WI Four-Day Championship stumped by covid19

THE West Indies Four-Day Championship, which was tentatively scheduled to bowl off this month, has been cancelled because of the covid19 pandemic.

For months Cricket West Indies (CWI) has deliberated whether it was possible to have the annual tournament.

One option CWI considered was playing matches in Trinidad and Barbados.

Now Sukesh Maniam, who was a TT Cricket Board shareholder representative, along with Kerwin John at the CWI annual general meeting on Sunday, has said the tournament has been cancelled.

Maniam told Newsday, “The four-day tournament is definitely off, due to obvious reasons, of moving teams around with restricted flights in and out of countries especially like TT, then (you have) the quarantine periods and so on.”

In March 2020, the pandemic brought the 2020 West Indies Four-Day Championship to a halt with two rounds remaining, and as a result Barbados Pride were declared the winners.

Maniam said this year cricketers will play in their respective home countries.

“What they are proposing…is that each territory is going to have their own matches – their best versus the rest kind of thing, within their territory.”

CWI is hoping that TT Red Force, Jamaica Scorpions, Pride and Guyana Jaguars will be able to have three four-day matches.

It will be more challenging for the Leeward Islands Hurricanes and the Windward Islands Volcanoes to play matches among themselves, as many islands make up both the Windwards and Leewards. Travelling throughout the Windward Islands and Leewards Islands is difficult during the pandemic, along with quarantine periods.

The recent eruption of the La Soufriere Volcano in St Vincent has made it even more difficult for the Windward Islands franchise to arrange matches.

The four-day matches are tentatively set to start at the end of April or early May.

Discussing the Red Force players getting an opportunity to play, Maniam said, “There is something to look forward to for the players here.”

Maniam, who said about 28 players should be involved in the Red Force four-day matches, added, “We are hoping that most of the better players who are normally away on West Indies duty will be around so the quality of the competition will be even better.”

Fast bowler Shannon Gabriel, wicket-keeper Joshua Da Silva and batsman Darren Bravo are the TT players who were on the Test team in the recent two-match series against Sri Lanka. The trio should be involved in the local four-day matches.

At the CWI AGM those involved also expressed sympathy to St Vincent and nearby Caribbean countries affected by the volcano. A blanket of ash covered Barbados over the weekend after the eruption of La Soufriere on Friday.

“There was a lot of solidarity with them (St Vincent) and with Barbados. St Lucia has also been affected indirectly.”

Maniam said Barbados Cricket Association president Conde Riley spoke about his experience of the ash.

“Director Conde Riley said he thought he had a black car, but when he got up in the morning it was grey. It is rough…there were comments made by all territorial boards, including ours, giving them some comfort and standing with them at this time.”

The fast-bowling pair of Kesrick Williams and Obed McCoy are two Vincentians who have played for West Indies over the past few years. McCoy was part of the West Indies T20 squad which defeated Sri Lanka 2-1 in a three-match series last month.

Vice-president of CWI Dr Kishore Shallow is also Vincentian.