WINDIES Masters wing out to UK for the Marlborough Cup Tour

…Dhaniram brothers to turn out for the West Indies

Although the West Indies O-50 team will still be missing some key players for the Marlborough Cup tour of the UK, they have still been able to put together a very formidable lineup for this maiden tour of England and Wales.

However, the West Indies will be without some of their key players: William Lashley, Vejai Seonarine, Shiv Seeram, Krish Harricharan and Lawrence Pooran. Lashley has had his first tour in Houston, Texas in March of this year, and he had made quite an impact with both bat and ball. Vejai Seonarine had had a very lean series in Texas, which was in stark contrast to his wonderful series during the Americas Cup in Canada last August, when he had skyrocketed to the number 2 ranking in the world. He has now dropped to number 8, but remains the highest ranked WI player in the World O-50s.
However, Windies will be buttressed with the inclusion of the Dhaniram brothers, Sunil and Sudesh, who are both available for this important tour. Both brothers have had previous experience in English conditions, and will each be expected to play a major role for the Windies Masters in this tour. Sunil is currently ranked at #46 in the World rankings after just one series in the Americas Cup, but had played 44 ODIs and 11 T20Is for Canada. It’s quite surprising that Sudesh is not currently ranked in the top 50, but he would obviously want to correct that anomaly.
The other West Indians in the top 50 rankings of the world are: Azad Mohammed, at #25, dropping several points from #4; Fareed Hosein at #35; Zamin Amin at #39; and Mohan Harihar at #40. All these guys will be looking to improve on their current rankings on this tour, with the others looking to break into the top 50.
Kenny Girdharry had had a great series with the ball in Texas, where he had taken the most wickets, and he would surely be spearheading the bowling attack for the West Indies. Kenny will have two other quality seamers in the team in Mark Audain, who is rejoining the team after a brief hiatus since the 2020 World Cup in South Africa; and Mohan Harihar, who had an excellent series with the ball in Canada during the Americas Cup.
Fareed Hosein is one of the top all-rounders in the team, and is the only leg spinner in the squad. He is expected to be a key player for the West Indies, should they come out on top in this tournament.
Ishwar Maraj, who captained the Canadian team in the ICC World Cup, had had some good starts in Texas, but did not carry on for big scores. He will have to temper his shot selection and bat for longer periods.
Anthony Sahadeo is the only newcomer to the West Indies side, slotting in as the first-choice keeper, and he will be looking to cement his place in the team for the O-50s World Cup next March. Sadeo had a few good starts also in Texas, but must concentrate harder and bat longer for his team. Both Sahadeo and Rajendra ‘Daniel’ Sadeo are attacking batsmen and if they are chosen to open could form a very lethal pair as a left-hand/right-hand combination. Ishwar Maraj has also opened for the West Indies in previous series. There are quite a few contenders for the opening slots, namely: Mark Audain, Kris Ramdat, Roy Singh, and Azad Mohammed. Bidhesi is a seasoned veteran, having represented Trinidad & Tobago in the Regional Tournament. He had a decent tour in Texas, but was crippled by a groin injury. He is now back to full fitness, and will be rearing to go.
Once again, the evergreen Zamin Amin, former captain of the USA team to the ICC World Cup, will be leading the West Indies team in the UK, which consists of twelve O-50 players and four O-60 players, namely: Roy Singh, Rick Ali, Kris Ramdat & Hafiz Mohamed. CWIMA has made a deliberate decision to include a few O-60 players for this tour. The aim is to give them some valuable match practice prior to their O-60 World Cup in Brisbane, Australia in September.
West Indies will play a total of 7 ODIs within the space of 11 days, and will commence their tour on July 3rd with 2 practice ODI games against Wales in Wales, then travel to London for another 2 practice ODIs at Broxbourne and Gravesend against England and India respectively. Hereunder is the full fixture for the tournament:
Sunday July 3 11.30 am 1st ODI- WI vs Wales Practice game Pontarddulais CC, Wales
Tuesday July 5 11.30 am 2nd ODI- WI vs Wales Practice game Ynystawe CC, Wales
Thursday July 7 11.30am 3rd ODI- WI vs England Practice game Broxbourne CC
Friday July 8 11.30am 4th ODI- WI vs India Practice game Gravesend CC
Sunday July 10 11.30am 5th ODI-WI vs Wales Marlborough Cup Marlborough College
Monday July 11 11.30am 6th ODI- WI vs India Marlborough Cup Marlborough College
Tuesday July 12 11.30 am 7th ODI- WI vs England Marlborough Cup Marlborough College
The final leg of the tour will take place at the Marlborough College ground with all 4 teams playing each other once in 3 back-to-back games for the Marlborough Cup. The team with the most points at the end of the 3-day tournament will be declared the winner. All games will be live scored online, and persons can login to the CWIMA website-www.windiescricket.org. Most of the games will also be live streamed.
The full West Indies O-50 squad for this tour reads:
* Zamin Amin- Captain
* Imtiaz ‘Rick’ Ali
* Mark Audain
* Narine Bidhesi
* Sudesh Dhaniram
* Sunil Dhaniram
* Kenny Girdharry
* Brijmohan Harihar
* Fareed Hosein
* Ishwar Maraj
* Hafiz Mohamed
* Azad Mohammed
* Krishendat Ramdat
* Rajendra ‘Daniel Sadeo
* Anthony Sahadeo- Wkpr
* Balwant ‘Roy’ Singh
Manager: Raj Singh
Asst. Manager: Dave Narine
Ambassador: Colin Croft