Indian Captain Harmanpreet Kaur and opener Smriti Mandhana starred to lead India to a 56-run win over the West Indies in the South Africa Women’s T20I Tri-Series at Buffalo Park in South Africa on Monday.

An unbroken 115-run third-wicket partnership off 70 deliveries from Smriti Mandhana and Captain Harmanpreet Kaur helped India post 167-2 off their 20 overs after winning the toss and batting first.

The first wicket came in the final over of the first powerplay when wicket-keeper Rashada Williams took a sharp catch off the bowling of Karishma Ramharack to remove Yastika Bhatia for 18 with the score on 33.

Mandhana and Harleen Deol then came together and put on a further 14 runs before an eventful ninth over. A Deol boundary brought up India’s fifty before she was trapped in front for 12 by Shanika Bruce one ball later. This brought Kaur to the crease and the pair never looked back.

Mandhana brought up her 20^th T20I fifty with a boundary off Shabika Gajnabi in the 16^th over and smashed a six off Afy Fletcher in the 19^th over to bring up India’s 150.

In the final over, Kaur brought up her ninth 50 in T20Is.

In the end, Mandhana hit 10 fours and one six on her way to an unbeaten 74 off 51 deliveries while Kaur finished with 56 off 35 with eight fours.

Shanika Bruce took 1-25 from her four overs for the Windies.

Despite losing only four wickets in their chase, the West Indies fell well short of their target, finishing 112-4 from their 20 overs.

Shemaine Campbelle top-scored with 47 while captain Hayley Matthews got 34 not out for the Caribbean side.

In a change at the top of the order, Rashada Williams, who batted at three in the first game against South Africa, opened the innings alongside Britney Cooper.

The West Indies lost their first wicket in just the second over when Cooper was dismissed by off-spinner Deepti Sharma for a first ball duck. In another change, Campbelle joined Williams at the crease.

Williams was next to go as she became Sharma’s second victim for eight to leave the Windies 20-2 in just the fourth over. Shabika Gajnabi came in at four.

At the end of the first powerplay, the Windies only managed 25 runs. The second ball of the seventh over saw the demise of Gajnabi for three off the bowling of Rajeshwari Gayakwad.

Captain Matthews then joined Campbelle in the middle and the two batted as well as they could given the team’s awful first powerplay.

They brought up their 50-partnership in the 14^th over and looked set to bat through the remaider of the innigs before Campbelle’s 57-ball knock finally ended in the 18^th over when she was caught brilliantly on the boundary by Amanjot Kaur off the bowling of Radha Yadav.

Deepti Sharma took 2-29 from her four overs while Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Radha Yadav took 1-16 and 1-10 from four overs, respectively.

Scores: India Women 167-2 from 20 overs, West Indies Women 111-4 from 20 overs.

India now has two wins from as many games in the Tri-Series while the West Indies have now lost their first two games. The West Indies will next play South Africa on Wednesday. South Africa won the first clash between the two by 44 runs on Saturday.

Paul Palmer has been named captain of the Jamaica Scorpions squad set to contest the upcoming regional four-day championship. The squad was announced today by the selection panel of the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA).

Jamaica Scorpions are scheduled to play the Leeward Hurricanes in the first round of the competition and the Barbados Pride in the second round. Both matches are set to be played in Antigua. The Scorpions are due to arrive in Antigua on January 29th and scheduled to return on February 12, 2023.

Andrew Richardson has been named head coach while Nikita Miller is the assistant coach.

The full squad: Paul Palmer (captain), Jamie Merchant, Alwyn Williams,  Aldaine Thomas,  Leroy Lugg,      Kirk McKenzie,  Romaine Morris,  Abhijai Mansingh, Patrick Harty, Akim Fraser,  Marquino Mindley,  Gordon Bryan and  Ojay Shields.

An aggressive half-century from Shimron Hetmyer helped propel Gulf Giants to a five-wicket victory over Desert Vipers in the ILT20 league in Dubai on Sunday.

Hetmyer scored 70 from just 35 balls as Gulf Giants scored 196-5 to win with three balls to spare. Despite the impressive knock from the Guyanese batsman, he did not do it alone as Chris Lynn was equally impressive scoring 71 from 42 balls in the winning effort.

Lynn and Hetmyer’s partnership of 117 from 56 balls helped get Gulf Giants’ chase back on track after they had lost Tom Banton, James Vince and Rehan Amhed for three, four and one, respectively, with only 30 runs on the board.

Hetmyer was eventually dismissed in the 14^th over having hit five sixes and five fours. Lynn fell in the 17^th leaving the dependable David Weise and Liam Dawson to take the Giants to victory.

Weise was unbeaten on 22 from 19 balls while Dawson was not out on 16 from just nine balls in the end.

Sheldon Cottrell was the best of the Vipers’ bowlers with 2-24 from his four overs.

Earlier, Vipers owed their challenging total to Alex Hales 99 from just 57 balls. He hit 10 fours and five sixes in his knock and got support from Colin Munro, who scored 39 from 23 balls and Sherfane Rutherford, who contributed 27 from 15 balls as Desert Vipers scored 195-4 from their allotment.

It proved to be a tough target but one that Hetmyer and Lynn were able to achieve.

Rovman Powell hit a magnificent 97 from 41 balls to lead the Dubai Capitals to a thrilling 16-run victory over the MI Emirates in a high-scoring match in the ILT20 League in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

Powell, the Player of the Match, hit four fours and 10 sixes while powering Dubai Capitals for 222-3 from their 20 overs. Powell featured in a second-wicket partnership of 121 from just 57 balls with former England captain Joe Root, who scored 82 from 54 balls.

Root and Robin Uthappa had laid the foundation with an opening stand of 78 from 53 balls before the latter was dismissed for 26.

Powell was eventually dismissed by Kieron Pollard from the last ball of the innings, but the damage was already done.

Chasing the highest score in the tournament so far, MI Emirates lost three wickets for 26 runs early including that of Nicholas Pooran for a duck in the sixth over.

His dismissal brought together Pollard and Andre Fletcher and together that made things interesting for Dubai that came into the game on the back of three consecutive losses.

Together, Pollard and Fletcher went on the offensive smashing balls to all parts as they stitched together a stand of 118 with the Trinidadian scoring the bulk of those runs, 86 from 38 balls with eight fours and six sixes before he was dismissed by Powell in the 16^th over with his side still needing 79 from the last 24 balls.

Najibullah Zadran got them closer with a quickfire 30 from just nine balls but once he fell, yorked by Fred Klaasen in the 19^th over, the remaining runs proved elusive despite the best efforts of Fletcher, who remained unbeaten on 35 at the end with MI Emriates on 206-5.

Following another ignominious batting display the West Indies Women U19 team slumped to a four-wicket defeat to Rwanda in Super-Six play of the ICC Women’s U19 World Cup at Potchefstroom on Sunday.

Batting first, the West Indies were dismissed for 70 from 16.3 overs. Opener Realeanna Grimmond scored 18 and was the only batter in double figures.

The young West Indies women has no answer to the bowling of Marie Tumukunde, who took match-winning figures of 4-8 and Sylvia Usabyimana, who ended with 4-20.

Needing 71 for victory, Rwanda were in some trouble at 36-5 in the 11^th over but Captain Gisele Ishimwe’s steady innings of an unbeaten 31 from 53 balls steered her team to victory with 10 balls to spare.

The loss means the West Indies Women U19 are third in Group 2 after consecutive losses. England and New Zealand are first and second, respectively in the group.

Both teams remain unbeaten in the competition.

West Indies Women’s captain Hayley Matthews is adamant that the team must find a way to put more runs on the board after another disappointing showing at the crease, this time against South Africa in the tri-series on Saturday.

The loss marked the 9th match in a row for the regional team, who last tasted victory in a win over New Zealand in September.  Against South Africa, the team’s now familiar struggles at the crease came to the fore.

After holding the South Africans to 141 on a slow pitch, the West Indies could not get to triple digits as they were dismissed for 97.  Perhaps even more concerning was the team’s collapse from 32 without loss to 67 for 6.

“It’s clear we don’t score enough runs.  Not being able to put it together with big enough partnerships and get enough big scores, which is something we definitely need to win the big games that are crucial,” Matthews, who top scored for the team with 23 from 35 balls, said.  

“At the same time we have a lot of injuries, at the moment, with a lot of our key batters out but we are hoping we can get some more runs on the board in future games with the team that we have,” she added.

Ahead of the World Cup the team could be bolstered in the batting department by the return of star all-rounder Stafanie Taylor.  Taylor is close to returning from injury but not yet available for selection.

West Indies Women pace bowler Shamilia Connell grabbed two wickets on a productive return to the team’s line-up, but that did little to prevent a dominant 44-run win for South Africa in the women’s tri-series on Saturday. 

After winning the toss and choosing to bat, South Africa all-rounder Marizanne Kapp scored a shot-filled 55 from 43, a total that included 5 fours.  

Kapp who came into the line-up following the early dismal of opener Anneke Bosch, a set-back for the team at 27 for 1, went on to anchor the majority of the innings.

Following the dismissal of South Africa’s other opener Laura Wolvaardt, Kapp was joined by Sune Luus and the pair put together a key 63-run stand off 53 balls for the third wicket.  Luss made 30 from 26.

On a slow surface, a spin-heavy Windies did manage to restrict the South Africans to a competitive 141 for 5 but Connell, who recently returned from injury, was the pick of the Windies bowlers with 2 for 17.

In response, the Windies poor batting form, particularly of late, continued to be cause for concern.  They collapsed from 32 for 0 to 67 for 6.  Thanks in large part to Masabata Klaas who took three of those six wickets. The bowler, in fact, found herself on a hat-trick in the tenth over when she removed West Indies captain Hayley Matthews and Shabika Gajnabi in back-to-back deliveries.

Matthews, who made 23 from 35, Britney Cooper (15), Shemaine Campbelle (11) and Connell (15) were the batters to get into double figures but all failed to carry on.  Masabata ended with figures of 4 for 21.

The West Indies will look to break their T20 international losing streak when they face India Women on Monday.

West Indies left arm seamer Sheldon Cottrell took 3-14 from his four overs to help the Desert Vipers secure a dominant 118-run win over the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders in the DP World IL T20 at the Zayed Cricket Stadium on Friday.

The Vipers took first strike and piled up an impressive 219-4 from their 20 overs thanks to an excellent 59-ball 110 from man-of-the-match Alex Hales which included seven fours and six sixes.

Captain Colin Munro added 56 while Guyanese left hander Sherfane Rutherford contributed a rapid seven-ball 23 including two fours and two sixes.

Sri Lankan pacer Lahiru Kumara was the Knight Riders’ best bowler with 2-31 from his four overs.

Then, despite a fighting 57 off 29 balls from Andre Russell, the Knight Riders were reduced to a paltry 108 all out in just 15.1 overs.

Cottrell was well supported by Sri Lankan leg spinner Wanindu Hasaranga and English medium pacer Benny Howell who took 2-21 and 2-6, respectively.

The Vipers now have three wins in as many games and are top of the table while, on the other hand, the Knight Riders are last with four losses from four matches.

New Zealand got the better of the West Indies Rising Stars, defeating them by 10 wickets in their final Group C match of the ICC Women’s U19 World Cup at the JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom on Thursday.

Despite the loss, Head Coach Steve Liburd was pleased with the team’s performance in the group stage, “We came up short today, but we had two good victories against Ireland and Indonesia, which qualified us into the Super6s of the inaugural ICC Women’s U19 World Cup, so for us that in itself is a big achievement.” 

Liburd added, “Our focus now is the two games we have in the Super6s to secure one of the semi-final spots. But to me, one of the biggest positives is to see the girls continue their growth and development in their cricket journey in this tournament and after we leave South Africa.”

Qualification for the Super Sixes is determined by log standings. Each team in the Super Sixes takes the points won against the other qualifiers in their group through to the Super Sixes stage.

Group A winners Bangladesh, England (Group B), New Zealand (Group C) and India (Group D) are all moving onto the next stage with maximum points (4). Runners up Australia (Group A), Pakistan (Group B), West Indies (Group C) and South Africa (Group D) each take two points with them into the Super Sixes, by virtue of beating the third-placed teams.

Teams will face opposition from groups they were not in but will not play against those who finished the group stage in the same log position. Therefore, Group winners Bangladesh (A) and India (D) will not play against each other, though they are in the same Super Sixes group.

The same applies for runners-up such as Pakistan (B) and West Indies (C), who are now in one group, but will not face each other.

Each team will play two fixtures in the Super Sixes, with the top two sides in both groups qualifying for the semi-finals on 27 January. The final is scheduled for 29 January.

Rising Stars Super6s match schedule

January 22- vs Rwanda- 7:45am Eastern Caribbean/6:45am Jamaica time, Potchefstroom

January 25- vs England- 7:45am Eastern Caribbean/6:45am Jamaica time, Potchefstroom

Following their comprehensive review of matters related to the performance of the West Indies Men’s team, and their early exit from at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia last year, the independent three-member group appointed by Cricket West Indies (CWI) has submitted their report to CWI President Ricky Skerritt.

The group was chaired by Justice Patrick Thompson Jr., a High Court Judge of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, and included Brian Lara, the West Indies batting legend and current IPL T20 Head Coach, and South African international cricket coach, Mickey Arthur.

Commenting on the report, CWI President Ricky Skerritt said: “The quality of this report lends itself to becoming the foundation of the learning and planning culture that we have envisaged for the sustainable improvement of all our cricket teams. It brings great promise and direction after the grave disappointment of our T20 World Cup results. I am extremely grateful for the panel’s commitment to lend so much of their valuable time to this important review project, including carefully interviewing more than 30 players, coaches, administrators, directors, and other stakeholders who I am told spoke so willingly and frankly to the panel. The independent group’s report has been circulated to CWI’s Board of Directors and I look forward to the Board agreeing to implement the 34 recommendations as soon as possible.”

West Indies Women captain Hayley Matthews is relieved to have the additional firepower of players returning from injury, heading into the team’s upcoming T20 series against South Africa and India. 

Ahead of its three-team series, the Windies Women will be bolstered by the return of former captain and star all-rounder Stafanie Taylor, bowler’s Shamilia Connell, Shakera Selman and Britney Cooper.  Cooper was not injured, but the experienced middle order batsman will be playing in the team for the first time since 2021.

Taylor, in the meantime, has not featured for the team since the second ODI against New Zealand in September.  It’s safe to say Matthews has noticed the absence of the team’s more experienced players.  

The Windies have struggled to make an impact at the crease, recently, losing 3-0 last month in their ODI series against England, and 5-0 in the T20 format.

“It’s really good to have a lot of our players back. We had a couple of injuries over the past couple months which at the same time would have given some of the younger players really good opportunity,” Matthews told members of the media.

“But to have the senior core back, really gives us a strong team coming into a series like this. We’re thankful to have her (Taylor) back and know she’s been the gel of this team for quite some time now and has so much experience and knowledge on the game,” she added.

“Hopefully she gets an opportunity to go out there and get things rolling before the World Cup comes up.”

With the Women’s T20 World Cup set to begin next month, the team will play at least four matches in the upcoming series, playing two matches each against South Africa and India. The two top teams will then play each other in the Tri-Series final on February 2.

West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite believes his new opening partner Tagenarine Chanderpaul is well on the way to becoming a world class player, following an impressive debut last month.

The 26-year-old Chanderpaul, the son of legendary West Indies player Shivnarine Chanderpaul, earned plenty of plaudits after beginning his senior career against top Test team Australia last month. 

On debut against the Aussies, Chanderpaul scored 160 runs, which was the second most behind the in-form Brathwaite, and had a top score of 51.  In addition to his scoring, however, the player's relative comfort against top-class bowling on a good pitch was also of note.

“I think he’s world class, when you even look at a thing like the ‘leave alone’ that he has,” Brathwaite told member of the media, ahead of the team's tour of Southern Africa.

“...I think he will be a world class Test batsman, obviously he has the patience and you can see he has still the shots also. On some good Australian pitches his strike rate was higher than normal, so I really think he has a bright future,” he added.

“He is a very focussed player and very determined, so for sure he will make many West Indian’s proud.”

Brathwaite and Chanderpaul will look to lead from the front, as the team looks to bounce back from a poor showing in Australia last month.

Steve Smith will prepare for the Ashes and Australia's likely participation in the World Test Championship final by playing three County Championship games for Sussex.

The prolific batter will face Worcestershire and Leicestershire before coming up against Australia team-mate Marnus Labuschagne in a Division Two match against Glamorgan in May.

Smith, ranked as the second-best Test batter in the world behind Labuschagne, is then expected to feature in the World Test Championship final at The Oval in June – with Australia having all-but qualified.

The former Australia captain will hope a short spell with Sussex ensures he is in great touch by the time the first Ashes Test starts against England at Edgbaston on June 16.

Smith told Sussex's official website: "I am excited about joining Sussex for a few games in May and hopefully making a contribution to a successful season.

"I am particularly looking forward to working with the younger players in the squad and hoping I can provide some guidance to them."

The 33-year-old has previous experience of playing county cricket for Worcestershire.

Smith made a staggering 30th Test century in his last appearance for his country against South Africa at the SCG this month.

West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite expects major improvements from the team’s batsmen ahead of upcoming series against Zimbabwe and South Africa.

With the exception of productive cameos from Brathwaite and his opening partner Tagenarine Chanderpaul, the team’s last series against Australia proved to be a chastening experience, especially at the crease.

Over the course of two matches and four innings only Brathwaite, Chanderpaul and Roston Chase managed a half century.  In addition, the Australians won the first Test by a massive 419 runs, where the Windies were embarrassingly bowled out for 77 in the second innings.

“We didn’t get the big scores, we didn’t get the big first innings scores that I would have liked.  Going into Zimbabwe, especially at home, we know it won’t be a rollover,” Brathwaite told members of the media on Thursday.

“I really look forward to the batters spending time to get runs on the board.  I think that will be crucial for us setting up the game to win it,” he added.

“We have to show our worth, I think the batters need to come and show more fight because Zimbabwe will not be easy at home.  It’s not like we are going to show up and just get runs against Zimbabwe.”

Despite expecting a difficult task, the team can head into the encounter with some confidence having never lost to Zimbabwe in 10 encounters to date. 

 The West Indies Rising Stars defeated Indonesia U-19 Women by 77 runs at the North-West University Oval, to remain unbeaten at the ICC Women’s U19 World Cup.

The result saw the Caribbean team move into second spot behind leader New Zealand in Group C, with 4 points and a Net run Rate of +2.100. The team will next be in action when they play New Zealand on Thursday at the JB Marks Oval, Potchefstroom – 7:45am Eastern Caribbean/6:45am Jamaica. The top three teams from each group will move on to the Super12s.

In assessing the team’s performance head coach Steve Liburd was pleased to see the team’s hard work and planning bearing fruition.

"It's very pleasing to see us continuing to build on what we've learnt on the previous tours to the USA and India. The girls stuck to the processes and it's pleasing to see them reaping the rewards. Zaida (James) is reaping the rewards of the hardworking she's done at camps and over the holidays, it's good to seeing her put her hand up and taking charge of leading the innings."

James scored another half-century 55 from 37 balls and an unbeaten knock of 35 (14 balls) from Bajan batter Trishan Holder led the West Indies U-19s to 176 for 3 after 20 overs.

James also added a wicket in scores of 1 for 21, but it was TT’s Djenaba Joseph who was the standout performer with the ball. Joseph took 3 for 14 in four overs and effected one of three run-outs as Indonesia closed out their 20 overs on 99 for 9, still 77 runs short of the target.

"Each player understands their roles, that's why we've been having the contributions from the likes of Naijanni, Tristan, Shunelle and Zaida with the bat, Kudos to them. We have Jannillea Glasgow with her experience on the West Indies Women's Senior team, is taking the lead with the fast-bowling attack, so the bowlers are holding their own. Our captain is very inquisitive and intelligent, she commands the respects of her teammates and we have really good leadership discussions, which for is very comforting for us as coaches."