The 2024 Caribbean Regional 4Day Championships entered its seventh
and final round with four matches being played from April 17-20. The
highly competitive tournament, by far the closet within recent years,
entered its final week wth four of the five participating teams well-positioned
to emerge as champions.
At the final round’s commencement the Windwards
Volcanoes were poised with their best chance of
winning their first-ever regional first-class tournament
since the Shell Shield four-day tournament was
inaugurated in 1966. They led the points table with 89.6
points, 3.4 points ahead of the defending champions
Guyana Harpy Eagles, who moved to the third spot
with 87.2 points. Barbados Pride were second with 87.8
points while Leewards Hurricanes were fourth with 82.6
points.
The seventh and final round featured matches between
the Leewards and the Windwards in Antigua, Barbados
Pride battling the West Indies Academy also in Antigua,
and Guyana opposing cellar dwellers CCC at the UWI
ground in Trinidad. The remaining two teams Jamaica
Scorpions and Trinidad & Tobago’s Red Force, both
without any chance of challenging for the title, were
also scheduled to face each other at Sabina Park.
By the time the tournament was concluded and its
deserving winner identified, it would deservedly have
been described as one of the most encouraging in
recent history. Dozens of centuries were scored by
batters, including even one double century the 218
that was recorded by the Red Force’s Amir Jangoo
during their sixth round.
There were also some highly commendable
bowling performances from both seamers and
spinners. Five wicket hauls were the rule rather
than an exception, for almost every match
played during the tournament’s seven weeks.
The outstanding batting and bowling
performances that were recorded during the
tournament augurs well for the immediate future
of West Indies redball cricket. Especially so with
this year’s three Tests tour to England on the
near horizon, and with the West Indies like all
other countries having just recently started their
scheduled engagements for the 2024-2025 twoyear
ICC Test Championship cycle.
With so many players, young and upcoming as
well as the more established, having recorded
outstanding performances, the West Indies
Selectors will now be in a most welcomed
position of having many options to choose from
for ths summer’s tour to England. Not to mention
aall the other tours and scheduled Test series that
will be on the immediate horizon.
How the Selectors go about harnessing the
player resources that have now been placed at
their disposal will, therefore, be very interesting to
see. Encouraging times indeed!
