The Cricket West Indies Masters Association (CWIMA) has an exciting
year planned ahead in preparation for the upcoming three World
Cups (O60s, O50s & O40s). The first event is the O60s World Cup that will take place in Queensland,
Australia and is scheduled for Sept 2-15th 2022.
This event is expected to feature twelve competitive international teams including Australia, New
Zealand, South Africa, Zimbabwe, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Wales, Canada,
USA, the West Indies, and the final team will be announced shortly. The
tournament will be played in two zones of six teams each, with the top two
teams from each group qualifying for the semifinals and final games.
In preparation for the O60s World Cup, CWIMA has named a strong 16-
man squad for its first O60s ODI tournament to be held in Houston, Texas
from March 24-April 1st, 2022. This tournament will host teams including
the USA, Canada, West Indies and a select USA XI team. The O60s team
will be playing together for the very first time and includes: Imtiaz Ali,
Anthony Boyke, Andrew Budhan, Colin Croft, Virganand Gossai, Harry
Narain Heeralal, Ronald Khan, Keith Lawrence, Hafiz Mohamed, Krishendath
Ramdat, Tejnarine Ramroop, Pramesh Seheult, Haseeb Sheriff, Prem
Deonarine Singh, Balwant Roy Singh and Ken Vachas Sukhwa.
As noted, this squad includes one of our most fearsome “Fire in Babylon” Windies quartet
from the 70s and 80s; the well-known and respected Colin Croft. Between
1978 and 1981, Crofty was ranked the number one bowler in the world and
ICC estimates that he was the 4th ranked West Indies bowler of ALL TIME.
The events for the O50s team will include 2 quadrilateral ODI tournaments
over the course of a few months. The first series will be held in Houston, Texas
jointly with the O60s tournament and will be played at the Moosa Stadium
and Prairie View Stadium. The 15-man squad named for that tournament
reads: Zamin Amin, Narine Bidhesi, Kenny Girdharry, Krishna Harricharan,
Fareed Hosein, Fazil Jahoor, William Lashley, Rajendra Mangalie, Ishwar
Maraj, Azad Mohammed, Lawrence Pooran, Suruj Ragoonath, Rajendra
Sadeo, Vejai Seonarine and Montgomery Venkersammy.
West Indies will surely miss quite a few of their top players in this tournament,
namely, the Dhaniram brothers; Sunil & Sudesh, Shiv Seeram and Mohan Harihar who all played a major role in their success last August. However, the squad has been buttressed by the addition of the TT guys along with Barbadian William Lashley, son of Peter Lashley. Former West Indies test player Suruj Ragoonath is expected to play a leading role in the fortunes of the O50s team.
In July, the Windies O50s have another quadrangular tournament planned in Wales and
London featuring teams from Wales, the West Indies, India and England. The squad for
that tournament has not yet been named.
The O50s World Cup has also since been postponed from November 2022 to March
2023 in Cape Town, South Africa. As a result of that postponement, CWIMA has decided
to host an 8 team BIG MAN CRICKET CARIBBEAN CUP tournament and has invited
teams from Canada, the USA, India, Wales, UAE, and England to participate. As hosts,
the West Indies will be the 7th team and select a West Indies President XI to form the
8th team for this tournament. Most of these teams are eager to visit the Caribbean for
this international event. This mini style World Cup tournament will be staged in either
Guyana, Trinidad, or Barbados.
Lastly, the O40s World Cup is also slated to be held in the summer of 2023 at a venue
TBD at a later date. Organizers are currently accepting bids for hosting this prestigious
tournament.
Coming out of the pandemic, the CWIMA has an action-packed year ahead. Go Windies
go!