A typically solid, unspectacular century by skipper Kraigg Brathwaite, his third of the season, saw the Barbados Pride to a first innings victory over the bottom-of-the-table Windward Islands Volcanoes at the Diego Martin Sports Complex today. Today, the rain, which effectively ended any major threat from second-placed Leeward Islands Hurricanes …
Read More »WI regional championship roster changes, standings and top performers so far
There will be 10 roster changes for round four of the 2022 West Indies Championship, with five of the six franchises required to replace players selected for the West Indies tour to The Netherlands and Pakistan. The Guyana Harpy Eagles, who are fourth at present but trail leaders Barbados Pride …
Read More »Apex Peek: Fresh England ready to fire; are resilient West Indies ready to resist?
The message on arrival and departure couldn’t be clearer. At the airport, large Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Air Canada jets and more lined the runways. As I boarded Caribbean Airlines on departure after the Test match, busloads of visitors were still being shuttled in. Yesterday, on the ocean front, I …
Read More »Early Bird: Caribbean cricket’s reality check; today’s WI can’t afford to change a team that didn’t lose
Its impact on the Third Apex Test against England starting on Thursday in Grenada isn’t guaranteed to be significant. Nor is its impact guaranteed to be obvious when the West Indies next take the field in the Netherlands in May. But there appears to be a shift in selectoral policy …
Read More »Brathwaite’s 489-ball century keeps England close, as WI head into Day Five
When bad light ended play at the end of Day Four of the Second Apex Test at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite’s led all scorers with a 710-minute, 489-ball 160. But all the other numbers seemed to say a draw. There were three sessions …
Read More »Early Bird: Monty who? Blackwood brings WI batting coach into sharp focus
It’s not cricket that is my editor’s forte; it’s football. So it’s mainly the beautiful game we’d discuss if, instead of walking by himself on evenings, he decided to walk on mornings with Bobby and me. But today he called about the game of glorious uncertainties. “I just sent you …
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 »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 …
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