Kirk McKenzie and Kevin Wickham both hit their maiden First-Class hundreds as the West Indies Academy ended day three of their Headley-Weekes Tri-Series match against Team Weekes trailing by only 23 runs at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua.
McKenzie, the 22-year-old Jamaican opening batsman, ended the day on a magnificent 209* while Wickham, the 20-year-old Bajan, ended 104* as the Academy, replying to Team Weekes’ 401 all out, ended day three 378-4 off 121 overs.
McKenzie’s knock has, so far, come off 365 deliveries and included 25 fours and a six while Wickham has faced 223 balls, hitting eight fours and a six.
Earlier, Ackeem Auguste made 21 and Kevlon Anderson, who got 153 in their first game against Team Headley, made 26.
Jair McAllister and Kevin Sinclair have both taken a pair of wickets, each, for Team Weekes.
West Indies white ball opener Brandon King was a significant contributor as Team Weekes ended day one of their Headley-Weekes four-day series fixture in a strong position against the West Indies Academy at Coolidge on Wednesday.
King made a 148-ball 92, supporting Zachary McCaskie’s 147-ball 93, as Team Weekes ended the day 365-7 off 90 overs. Jahmar Hamilton (57) and Kevin Sinclair (52*) also got fifties on day one.
Entering this contest, King had an average of 34.84 in 32 First-Class games including three hundreds and 12 fifties.
King's last four-day appearance came in March last year when he made an unbeaten 119 for the Jamaica Scorpions against the Windward Islands Volcanoes at the Brian Lara Stadium.
He spoke about his return to red-ball cricket after the day’s play.
“Very happy to be back playing red ball cricket. It’s been a little while. It was great fun batting out there with no time restrictions,” King said.
The West Indies batsman opener got to the crease with his side 82-3 having lost the wickets of Keacy Carty for 12 and captain Alick Athanaze for a two-ball duck.
He then formed a crucial 136-run fourth wicket partnership with McCaskie.
“It’s 4-day cricket so you have time on your side and you want to try and build a partnership to put the team in a better position,” King said.
“We kept it simple. The pitch wasn’t doing a great deal so we just tried to take as little risk as possible while still putting the bowlers under pressure and it worked out for us,” he added.
Regarding the team’s plan going into the innings, King said it was simple.
“We know that the pitch is generally good for batting and that in the first session the bowlers would get something out of it. Our plan was always to try and bat through the first session with as little wickets as possible then bat the rest of the day,” King said.
“We weren’t too focussed on the number of runs but we knew that if we batted the whole day we’ll get a good score,” King added.
Day two takes place on Thursday.
Half-centuries Zachary McCaskie, Brandon King, Jahmar Hamilton and Kevin Sinclair have put Weekes XI in a strong position of 365-7 against West Indies Academy on the opening day of their Headley Weekes Tri-Series match at Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua on Wednesday.
West Indies Academy fresh off their seven-wicket victory over Headley XI last week, won the toss and asked Weekes XI to bat. Tagenarine Chanderpaul and McCaskie laid a solid platform with an opening stand of 55.
However, Chanderpaul was then trapped leg before by Nyeem Young for 25, triggering a minor slide during which Kacey Carty was caught behind by Tevin Imlach for 12 off McKenny Clarke, who dismissed Alick Athanaze in similar fashion for a duck in his next over as Weekes XI slipped from 55 without loss to 82-3.
However, McCaskie and Brandon King put an end to the bloodletting with a fourth-wicket partnership of 136 in 35 overs that resurrected the innings. McCaskie would fall short of a deserved 100 when Kirk McKenzie had him caught by Ackeem Auguste for 93.
King continued on to 92 during a partnership of 39 with Jahmar Hamilton but then he became the third victim of the Imlach/Clarke combination to miss out on his century.
Hamilton than stitched together a stand of 74 with Kevin Sinclair but then was dismissed by Nyeem Young for 57. Sinclair soldiered on putting on 23 with Dominic Drakes who made 13 before he lost his wicket to Kevin Wickham for 13.
Sinclair will resume on 52 on Thursday with Veerasammy Permaul at the other end with the intention of taking Weekes XI past 400.
Clarke was the best bowler on the day with 3-91 while Young took 2-75.
West Indies Academy defeated Headley XI by seven wickets on day three of the opening match of the Headley Weekes Tri-Series at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua on Friday.
Trailing by 64 on first innings, Headley XI’s second innings lasted only 49 overs in which they were bundled out for 122 for a lead of just 58. West Indies Academy then reached 59-3 to seal the victory.
It was the Headley XI bowlers who saved their team from complete embarrassment as Justin Greaves top-scored with 30 and Akeem Jordan, 28, that helped their past the 100-run mark after West Indies Academy bowlers had scythed through the top order to have them tottering at 61-6.
The pair put on 50 for the seventh wicket that helped extend the match after Nyeem Young 3-17 and Kelvin Pittman 3-27 did the early damage. Joshua Bishop (2-18) and Ashmead Nedd 1-20 combined to clean up the tail leaving their batters to chase 59 for victory.
They duly obliged but not without a few stumbles as Chaim Holder dismissed Kirk McKenzie and Teddy Bishop for ducks and first innings century maker for 16 to finish with 3-22. However, Keagan Simmonds kept his cool to score an unbeaten 31 while sharing in a match-winning stand of 20 with Tevin Imlach who was unbeaten on eight at the end.
Scores in the match: Headley XI 259 (Joshua da Silva 136) and 122; West Indies Academy 323 (Kevlon Anderson 153) and 59-3.
Sunil Ambris has been named as the replacement for Shayne Moseley in Team Headley for the ongoing Headley-Weekes Tri Series first-class match against West Indies Academy at Coolidge Cricket Ground.
Moseley, the left-handed opener, sustained an injury to his left knee on Wednesday morning and was forced to retire hurt during the Team Headley first innings. He was unable to return to bat and was also unavailable to field. He is under the care of CWI Medical Staff.
The change is in accordance with the ICC Rules which govern the first-class cricket matches and was approved by the Match Officials.
Headley XI will resume on 27-1 on Friday after bowling West Indies Academy out for 323. Headley XI made 259 in their first innings.
Kevlon Anderson's superb hundred provided the foundation for West Indies Academy to take a 64-run lead on first innings over Headley XI's 259 on the second day of their Headley Weekes Tri-Series match at Coolidge on Thursday.
Anderson scored 153 and Kirk McKenzie, 50, as West Indies Academy made 323 all out. At stumps, Headley XI, batting a second time, reached 27-1, trailing by 37 runs.
The 22-year-old Guyanese right-hand batsman who was on 12 overnight and with Kirk McKenzie (31 overnight) had steered West Indies Academy away from potential disaster of 0-2 to 49-2 at stumps. On Thursday, they had extended that third-wicket partnership to 84 when Justin Greaves dismissed McKenzie for 50.
Greaves then dismissed Tevin Imlach for four and Kevin Wickham for five as West Indies Academy slipped from 84-2 to 102-5. Anderson and Nyeem Young then set about repairing the damage a sixth-wicket stand of 80, which ended when Anderson Phillip dismissed Young for 27.
Joshua Bishop came and went for 12, bowled by Marquino Mindley, who then dismissed Ashmead Nedd for a duck as West Indies Academy slipped once again to 202-8 and seemingly about to fall short of Headley XI’s first innings score.
However, Anderson found a useful partner in Johan Layne. Together they posted a ninth-wicket partnership of 120 that took West Indies Academy past Headley XI’s first innings score and gave them a 64-run lead by the time Anderson was dismissed by Darren Bravo. He hit 22 fours in the innings in which he faced 281 balls.
Kelvin Pitman was trapped lbw for a duck as the innings closed on 323 from 94 overs with Layne unbeaten on 38.
Greaves took 3-46 while Mindley had figures of 2-47. Jordan, who took the first two wickets to fall on Wednesday, failed to add to his tally Thursday and ended with figures of 2-77
A century from Captain Joshua da Silva spared Headley XI blushes against West Indies Academy on Wednesday’s opening day of the Headley Weekes Tri-Series at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua. Having been restricted to 257-9, Headley XI have struck back to have West Indies Academy at 49-2 at stumps.
Da Silva’s unbeaten 136, rescued the team he leads from a precarious 59-5 after Johan Layne had ripped through the top order on his way to a five-wicket haul, dismissing Kieran Powell for a duck, Darren Bravo for five, Kavem Hodge for 10 and Tevyn Walcott for 15.
Headley XI’s problems were compounded when Sheyne Moseley retired hurt for nine.
The captain and Akeem Jordan managed to stem the slide with a sixth-wicket partnership of 105. Jordan’s contribution was 54 that included eight fours before he became Layne’s fifth victim as Headley XI recovered to 164-6.
Da Silva and Anderson Phillip added 38 for the seventh wicket before the latter lost his wicket to Kirk McKenzie for 16 and 22 with Chaim Holder, who had made 10 when he lost his wicket to Joshua Bishop.
Da Silva then scored all 35 runs in a ninth-wicket partnership with Marquino Mindley, who was eventually dismissed by Ashmead Nedd for 0 as the innings closed at 257-9.
Layne took his first first-class five-fer, finishing with figures of 5-43. Bishop took 2-98.
When play resumes on Thursday, Kirk McKenzie will continue from his overnight score of 31 while Kevlon Anderson is not out on 12. The pair are staging a recovery after Jordan had dismissed Keegan Simmonds and Teddy Bishop for ducks in his opening over.
Jordan’s two wickets have come at a cost of 15 runs from the five overs he bowled before close of play.
Five members of the West Indies Academy have earned places in franchise teams for the first and second rounds of the upcoming West Indies Championship four-day first-class tournament, starting on 31 January.
The West Indies Academy players that have been selected are Kirk McKenzie, left-handed batter for Jamaica Scorpions; Kevin Wickham, right-handed batter for Barbados Pride; Ashmead Nedd, left-arm spinner for Guyana Harpy Eagles; and Teddy Bishop, right-handed batter for Windward Islands Volcanoes. Kelvin Pitman the right-arm fast bowler has been listed in the 13-member provisional squad named by the Leeward Islands Hurricanes.
Graeme West, CWI’s High-Performance Manager who has overseen the West Indies Academy programme since its inception in 2022, anticipates good performances from the players when the tournament bowls off next week in Grenada and Antigua.
West said: “It is really good to see players being selected to participate in the West Indies Championship. It shows the investment made by CWI in the development of these young players is bearing fruit. The West Indies Academy played in the CG United Super50 last November, some players also got picked in the CPL earlier in the year, and this was great exposure in the white ball formats. Now, with the first two rounds of the West Indies Championship in front of us, we have players being selected for the red ball format and we hope to see more graduate later in the tournament as well.”
West added: “In addition to playing in the four-day tournament, we also have the chance to play in the Headley Weekes Tri-Series in April and May, another major investment in player development by CWI. This is an amazing opportunity for these young players to match skills against some of the region’s best and we view this as the right kind of platform at this stage in their development. They equipped themselves very well in the 50-over format last year in the CG United Super50 Cup and we anticipate more growth and eye-catching performances when they match up in the red ball format as well.”
The tournament will open with Windward Islands Volcanoes hosting Trinidad & Tobago Red Force at the Grenada National Stadium (GNS). This match will start on 31 January and will continue on 1 to 3 February.
In Antigua, defending champions Barbados Pride will start their bid for at hattrick of titles when they face Guyana Harpy Eagles in the feature match at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium (SVRS) on 1 to 4 February. The third contest will see Leeward Islands Hurricanes hosting Jamaica Scorpions at the Coolidge Cricket Ground (CCG) from 1 to 4 February.
The second round will be played from 8 to 11 February when Barbados Pride will meet the Jamaica Scorpions at CCG; Trinidad & Tobago Red Force travel to face Leeward Islands Red Force at SVRS, and Guyana take on Windward Islands Volcanoes at GNS.
Following the West Indies Championship, the new Headley Weekes Series will follow the West Indies Championship and will feature three matches and three teams. Team Headley and Team Weekes will select from the best performers in the 2023 West Indies Championship and players outside the starting West Indies Test XI. The new West Indies Academy will provide the third team in the new Series.
Team Headley and Team Weekes are named in honour of West Indies pioneers and legendary batting greats George Headley and Sir Everton Weekes, whose names are also honoured on the Trophy for the winners of the West Indies Championship. All three matches will be played from 18 April to 6 May at CCG in Antigua.
Every West Indies Championship match will be streamed live on the Windies Cricket YouTube channel. Fans can follow each and every game from their mobile devices, computers or connected TVs, including access to live ball-by-ball scoring on the windiescricket.com live match centre.
2023 WEST INDIES CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH SCHEDULE
All matches start at 10am Eastern Caribbean time (9am Jamaica time)
GNS – Grenada National Stadium, Grenada
SVRS – Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua
CCG – Coolidge Cricket Ground, Antigua
ROUND 1:
31 January to 3 February - Grenada
Windward Islands Volcanoes v Trinidad & Tobago Red Force at GNS
1 to 4 February - Antigua
Barbados Pride v Guyana Harpy Eagles at SVRS
Leeward Islands Hurricanes v Jamaica Scorpions at CCG
ROUND 2:
8 to 11 February – Grenada and Antigua
Windward Islands Volcanoes v Guyana Harpy Eagles at GNS
Leeward Islands Hurricanes v Trinidad and Tobago Red Force at SVRS
Jamaica Scorpions v Barbados Pride at CCG
ROUND 3:
15 to 18 March in Trinidad – Venues to be confirmed
Trinidad and Tobago Red Force v Guyana Harpy Eagles
Jamaica Scorpions v Windward Islands Volcanoes
Leeward Islands Hurricanes v Barbados Pride
ROUND 4:
22 to 25 March in Trinidad - Venues to be confirmed
Trinidad & Tobago Red Force v Barbados Pride
Guyana Harpy Eagles v Jamaica Scorpions
Leeward Islands Hurricanes v Windward Islands Volcanoes
ROUND 5:
29 March to 1 April in Trinidad - Venues to be confirmed
Trinidad & Tobago Red Force v Jamaica Scorpions
Guyana Harpy Eagles v Leeward Islands Hurricanes
Barbados Pride v Windward Islands Volcanoes
Headley Weekes Tri-Series
All matches to be played at CCG, Antigua
Match 1: 19 to 22 April: Team Headley v West Indies Academy
Match 2: 26 to 29 April: Team Weekes v West Indies Academy
Match 3: 3 to 6 May: Team Weekes v Team Headley
SQUADS (Rounds 1 and 2)
Barbados Pride: Shane Dowrich (Captain) Camarie Boyce, Shamarh Brooks, Jonathan Drakes, Keon Harding, Chaim Holder, Akeem Jordan, Nicholas Kirton, Jair McAllister, Shayne Moseley, Zachary McCaskie, Shamar Springer, Kevin Wickham; Vasbert Drakes (Head Coach)
Guyana Harpy Eagles: Leon Johnson (Captain), Veerasammy Permaul (Vice Captain), Chandrapaul Hemraj, Matthew Nandu, Kemol Savory, Tevin Imlach, Anthony Bramble, Kevin Sinclair, Nial Smith, Ronsford Beaton, Akshaya Persaud, Ashmead Nedd, Shamar Joseph; Ryan Hercules (Head Coach)
Jamaica Scorpions: Paul Palmer jr (Captain), Jamie Merchant, Alwyn Williams, Aldaine Thomas, Leroy Lugg, Kirk McKenzie, Romaine Morris, Abhijau Mansingh, Patrick Harty, Akim Fraser, Marquino Mindley, Gordon Bryan, Ojay Shields; Andrew Richardson (Head Coach)
Trinidad & Tobago Red Force: Darren Bravo (Captain), Amir Jangoo, Imran Khan, Jason Mohammed, Terrance Hinds, Jyd Goolie, Jeremy Solozano, Yannic Cariah, Bryan Charles, Vikash Mohan, Uthman Muhammad, Tion Webster, Khary Pierre; David Furlonge (Head Coach)
Windward Islands Volcanoes: Alick Athanaze (Captain), Jerlani Robinson, Kavem Hodge, Keron Cottoy, Sunil Ambris, Justin Greaves, Tevyn Walcott, Kenneth Dember, Preston McSween, Teddy Bishop, Daurius Martin, Kimani Melius, Ryan John; Shirley Clarke (Head Coach)
Leeward Islands Hurricanes (provisional squad): Jahmar Hamilton (Captain), Mikyle Louis, Kieran Powell, Colin Archibald, Terance Warde, Jeremiah Louis, Keacy Carty, Ross Powell, Kofi James, Damion Williams, Kelvin Pitman, Hayden Walsh jr., Rahkeem Cornwall; Stuart Williams (Head Coach)
All four semi-finalists have been confirmed in the 2022 CG Insurance Super50 Cup after the Jamaica Scorpions beat the West Indies Academy by six-wickets via the Duckworth-Lewis method in the tournament’s final group game at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Monday.
The Scorpions won the toss and decided to bowl first in the match that was initially reduced to 48 overs per team after a late start due to rain. Another rain delay during the Academy innings meant they had only 43 overs to bat.
Opener Kirk McKenzie top-scored with 45 as the Academy struggled to 176 all out in 39.4 overs. With strike bowlers Dennis Bulli and Sheldon Cottrell missing out due to illness, off-spinner Jamie Merchant stepped up with 3-25 off his 10 overs for the Scorpions. Pacer Nicholson Gordon was expensive, going for 40 runs in 4.4 overs, but took three wickets as well.
Initially, the Scorpions had a target of 170 off 43 overs for victory but various stoppages for rain as well as a power outage meant that the target was eventually revised to 146 off 34 overs.
In the end, the Scorpions got to 125-4 off 26.2 overs when the heavens decided to open up again, this time causing no further play with the Scorpions comfortably ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis par score of 103.
Brandon King top-scored with 48 while captain Rovman Powell got 26 not out.
The Scorpions will now play last year’s beaten finalists, the Guyana Harpy Eagles, in the second semi-final on Thursday while the Barbados Pride will tackle defending champions the Trinidad & Tobago Red Force in Wednesday’s first semi-final.
Jonathan Carter took his second five-wicket haul in List A cricket to help the Barbados Pride to an 82-run victory over the West Indies Academy at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Friday.
The Academy won the toss and bowled first and that decision turned out to be the wrong one as the Pride amassed 279-6 off their 50 overs thanks to half-centuries from openers Kyle Hope (69), Zachary McCaskie (51) and captain Shai Hope (50).
Shamar Springer provides some late fireworks with a 17-ball 41 including three fours and two sixes. Joshua James took 2-61 from 10 overs for the Academy.
Then, despite a well-made 50 from opener Keagan Simmons and 36 from Kevlon Anderson, the Academy were bowled out for just 197 in 44 overs as Carter starred with 5-30 off nine overs. Leg-spinner Javed Leacock provided good support as well with 3-63 from his 10 overs.
Barbados are now third in Zone B on 10 points and will need to beat the Leeward Islands Hurricanes on Sunday and hope that the Jamaica Scorpions lose to the West Indies Academy on Monday to have a chance of advancing to the semifinals.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Jahmar Hamilton's run-a-ball half century lifted the Leewards Islands to a 4-wicket win over the West Indies Academy in the CG INSURANCE SUPER50 CUP at North Sound on Wednesday.
Batting first, resilient lower order batting from Joshua James, who scored an in innings high 73 from 77, led the Windies Academy to 211 all-out after a few problems at the top order. Middle order batsman Ackeem Auguste also made an important contribution. Auguste added 44 from 53 deliveries after coming to the crease with the team struggling at 78 for 5.
Importantly, together James and Auguste added 78 for the 8th wicket. Spinner Kofi James was the leading bowler for the Leewards, after claiming figures of 4 for 39.
In response, Kieran Powell and Keacey Carty put 44 on the board for the third wicket, as they looked to recover from the early loss of Ross Powell in the second over. Neither really carried on from good starts though, and the team also lost Terance Ward, for 12, when he was dismissed lbw by Nyeem Young. Hamilton’s appearance at the crease, however, settled things and Leewards coasted to 213 for 6 with 23 balls remaining. The batsman was just 9 runs short o a 7th irst lass hundred. Joshua Bishop led the way with the ball for the West Indies Academy after picking up 2 for 29.
The West Indies Academy pulled off a stunning 12-run win over the Jamaica Scorpions in their CG Insurance Super50 encounter at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium in Antigua on Saturday.
The Scorpions restricted the Academy to 182 all out after winning the toss and deciding to bowl first.
Kevin Wickham (46), Kevlon Anderson (33) and Leonardo Julien (32) were the main scorers for the Academy as left-arm wrist spinner Dennis Bulli led the way for Jamaica with 4-32 from 8.5 overs. Jeavor Royal and Jamie Merchant both bowled full 10 over spells and provided good support with 3-39 and 2-33, respectively.
The Academy then pulled off an amazing comeback to successfully defend what seemed like a losing total, with the Scorpions cruising at one stage at 124-4 at the halfway stage.
Jamaica then, inexplicably, lost their last six wickets for just 44 runs to finish 170 all out after just 39.5 overs.
Captain Rovman Powell top-scored for the Scorpions with 42 while Brandon King and Andre McCarthy both made 28 against match-winning efforts from Joshua James (3-19 off seven overs) and Ashmead Nedd (3-33 from seven overs).
A fine all-round effort from Roston Chase propelled the Barbados Pride to a six-wicket win over the West Indies Academy in the CG Insurance Super50 Cup at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua on Tuesday.
The Pride restricted the Academy to 213 all out in 46.1 overs after winning the toss and fielding first. The Academy’s batting effort was led by fifties from Keagan Simmons (64) and Kevin Wickham (54) as well as 45 from Teddy Bishop. Pacer Ramon Simmonds led the way with the ball for Barbados with 4-39 off seven overs while Roston Chase (3-31 off 10 overs) and Roshon Primus (3-27 off 4.1) also contributed with the ball.
Chase, recently recalled to the West Indies Test squad heading to Australia later this month, then compiled a classy 86 not out from 81 balls to lead the Pride to a successful chase. His innings included nine fours and four sixes. Opener Zacahry McCaskie also played a big hand with a 93-ball 71 including nine fours and a six as Barbados reached 214-4 off 44.1 overs for victory.
This was Barbados' first game while the Academy now have two losses from as many outings.
West Indies batsman Keacy Carty got the first century of the 2022 CG Insurance Super50 and the second List A hundred of his career to help the Leeward Islands Hurricanes beat the West Indies Academy by three wickets in Saturday’s opener in Antigua.
Carty’s classy 103 not out, including 10 fours and two sixes off 120 balls, helped the Hurricanes chase down a target of 191 in just 39 overs, losing seven wickets in the process. Left-arm spinner Joshua Bishop produced an excellent spell of 4-40 from 10 overs despite the loss.
Earlier, Kevin Wickham’s 44 and Keagan Simmons’ 43 propelled the Academy to 190 for 9 off their 50 overs after the Leewards won the toss and put them in to bat.
Rahkeem Cornwall took 4-42 from 10 overs for the Leewards.
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