Bangladesh

WI vs SA: West Indies’ best playing XI for the T20I series against South Africa

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West Indies are all set to take on South Africa in a three-match T20I series starting on Saturday, August 24, with all the matches to be played at the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad.

Both these teams last faced each other in the 2024 T20 World Cup in the Caribbean, where Proteas emerged victorious in a close Super Eight match, winning by three wickets.

The two teams have a history of intense competition, particularly in the shortest format of the game. Out of 23 encounters, South Africa hold a thin advantage, having won 12 matches.

West Indies enter this series after a narrow 1-0 defeat in the two-match Test series against South Africa. The first Test ended in a stalemate, but the visitors managed to snatch victory in the second match, winning by 40 runs.

Despite the loss, West Indies can draw strength from their recent success in the T20 format. Earlier this year, they convincingly whitewashed South Africa in a three-match T20I series at home, right before the T20 World Cup 2024

The home team has a formidable lineup brimming with explosive talent. Captain Rovman Powell will lead a squad featuring the likes of Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, Johnson Charles, Shai Hope, and Sherfane Rutherford—players capable of turning the game on its head with the bat.

Complementing their batting brilliance, the bowling attack is equally potent, with Akeal Hosein, Shamar Joseph, Obed McCoy, and Gudakesh Motie ready to weave their magic on the field. With all this firepower, the West Indies will be eager to start the series on the front foot and make a statement with a win.

Meanwhile, visitors will be without Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi, and David Miller. Despite these changes, both teams are expected to play an aggressive brand of cricket.

WI vs SA 1st T20I: Probable Playing XIs

West Indies: Shai Hope, Johnson Charles, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Roston Chase, Sherfane Rutherford, Rovman Powell (c), Fabien Allen, Romario Shepherd, Akeal Hosein, Gudakesh Motie, Obed McCoy, Shamar Joseph

South Africa: Reeza Hendricks, Ryan Rickelton, Aiden Markram (c), Rassie van der Dussen, Tristan Stubbs (wk), Donovan Ferreira, Wiaan Mulder, Nandre Burger, Bjorn Fortuin, Lungi Ngidi, Ottneil Bartman

WI vs SA 1st T20I: Winner Prediction

Considering the overall team composition and familiarity with the conditions, West Indies are the favourites to win the clash.

West Indies vs South Africa squads

West Indies

Rovman Powell (c), Roston Chase (vc), Alick Athanaze, Fabian Allen, Johnson Charles, Matthew Forde, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Shamar Joseph, Obed McCoy, Gudakesh Motie, Nicholas Pooran, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd.

South Africa

Aiden Markram (c), Ottneil Baartman, Nandre Burger, Donovan Ferreira, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Patrick Kruger, Kwena Maphaka, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Ryan Rickelton, Jason Smith, Tristan Stubbs, Rassie van der Dussen, Lizaad William.

10 West Indies players have been signed for Bangladesh Premier League 2024 – Check Full List here!

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The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 2024, scheduled to take place in January next year, will see a lot of international stars as well as plenty of local talent. The teams have been busy signing players from all over the world for the last few days.

The players’ draft of the tournament was held in Dhaka on Sunday. Let us have a look at the west indies players who sign for the 2024 edition of Bangladesh’s premier T20 league.

Fortune Barishal have acquired Mushfiqur Rahim as the most high-profile pick in the BPL draft held in Dhaka on Sunday. Led by Tamim Iqbal, the side that lost in the eliminator last season, also picked Yannic Cariah, Soumya Sarkar and Mohammad Saifuddin during the draft.

But it was defending champions Comilla Victorians who made some big-name signings. They were conservative in the draft because they already had Rashid Khan, Sunil Narine and Iftikhar Ahmed among their 11 overseas signings before the draft took place. During the draft, they picked the West Indian duo Rahkeem Cornwall and Matthew Forde, apart from bringing back their championship winning captain Imrul Kayes.

Sylhet Strikers, who were runners-up last season, retained the talismanic Mashrafe Mortaza, while Najmul Hossain Shanto was their direct signing from among the local players. Mohammad Mithun and Rezaur Rahman Raja were their draft picks.

Khulna Tigers went for the Sri Lankan duo of Dasun Shanaka and Kasun Rajitha among their overseas picks, having already named Nasum Ahmed and Nahidul Islam as their retentions.

Big-spenders Rangpur Riders have Shakib Al Hasan as their main man, and they got Rony Talukdar and Shamim Hossain among their local picks in the draft. They also picked Michael Rippon, who moved from Netherlands to New Zealand recently, and USA allrounder Yasir Mohammad among their overseas names.

Rangpur Riders: Nicholas Pooran, Brandon King

Fortune Barishal: Yannic Cariah

Khulna Tigers: Evin Lewis, Shai Hope

Comilla Victorians: Andre Russell, Rahkeem Cornwall, Matthew Forde, Johnson Charles, Sunil Narine

Full squads –

Comilla Victorians

Retentions and direct signings:

Litton Das, Mustafizur Rahman, Tanvir Islam, Sunil Narine, Mohammad Rizwan, Towhid Hridoy, Moeen Ali, Andre Russell, Iftikhar Ahmed, Zaman Khan, Khushdil Shah, Johnson Charles, Noor Ahmad, Naseem Shah and Rashid Khan.

From draft: Mrittunjoy Chowdhury, Jaker Ali, Mahidul Islam, Rishad Hossain, Rahkeem Cornwall, Matthew Ford, Imrul Kayes, Mushfik Hasan, Anamul Haque.

Fortune Barishal

Retentions and direct signings:

Mahmudullah, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Khaled Ahmed, Ibrahim Zadran, Tamim Iqbal, Shoaib Malik, Paul Stirling, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Amir, Abbas Afridi and Dunith Wellalage.

From draft: Mushfiqur Rahim, Rakibul Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Soumya Sarkar, Yannic Cariah, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Pritom Kumar, Taijul Islam, Prantik Nawrose Nabil and Dinesh Chandimal.

Rangpur Riders

Retentions and direct signings:

Nurul Hasan, Mahedi Hasan, Hasan Mahmud, Azmatullah Omarzai, Nicholas Pooran, Shakib Al Hasan, Babar Azam, Ihsanullah, Matheesha Pathirana, Brandon King and Wanindu Hasaranga.

From draft: Rony Talukdar, Shamim Hossain, Ripon Mondol, Hasan Morad, Michael Rippon, Yasir Mohammad, Abu Hider Rony, Fazle Rabbi and Ashikuzzaman.

Khulna Tigers

Retentions and direct signings:

Nasum Ahmed, Nahidul Islam, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Anamul Haque, Evin Lewis, Faheem Ashraf, Dhananjaya de Silva, Shai Hope and Mohammad Wasim Jr.

From draft: Afif Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Parvez Hossain Emon, Habibur Rahman Sohan, Kasun Rajitha, Dasun Shanaka, Mukidul Islam, Akbar Ali and Sumon Khan.

Sylhet Strikers

Retentions and direct signings:

Mashrafe Mortaza, Zakir Hasan, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Ryan Burl, Ben Cutting and Harry Tector.

From draft: Mohammad Mithun, Rejaur Rahman Raja, Ariful Haque, Yasir Ali, Richard Ngarava, Dushan Hemantha, Nazmul Islam Apu, Shafiqul Islam, Nayeem Hasan, Jawad Mohammad and Salman Hossain.

Chattogram Challengers

Retentions and direct signings:

Shuvagata Hom, Ziaur Rahman, Nihaduzzaman, Shohidul Islam, Mohammad Haris, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Hasnain and Stephen Eskinazi.

From draft: Tanzid Hasan, Al-Amin Hossain, Shykat Ali, Imranuzzaman, Curtis Campher, Bilal Khan, Shahadat Hossain and Salahuddin Shakil.

Durdanto Dhaka

Retentions and direct signings:

Taskin Ahmed, Arafat Sunny, Shoriful Islam, Mosaddek Hossain, Chathuranga de Silva, Usman Qadir and Saim Ayub.

From draft: Saif Hassan, Irfan Sukkur, Alauddin Babu, SM Meherob Hasan, Lahiru Samarakoon, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Mohammad Naim, Sabbir Hossain and Jasimuddin.

“I’m very excited to work with the Scotland team’ – Former West Indies fast bowler Winston Benjamin to work with Cricket Scotland

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Scotland’s cricketers will receive West Indian experience during their historic Antigua training camp, with the presence of former international fast bowler Winston Benjamin as a coach.

Benjamin, who played 21 Test Matches and 85 One Day Internationals, will work with the Scotland squad from April 1st to 12th as they prepare for the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers.

The former Windies seamer took 161 international and 476 first-class wickets in his playing career. Since retiring in 1999, he has transitioned into one of the premier coaches in the region and has experience coaching the Leeward Islands Hurricanes franchise and Antigua national teams.

Benjamin has played an integral part in developing Antiguan youth cricketers over the last decade, with the most notable being the work he has done with West Indies’ premier fast-bowler, Alzarri Joseph.

He sees this camp and some of the Scottish players’ subsequent involvement in the Cool & Smooth T20 as an excellent opportunity for him to expand his coaching experience and for the local players to get valuable practice against high-level opposition.

“I’m very excited to work with the Scotland team during their camp here in Antigua,” said Benjamin. “As a coach, it is important to be able to work with players from different backgrounds.

“It’s a chance for me to not only teach them a thing or two about our conditions, but also expand my own knowledge base and experience. As a part of the camp, young Antiguans will get an opportunity to play against international grade opposition as well, so it’s a win-win situation in my eyes.”

The Antiguan-born 58-year-old also highlighted the importance of the tour for the Scotland cricketers, stating that this experience would be a “once in a lifetime trip” for each player, which would never be forgotten.

“Antigua is a beautiful place, with so much to offer, even off the cricket field. For the Scotland players, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am only hoping to do my part to add to that experience.”

Toby Bailey, Cricket Scotland’s Interim Head of Performance, has expressed his excitement about working with Benjamin and the benefits his experience can have on the players.

“We’re delighted to welcome Winston to our training camp,” said Bailey.

“To have a coach possessing such vast international experience working with our players is priceless, and his knowledge of local conditions should serve the squad well during their time in Antigua.

“Our new Interim Head Coach Doug Watson will not arrive until April 8, so Winston’s presence and guidance will be crucial in ensuring this camp provides us with the best possible preparation for the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier.”

Benjamin will begin his role with Scotland when they arrive on April 1, ahead of participation from eight squad members in the Cool and Smooth T20 later that month.