Franchises ready with ideal mix of youth and experience as four-day tournament resumes

Guyana Harpy Eagles will face Windward Volcanoes in the opening round of the West Indies Championships from today
Guyana Harpy Eagles will face Windward Volcanoes in the opening round of the West Indies Championships from today

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The 2022 West Indies Championship begins today with regional franchises banking on a mix of youth and experience to give them the winning edge after a two-year break in the tournament.

The six franchises – Barbados Pride, Leeward Island Hurricanes, Windward Islands Volcanoes, Guyana Harpy Eagles, Trinidad and Tobago Red Force and Jamaica Scorpions – will be back on the field to test their weeks of preparation, with several of them indicating they expected improved performances over the last four-day tournament in 2019-2020.

In the first round of the five-round tournament, defending champions Barbados Pride will face Leeward Islands Hurricanes at home at Kensington Oval; Trinidad and Tobago Red Force host Jamaica Scorpions at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad; and the newly named Guyana Harpy Eagles face Windward Islands Volcanoes at Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad.

Speaking to the media during a virtual session yesterday, Guyana Harpy Eagles captain Leon Johnson said his players would be going after the Headley Weekes Trophy they surrendered to Barbados in the last championship.

“The guys are very eager to reclaim it,” he said.

Johnson admitted that the squad was lacking variety in the bowling unit but the left-arm spinners have been performing well and deserved a chance in the squad.

Scorpions’ head coach Andre Coley said his franchise had brought younger players into the squad to improve on the early order batting failures in the past, which would give opener John Campbell, the team’s captain, more support.

“What we’ve decided to do this year is invest in two younger players who have done reasonably well at the local level, albeit we haven’t had a lot of competitive cricket…. with the intention of strengthening the batting,” Coley said, identifying Leroy Lugg and Kirk McKenzie.

He said wicketkeeper Romaine Morris had also been brought into the fold as the team prepared over the last two months.

“The discussion we’ve had with our senior batters is that if they can replicate or even do better than what they did last year, along with some production from the younger guys who have come into the squad, then we should have more consistency around our batting,” he said.

Windward Island Volcanoes head coach Shirley Clarke was upbeat about his team’s chances.

“Once our team can execute our plans well, I think we have a good chance of gaining the most points out of the game,” said the former West Indies Under-19 captain.

“Our team is really balanced and each person has a crucial role to play and once they execute their roles they will be a team to reckon with,” he added, noting that experienced West Indies cricketer Devon Smith was expected to lead the batting unit.

Leeward Islands Hurricanes captain Jahmar Hamilton told journalists that after five to six months of training, working around COVID-19 restrictions to get prepared, his team was also ready to compete.

“I think we have the right setup,” he said. “We’re just leading the way for those youngsters to take over from us when we leave. I say we have enough experience with a bit of youth involved so going forward it’s just about progress.”

The 2019-2020 championship was suspended on March 13, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, before being cancelled 11 days later. Barbados Pride were declared tournament winners after finishing top of the group.

Announcing the return of the tournament on Monday, Cricket West Indies (CWI) announced the implementation of a special “player loan” system to try to ensure that each 15-member team will be able to complete their fixtures. Under this system, if a team has players ruled out due to a positive COVID-19 result, they can request to use players from another team and/or from a pool of locally registered reserve players.

In the second round of the tournament, Barbados Pride face Jamaica Scorpions at Kensington Oval; Trinidad and Tobago Red Force take on Windward Islands Volcanoes at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy; and Guyana Harpy Eagles meet Leeward Islands Hurricanes at Queen’s Park Oval.

The last three rounds of the West Indies Championship are scheduled to be contested in May. CWI said the West Indies Championship marks not only a return of the regional red ball competition but also the opportunity for the Caribbean players to stake their claim for selection to the West Indies Test squad for the forthcoming Apex Test Series between West Indies and England in March.