “A” Team series, while the West Indies Women’s team also toured England, Pakistan and South Africa.
“We are delighted to see the return of the women’s regional tournament on our annual calendar as it is a crucial component of our cricket in the region. We are also pleased to have our international players in action on home soil playing with our regional players,” said Jimmy Adams, CWI’s Director of Cricket.
“Our women’s game is showing improvement, as was demonstrated with some good performances during the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand earlier this year. Ideally, we want to see a further demonstration of that progress as we look to upcoming bilateral series and international events. Very importantly, the regional tournament will serve to identify players who could potentially graduate to our international squads in the near future.”
Trinidad and Tobago Red Force recorded their fifth win in a row to end the preliminary round of the CG Insurance Super50 Cup with a perfect record and 20 points.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
