Uncategorized

In a hight-scoring encounter at Warner Park, St Kitts, West Indies clinched a comprehensive 4-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the third and final ODI, sealing a series whitewash.

Multiple half-centuries from the Bangladesh side

Bangladesh posted a challenging total of 321 for 5 in their 50 overs. The innings started with early setbacks as Tanzid Hasan and Litton Das fell for ducks, but a spirited recovery was led by Soumya Sarkar (73) and Mehidy Hasan Miraz (77). Mahmudullah (84) and Jaker Ali Anik (62) then provided the late flourish, pushing the score past 300. For West Indies, Alzarri Joseph was the standout bowler with figures of 2/43, while Jediah Blades had an expensive day with 0/73.

Amir Jangoo hits a blazing ton on international debut

Chasing 322, West Indies had a rocky start losing both Brandon King and Alick Athanaze early but managed an exceptional turnaround thanks to Keacy Carty (95) and a sensational debut century from Amir Jangoo (104 not out off 83). Their partnership set the stage for the chase, with Gudakesh Motie (44 not out) providing crucial late momentum. Despite a valiant effort from the Bangladesh bowlers, with Rishad Hossain taking 2/69, West Indies achieved the target in 45.5 overs, finishing at 325/6.

Key performances

Amir Jangoo’s maiden ODI century on debut was not just match-winning but also historic, marking him as the first West Indies player in 46 years to achieve this feat.

Keacy Carty nearly got to a well-deserved hundred, falling just short but playing a pivotal role in steadying the innings.

Soumya Sarkar and Mahmudullah were the backbone of the Bangladesh innings, ensuring a competitive score was on the board.

Player of the Match

Amir Jangoo was rightfully awarded Player of the Match for his match-defining century which not only clinched the game but also highlighted his potential in international cricket.

This match showcased a fine balance of batting prowess from both teams, with West Indies ultimately outshining Bangladesh due to their remarkable chase, driven by debutant Jangoo’s heroics.

One of the special debuts in ODI cricket for the West Indies, as Amir Jangoo with a century on ODI debut leads his team to victory in a record run chase at Warner Park. Great maturity and composure in that knock👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼.

— Ian Raphael Bishop (@irbishi) December 12, 2024

West Indies head coach Daren Sammy wants to transform the regional side from a series-winning team into a championship-winning outfit before the next T20 World Cup in 2026.

Sammy, the white-ball head coach, made his intentions clear as the Windies prepare to take on South Africa in a three-match T20 series beginning on August 23 at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Tarouba.

While the West Indies have won four of their last five T20 series, including handing South Africa a 3-0 whitewash in May, they were eliminated at the Super Eight stage by the Proteas in the recent T20 World Cup.

Sammy, who captained the West Indies to the 2012 and 2016 T20 World Cup titles, said the West Indies needed to be more consistent if they wanted to become world champions.

“We need to find ways to continuously evolve and improve. I want us to become a championship winning team.” says sammy to espncricinfo

“Right now we are a series-winning team. We play one team over a three or five-game period, and we know what to do, but I want this team to become a championship-winning team where we can play a different opposition in a tournament and be able to come up with the goods every single game.

“That’s where the focus of this team is, moving into another World Cup-preparing year. You know, we have a next World Cup to prepare for.

“As disappointing as it was being knocked out of the World Cup, but understanding what we accomplished as a team during the last 12-14 months, it is a continuation of that and fine-tuning ourselves.”

Despite his long-term goals, Sammy said winning the series against South Africa was still a main objective.

“I wouldn’t call it revenge, but it’s a great opportunity for us to regroup, refocus. It’s the first competitive international game since that quarterfinal in the World Cup, and one (in which) we want to start fine-tuning ourselves.

“Obviously winning the series is the optimum goal that we have, but just based on the preparation, there are areas we have identified as a coaching or tactical group that we need to improve on in order for us to win tournaments, and we want to start that right in this series. When we last played them with a similar team, we did win in Jamaica 3-0, but that’s history.

“It’s about moving forward and continuously putting performances that allow us to be victorious and fine-tuning some of the areas that we definitely need improving on.”

Keacy Carty is now the first test player from St. Maarten to play for the West Indies test team. He is expected to make his debut against South Africa in Trinidad today.

Keacy Carty reached the pinnacle of his cricket career with a call-up to the West Indies (WI) test team.

He was selected for the test series against South Africa, which bowls off today in Trinidad.

It is another historic selection for Carty, who is now the first player from St. Maarten to make he WI test team.

Many cricket pundits see test cricket as the highest form of cricket because of the test it brings to a player’s cricketing skills and prowess.

Carty has also represented the West Indies in 22 One-day Internationals at an average of 34.

He is decorated with many ‘firsts’ as a local cricketer, such as the first St. Maarten cricketer to captain the Leeward Islands U19 team, to score regional U19 century, to represent the island on the West Indies U19 World Cup team, to score a half-century at the U19 World Cup, and to be a member of a WI U team that won the World Cup.

Now, his selection as a test player is another first for St. Maarten. Carty is the poster boy of St. Maarten cricket. His selection to many teams to play worldwide in different countries has helped put St. Maarten on the cricketing map.

Carty was selected to the test team because of a successful domestic first-class tournament this year. He compiled 496 runs at an average of 41, which was the fifth-highest tally among batsmen this year.

He scored one century and five half-centuries this season. His best score for this year’s season was 127 against Barbados.

West Indies Head Coach Andre Coley described the reasoning behind Carty’s selection:

“Carty’s is seen as part of a strategic move to bolster the team’s batting line-up in the conditions expected in Trinidad and Guyana.”

West Indies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite told reporters Carty will debut in the first Test. Brathwaite said Carty is expected to bat in the number three position and will replace Jamaica’s Kirk McKenzie, who made just 33 runs in his six innings in the West Indies’ 3-0 Test series loss to England last month.

Keith Carty, Keacy’s father and first coach and mentor, had another proud moment in his son’s life. The local cricket fraternity will wish Keacy the best in his test career.

West Indies’ Test wicketkeepers have never captured the imagination of cricket fans as a batter. Jeffrey Dujon was probably an exception. The Jamaican with most Tests for West Indies as a wicketkeeper, had the highest batting average (31.5) among the glovemen during his career span between 1981 and 1991 (31.5)

But overall, West Indies have been thin on receiving batting contributions from their wicketkeepers.

After Dujon (79 Tests), Denesh Ramdin (75 Tests) and Ridley Jacobs (65 Tests) have played the most Tests as designated wicketkeepers for the Caribbean side. Unlike Dujon, Ramdin and Jacobs averaged much lower than other wicketkeepers of their era. Jacobs began his career in the late 90s when teams were actively looking for glovesmen who could also contribute with the bat.

The likes of Adam Gilchrist, Andy Flower, and Alec Stewart played impactful innings as wicket-keeper batters. West Indies though kept falling behind in the race of wicket-keepers contributing with the bat.

Jacobs played from 1998 to 2004. Ramdin had the lowest batting average for any wicketkeeper-batter of his active years (2005 to 2016) with more than 1,000 runs. Shane Dowrich looked promising but couldn’t meet the world standards. His average of 29.7 suffers the same fate as Ramdin. West Indies moved on from him in 2020, replacing him with Joshua Da Silva.

There is a methodical approach to his art of forming partnerships. “Da Silva’s encouragement to build partnerships, to look at small totals, every 10 runs, start over from zero again to score another 10 runs, and again another ten runs, and in a matter of no time, we had an 80-run partnership,” said Alzarri Joseph, the Trinidadian’s partner at the other end during their 118-run stand with the wicketkeeper-batter against Bangladesh.

On his Test debut in New Zealand, Da Silva refused a single while batting on 49 to protect the number 10 batter from facing five balls of Trent Boult’s over. The maturity to separate the lure of a fifty on debut from what the team required reflected at the beginning itself.

The right-hander has shown all the qualities of cracking Test cricket at a higher level than his numbers suggest. Struggling in Test cricket, West Indies are known to show fight in patches and Da Silva has been a common figure across most of those patches.

Consequently, he has played in each of the 29 Tests for West Indies since his debut, reflecting the team’s trust in him. Given the ingredients, the Marrom caps would want him to average 40-plus by the end of his career. And as the cliché ‘World cricket needs a strong West Indies side’ suggests, the rest of the world would appreciate the man from Trinidad to fulfil his potential too.

Despite only one fifty in the recently concluded series in England, Da Silva had a decent tour with another score of 49 and showing more promise for future. In the absence of Alzarri, who is rested for the upcoming two Tests against South Africa, he has been ascended to the vice-captaincy role.

Having faced the Proteas twice – two Tests at home and two away — Da Silva averages only 12.1 against them, his second-lowest against any side in the longest format.

However, with four years of Test cricket behind his back and the responsibility of vice-captaincy on his shoulders, it is now time for him to start pushing towards that 40-run average mark.

Carlos Brathwaite has branded West Indies’ performance in the opening Test against England as “definitely not good enough” and believes the team should have prepared for the series by playing in Ireland.

West Indies were trounced by an innings and 114 runs in the first Test at Lord’s. Ahead of the second Test in Nottingham on Thursday, former West Indies all-rounder Brathwaite has urged the team to prepare better for future tours in England.

“I think the planning could have definitely been better,” Brathwaite said, speaking on the latest episode of The Vaughany and Tuffers Cricket Club podcast from Telegraph Sport.

Before the series, West Indies sent an academy side to Ireland. The team lost both first-class games and were also whitewashed 3-0 in the one-day series. Brathwaite believes that the Test players should have gone to Ireland to prepare for the England series, rather than use the Ireland tour to give younger players experience.

“I had a few chats with a few people, there was a West Indies emerging versus Emerging Ireland in Ireland,” said Brathwaite, who hit four consecutive sixes to win the 2016 T20 World Cup final against England in Kolkata. “I think at this stage with the West Indies, we’re looking to cast the net as wide as we possibly can to get as much cricket as we possibly can. But then we forget that the boys at Test level actually aren’t playing a lot of cricket either.

“People would argue, well, does playing in Ireland prepare you for facing Jimmy Anderson at Lord’s? But I’d rather prepare by facing subpar bowling in Ireland – with all due respect to their players – than face subpar bowling in the West Indies, if I’m coming to England.”

West Indies’s full Test squad played only a solitary three-day match in Beckenham before the first Test at Lord’s. The intense schedule for the series also leaves no room for warm-up games in between Tests.

In 2018, Pakistan prepared for their series in England by facing Ireland in a Test match in Dublin. After beating Ireland by five wickets, Pakistan then thrashed England at Lord’s.

Brathwaite believes that the current West Indies team are still finding their identity as a Test side. He urged the batsmen to be more aggressive at Trent Bridge.

“They’ve gone from that calypso and a little bit of flair and being exciting, to now trying to be this prim and proper Test cricket [team]. And they haven’t quite struck the balance yet. And I think they will eventually, but I’d like to see them come and give it a good go.

“If it’s in your area, play shots. When we bring players from first-class cricket who’ve had success being flair players and expressive, allow them to be expressive.”

Brathwaite also fears that a lack of continuity in selection is hampering the side. Guyana’s opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul, who has played 10 Tests and averages 32.9, was dropped for the tour of England.

“Tagenarine Chanderpaul was on the last trip. He’s not here now. So if there’s no consistency in selection, then you don’t always harbour the freedom for the players to be able to express themselves and fail.”

Sunil Narine has made it clear that he will not be part of the West Indies squad for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup in the Caribbean this June.

Narine made his debut for the West Indies in March 2012 against Australia and played his last match for the Caribbean side in August 2019 against India.

Narine reiterated his decision after the Kolkata Knight Riders’ emphatic victory over the Lucknow Super Giants at Eden Gardens on Sunday.

Former West Indies cricketer turned commentator Samuel Badree asked Narine about his World Cup plans during a post-match interview, to which Narine responded, “I will be watching from home, Badree.”

Windies white-ball coach Darren Sammy recently indicated that the squad selection process for the World Cup was nearing completion, highlighting the exposure of over 22 players in preparation for the tournament.

“We’ve selected squads and exposed about 22 players over the last year in preparation for this main event that is coming,” Sammy explained during a press briefing. “It’s based on the measures that we’ve taken and the strategic roles we have given players.”

While Narine has been a key player for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL since 2012, contributing significantly to the franchise’s two title victories in 2012 and 2014, his focus remains on franchise cricket rather than international duties.

He has played 51 T20 Internationals for the West Indies, showcasing his talent with 52 wickets at an economy rate of 6.01.

Essequibo batsman Kemol Savory struck a maiden First-Class hundred in just his third game, skipper Leon Johnson made his second half-century of the match and the bowlers then chipped away at Trinidad and Tobago Red Force’s top-order to put Guyana Harpy Eagles in a prime position to push for an outright victory on Saturday.

Set a massive target of 412, Red Force closed day three of the third round clash in the West Indies Four-Day Championship on 106-3 at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, 306 runs away from victory with skipper Darren Bravo not out on 63.

Friday’s day three started with Kemol Savory and skipper Leon Johnson at the crease aiming to put the Harpy Eagles further in control of the game.

The morning session saw them do just that as score was 96-3 off 34 overs at the start of the day and, by lunch, the pair added a further 91 runs to have the Harpy Eagles 187-3 after 65 overs, enjoying a healthy 351-run lead with Savory was not out on 76 while Johnson was on 54.

The post-lunch session was equally fruitful for the Harpy Eagles. Johnson eventually fell for 74 before Savory eventually brought up a maiden first-class hundred, finishing 101 not out off 222 balls as Guyana declared on 247-6 setting the Red Force a target of 412 for victory.

At the tea break, the Red Force were 5-1 after five overs. Jeremy Solozano was the man to fall for a nine-ball duck.

The Red Force lost two further wickets after tea with Keagan Simmons (8) and Jason Mohammed (13) both falling to Keemo Paul.

At stumps, the Red Force were 106-3 off 39 overs, requiring a further 306 to win, with Darren Bravo on 63 and Jyd Goolie on 14.

Keemo Paul has, so far, taken 2-38 off 10 overs for the Harpy Eagles.

Scores: Guyana Harpy Eagles 324 off 86.3 overs (Kevin Sinclair 69, Leon Johnson 62, Anthony Bramble 56, Keemo Paul 46, Imran Khan 4-80, Bryan Charles 3-85) and 247-6 declared off 83 overs (Kemol Savory 101*, Leon Johnson 74, Darren Bravo 2-23, Bryan Charles 2-60)

Trinidad and Tobago Red Force 160 off 52 overs (Jason Mohammed 50, Jyd Goolie 22, Ronsford Beaton 4-31, Veerasammy Permaul 3-36, Keemo Paul 3-37) and 106-3 off 39 overs (Darren Bravo 63*, Jyd Goolie 14*, Keemo Paul 2-38).

Interim West Indies head coach Andre Coley has rued two missed opportunities on day three which contributed to his side’s heavy defeat in the second Test at the Wanderers on Saturday.

The Jamaican, on his second tour of the men’s senior side, said had they “dropped the hammer” on those occasions, West Indies would not have found themselves facing the daunting target of 391, and suffering the eventual 284-run crushing.

“When I reflect on [day three], two key moments come to mind. I think around lunch time at 69 for four was a key moment where we potentially could’ve dropped the hammer to get another wicket,” Coley pointed out.

“And then tea time, around 145 for five, that was also another crucial period where if we had gotten another wicket or so, would’ve limited whatever total we needed to chase. So those two moments spring to mind.”

He continued: “Discipline is always important in every game regardless of the skill that you have. Taking into consideration the game situation, you could be in front but find yourself behind very quickly.

“I thought [Temba] Bavuma played really well. We gave him an opportunity and we seized that. Coming off the back of lunch and four down, we potentially could’ve started with Alzarri [Joseph] – our fastest bowler – who’s been pretty on song and have good results against Bavuma [before] in the series.

“Not taking anything away from him, I thought he played well in that period to wrestle the game from us and gain some advantage but generally it’s about maintaining discipline and looking at the right combinations at the right time.”

Behind by 69 runs on the first innings, West Indies were on top early on the third day after medium-pacer Kyle Mayers struck two telling blows to reduce South Africa to 32 for three in their second innings.

Bavuma, however, in his first series as captain, slammed a career-best 172, while adding 103 for the sixth wicket with Wiaan Mulder who made 42, to turn the tables on West Indies.

Set an imposing total on a penultimate day, West Indies then slumped to 34 for six at lunch before being dismissed for 106, an hour after the resumption.

“Whatever we did well, we needed to do it a lot longer,” lamented Coley.

“There were periods in both Test matches where we had significant partnerships or partnerships that were trending towards a significant partnership … and then there was a key moment, let’s say a key bowler came on and broke that partnership which then exposed someone else.

“So from that standpoint, we were not able to have significant batting partnerships – at least one or two in both Test matches that would’ve allowed us to score at least 300 in one innings.

“That, I believe, would’ve made a difference.”

West Indies lost the opening Test at Centurion by 87 runs after also suffering a second innings collapse, in pursuit of 247 for victory.

Only two batsmen – vice-captain Jermaine Blackwood (126) and marquee all-rounder Jason Holder (116) – managed an aggregate of above 100 runs for West Indies in the two-Test series.