Full speed ahead for West Indies cricket
Joel Bailey reports on all the key talking points from the recent CWI press conference
THE QUEEN’S Park Oval in St Clair, Trinidad will be staging one of the two scheduled Test matches between the West Indies and South Africa from August 7-11.
According to the West Indies’ Future Tours Programme (FTP), the South African Test squad are due to play a four-day practice match at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Tarouba, Trinidad from July 31 to August 3 before the first Test.
The second Test, at a venue yet to be confirmed, is carded from August 15-19.
There will also be three T20 Internationals (during the ‘summer’ tour) on August 22, 25 and 27.
The West Indies and South Africa are also due to play a three-game T20 International series, at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica, on May 28, 30 and 31, before the ICC T20 World Cup, which will be jointly staged in the West Indies and the United States, from June 1-29.
One international series, where the dates and venues have long been confirmed, is the West Indies tour of England. The three Test matches will be contested at Lord’s, London (July 10-14), Trent Bridge, Nottingham (July 18-22) and Edgbaston, Birmingham (July 26-30).
The 2024 CPL (Caribbean Premier League) will take place from August 29 to October 6, following which will be a pair of white-ball series, away to Sri Lanka in October and at home to England in November.
The 2024 season will end with a home series against Bangladesh, comprising two Tests, three One-Day Internationals and three T20 Internationals, from November 22 to December 20.
In related news, Cricket West Indies (CWI) held a media conference on Monday, at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Two Mile Hill, St. Michael, Barbados.
Among the speakers were CWI president Dr Kishore Shallow, CWI director of cricket Miles Bascombe and white-ball teams (T20 and ODI) coach Darren Sammy.
T20 WORLD CUP PREPARATIONS
Shallow is keeping his fingers crossed that an un-named venue in the Caribbean will be ready in time for the ICC T20 World Cup.
According to Shallow, “Preparations, so far, have been steady, in some cases challenging. I’m happy with where we are. Only one facility, well one country, are a couple of weeks behind schedule. But we have their commitment that they’re going to accelerate.
“No doubt, by June 1, every country in the Caribbean is going to be ready. I need to recognise Barbados, and it’s no coincidence that they got the final because, from ongoing inspections, the team has reported to me that Barbados is well ahead of schedule.”
WEST INDIES ‘A’ TEAM TOUR OF NEPAL
The West Indies ‘A’ team is set for a historic tour of Nepal, where they will play five T20 matches at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur, on April 27 and 28, as well as May 1, 2 and 4.
“It is an A team tour but, more or less, we would use it as preparation to give guys more practice leading up to the World Cup,” said Sammy. “We have five T20 matches versus Nepal. Obviously, they would also use it for preparation (ahead of the World Cup).
“We would also use that to fine-tune one or two spots. It creates more opportunities for guys to further select themselves. We also have three T20s against South Africa just before the World Cup starts.”
Bascombe added, “Nepal had actually reached out to us based on the fact that they are also preparing for the World Cup, and they have a growing population of cricket fans.
“And they were eager to have a full-member, albeit an A team, tour because they think it would do a lot for development of cricket in Nepal. So, they’re happy to get the opportunity to get in those games.”
SHAMAR JOSEPH AND POSSIBLE INCLUSION IN WI T20 WORLD CUP TEAM
Much has been made of fast bowler Shamar Joseph forcing his way into the WI team for the T20 World Cup.
Sammy commented at Monday’s presser, “One of the concerns has been our powerplay bowling, because we were conceding about an average of 10 runs an over. The lack of wickets in the powerplay has affected different stages of the game.”
Concerning Joseph, who is a member of IPL team Lucknow Super Giants, Sammy said, “I really hope he gets to play in the IPL.”
But Sammy is not getting carried away by Joseph’s performance during the two-Test series in Australia, where he played a pivotal role in West Indies drawing the series 1-1.
“I’m not really one who looks at the hype,” said Sammy. “Hype without substance is still overrated. We’ve had measures and processes that leads us to the World Cup.
“Joseph is part of that, who fast-tracked his way by his performances. Hopefully he gets to play T20s and we also see what he’s capable of doing under pressure, every single ball, in T20 cricket.”
2024 REGIONAL SUPER50 CUP
Trinidad and Guyana may be the venues used for the 2024 Regional Super50 Cup.
Bascombe pointed out, “We had a pretty successful Super50 in Trinidad last October. We are likely to head back to Trinidad for the Super50 and we are still looking at the possibility of having the final round of that tournament playing in Guyana.”
THREE WOMEN APPOINTED TO CWI BOARD OF DIRECTORS
CWI announced the appointment of three women to the CWI Board – Debra Coryat-Patton (returning), Diann Campbell (new) and Louise Victor-Frederick (new). They will join Hallam Nichols as Independent Directors for the period April 2024-March 2025.
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