Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Gudakesh Motie each crafted centuries as Guyana Harpy Eagles completed a dominant showing at the crease, against Barbados Pride, declaring at 490 for 7 on day 2 of the West Indies Championship.

At the close of play, Barbados had already lost two wickets in pursuit of the massive target with captain Kraigg Brathwaite (17) and Sharmarh Brooks (2) already back in the Pavilion.

Earlier, resuming the day at 219 for 4 Chanderpaul, who toiled to 64 on the previous day, pushed on to triple figures and remained unbeaten on 140 off a marathon 434 balls.  Throughout the innings, the batsman was part of several fruitful partnerships.  Tevin Imlac added 53 to feature in a 94-run partnership with Chanderpaul but Motie was even more devastating, adding a dispiriting 110 off 118 deliveries at the bottom of the innings.  Motie was eventually caught by Sharmarh Brooks off the bowling of Keon Harding.  Akeem Jordan was the pick of the Pride bowlers with 3 for 108, while Raymond Reifer took 2 for 37.

Brooks and Shai Hope will be the batsmen to resume the chase for Barbados at the start of the third day.

The Barbados Pride secured their second win in as many games in the West Indies Championship with a 10-wicket win over the Jamaica Scorpions on day four at the Kensington Oval on Friday.

Entering day four 56-1, the Scorpions looked fairly comfortable throughout the first two sessions, losing only three more wickets to be 174-4 at the tea interval.

That comfort disappeared quickly as they lost their final six wickets in quick succession, eventually being bowled out for 233 leaving the Pride needing just 41 for victory.

Jermaine Blackwood got a top score of 61 while Jamie Merchant chipped in with 47 for the Scorpions against 6-78 from Jomel Warrican.

Kraigg Brathwaite and Shayne Moseley then ensured that the Pride got to their target with no problems, reaching 42-0 with Moseley finishing on 34 and Brathwaite on seven.

The Scorpions join the Windward Islands Volcanoes as losers of their first two games.

Final Scores: Jamaica Scorpions 328 and 233, Barbados Pride 521-8 declared and 42-0.

A career best first-class score of 276 from Barbados Pride and West Indies Test captain, Kraigg Brathwaite, put his team in strong position after Thursday’s third day of their West Indies Championship fixture against the Jamaica Scorpions at the Kensington Oval.

The Pride started day three on 243-2 off 78 overs, trailing the Scorpions first innings score of 328 by 85 runs with Brathwaite on 137 and Raymon Reifer on 55.

The Barbados batsmen ensured that the Jamaicans would spend the bulk of the day in the field, eventually declaring after tea on a mammoth 521-8, a lead of 193 runs.

Brathwaite’s 276, his 25th first-class century, came off 406 balls and included 18 fours, while Reifer supported with 71 from 162 balls. Jonathan Carter also contributed 68 off 164 balls.

Patrick Harty was the most successful Jamaica Scorpions bowler with 5-111 off 35 overs.

In their second innings reply, the Scorpions ended the day 56-1 off 17 overs, trailing the Pride by 137 runs with captain John Campbell on 15 and Jermaine Blackwood on 24.

Kraigg Brathwaite scored an unbeaten century and Raymon Reifer took six wickets to lead a Barbados Pride fightback against the Jamaica Scorpions on day two of their West Indies Championships match at Kensington Oval.

An unbeaten century from captain, John Campbell, put the Jamaica Scorpions in a commanding position after day one of their second-round West Indies Championship fixture against the Barbados Pride at the Kensington Oval on Tuesday.

Jamaica won the toss and chose to bat first, posting a formidable 299-3 off 81.3 overs before a rain interruption meant a premature end to the day.

Campbell batted beautifully to be not out on 123 off 205 balls, including 12 fours and one six. He was joined at the crease by Paul Palmer Jr who is on 76 off 106 balls, including nine fours and two sixes.

All the Jamaican batsmen except Jermaine Blackwood (1) got starts as Leroy Lugg (39) and Nkrumah Bonner (49) cashed in on favourable batting conditions.

Jomel Warrican, Raymon Reifer, and Jonathan Carter are the wicket-takers so far for the Pride.

An assured 71 not out from veteran left-hander Jonathan Carter ensured the Barbados Pride secured a four-wicket win over the Leeward Islands Hurricanes on day four of their West Indies Championship fixture at the Kensington Oval on Saturday.

The Hurricanes entered day four on 294-7 in their second innings, leading the Pride by 142 runs.

They batted sensibly to eventually get to 346 all out off 109.2 overs with Devon Thomas getting a magnificent 112 off 140 balls, including 17 fours.

He was well supported by Keacy Carty who got 52 and captain Jahmar Hamilton who got 47, against 4-64 off 21 overs by debutant Ramon Simmonds.

Set 195 for victory, Barbados had a decent start before Carter anchored a fairly comfortable chase with his 71 not out, coming off 131 balls, including five fours and two sixes.

He was well supported by Raymon Reifer who got 45 and captain Kraigg Brathwaite who got 29 in the chase that saw the Pride end on 195-6.

Jeremiah Louis was the pick of the Hurricanes bowlers in the second innings with 4-50 off 14 overs.

Final scores: Leeward Islands Hurricanes 172-9 declared and 346, Barbados Pride 324 and 195-6.

Half-centuries from Shane Dowrich and Shamar Springer meant the Barbados Pride closed day 2 of their West Indies Championship game against the Leeward Islands Hurricanes with a 152-run lead on first innings.

After starting day 2 on 27-0, with captain Kraigg Brathwaite on 11 and Shayne Mosely on eight, the pair carried the score up to 36 before Mosely was dismissed for 13. This saw a string of wickets fall with Brathwaite (29), Raymon Reifer (23), Jonathan Carter (25), and Justin Greaves (7) all being dismissed before they got to 150.

This brought Springer to the crease to join Dowrich and the pair put on a mammoth 175 before Springer was dismissed for 91, his third first-class 50 and highest first-class score, leaving the Pride 299-6.

Dowrich, who has three Test match hundreds to his name, carried on his knock before he eventually got dismissed for a well-played 86, his 29^th first-class half-century.

Some late-innings fireworks from Chemar Holder (22) meant that Barbados would eventually be bowled out for 324 at the end of the day’s play, a lead of 152 runs after the Hurricanes declared their first innings on 172-9.

Rakheem Cornwall led the bowling for the Hurricanes with 4-99 off 33 overs while Colin Archibald supported well with 3-47 off 20 overs.

Barbados were 27-0 against the Leeward Islands at stumps on the opening day of the West Indies Championships at Kensington Oval on Wednesday. This was in reply to the Leewards’ score of 172-9 declared in 53.3 overs.

Cricket West Indies (CWI) on Monday announced the West Indies Championship 2022 will start on Wednesday, February 9, marking the return of first-class cricket in the region since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

CWI has unveiled the match schedule for the first two rounds of the West Indies Championship as part of a five-round tournament scheduled for the six professional regional franchises.

The West Indies Championship marks not only a return of the regional red ball competition but also the opportunity for West Indian 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 2022.

The first and second rounds will be played in Barbados and Trinidad from Wednesday, February 9 to Saturday, February 12 and from Tuesday, February 15 to Friday, February 18. The teams will again compete for the Headley/Weekes Trophy named in honour of West Indies legends George Headley and Sir Everton Weekes.

Defending champions, Barbados Pride will face Leeward Islands Hurricanes in the first match at Kensington Oval, home team Trinidad and Tobago Red Force host Jamaica Scorpions at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad while the newly named Guyana Harpy Eagles face Windward Islands Volcanoes at Queens Park Oval in Trinidad.

In the second round, Barbados Pride faces 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.

For the 2022 tournament, each squad will consist of 15 players due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

CWI is also implementing a special “player loan” system to try to ensure that each team will be able to complete their fixtures. If a team has a player(s) ruled out due to a positive COVID-19 result, they can request to use a player(s) from another team and/or from a pool of locally registered reserve players.

Johnny Grave, CEO of CWI, commented on how the West Indies Championship is a critical part of CWI’s professional cricket calendar. Jimmy Adams, CWI’s Director of Cricket also welcomed the return of the four-day format.

“Following detailed planning over the past six months, we are delighted to finally announce the return of the West Indies Championship. This is exciting news as we know the teams have been putting in hours of hard work in the nets, patiently waiting for the matches to be confirmed and are looking forward to being back on the field and entertaining their fans. These upcoming matches are especially crucial as we host England in the Apex Test Series in March, so the ‘Championship’ will be the ideal preparation for our Test players as well,” Grave said.

“I am pleased to see the re-introduction of regional four-day cricket for the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. This competition plays a critical role in our player-development pathway and, after almost two years, we are delighted to have our regional players back playing competitively in this format,” Adams said.

Live ball-by-ball scoring of each game will be available through the www.windiescricket.com match centre. CWI will be streaming each of the matches with commentary via the Windies Cricket, YouTube channel. The Championship will also be streamed live in India on FanCode, as part of CWI’s partnership with the Indian broadcaster.

Left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein and allrounder Jason Holder have achieved career-best rankings in the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings after helping the West Indies to a series-deciding 17-run victory in the fifth Betway T20 International against England at Kensington Oval last Sunday.

In the latest weekly update to the men’s rankings, which considers performances in the last three matches of the series, Hosein moved up 15 places to 18th position after a haul of 4-30 that helped him finish with six wickets in three matches.

“It’s not something I pay close attention to. However, when I play or train, it’s always about aiming to become the best,” Hosein said while speaking with CWI Media.

“It’s about having that mindset of wanting to improve and wanting to be at the top, so definitely it is an aspiration of mine to be the number one bowler in the world someday. Therefore, this move means a lot to me. It shows that my hard work is paying off and that I will be rewarded if I perform well. It’s definitely a good feeling.”

Holder was the star performer with the unique feat of grabbing four wickets in four balls in front of his home crowd. He finished with figures of 5-27 – the best in a T20I at the historic venue. This took his tally to nine wickets in those three matches, as he advanced three places to 23rd with a massive gain of 20 rating points. Overall, he took 15 wickets in the five matches, a new record for the most in a bilateral series, and was named the Player-of-the-Series.

Left-arm pacer Sheldon Cottrell (up 10 places to 31st) is another West Indies bowler to move up in Wednesday’s update while England spinner Moeen Ali (up three places to 32nd) and Liam Livingston (up 33 places to 68th) have also advanced.

In the ranking for batters, Nicholas Pooran is up eight places to 18th after scoring 113 runs in the three matches including a knock of 70, while opener Brandon King (up 25 places to 58th) and West Indies captain Kieron Pollard (up 15 places to 60th) have also advanced. King made a stylish 52 not out in the first match as West Indies won easily, while Pollard had a crucial 41 not out off 25 balls in the final match.

“This definitely means a lot to me, because I put a lot of work into my craft. I work day in and day out, so moving up the rankings is important. The ultimate goal is to be the best. I do pay attention to it (the rankings) because it is a good way to track your growth,” Pooran said.

Rovman Powell made the most of his return to the team with a brilliant 107 in the third matchmaking him the third West Indian to record a century in this format. He followed up with 35 not out off 17 balls in the last game.

Speaking at the end of the enthralling series, West Indies assistant coach Roddy Estwick said the improvement shown was extremely pleasing.

“After the last couple of months that we’ve had, it’s really pleasing that we’ve won a series. Improvement for me is actually more important than winning the series because you’ve got to focus on getting to the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 and doing a lot better than we did in the last one,” he said.

“The crowds coming back to the stadium is very important. The players were a lot freer this time around. The bubble was still there but a lot more relaxed and you could see the players responding to it so credit to the medical staff of the Cricket West Indies.

“Akeal Hosein was really brilliant for us when the chips were down along with Fabian Allen. They turned the tide, put England under pressure, continued to get wickets and that’s all we can ask, that people put their hands up when they need to and lead and fight and battle.”

Devon Thomas made a career-best 117 to guide Leeward Islands Hurricanes to a seven-wicket win over Barbados Pride in the CG Insurance Super50 Cup fifth-place playoff.

Failing with the bat was all the motivation Andre McCarthy needed to inspire him to a match-winning performance with the ball against the Barbados Pride on Sunday.

Andre McCarthy took six wickets including a hat-trick as the Jamaica Scorpions defeated the Barbados Pride by 51 runs at the Coolidge Cricket Ground and book a date with the Trinidad Red Force in the semi-finals of the CG Insurance Super50 on Wednesday.

Fast bowler Akeem Jordan took the third five-wicket haul of his List A career to bowl Barbados Pride to a huge win over Windward Islands Volcanoes on Thursday at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.

Operating from the Sir Andy Roberts End, Jordan ended with 5-26 in a superb 10-over spell to dismiss Volcanoes for 113 in the 35th over as Barbados won by 173 runs.

Jordan made an impactful return to the starting XI and was the obvious choice for the CG Insurance Man-of-the-Match award. He struck twice in the 14th over when opener Andre Fletcher hit a powerful drive to mid-off and was well caught by Jason Holder diving forward. Kevin Stoute fell two balls later, as he received sharp, lifting delivery which took under-edge and was taken by keeper Shai Hope.

At 72-4, Volcanoes suffered a major blow when skipper Sunil Ambris became Jordan's third victim, caught at deep square-leg and they never recovered. Fast bowler Chemar Holder (2-27) and left-arm spinner Joshua Bishop (2-33) also bowled well.

Earlier opener Justin Greaves (76) and Shamarh Brooks (61) combined to propel Pride to 286-8 off their 50 overs.

The pair added 135 for the second wicket as Greaves hit eight fours and a six while Brooks hit four fours and three sixes. Left-hander Jonathan Carter then made 49 off 54 balls with 36 of his runs coming in boundaries, to maintain his good form following previous knocks of 58 and 56.

“It feels great, after not having as good a debut (for Barbados) as I would have liked, to come back with the support of my team-mates, family and friends, I think I made everyone proud today,” Jordan said. “I was relaxed and I just came and did what I normally would do and enjoyed today’s performance. We needed this win … it was well set up by the batsmen, and I was happy to play my part in the overall outcome.”

 Friday: Leeward Islands Hurricanes vs Jamaica Scorpions at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium. First ball is 9 am (8 am Jamaica Time)

Jason Mohammed scored a timely hundred and Evin Lewis 61, as the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force battled to a three-wicket win with five balls to spare over the Barbados Pride in the CG Insurance Super 50 tournament in Antigua earlier today.