When West Indies vice-captain Jermaine Blackwood walked to the middle of Kensington Oval in Barbados in the Second Apex Test match against England today, his team was on 101 for 3, still 407 runs shy of avoiding the follow-on. When he departed some 68 overs later, West Indies were on …
Read More »Grenada ends ‘vaccine differentiation policy’; unvaccinated cricket fans can attend Third Test
Grenada will allow unvaccinated cricket fans to attend the third and final Apex Test match between the West Indies and England, which starts next Thursday at the Grenada National Stadium. West Indies and England played to a draw in the First Test in Antigua while Day Three of the Second …
Read More »Apex Peek: West Indies make slow start in marathon chase; Campbell fishes and falls to Fisher early
On Thursday, when I arrived at Kensington Oval, the England team were already on the field doing their warm-ups. The English fans, piled in in their large numbers from just as early, had already draped their club flags on practically every available wall space. The West Indies, the home team, …
Read More »Brathwaite’s West Indies face uphill climb after England declare on 507 with Root and Stokes tons
After a battering by, above all, Ben Stokes in Bridgetown, Barbados today, Kraigg Brathwaite’s West Indies remained unbowed. And Brathwaite and Shamarh Brooks will resume the West Indian first innings in the Second Apex Test on Day Three tomorrow with one number uppermost in their minds: 308. That is the …
Read More »Apex Peek: Lawrence upstages centurion, Joe puts down roots, Brathwaite loses it and Alzarri poops
Day One of a Test match spawns an almost indescribable feeling. I was only one of probably 200 West Indians at the Kensington Oval in Barbados, the venue for the Second Apex Test; the other 25,000 or so packed in were unmistakably English. Near capacity! The Barmy Army announced their …
Read More »Slim pickings for WI bowlers; Lawrence misses out but Root gets Test ton number 25
Had gun-shy West Indies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite decided to risk a review off the last ball of the 20th over in the Second Apex Test at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados today, England might have found themselves—not for the first time—in a spot of bother before lunch. He did not …
Read More »Early Bird: Bonner sparks memory of Larry Gomes, as Haynes’ ‘Adaptables’ spread wings
With Roger Harper now history, adaptability is the new West Indies selection watchword. No more specialists, new lead selector Desmond Haynes has said. Show me your motion and I’ll find the right band for you. Already, Shamarh Brooks and Kyle Mayers have got a look-in in the white ball set-up. …
Read More »McWatt: WI Women shine again, WI men batted too slowly but credit to CWI for Academy plans
“[…] West Indies cricket fans all over the world should now be overjoyed with the most wonderful news of Cricket West Indies’ announced intentions to create an Antigua Coolidge Cricket Centre-based Emerging Players Annual Academy. “[…] Many will expect that legends such as Sir Andy Roberts, Sir Vivian Richards, Sir …
Read More »Bonner, Holder hold off England; Brathwaite praises 1st innings centurion after drawn Test
Nkrumah Bonner pulled the 48th ball he received in the West Indies’ second innings of the First Apex Test at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound today to the midwicket boundary for four. That took his team, chasing an unlikely 286 off 71 overs to beat Joe Root’s …
Read More »Crawley gets comfy on Antigua featherbed as England take three-figure lead against WI
West Indian supporters may long remember Day Three of the First Apex Test between Kraigg Brathwaite’s West Indies and Joe Root’s England at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua. Day Four they will want to hastily forget. It rained—H2O from the skies intermittently and runs from the …
Read More »‘We have a fighting chance!’ Bonner solidifies West Indies, as hosts take charge against England
After a 354-ball, nine-hour marathon that had yielded 123 runs at a strike rate of 34.64, Nkrumah Bonner found himself at bat with only 14 more deliveries left in the day’s play. All arms and legs, part-timer Dan Lawrence ran in and served up an off-spinner that spun down the …
Read More »“It’s evenly poised!” Brathwaite seeks bright WI start as Holder and Bonner defy England
Rain interrupted proceedings five times in the course of the second day of the First Apex Test match at the Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound in Antigua. But at the end of the kind of day that frustrates West Indian cricketers, thanks largely to an unbeaten 75-run partnership between …
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