Cricket West Indies Masters Association enjoy successful 2022

Jan 13, 2023 Sports

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CWIMA REVIEW OF 2022

Kaieteur News – 2022 has been quite a hectic and successful year for Cricket West Indies Masters Association (CWIMA) on several fronts, both on and off the field and masters’ cricket in general.

Structured masters cricket only got started in 2018 with the administration of O50s cricket since there may have been some grey area on the intention of cricketers over 40 years of age whether they would still be playing ICC international cricket or if they would have wanted a rest from cricket in general. Attempts were being made in 2021 to have the O60s World Cup but COVID ensured that did not materialize.

CWIMA was being actively encouraged to enter a team for the O60s World Cup but was always hesitant to attempt to do so since they were cognizant of the additional work that it entailed plus the uncertainty of attracting quality players in that age group.

Be that as it may, we decided to have a go at it in late 2021 when we commenced planning an Over 60s tour to Thailand. The main focus of this Thailand tour was to have some games for our O60s potentials in a fairly competitive environment coupled with the opportunity to have a vacation in an attractive tourist destination which was open for business at that time. The interest generated by this tour was amazing and plans were well advanced for same with an itinerary already worked out along with tour fees collected from a group of players rearing to go after such an extended period of hibernation with the dreaded COVID virus. This was all effectively scuttled in late December 2021/early January 2022 when USA announced plans for a joint O50s and O60s Champions Trophy tournament scheduled to be held in March/April 2022.

1. O50s & O60s Champions Trophy- Houston, Texas- March/April 2022

Our teams had mixed results in this joint tournament that featured 4 teams in each age group- Hosts USA, Canada, West Indies & USA A. Both of our teams were severely crippled by a shortage of players and injuries.

Our O50s team came out as Runners up in this tournament having lost to USA in the final. There were commendable batting performances in the tournament by Ishwar Maraj- 157 runs with a highest score of 55; William Lashley-116 runs with a top score of 37 runs; and Fareed Hosein-102 runs with a top score of 44. Congrats to Kenny Girdharry who was the pick of the bowlers for the WI and the entire tournament with 9 wickets with an economy rate of 3.36 followed closely by Zamin Amin with 8 wickets and an economy rate of 4.35. Fareed Hosein capped a good all-round performance in the tournament with 7 wickets at an economy of 3.98 followed by VejaiSeonarine with 6 wickets at 4.77.

The O60s team at their first outing finished 3^rd in the rankings having won a solitary match. Captain Roy Singh top scored with 210 runs with 2 @ 50s and a highest score of 97 followed by Monty Venkersammy with 147 runs and a top score of 54. Kris Ramdat contributed with 105 runs and a top score of 53 whilst Hafiz Mohamed also made 105 runs with a top score of 41. Pramesh Seheult took 8 wickets at an economy rate of 4.42 followed by Prem Singh with 7 wickets at a miserly rate of 3.44. Keith Lawrence impressed with 5 wickets at 4.17.

Our O50s side had to be disappointed with their performance after such a massive performance in the Americas Cup in Canada a mere 7 months prior. Without trying to make any excuses WI were without some of its key players in this tournament and will have to focus more on their fitness levels continuously in order to compete at this level. Our O60s team was also hampered by an inadequate squad size and injuries with WI legend Colin Croft pulling up with double hamstrings in the very first match but commentated throughout the tournament. Crofty braved it all along with a few others suffering from injuries to turn out in our final match and bowled his full spell of 9 overs. This was the very first time that the O60s played as a team together and it was fairly commendable for them with some impressive individual performances by some of the players. They need to work much harder on their fitness levels also and gel a bit more with their colleagues to play as a cohesive unit.

2. O50s Marlborough Cup- London, England-July 2022

This tournament was most demanding with new conditions and different oppositions. In hindsight, we have learned quite a lot from this tour in terms of planning practice games and general tour schedules with the amount of travel envisioned taking into consideration the proximity of venues and back-to-back games.

West Indies lost all 4 of their practice games against Wales (2), India (1) and England (1) but turned the tables against Wales and India in the Marlborough Cup games and lost to England in the Marlborough Cup final.

WI had quite a few positives to come away from this tour. Two of our premier batsmen, Sudesh Dhaniram and Ishwar Maraj, registered their maiden centuries 108 against India and 113 against Wales respectively. Congrats to Sudesh Dhaniram who had his best tour by topping the aggregate scores in only 5 matches with 215 runs for an average of 53.75 and a century and a half-century. Ishwar Maraj also played in 5 matches to follow with 183 runs at an average of 61.00. Sunil Dhaniram made 179 in 6 matches with a top score of 83. Daniel Sadeo made 163 in 7 matches with a solitary half century (57). Fareed Hosein continued with his impressive bowling topping the bowling with 10 wickets but was a bit expensive at a 5.30 economy rate.  Sunil Dhaniram copped 8 wickets at an economy rate of 4.52 with Zamin Amin taking 7 wickets at an unusually high economy rate of 5.47.

This was a very grueling tour with too much travelling and too many back-to-back games for such a major tournament. Our guys played well in the circumstances but here again we were crippled with an inadequate squad size and injuries. Our squad was made up of just 11 @O50s and 4 @O60s.

(To be continued tomorrow)

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• Cricket West Indies Masters Association (CWIMA), Fareed Hosein, Ishwar Maraj, Kenny Girdharry, Prem Singh, Roy Singh

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