Cricket West Indies (CWI) has  announced a new licensing partnership with NextWave Multimedia, Nazara Technologies’ independent subsidiary, which will feature 27 of the West Indies Men’s team in the latest version of the mobile game “World Cricket Championship 3 (WCC3)”, the world’s No.1 cricket game on mobile.

The collaboration is the first time that West Indies players have ever featured in a mobile game with the West Indies being the first official cricket team to be featured in the game.

Twenty-seven players from across the Men’s Test, One-Day International (ODI) and T20 International (T20I) squads are featured in the game as well as the West Indies famous team kits and shield. CWI recently embarked on a new team licensing programme, in partnership with the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA), which gives fans the opportunity to download, purchase and engage with licensed team products, driving additional revenues for CWI to invest back into cricket and to generate new revenues for the players payment pool.

WCC3 serves as a next-gen sequel to the World Cricket Championship 2. Leveraging advanced AI, NextWave Multimedia has used state-of-the-art gameplay feathers, realistic animations and professional commentary to give the players an immersive experience. To make the game more realistic, they have also added real-time motion capture of professional cricketers.

With the collaboration with the official West Indies team players, gamers will no longer have to play with fictitious player names, random players and jerseys. Instead, they will now be able to play with the real West Indies team. The game will feature the West Indies team in ODI, T20 and Test formats and include the official roster, player likeness and team kits of all formats. Player lookalikes, real player names and kits will add authenticity to the game and greatly enhance the gaming experience of the fans.

“CWI is excited that with WCC3, West Indies fans now have the opportunity to emulate their heroes and play with their favourite West Indies players on their mobile devices," said Dominic Warne, CWI’s Commercial Director.

"We want to provide access to the West Indies teams in different ways. Mobile and console gaming is a fast growing entertainment space which can also introduce the West Indies teams to new audiences. We’re sure that fans and gamers will enjoy this realistic mobile cricket gaming experience, giving them the chance to take on the world and win with the #MeninMaroon.”

Commenting on this collaboration, NextWave Multimedia, Co-founder and CEO, P.R. Rajendran said: “We are very excited about the collaboration of WCC3 and the official cricket team of West Indies. WCC3 is a unique, one-of-its-kind cricket mobile game in India that has gained the interest and admiration of many young players. In order to help our customers have a more realistic and immersive cricket experience, we have been working hard to integrate AI and build a real-time motion capture game. With this collaboration, our gamers will be able to play with the faces of the real West Indies team and I believe that will greatly enhance the experience for them. We believe this is a major step for us towards making WCC3 one of the most realistic cricket games in India.”

WCC3 is available to download immediately on the Google Play Store and will be available to download in the Apple App Store from the middle of March.

West Indies icon Brian Lara has agreed to take on the role of CWI as a Performance Mentor – working across all international Teams and with input into the West Indies Academy, Cricket West Indies announced on Thursday.

Lara’s new role will be to support the various head coaches in providing players with tactical advice and improving their game sense, as well as working closely with the director of cricket on ICC World Cup Tournament strategic planning.

“I am really looking forward to Brian making a significant contribution to our cricket system by providing invaluable guidance and advice to our players and coaches,” said CWI Director of Cricket Jimmy Adams.  “We are confident that Brian will help to improve our high-performance mindset and strategic culture that will bring us more success on the field across all formats.  Everyone is excited to have Brian involved in supporting our players.”

Meanwhile, Lara believes he can make a difference in his new role as performance mentor.

“Having spent time with the players and coaches in Australia and in discussions with CWI, I really believe that I can help the players with their mental approach to the game and with their tactics to be more successful,” he said.

“I'm looking forward to joining the group in Zimbabwe and the opportunity to work with other West Indies teams later in the year."

Lara’s first assignment will be with the West Indies Test squad.  He has joined the Test squad in Zimbabwe where he will assist in the team’s preparations ahead of the first Test Match in Bulawayo on 4 February 2023.

West Indies Women pace bowler Shamilia Connell grabbed two wickets on a productive return to the team’s line-up, but that did little to prevent a dominant 44-run win for South Africa in the women’s tri-series on Saturday. 

After winning the toss and choosing to bat, South Africa all-rounder Marizanne Kapp scored a shot-filled 55 from 43, a total that included 5 fours.  

Kapp who came into the line-up following the early dismal of opener Anneke Bosch, a set-back for the team at 27 for 1, went on to anchor the majority of the innings.

Following the dismissal of South Africa’s other opener Laura Wolvaardt, Kapp was joined by Sune Luus and the pair put together a key 63-run stand off 53 balls for the third wicket.  Luss made 30 from 26.

On a slow surface, a spin-heavy Windies did manage to restrict the South Africans to a competitive 141 for 5 but Connell, who recently returned from injury, was the pick of the Windies bowlers with 2 for 17.

In response, the Windies poor batting form, particularly of late, continued to be cause for concern.  They collapsed from 32 for 0 to 67 for 6.  Thanks in large part to Masabata Klaas who took three of those six wickets. The bowler, in fact, found herself on a hat-trick in the tenth over when she removed West Indies captain Hayley Matthews and Shabika Gajnabi in back-to-back deliveries.

Matthews, who made 23 from 35, Britney Cooper (15), Shemaine Campbelle (11) and Connell (15) were the batters to get into double figures but all failed to carry on.  Masabata ended with figures of 4 for 21.

The West Indies will look to break their T20 international losing streak when they face India Women on Monday.

West Indies Women captain Hayley Matthews is relieved to have the additional firepower of players returning from injury, heading into the team’s upcoming T20 series against South Africa and India. 

Ahead of its three-team series, the Windies Women will be bolstered by the return of former captain and star all-rounder Stafanie Taylor, bowler’s Shamilia Connell, Shakera Selman and Britney Cooper.  Cooper was not injured, but the experienced middle order batsman will be playing in the team for the first time since 2021.

Taylor, in the meantime, has not featured for the team since the second ODI against New Zealand in September.  It’s safe to say Matthews has noticed the absence of the team’s more experienced players.  

The Windies have struggled to make an impact at the crease, recently, losing 3-0 last month in their ODI series against England, and 5-0 in the T20 format.

“It’s really good to have a lot of our players back. We had a couple of injuries over the past couple months which at the same time would have given some of the younger players really good opportunity,” Matthews told members of the media.

“But to have the senior core back, really gives us a strong team coming into a series like this. We’re thankful to have her (Taylor) back and know she’s been the gel of this team for quite some time now and has so much experience and knowledge on the game,” she added.

“Hopefully she gets an opportunity to go out there and get things rolling before the World Cup comes up.”

With the Women’s T20 World Cup set to begin next month, the team will play at least four matches in the upcoming series, playing two matches each against South Africa and India. The two top teams will then play each other in the Tri-Series final on February 2.

West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite believes his new opening partner Tagenarine Chanderpaul is well on the way to becoming a world class player, following an impressive debut last month.

The 26-year-old Chanderpaul, the son of legendary West Indies player Shivnarine Chanderpaul, earned plenty of plaudits after beginning his senior career against top Test team Australia last month. 

On debut against the Aussies, Chanderpaul scored 160 runs, which was the second most behind the in-form Brathwaite, and had a top score of 51.  In addition to his scoring, however, the player's relative comfort against top-class bowling on a good pitch was also of note.

“I think he’s world class, when you even look at a thing like the ‘leave alone’ that he has,” Brathwaite told member of the media, ahead of the team's tour of Southern Africa.

“...I think he will be a world class Test batsman, obviously he has the patience and you can see he has still the shots also. On some good Australian pitches his strike rate was higher than normal, so I really think he has a bright future,” he added.

“He is a very focussed player and very determined, so for sure he will make many West Indian’s proud.”

Brathwaite and Chanderpaul will look to lead from the front, as the team looks to bounce back from a poor showing in Australia last month.

West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite expects major improvements from the team’s batsmen ahead of upcoming series against Zimbabwe and South Africa.

With the exception of productive cameos from Brathwaite and his opening partner Tagenarine Chanderpaul, the team’s last series against Australia proved to be a chastening experience, especially at the crease.

Over the course of two matches and four innings only Brathwaite, Chanderpaul and Roston Chase managed a half century.  In addition, the Australians won the first Test by a massive 419 runs, where the Windies were embarrassingly bowled out for 77 in the second innings.

“We didn’t get the big scores, we didn’t get the big first innings scores that I would have liked.  Going into Zimbabwe, especially at home, we know it won’t be a rollover,” Brathwaite told members of the media on Thursday.

“I really look forward to the batters spending time to get runs on the board.  I think that will be crucial for us setting up the game to win it,” he added.

“We have to show our worth, I think the batters need to come and show more fight because Zimbabwe will not be easy at home.  It’s not like we are going to show up and just get runs against Zimbabwe.”

Despite expecting a difficult task, the team can head into the encounter with some confidence having never lost to Zimbabwe in 10 encounters to date. 

West Indies batting legend Gordon Greenidge has revealed that he no longer feels the pain of watching the regional team struggle.  His secret, turn off the television.

As one half one of a devastating batting duo, the other being Desmond Haynes, for a Windies team that rarely found itself on the losing end, it is completely understandable how the Caribbean team’s recent failures would be a cause of discomfort.  

The Windies' struggles now date back decades but recently things have seemed particularly grim. At the last two World Cups, the team failed to progress from the preliminary rounds, while in the Test arena, a recent demolition at the hands of Australia will hardly have inspired feelings of all-conquering nostalgia.

“It used to hurt me but it doesn’t hurt me anymore because I don’t watch cricket anymore. Only if it is Test cricket and only if it is about a young player, who I have heard about, I will try my best to go and watch that kid play and make my own judgment about what I feel about that player," Greenidge told SportStar.

The former batsman’s recent grievances, however, run deeper than just the poor performance of the West Indies team.  Greenidge has also expressed concern for the longest format of the sport, where he scored 7558 runs, and its continued relevance and longevity in the face of the blossoming of several T20 leagues around the globe 

“On a personal note, I would not like to see 50-over withdrawn and just T20 being played. I believe T20 is a spectator’s sport, and it is no anymore a cricketer’s sport. Yes, cricketers play, but T20, for me, is like fast food. Test cricket is real cricket. From Test cricket, we came to 50-over, then T20, and now we are going to 10-over, where will we go from here maybe one-over or two-over per side? Keep the cricket alive but don’t banish Test cricket, that is the real cricket we all are here for, we all grew up with.”

Interim West Indies coach Andre Coley insists he is eager to embrace the challenge of coaching the regional cricket team, despite the numerous challenges associated with it.

Former all-rounder Phil Simmons became the latest casualty in a long line of coaches tasked with pushing the Caribbean team back among global cricket’s elites and failing to achieve that elusive target.

Coley, who has had stints with the region’s High-Performance Centre, women’s team and also served as an assistant coach for the men’s team, was appointed to fill the role, while Cricket West Indies (CWI) contemplates its next moves.

CWI announced that Coley would oversee the two-Test tour of Zimbabwe from the 28th January to 16th February, as well as the multi-format tour of South Africa, which includes two Tests, three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and three T20 Internationals (T20Is) from the 21rd February to 28th March.

Despite finding himself placed under the microscope, in light of some of the team’s recent poor performances, he remains motivated and enthused to take up the role.

“Every coaching opportunity bring a different challenge and I have never been one to back away from a challenge,” Coley told the SportsMax Zone.

“If offered generally I look to take them on.  It’s just about assessing working with staff working with the players and coming up with the right strategy,” he added.

The 48-year-old has had a few stints with the senior, first joining the coaching ranks under Otis Gibson and serving spells under Stuart Law and briefly Simmons.  In his estimation, communication will be a crucial part of his plans for success.

“In this case communication is going to be very crucial, so working out what that communication strategy is going to be.”

Former West Indies batting coach, Toby Radford, is confident world-class former batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul would make a ‘solid’ pick for the role of Windies head coach.

The addition of the name of the former legendary batsman to the speculative list of potential replacement for Phil Simmons has garnered mixed reactions.  In opposition, some have pointed to Chanderpaul’s relative lack of experience, while others believe he would be more suited to a role in administration.

For Radford, who is well acquainted with the former player, there is no doubting the quality he would be able to bring to the role.  

“I’m a big fan, I’ve often talked about Shiv and what he brought to the game as a player.  He was a very hard worker and meticulous in preparation, a lot of the things I think he would instil as coach for the younger players,” Radford told the Mason and Guest show.

“He has been there and done it.  He was number one in the world for a period of time, a top Test player in the world.  He has played all round the world.  I think he would bring a huge amount to it,” he added.

“He is new to coaching and still finding his feet but he is having relative success and I think he would bring a lot to it,” he added.

Radford, however, believes the former batsman would have to be supported by a very capable team, which is always the case for head coaches as opposed to specialist coaches.  Chanderpaul, who retired from the sport six years ago, has already experienced some success as a coach, having led the Jamaica Tallawahs to the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) title last year.

Former West Indies fast bowler Daren Powell believes serious consideration should be given to attempting to retrieve the team's former coach Richard Pybus for the recently vacated position of head coach.

Pybus was sacked in controversial circumstances four years ago as part of a raft of changes made by the then-incoming Cricket West Indies administration of president Ricky Skerritt and his vice president Kishore Shallow.

The move had proven to be particularly unpopular at the time, given the fact that West Indies, under his leadership had only just put together an impressive performance in a Test series win against England and showed plenty of good qualities in a battling 2-2 tie in the ODI series between the teams.
In addition to that, several stakeholders and even some players advised the administration against making so many changes with the 2019 World Cup less than two months away.

 With the post once again vacant following the resignation of Phil Simmons, Powell believes the opportunity could exist to correct what many consider to have been a grave error in judgment.
As to whether the 54-year-old Pybus, who is reportedly shortlisted for the South Africa job, would be interested in returning after a departure in such acrimonious circumstances, or whether the CWI be willing to make such a drastic reversal is another thing entirely.
"Why can't we go back for him (Pybus) he was doing a good job and we have tried another way and it seems as if things didn't go down the right road," Powell told the Mason and Guest radio program.
As a part of their election platform, the Skerritt, Shallow administration had promised to give priority to Caribbean-born individuals for top leadership positions.
"If you look at Pybus and what he did with the West Indies, I would have been willing to cut off my nose to spite my face for him...how do you know why a man becomes a man when he can accept that he was wrong, apologize and move on," Powell added.
Prior to his appointment as coach of the team, Pybus endured somewhat of a rocky tenure, serving as High Performance director in February 2018, having previously served as West Indies director of cricket from 2013 to the end of 2016.

Renowned former West Indies wicketkeeper, Deryck Murray, has commended the team’s coach Phil Simmons for stepping down from the post but insists he is far from the only one who should be doing so.

The regional team has endured a particularly wretched run of form across all formats in recent months.  A poor showing at the T20 World Cup saw the two-time champions embarrassingly eliminated in the first round of the competition after loses to Scotland and Ireland.

In the aftermath, Simmons, and, then later team captain Nicholas Pooran, resigned their positions.  The Test team then traveled to Australia to face the home team in a two-match series where they were badly outplayed.  In the second Test, for instance, the team lost by a massive 419 runs after being bowled out for 77.

In light of such performances, Murray believes there needs to be many more changes at the broader management level than just Simmons, if the team is to truly start moving forward. 

 “I want to commend Phil Simmons he has done the honourable thing. 
He was responsible for the team when we did not qualify for the T20 World cup and he did the hourrable thing,” Murray told the Mason and Guest radio program.

“We should not assume for one minute, however, that one man, Philip Simmons, is responsible for the decline, for the losses of West Indies cricket," he added.

“I keep looking to see others follow suite but nothing like that has happened…”

Murray went on to state that he believed the entire government system surrounding the sport in the region needed to change.

Former Barbados wicketkeeper-batsman turned analyst Jamal Smith believes struggling West Indies batter Nkurmah Bonner could benefit from some decisiveness at the crease.

The 35-year-old Bonner has earned plenty of accolades for gritty performances for the West Indies since making his debut against Bangladesh in 2021.  The player has, however, struggled vor vorm ov late, managing just 65 in his last 5 innings and has been hit twice off short pithed bowling in the last year.

Bonner has been ruled out of the current Test series against Australia after being struck on the back of the helmet by a Cameron Green bouncer.  Despite being allowed to continue batting for another few hours Bonner is now under the team’s concussion protocol.

In light of the latest incident, questions have been raised regarding the player susceptibility to pace bowling.

“Short bowling is simple yet complex, you are either looking to attack the ball or defend it. I think.  In simple parlance either you are hooking or you ducking.  I think either Bonner is caught between two minds,” Smith told the Mason and Guest radio program.

“…He takes his eyes off the ball.  We’ve seen him now being struck.  If we’re being honest, we can pinpoint some of the technical deficiencies our batters have,” he added.

“We can’t knock Bonner because he’s done reasonably well up until this point, but you know he’s languid, he always looks little bit slow on the ball and these hard bouncy surfaces will show that up.”

Bonner has recorded two 100s and three 50s for the West Indies in 15 matches so far.

The West Indies Women have been docked 40 percent of their match fee for a slow over rate against England in the first ODI in Antigua on Sunday.

England triumphed in the match by a massive 142 runs after amassing 307 in addition to the loss, however, the ICC match referees imposed the sanction after the West Indies were found to be two overs short of the target after time after allowances were taken into consideration.

West Indies Women’s team captain Hayley Matthews pleaded no contest to the charges and as such there will be no need for a formal hearing.

Based on Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to minimum over-rate offences, players are fined 20 per cent of their match fee for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time.

West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite insists he was not surprised by the determined, obdurate display of opening partner Tagenarine Chanderpaul, on his debut against Australia, on Wednesday.

Facing a mammoth 598 for 4 declared, the West Indies ended day 2 at 74 without loss after facing 25 overs.  Chanderpaul, the 25-year-old son of legendary West Indian batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul, made a solid 47 from 73 balls while Brathwaite himself made a more patient 18 from 79.

Chanderpaul was called into the squad last month as a replacement for previous opening batsman John Campbell, who is currently serving a doping violation suspension.  A match-up against top-ranked Australia certainly isn’t the easiest debut for the young batsman, his captain Brathwaite was, however, not worried.

“I wasn’t surprised.  I’ve known him for a while.  I’ve played against him and he has always had fight always takes his time to bat and bats for long periods,” Brathwaite said at the end of the days play.

“I know he is a fighter, so it isn’t surprising.  I just look forward to a lot from him playing for West Indies.  It was good to see but we need to continue,” he added.

Chanderpaul previously stood out for the team last week against the Prime Ministers XI where he recorded a century in the four-day affair.

West Indies Test captain Kraigg Brathwaite believes maintaining discipline will be crucial for the unit if they are to pose any type of challenge to Australia in the upcoming series.

Despite a relatively solid year in the red ball format, the Windies will start as massive underdogs against the top-ranked Australians on Sunday.  In addition to the fact that West Indies has not secured a win against Australia at home since 1993 the team has won just games in the last 8 Test series.

Having managed solid wins against England and Bangladesh in their last two series, however, Brathwaite will be hoping to spring a surprise.  For that, keeping focus will be crucial.

“We have 10 days of hard Test cricket to play.  We know Australia are a very, very good team, especially at home.  So, the main thing for us is to focus on our discipline,” Brathwaite of the media on Tuesday.

“When we are batting, we want to bat 100 overs plus, when we are bowling, we are looking to get 20 wickets.  So that obviously is to help the team win a game.  We know Australia is a superior team.  We have to play 10 days of hard cricket that’s the focus.”

The West Indies will play Australia in two Test matches.  The first will bowl off in Perth on December 4^th, followed by a trip to Adelaide from December 7^th-12^th.