Toronto (February 5, 2021): Canadian international Nitish Kumar was is in the Leeward Islands Hurricanes squad for the Windies Cricket CG Super50 Cup in Antigua. Hopefully Nitish will gain a place in the Hurricanes team in the tournament’s opening game against Windward Islands Volcanoes on Sunday February 7th at the Coolidge Cricket Ground.
Leewards Hurricanes schedule continues with games against Barbados Pride (Coolidge, 1.30pm, Feb 10), Guyana Jaguars (Coolidge, 1.30pm, Feb 12), Trinidad and Tobago Red Force (Coolidge, 1.30pm, Feb 17) and Jamaica Jaguars (Sir Viv Richards, 9am, Feb 19).
Nitish Kumar top scored for Canada in the 2019-2020 edition of the Super50 with 265 runs from 8 innings, including 102 against Combined Campuses and Colleges. Nitish picked up 4 wickets and held 4 catches during that tournament.
Left-hand bat Nicholas Kirton, who played for Canada in the 2018 World Cricket League Division 2 and 2019 T20 World Cup Qualifier, is included his home country squad, Barbados Pride. Kirton struck 56* for Pride in a 9 wicket win against Canada in the previous Super50 Cup back on November 11, 2019. Arslan Khan’s 76 provided the backbone of Canada’s 161 all out from 48.1 overs then Pride struck 162/1 from 30 overs.
The tournament opener is the only Coolidge game scheduled for a 9am start. All other matches at the ground are day/night games with 1.30 pm starts that peak with semi-finals on Feb 24 and 25 followed by the Final on Sunday Feb 27.
A playoff between the 5th and 6th placed teams in the round robin standings is scheduled to start at 9am on Friday Feb 26 at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
Champions Not Defending Due to COVID-19
West Indies Emerging Players pumped 293/7 from 50 overs then bowled out the Leeward Islands Hurricanes for 88 in the December 1, 2019 Final against Leeward Islands Hurricanes at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. But COVID-19 related constraints resulted in a streamlining of this year’s tournament, so the current champions are unable to defend their title.
Similarly there is no place for Combined Campuses and Colleges, USA or Canada in this season’s tournament. So the group stage phase of has just one group of six and a single set of round robin games rather than two groups of five and a double series of round robin games.
Slow left-arm spinner Ashmead Nedd, who took 13 wickets for West Indies Emerging Players team in the previous tournament, is part of the Leeward Islands Hurricanes squad this time. Nedd took 4/29 from 9.3 overs in semi-final action as Barbados stumbled to 119 all out and an eventual loss by 3 wickets to the Emerging Players on Nov 27, 2019. Nedd took 1/19 from 5 overs in the 2019 Final for the Emerging Players against Leeward Islands Hurricanes.
Hosts Trinidad and Tobago Red Force struck 268/8 from 50 overs in the other 2019 Super50 semi-final but were edged out as the Hurricanes won with 3 balls to spare. Hurricanes captain and wicketkeeper Jahmar Hamilton came through with 78* from34 balls. Opening bat Tion Webster 91 and veteran Jason Mohammed 59 had lead the way in the Red Force innings.
Seven others from the Emerging Players squad in the previous tournament are included in this year’s competing franchise teams: Keon Harding, Dominic Drakes and Justin Greaves (Barbados Pride), Kevin Sinclair (Guyana Jaguars), Jayden Seales (Trinidad and Tobago Red Force) as well as Kimani Melius and Roland Cato (Windward Islands Volcanoes).
The Ups and Downs of COVID-19 Tests
Three players were ruled out last week due to testing positive for COVID-19 in an initial round of tests that formed part of the Windies protocols for this tournament. Brothers Kyle Hope and Shai Hope each tested positive and have been replaced in the Barbados Pride squad by Zachary McCaskie and Tevyn Walcott. Trevon Griffith of Guyana Jaguars also tested positive and will be replaced by Kemol Savory.
Better news is that Hayden Walsh jnr passed two tests after having had to self-isolate due to testing positive for COVID-19 during the West Indies ODI series in Bangladesh. After two negative tests in Bangladesh, he allowed to fly back to Antigua on Wednesday (Jan 27) along with some other Windies players who took part in the ODI series but are not involved in the two February tests between West Indies and Bangladesh. Walsh jnr is in the Leeward Islands Hurricanes squad.
A second set of tests was due to take place in Antigua last Thursday (Jan 28) as part of the protocols associated with this year’s CG Insurance Super50 Cup. The squads announced on January 27 listed for this tournament had not changed since last week when I checked the Windies Cricket Board website today (February 5th, 2021).
Grounds and TV/Livestream Coverage
The Coolidge Cricket Ground was known as the Airport Cricket Ground before being re-named as the Stanford Cricket Ground, a name that changed again following the demise of Allen Stanford. Most of the games in the Super 50 are being played at the Coolidge ground while the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, used during the 2007 ICC World Cup, will host 5 games from the round robin phase plus the playoff for 5th and 6th places. All games at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium are scheduled to start at 9am.
Matches from the Coolidge Cricket Ground were originally due to be screened live on ESPN Caribbean but a recently announced new deal (Jan 28, 2021) results in live coverage on ESPN in the USA. Matches being played at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium will be available live via the Cricket West Indies’ website and YouTube channel.
Tournament Schedule
Sun Feb 7 (9.00am) Leeward Islands Hurricanes v Windward Island Volcanoes (Coolidge) Mon Feb 8 (D/N 1.30pm) Guyana Jaguars v Barbados Pride (Coolidge)
Wed Feb 10 (D/N 1.30pm) Leeward Islands Hurricanes
Thur Feb 11 (9.00am) Jamaica Scorpions v T&T Red Force (Sir Viv Richards)
Fri Feb 12 (D/N 1.30pm) Leeward Islands Hurricanes
Sat Feb 13 (D/N 1.30pm) Windward Islands Volcanoes v T&T Red Force (Coolidge)
Sun Feb 14 (D/N 1.30pm) Jamaica Scorpions v Guyana Jaguars (Coolidge)
Mon Feb 15 (9.00am) T&T Red Force v Barbados Pride (Sir Viv Richards)
Tue Feb 16 (D/N 1.30pm) Windward Islands Volcanoes v Jamaica Scorpions (Coolidge) Wed Feb 17 (D/N 1.30pm) Leeward Islands Hurricanes v T&T Red Force (Coolidge) Thur Feb 18 (9.00am) Windward Islands Volcanoes v Barbados Pride (Sir Viv Richards) Fri Feb 19 (9.00am) Leeward Islands Hurricanes (Sir Viv Richards)
Sat Feb 20 (D/N 1.30pm) Guyana Jaguars v T&T Red Force (Coolidge)
Sun Feb 21 (D/N 1.30pm) Barbados Pride v Jamaica Scorpions (Coolidge) Mon Feb 22 (9.00am) Windward Islands Volcanoes v Guyana Jaguars
Wed Feb 24 (D/N 1.30pm) Semi-Final 1 (Coolidge)
Thur Feb 25 (D/N 1.30pm) Semi-Final 2 (Coolidge)
Fri Feb 26 (9.00am) 5th place v 6th place (Sir Viv Richards)
Sat Feb 27 (D/N 1.30pm) Final (Coolidge)
Tournament Squads
The head coaches and squads for the CG Insurance Super50 Cup are:
Barbados Pride: Dexter Toppin (Head Coach); Jason Holder (Captain), Joshua Bishop, Shamarh Brooks, Jonathan Carter, Roston Chase, Dominic Drakes, Jonathan Drakes, Justin Greaves, Keon Harding, Chemar Holder, Akeem Jordan, Nicholas Kirton, Zachary McCaskie, Ashley Nurse, and Tevyn Walcott.
Guyana Jaguars; Esuan Crandon (Head Coach); Leon Johnson (Captain), Shimron Hetmyer (Vice-Captain), Christopher Barnwell, Anthony Bramble, Asad Fudadin, Chanderpaul Hemraj, Tevin Imlach, Keon Joseph, Ramaal Lewis, Gudakesh Motie, Akshaya Persaud, Kemol Savory, Romario Shepherd, Kevin Sinclair, Nial Smith; and Esuan Crandon.
Jamaica Scorpions: Andre Coley (Head Coach); Rovman Powell (Captain), Derval Green (Vice-Captain), Fabian Allen, Dennis Bulli, Sheldon Cottrell, Javel Glenn, Brandon King, Andre McCarthy, Jamie Merchant, Romaine Morris, Paul Palmer, Jeavor Royal, Odean Smith, Aldaine Thomas, and Oshane Thomas.
Leeward Islands Hurricanes: Stuart Williams (Head Coach); Devon Thomas (captain), Montcin Hodge (Vice Captain), Colin Archibald, Sheno Berridge, Quinton Boatswain, Keacy Carty, Nino Henry, Amir Jangoo, Nitish Kumar, Jeremiah Louis, Ashmead Nedd, Kieran Powell, Ross Powell, Hayden Walsh Jr, and Terance Warde.
Trinidad and Tobago Red Force: David Furlonge (Head Coach); Kieron Pollard (Captain), Darren Bravo (Vice-Captain), Akeal Hosein, Imran Khan, Evin Lewis, Jason Mohammed, Sunil Narine, Kjorn Ottley, Khary Pierre, Nicholas Pooran, Anderson Phillip, Dinesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Jayden Seales, and Lendl Simmons.
Windward Islands Volcanoes: Andrew Richardson (Head Coach); Sunil Ambris (Captain), Andre Fletcher (Vice-Captain), Alick Athanaze, Roland Cato, Keron Cottoy, Kenneth Dember, Larry Edward, Ryan John, Ray Jordan, Desron Maloney, Obed McCoy, Preston McSween, Kimani Melius, Emmanuel Stewart, and Kevin Stoute.
Eddie Norfolk Toronto, February 5, 2021
Based on West Indies Cricket Board Media Releases about the February 2021 tournament and records from Windies and ICC associate cricket events in recent years.