The World T20 champions have named their 16-man squad for the Four Twenty20 Internationals for the upcoming West Indies against Pakistan series in Barbados and Trinidad.
The squad will be cut to 13 before the first match.
The series opens in Barbados, where the first Twenty20 will be played at the Kensington Oval on Sunday, March 26; then the squads move over to Trinidad for three additional matches.
These matches are scheduled for Thursday, March 30, Saturday, April 1 and Sunday, April 2 respectively, at the Queen’s Park Oval.
The squad reads:
Samuel Badree
Carlos Brathwaite – Captain
Jonathan Carter
André Fletcher
Jason Holder
Evin Lewis
Jason Mohammed
Sunil Narine
Veerasammy Permaul
Kieron Pollard
Rovman Powell
Marlon Samuels
Lendl Simmons
Jerome Taylor
Chadwick Walton
Keswick Williams
Schedule
Sunday, March 26 1st T20 Kensington Oval, Barbados
Thursday, March 30 2nd T20 Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad & Tobago
Saturday, April 1 3rd T20 Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad & Tobago
Sunday, April 2 4th T20 Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad & Tobago
Donovan Miller is a Level 4 ECB qualified coach working in London and Essex and has recently been appointed assistant coach for the St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots CPL T20 squad –
When we caught up with him, he was busy organising the Chris Gayle Foundation Charity Dinner, to be held on June 6th at the Grange Hotel St Pauls in London. Donovan is heavily involved in the project and coaches and mentors many of their cricketers
“It’s a really good move personally for me at this time, not just because St. Kitts is such a wonderful place but also to go in an environment where it’s new and exciting, with exciting players there for a franchise, which hasn’t been successful in the competition, and to go there and do some great things, led by head coach Phil Simmons.
It can only be a bonus, for me and my development, it’s something I’m really looking forward to with bringing my ideas there and to learn from Phil himself and some experienced players we have in the St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots squad this year.
There’s not much you can tell or say to somebody like Chris Gayle, but the good thing is he’s a really good listener, if you give him any advice and it works he will take it on board. He’s a really easy guy to get on with; he listens to everyone’s opinion and then decides what the best one for the team is.
READCEMSS Four Peats TDC InterSchool Championships
We only have a short amount of time to get everyone together and it’s a challenge to get all the players to gel; but it’s not a real difficult job because the players there are familiar with this type of environment and they will know exactly what they need to do, so they can do the best for the team. It’s a great opportunity for them, especially the guys that have been there since last season to express their selves and make sure the franchise gets the success they’re destined for at the moment.”
GEORGETOWN, Guyana – West Indies head coach Stuart Law said today Carlos Brathwaite’s dropping from the one-day side to face Pakistan will afford the talented all-rounder the chance to further improve his weaknesses and return a stronger player.
The 28-year-old Brathwaite was left out of the 13-man squad to face Pakistan in a three-match series starting here Friday, and will now head to the Indian Premier League to take up his contract with Delhi Daredevils.
“We just thought the opportunity was there for Carlos to go away and work on a few aspects of his game, mainly his fitness and bowling – getting back to bowling how he wants to bowl so he has been left out for those reasons,” the Australian said.
Kraigg Brathwaite has been dropped from ODI team.
“It just coincided that the IPL was there and we had no cricket after this ODI series and he hasn’t been part of the last Test series so the selectors gave him the option of going to the IPL, which I think is a good thing.
“He can get to talk to guys like Rahul Dravid and learn how to play spin and he’ll get plenty practice with all the net bowlers that are available. He should be able to work on his fitness and work on his bowling.”
Brathwaite, who shot to stardom after hitting four consecutive sixes in the final over of the Twenty20 World Cup to win the title for West Indies last April, has struggled in the one-day format in recent times.
He averages 13 with the bat from 23 ODIs and averages 47 with his medium pace, having taken 21 wickets. In the three-match series against England last month, he scraped just 42 runs in three innings and failed to take a single wicket in 24 expensive overs.
Brathwaite’s unrelated namesake, opener Kraigg Brathwaite, was the other player left out of the ODI squad, after also failing to impress in his 10 games to date.
Law said West Indies required more explosive batting at the top of the order and selectors had therefore opted for Chadwick Walton. However, he assured Kraigg had not been discarded.
“We spoke to Kraigg after the last series and we’ve spoken to him since. We’re just looking for a little bit more impetus at the top of the order,” Law pointed out.
“In the first 10 overs, the power-play – we’ve probably got to make better use of those overs when we bat. It’s not like he’ll never play for the West Indies in ODI cricket again.
“He’s got an opportunity again to get back into first class cricket and score runs, which he has done since he’s been back, plus it’s also a great opportunity for him to get into good nick and feeling comfortable with his game before the Test series starts.”
West Indies face Pakistan in the first ODI on Friday at the Guyana National Stadium and follow up with games on Sunday and on April 11.
The three-Test series bowls off April 22 in Kingston.
SQUAD – Jason Holder (captain), Devendra Bishoo, Jonathan Carter, Miguel Cummins, Shannon Gabriel, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Evin Lewis, Jason Mohammed, Ashley Nurse, Kieran Powell, Rovman Powell, Chadwick Walton.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua — The West Indies Cricket Board has announced that Afghanistan will play three Twenty20 and three One-day Internationals on their tour of the Caribbean in May/June this year.
It will be the first time that the Afghans will be playing West Indies in a series on Caribbean soil, although it’s not the first time the team will be playing there.
The Afghans were one of the 12 teams that took part in the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 Tournament and have made steady progress in the game since that time.
“We are looking forward to welcoming the Afghans to the Caribbean for this short series,” said WICB manager, cricket operations, Roland Holder.
“The series promises to be compelling, considering the result of the match between the two sides at the last ICC World Twenty20 in India, and Afghanistan’s gradual improvement over the last few years.”
He added: “It will also be an important series for our side, as they look to move up in the ICC World Rankings in the two formats, and continue their quest to qualify for the 2019 ICC World Cup in England and Wales.
“The series will also be an opportunity for our fans to come out and watch the games at convenient times, as all the matches will be contested during the evening hours. The T20Is will start at 7 pm and the ODIs are all day/night, starting at 2:30 pm.”
The Afghans will play the matches in the series at Warner Park in St Kitts and the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground in St Lucia.
Schedule of Matches
May
Tue 30 Tour Match – Warner Park, St Kitts
June
Fri 2 1st Twenty20International – Warner Park
Sat 3 2nd Twenty20International – Warner Park
Mon 5 3rd Twenty20International – Warner Park
Fri 9 1st One-day International – Daren Sammy Cricket Ground, St Lucia
Sun 11 2nd One-day International – Daren Sammy Cricket Ground
Wed 14 3rd One-day International – Daren Sammy Cricket Ground
The Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and Republic Bank have jointly announced the signing of a three-year contract extension to continue as the tournament’s Official Bank Partner until the end of the 2020 campaign.
Headquartered in Trinidad, Republic Bank has sponsored the Hero CPL for the last two seasons and is expanding its role in the region’s largest sports-entertainment event in line with the vision to be the region’s leading bank. As part of the arrangement all CPL banking activity will move to the bank who will assist in helping navigate the inter-island challenges that many Caribbean businesses face.
On May 15 this year Republic Bank will mark its 180th year of operations, which is testament to its innovation, leadership and great standing across Caribbean society. As part of this new deal, fans of the Hero CPL will avail of special offers and exciting competitions to further extend the strong links across the local communities.
