CRICKET WEST INDIES
MASTERS ASSOCIATION
(CWIMA) has undertaken
a mega event tantamount to a mini-world
cup on its very first attempt
at hosting a masters’ tournament.
The 2022 BIG MAN CRICKET O50s
CARIBBEAN CUP is scheduled
to be held on November 2 to the
11th in Barbados at several First-
Class venues- Pickwick, Wanderers,
Windward, BNOC, Police & 3 Ws
Oval. This tournament will feature 7
international sides, namely, Canada,
England, India UAE, USA, Wales,
West Indies plus West Indies “A”.
England is quite easily the hot
favourites to win this tournament since
they have an unbeaten record having
won all 10 of their matches since the
2020 World Cup. They have really
not been tested in these games and
have won almost all of them by wide
margins. England is missing a few key
players who could not make the tour
to Barbados, namely: Stephen Foster,
Mark Alleyne, and Mo Shahnawaz but
it will still feature the likes of Giles
Ecclestone, Sean Cooper, David
Snellgrove, and Jonathan Wileman.
Wileman is currently #4 in the world
O50s rankings with a batting average
of 73 and a bowling economy rate of
3.75.
The depth of over-50s cricket in
England is such that all the players
will be extremely capable at this level.
The main question will probably be
how the English players adapt to
the Barbados conditions, not having
played a match outside the UK since
the 2020 World Cup.
An interesting feature of West Indies, the hosts, will be the
inclusion of 12 Bajan players for the first time. Only William
Lashley has represented West Indies prior in Houston, Texas
earlier this year. To date, West Indies Over-50s teams have
been almost all Trinidadian and
Guyanese players, but there
are a lot of good players in
Barbados who will obviously be
used to the conditions. These
include attacking batsmen
in Brian Johnson and Ken
Mayers, and off-spinners Tony
Morris and William Lashley.
West Indies have also just
added the Man of the Match
in the final of the BIG MAN
CRICKET-GY last weekend
between Essequibo Eagles
and West Bank Warriors,
Leg spinner Chanderpaul
Singh. Of the more established
players, 2 West Indians, Sudesh
Dhaniram and opener Ishwar
Maraj registered centuries in the
2022 Marlborough Cup, scoring
their first O50I centuries, while the
evergreen captain Zamin Amin with his flat
left-arm spin could be hard to get away.
West Indies have not yet named their teams for
the 2 sides but will do so after their practice
match held on Monday October 31st. The
West Indies “A” side could also be a
handful, again largely due to knowledge
of local conditions. Their matches won’t
be considered official O50Is, but those
players will have a point to prove, with
selection in the 2023 World Cup squad
on the line.
India is something of an unknown quantity,
with several newcomers. The side will be
led by Iqbal Khan, who averaged 121 at
the Marlborough Cup and averages 70 in
all O50Is. All-rounder Dinesh Sharma did
well at the same tournament and experienced opener Verinder Bhoombla is
another to watch. Most of the other players in the Indian squad are new to
international cricket, however, so it will be interesting to see how they shape
up.
The Welsh, by contrast, are a very settled unit. All of their squad have played
O50Is and some (such as long-time captain John Jones, Steve Powell, and Chris
Hudson) are among the world’s most-capped O50I players. As usual, a lot of
the Welsh hopes will rest on Iwan Rees, who is the third-leading run-scorer
in O50Is (609 at 61) and he is the linchpin of the Wales batting line-up. Also
watch for ex-Glamorgan county pro Michael Cann, who is yet to fire at this
level, but brings eight years of first-class experience. Wales beat West Indies
twice earlier this year, so should not be underestimated.
The USA is ever-improving and has an excellent domestic structure that
keeps producing good new players. Top-order batsman Rafey Kazi averages
112 from his four O50Is so far and captain Parak Ananta is a very handy
keeper/batsman. There are plenty of new faces in the American squad, so
they also bring an element of unpredictability.
Canada is a combination of old and new. The evergreen Rohan Jayasekera
(now 64) misses out on this series, but his brother Shantha is back in the side
after missing recent tournaments. The side will have Rudy Gibson taking the
reins. Gibson (14 wickets at 22) will be a key bowler for the Canadians with
his left-arm darts, while Canada’s leading wicket-taker Dave
Mohammed (19 wickets at 18) is always a threat. Another
bowler to watch is leg-spinner Brian Rajadurai, back in the
team for the first time since the 2020 World Cup.
The United Arab Emirates is making its O50I debut.
They undertook a tour to South Africa earlier this year and
performed well but didn’t play any international matches. Their
squad is relatively unknown, but veterans’ cricket is taking off
there in a big way, so they are expected to be quite competitive.
The full squads read as follows:
ENGLAND: Chirag Desai, David Snellgrove, Francis Jarvis,
Giles Ecclestone, Ian Walker, James Williams, Jonathan
Wileman, Jason Finch, Jason Whittaker, Richard Trotman,
Robert Nelson, Sean Cooper, Steven Atherton, Stephen
Thompson, Stuart Felstead.
WEST INDIES: Zamin Amin, Sudesh Dhaniram, Kenny
Girdharry, Rajendra Sadeo, Ishwar Maraj, Fareed Hosein,
Anthony Morris, Brian Johnson, Ken Mayers, William Lashley,
Anthony Sahadeo, Richard Ramrekha, Rajendra Dilraj,
Emerson Jordan, Ian Drakes, George Harris, Chanderpaul
Singh, Narine Bidhesi, Rajendra Mangalie, Michael Matthews,
Krishna Harricharran, Keith Seale, Jefferson Gibbons, Roy
Singh, Keeran Jagoo, Ronnie Gittens, Ron Bates.
INDIA: Iqbal Badruddin, Verinder Bhoombla, Dinesh
Sharma, Krishna Subramian, Fakir Dungaria, Preetinder Singh,
Rajshekhar Raman, Ravi Raman, Sanjay Beri, Saurabh Wahi,
Shyam Gopalkrishnan, Sukhdev Ghuman, Viren Patel, Filgi
Varghese.
WALES: John Jones, David Adams, Keri Chahal, Philip Leeds,
Neal Williams, Mark Donovan, Malith Madurasinghe, Grant
Peisley, Christopher Richards, Michael Cann, Paul Murphy,
Mark Davies, Iwan Rees, Rowan Evans, Stephen Powell.
USA: Sanjeewa Weerasinghe, Syed Shafique, Raj Badadare,
Humayun Bashir, Fazal Alam, Kuldeep Patel, Mohsin Khan,
Satypal Chhabra, Zubair Hussain,Sanjay Pandya, Chintan Patel,
Syed Shananawaz, Rafey Kazi, Jwalant Vakil, Parak Ananta,
Sunny Singh.
CANADA: Rudy Gibson, Yunus Motara, Imran Kazmi, Brian
Rajadurai, Shantha Jayasekera, David Mohammed, Graham
Castanheiro, Venky Kulkarni, Imdad Ali, Puvi Ravishankar,
Derick Etwaroo, Kiran Patil, Arif Talati, Mathialagan
Eswaralingam, Terrence Holder.
UAE: Ali Akbar, Shafiq Ahmed, Zulfiqar Ali, Sandeep Dhuri,
Abbas Khan, Amjad Khan, Rajiv Madan, Faisal Maqsood, Vijay
Mehra, Ambey Parwatkar, Biju Pillai, Sujit Salian, Rafiullah Syed,
Rajesh Thadani.