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Match facts

October 21-25, 2016
Start time 10am local time (0600 GMT)

Big Picture

After lop-sided T20 and ODI series, West Indies fought to make the day-night Test in Dubai a thriller. While Pakistan eventually won in the last hour of play on the fifth day, they had to work hard for the 1-0 lead as West Indies showed resilience for two long days, thanks to Darren Bravo’s plucky 116. Bravo held the side’s chase together, taking the team to within 83 runs of the target of 346 before being dismissed.West Indies also had other strong performances – Devendra Bishoo’s record 8 for 49, and Marlon Samuels’ 76 in the first innings – and through their performance in the second innings appeared to have regrouped as a team after the limited-overs losses.The attention on the day-night Test and the pink ball will now shift to the traditional day game and the red ball. For Pakistan, the likely return of Younis Khan, who was added to the squad after recovering from dengue fever, will be a boost to a batting line-up that floundered without his calming influence in the second innings in Dubai. Azhar Ali’s form at the top of the order will be important, as will Yasir Shah, but West Indies can look at Bravo’s innings in Dubai for lessons on how to tackle Yasir. A 3-0 scoreline is not unlikely for Pakistan but they will probably have to work harder for it than they had to in the limited-overs series.

Form guide

Pakistan: WWLLW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
West Indies: LDLDL

In the spotlight

Inducted into the opening slot, Sami Aslam has struggled to convert his starts into big runs in the five Tests he has played in. In Dubai, he scored 90 in the first innings and 44 in the second but couldn’t go on and reach a century. Similarly, on the tour of England, he scored 82 and 70 in the Edgbaston Test.The conditions in the UAE make it tough for fast bowlers to get wickets, and West Indies’ troubles have been compounded by the lack of effectiveness of frontline bowler Shannon Gabriel. Although he consistently bowled at speeds of over 140kph in Dubai, Gabriel couldn’t find the wickets while also struggling to control the run rate as much as his Pakistan counterpart Wahab Riaz. His trouble with no-balls in the first innings – he bowled 10 – was also an issue for West Indies. He will have to step up for them to fare better.West Indies will hope Darren Bravo’s outstanding form in Asia continues in the remainder of the series•Getty Images

Team news

Babar Azam, who made his debut in Dubai, may make way for Younis Khan in the playing XI. Pakistan may also look at bringing in left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar in place of Mohammad Nawaz, who also made his debut in Dubai.Pakistan (possible): 1 Sami Aslam, 2 Azhar Ali, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Asad Shafiq, 6 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 7 Mohammad Nawaz, 8 Wahab Riaz, 9 Yasir Shah, 10 Mohammad Amir, 11 Sohail Khan.While there are a few weak links, West Indies may not want to tamper too much with a combination that fought hard in the first Test.West Indies (possible): 1 Kraigg Brathwaite, 2 Leon Johnson, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Jermaine Blackwood, 6 Roston Chase, 7 Shane Dowrich (wk), 8 Jason Holder (capt), 9 Devendra Bishoo, 10 Miguel Cummins, 11 Shannon Gabriel.

Pitch and conditions

The pitch for the previous Test in Abu Dhabi, between England and Pakistan in October last year, drew criticism for its unresponsive nature. In matches prior to that one, however, the pitch offered some assistance to seamers and spinners. The weather is expected to be clear in Abu Dhabi for the course of the game.

Stats and trivia

• Darren Bravo has made 1507 runs in Asia at an average of 60.28, the third-best for any overseas batsman with at least 1500 runs in Asia. Bravo has hit five hundreds and seven fifties in just 15 Tests in Asia
• Misbah-ul-Haq is set to equal Imran Khan’s record of captaining Pakistan in the most Tests. The Abu Dhabi match will be Misbah’s 48th Test as captain
• Pakistan have a 4-0 win-loss record from eight Tests in Abu Dhabi – the most they have played and won at any venue without losing a match
• Marlon Samuels made his debut in 2000 and has played 69 Tests. He needs another 146 runs to complete 4000 runs in the format

Quotes

“I am very happy the way Pakistan won the Test, the way Azhar scored a triple hundred and joined that elite group. I was watching the match and was very excited when on the last day there were ups and downs. The way West Indies fought and Darren Bravo scored that fighting hundred, its pleasing when youngsters play like this.”
“We are accustomed to the conditions, only pink ball was new to us. Our body needed to get accustomed to the clock, bowling in the night and the afternoon start. Now we have the whole day, and it is a small adjustment.”

Craig Cachopa will consider whether to go full circle and qualify for New Zealand after negotiating an early release from his contract at Sussex for what the club called “personal reasons”.Cachopa was enticed to England in 2014 by Luke Wright, now Sussex’s captain, when he was playing in New Zealand. He was born in South Africa but qualifies as a non-overseas signing in England as he holds a Portuguese passport.After three seasons in county cricket, however, in which his success has been modest, he could chose to explore links with New Zealand, where he was a former U-19 national captain.Cachopa, 24, said: “I am grateful for the fantastic opportunity I have had over the past three years here at Sussex, however I think it is a good time for me to return to New Zealand to try and achieve some of my childhood dreams after some much needed rest.””I love county cricket and it has been a fabulous experience for me representing Sussex in all three formats. But I intend to spend some quality time with my family at home in New Zealand resting before considering my options, and deciding on my next steps towards achieving my aspirations to play international cricket.”Cachopa made his Sussex debut in the NatWest T20 Blast in 2014. He played 16 Championship matches for Sussex, and 43 white-ball matches, across the NatWest T20 Blast and the Royal London One-Day Cup. A powerful middle-order hitter, the T20 Blast was his strongest format for Sussex, as he averaged 27.18 with a strike rate of 136.79, and was also deployed as a wicketkeeper in a number of the Sharks’ T20 matches.Sussex’s head coach Mark Davis said, “I am sure Craig has enjoyed his time at Sussex and would have learnt a great deal about himself as well as his game. He is an immensely talented cricketer who has yet to reach his potential. We wish him great success in whatever he decides to pursue in the future.”Cachopa spent the England off-season last winter in New Zealand, representing Wellington as an overseas player. It was a return to his first-class roots: he made his debut for Wellington in 2012 before moving to Auckland.

Mahela Jayawardene wondered on Twitter whether previous Australia captains would have left a tour early, as Steven Smith has done. Graeme Smith has echoed those sentiments publicly. Angelo Mathews was typically diplomatic, but as he prepares to play a side led by David Warner now, even he admits to being perplexed.”I think they have their own player management system, but honestly, if it was me, I wouldn’t have [left], because it’s a tough tour,” Mathews said. “You need the captain alongside the playing XI. They decided to rest him – well, I don’t think we as players have any issues with that.”Smith’s own team-mates have – not surprisingly – been more understanding of his departure, despite the ODI series still hanging in the balance. Warner said regular breaks for players were required because of cricket’s hectic modern schedules. Smith had also been leading Australia across all formats, taking over the ODI team after last year’s World Cup, and the Test and T20 sides since.”I can feel for Steve and the amount of cricket he has been playing,” Warner said. “It is going to very, very tough with the scheduling these days to play all three forms and every single game possible. Players are getting rested here and there. Everyone has to adapt, and we’ve got [to remember] that everyone is human.”While Warner attempts to fill the gap in leadership that Smith has left behind, Australia will also need to replace the man who has been ODI cricket’s most prolific run-scorer over the past year. Usman Khawaja and Shaun Marsh are in line to step into the XI. Warner suggested Smith’s output makes a break from cricket particularly well-deserved.”The stats he has on the board, runs-wise and the world’s best batter and player, I think he deserves a break whether or not it was during the series or before the series.”There were times there when I may have been leaning towards having a break and then you have a bit of misfortune by getting injured and that has sort of been my freshen-up.” [Warner broke a finger while fielding in June, and missed the end of the tri-series in the West Indies.]Warner is set to become Australia’s 23rd ODI captain, and said it had not been in his “wildest dreams” to lead the side. “I feel honoured and thrilled,” he said. “I’m really pumped to get out there, help the guys and lead from the front.”Though he has never led a national side, Warner has had captaincy success in the IPL, leading Sunrisers Hyderabad to this year’s title. Allrounder James Faulkner, who plays for the Gujarat Lions IPL franchise, suggested that experience would assist Warner’s captaincy at the international level.”David’s got lot of experience in all three formats – in IPL and BBL as well,” Faulkner said. “I know one thing – that he is pretty honest, and he’s going to back each and every one of us. Much as the same with Smithy – very good leaders. They let their presence be felt in the middle. I’m sure David will fill the position really well.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Port of Rain: There was little rain but the wet outfield accounted for the whole second day’s play•AFP

From the moment Port of Spain woke up to 2.15pm, when any hope of a resumption of play evaporated, no rain fell at Queen’s Park Oval. Yet not a single ball was bowled despite the sun beating down on the ground till 2pm.The umpires came out for inspection after inspection after inspection, but didn’t find the outfield to be fit for play. There was no super sopper to assist the ground staff nor was the whole ground covered when it rained. The eventual downpour at 2.15pm, 15 minutes before yet another inspection, accounted for any remaining hopes.With only 22 overs possible on the first two days, with forecast not great for the rest of the Test and given the facilities available at Queen’s Park Oval, only an unbelievable three days could produce a result. India needed to win this Test to retain their No. 1 Test ranking and not lose it to Pakistan. West Indies were 62 for 2 after 22 overs, all bowled in the first session on the first morning.

Shikhar Dhawan is likely to partner M Vijay at the top of the order, with KL Rahul missing out, in the first Test of India’s tour of the West Indies starting in Antigua on Thursday. India also seem set to play five bowlers, on a pitch that their captain Virat Kohli felt would not offer too much bounce. Kohli did not lay out the selection calls explicitly, but strongly hinted at them in his press conference on the eve of the Test match.”In international cricket, you need to understand one thing that you cannot count players out because of one series,” Kohli said. “If you’re talking about KL Rahul, obviously he’s improved leaps and bounds as a cricketer in the last 3-4 months. He’s established himself as the third opener for India, he’s a regular in the Test side, he played in Sri Lanka as well, scored runs there.”But that’s one call you need to take as a captain, and that’s why they say the job is never easy. It’s just that, whoever starts a Test series, he has an edge over [the player] who has to wait for his chance, but at the same time, we have four Test matches and you will get a chance at some stage.”If you speak about KL Rahul and someone like Shikhar, it’s very difficult to take a call up front, in the first match of a series, because someone like Shikhar is a very dominant player, he can dominate sessions and bring you into the Test match, especially in conditions like West Indies.”You saw how he played in Sri Lanka, he scored a very quick hundred, but got injured unfortunately, but that’s what I mean. You can’t count out a guy like Shikhar because of a couple of innings here and there. So we need to give guys a decent run, and know that if something goes wrong, we have a quality player like Rahul waiting in the wings and he’s as solid as anyone in world cricket right now, and he’ll do a good job whenever he gets a chance.”There was a smattering of grass on the surface, and Kohli felt its main purpose was to bind the soil underneath, rather than provide any major assistance to the quick bowlers.”I think the surface looks really dry and soft,” he said. “It’s not as hard as some of the other surfaces in West Indies. The wicket is no different from what we play back home, actually. It’s basically where we have soft wickets and the soil is loose, it’s bound by the grass, so have to keep that cover on, so I think it’ll be a decent batting wicket.”There won’t be much bounce, not as much bounce as some of the other places in West Indies, somewhere like Barbados or Jamaica where the spinners get a lot of bounce. That won’t be the case here, that’s what I feel, after reading the wicket, so we’ll have to plan accordingly where we need to bowl.”In the days leading up to the Test match, India’s nets hierarchy seemed to indicate that Rohit Sharma would not feature in their starting XI, and that either Stuart Binny or Ravindra Jadeja would play instead to provide an extra bowling option. Without saying India would definitely do so, Kohli said he was “in favour of five bowlers”.”We have some plans in our mind, but we can’t disclose those things now,” he said. “But when we played in Australia and in Sri Lanka, we learned that it’s crucial to attack in the first match, and to set the tone for the series. For that you will need to play your strongest bowling unit in the first match.”And as batsmen, we want to take responsibility, so as a captain I’m always in favour of five bowlers, because if you don’t take 20 wickets, it doesn’t matter if you score 700 runs, there’s no point. We have been playing with that mindset for the last one-and-a-half-to-two years, and we will start this series with the same mindset, and see that our bowling is as strong as it needs to be to take 20 wickets.”As a captain, you will want that your prime bowler, even if he only bowls 10 overs, if he concedes only 20 runs in those 10 overs and picks up two wickets, he will keep the pressure on. If your part-timer bowls five overs and concedes 30, the pressure will disappear. So I think in a Test match, that when that moment comes, it becomes crucial how well your fifth bowler bowls.”And on this wicket, the plans of bowling outside off stump may not be that successful because there won’t be too much pace and bounce. So bowlers who will bowl stump-to-stump lines and wicket-taking bowlers will be more effective. That is the mindset we plan to get into the Test match with, and start the series on a positive note.”With Mohammed Shami back to full match fitness after a long layoff with a knee injury, Kohli welcomed back a pace bowler whom he called “a complete package”. Given the amount of bowling he has done at the nets, Shami seems likely to edge Umesh Yadav out of the eleven as Ishant Sharma’s new-ball partner.”Shami, unfortunately he got injured while he was having a great season,” Kohli said. “He bowled really well in South Africa, he bowled well in New Zealand, he bowled well in England, I mean he bowled well everywhere that he played. Australia as well, in the Test matches, in the World Cup he was outstanding, so, unfortunately he got injured after that, you know, had a massive break.”But now he’s back, he’s bowling really well. Obviously, he’s a gun bowler, we all know that, the areas he hits is what you need in Test cricket, very attacking lines and lengths, and he has the ability to get batsmen out at any stage of the game, which as a captain is very pleasing and important, so Shami being back in the side obviously gives us a lot of options. The guy can bowl well with the new ball, with the old ball, reverse-swinging it, he can come around the wicket, use bouncers and use his pace as well. So I think as a fast bowler he’s a complete package, and I only wish him the best of luck for the season, and hope he delivers for us like he’s done in the past as well.”Five years ago, during India’s last full tour of the Caribbean, Kohli made his Test debut and endured a difficult series, not managing a single half-century in five innings and showing discomfort against the short ball. However, Kohli said he was happy to be back where it all began.”It’s a memorable place for me,” he said. “I made my Test debut here. It’s nice to come back after so many years, and having played so many Test matches all over the world in between. Obviously, I had improved as a Test cricketer.”Obviously I had little clue about Test cricket [on the 2011 tour]. I came here and found out a lot about the format and what the challenges were at that stage. This is one place that made me start realising where you needed to improve as far as Test cricket was concerned.”I’m really happy to be back here. I’ve been here a couple of times after that, but never played Test cricket afterwards. So it’s a nice place to come and play. The atmosphere is really good, people like cricket, they support it. I’m really excited to play a Test match here after so long. So is everyone else in the team.”

Barinder Sran had an underwhelming debut series in Australia, where he took three wickets at an average of 56.66 and gave away 6.45 runs an over. But in India’s three-ODI series against Zimbabwe, the left-arm seamer took four wickets at 24.75, at an economy rate of 4.12, and showcased a new weapon – an inswinger that was a source of discomfort for Zimbabwe’s batsmen. Ahead of the T20I series that begins in Harare on Saturday, Sran said he had consciously worked on getting his wrist position right.”It’s the difference in the conditions [between Australia and Zimbabwe],” Sran said. “I changed the seam position a bit, made some changes to my action because I’m looking to swing the new ball. So I’m not putting in too much effort, because if I do that, I lose my wrist position and it reduces the swing.”Sran had erred frequently in his line and length in Australia, and his bouncers were largely ineffective. But in Zimbabwe, he has mostly stuck to a fuller length. “[In Australia], I had a problem in my shoulder because of which I couldn’t perform to my potential. So I was under some pressure,” Sran said. “I didn’t have much IPL experience either then, I had played only one IPL match, and even in the Ranji Trophy, only 10-11 matches. Still, everybody supported me and that felt good.”Nothing much has changed, because in Australia, there was a huge difference in the kind of wickets. It was quite hot there and they were good batting wickets, whereas here, there is some help for the bowlers. I have just been focusing and working on those areas where I’m weak, like when I was trying to swing, the ball wasn’t coming back in, so I worked on that regularly. In the IPL too, [Ashish] Nehra and Bhuvi [Bhuvneshwar Kumar] were with me, they taught me seam position and supported me in all aspects from the beginning. For two-three days, I went to Chandigarh as well and met my coach Amit Uniyal and worked with him.”The performances in Zimbabwe have been a step forward after his struggles in Australia, but Sran acknowledged that work was needed before he can be considered ready for Test cricket. “To get there, I need to be consistent and bowl one line and length,” he said. “I need to improve a lot, I need to improve my pace and fitness level. I will work towards achieving these in the next season.”

Hosting fewer Tests and scaling down operations may be the way forward for Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) as it navigates a changing cricket structure and tricky financial waters. Zimbabwe will not be part of the new Test league that is set to start in July 2019, and are happy with the development. They do not intend to stop playing Tests altogether, preferring in future to play them away from home. Instead they will shift focus to limited-overs cricket.In one way it is a formalisation of the status quo, in which Zimbabwe are already playing a greatly reduced number of Tests. “What we quickly realised was that hosting Tests is something that costs us a lot of money, and that is a commodity we do not have at the moment – in fact we owe people a lot of money,” ZC’s recently appointed MD Faisal Hasnain told ESPNcricinfo.”As things stand, it costs us money because we get almost negligible amounts from our current TV rights and sponsorships, and these continue till 2019. So if we were in a formal Test league, where we were forced to play Tests at home, we just would not be able to sustain it financially, unless we get substantial help from the ICC or from some other source – and the ICC Test fund no longer exists and other funding sources are few and far between.”Obviously, we will continue to play Test cricket, but in our current circumstances we will try and play them away from home, primarily to save costs. We will concentrate on playing more ODIs and T20s, home and away, under the ODI league and the T20 open format, which will hopefully enable us to cut expenditure and potentially generate greater revenues.”Zimbabwe have just finished hosting a two-Test series with West Indies, which has cost them somewhere in the region of $1 million. For an organisation in as much of a financial battle as ZC, that is an unnecessary strain. There is a possibility that, in discussion with Afghanistan and Ireland, Zimbabwe will formally ask the ICC for certain relaxations from the full requirements of the strict playing conditions – conducting matches without DRS for example. They may also ask for leniency in TV broadcast requirements for international cricket. This could ultimately make it more affordable to host Tests, and ZC has already taken up the matter, informally, with the ICC.Crucial to their quest to better financial health is income from the ICC, in the form of distribution and World Cup participation fees, which makes qualification for the 2019 event even more important. With that in mind, Zimbabwe has embarked on an ambitious project to convince certain players who had left the country to return, but the flipside of that has been the toll it has taken on their finances.Both Brendan Taylor and Kyle Jarvis are being paid more than they were at Nottinghamshire and Lancashire respectively, and were also given a small portion as an advance to secure their return. Solomon Mire, based in Australia, received what one source said was a “good deal, better than that of the other players who have stayed behind”.Unsurprisingly, the treatment of the trio has created issues within the team. “Players who come back automatically get paid more than the guys who are there,” one source said. “It’s bad because there are players who have made sacrifices to stay in Zimbabwe and they are suffering.” ZC denies their return has led to rifts; Hasnain says players have told him the atmosphere in the dressing room remains fine.Brendan Taylor walks out for the national anthem•ICC

In addition to employee and player salaries being part-paid at the end of October, and because of the financial challenges their board faces, Zimbabwe’s players have yet to receive their match fees for the Sri Lanka tour that took place in July. A proposed increase in player allowance for this season’s domestic matches has also not come to pass.At least one board member is understood to have opposed the efforts to lure Taylor, Jarvis and Mire back because of the expense, but the prospect of having them in the team for the World Cup qualifiers motivated ZC to do “everything it could”, according to the source, to convince the players to commit to Zimbabwe.ZC is attempting to stabilise its operations and finances under Hasnain and CFO Feroza Shariff, though given the country’s ongoing economic crisis and the limited opportunities to raise money that will not be easy.ICC money will be an important source of income and rationalisation of costs will have to continue. With no Test ranking points for Zimbabwe to concern themselves with, there would appear to be sense in not hosting home Tests. So even though they will not abandon Tests altogether, this could lead to a fundamental shift in outlook and the way they position themselves as a cricketing nation. The Logan Cup, Zimbabwe’s first-class competition, for example, may be shortened from its current format – in which teams play each other in a double round – to a single round, and there could be an increase in domestic ODI and T20 competitions.In that light, it is not outlandish to wonder whether West Indies might have been the last team that will play a Test in Zimbabwe for a while. According to the current FTP, Zimbabwe are scheduled to host Pakistan for a two-Test series next year in June-July, a tour which also includes three ODIs and two T20Is. Preceding that, Australia visit for a tour that was originally scheduled to include two Tests, but no longer does; instead they will feature in a T20I tri-series alongside Pakistan.For Zimbabwe Test fans, the good news is that their team’s schedule on the road is busier. They will play the inaugural four-day Test in South Africa over Boxing Day, and are in talks to become Afghanistan’s first Test opponents in February next year, most likely in the UAE. That is set to take place after a tri-series in Bangladesh and they are then supposed to return to South Africa for one Test, three ODIs and a T20I in October next year. In March, they are also due to host the ICC qualifiers for the 2019 World Cup, in which two teams from 10 will proceed.Another tour to Bangladesh – for three Tests and three ODIs in early 2019 – and a single Test in India along with three ODIs in March 2019 takes Zimbabwe to the end of the current FTP, with their hopes pinned on participation in the World Cup.

The cricket strategy and officiating committee of Cricket West Indies, comprising a group of former legends and current leaders, have identified key areas of focus to raise the standard of West Indies cricket as well as short- and long-term actions. In the next six months, the CWI said, specialist coaches will be hired, a “state-of-the-art” high-performance centre will be set up, and there will be close coordination with franchises that employ West Indian cricketers so player fitness can be monitored.The committee, set up in August in the aftermath of West Indies’ 27 all out against Australia in Kingston, Jamaica, brought together Clive Lloyd, Brian Lara, Shai Hope, Roston Chase and Ramnaresh Sarwan, among others. The first step was to identify the challenges faced by West Indies cricket. A CWI statement on Thursday listed the major issues as:

• Declining quality of regional tournaments
• Technical, tactical, and mental skills deficiencies
• Underperforming franchise system
• Gaps in infrastructure and facilities
• Lack of specialist coaching support
• Limited ICC revenue share and financial constraints
• Fragmented player development pathways
• Inadequate fitness and conditioning standards

These, as well as the “action items” were “presented to and approved” by the CWI’s board of directors on September 25 at the quarterly meeting.In the short term, within the next months, “an internationally proven batting coach will be hired to work across the system, and a full-time sports psychologist/performance coach will join the senior men’s team” while “the women’s team role will also be upgraded to a full-time role”. That aside, “a capital [high-performance] project proposal will be advanced for a state-of-the-art facility at Coolidge Cricket Ground, including modern nets, gym, and rehabilitation infrastructure”, and “franchise teams will now submit individual development plans and meet new minimum standards” with player fitness “closely tracked, supported by a new regional fitness leaderboard”.The longer-term actions are more exhaustive, and include:

• A national cricket development framework unifying grassroots, school, academy, and high-performance pathways
• Comprehensive franchise reform to ensure accountability for player development and consideration of alternative professional models
• Establishment of standardised academies for ages 11-18 to feed into the high-performance programme
• Completion of the high-performance centre in Antigua as the regional hub for elite development
• Greater focus on financial sustainability, including lobbying for equitable ICC revenue distribution and new partnerships with governments, private entities, and philanthropists
• A structured mentorship framework connecting current and former West Indies players with emerging talent

Clive Lloyd has been vocal about lobbying with the ICC for more money•ICC/Getty Images

In early August, at the time the committee members met the press, Lara had said, “It’s been that case for years, where we are not in the same level-playing field as other playing countries. Back in the days when skill was the prominent factor, we excelled, we were the best team in the world. But the game has evolved, and technology and analytics, and we now have to see a new way of finding ourselves back to being very competitive.”I said not a level-playing field because a lot of the countries are far ahead in these sorts of areas. The skill factor of the game is still there, but not as prominent as it was in the past.”It’s a long road; it’s not going to happen tomorrow. It was not about the 27 runs. If it was 57 or 107, will we be feeling any better? I don’t think so. It was the fact that we’ve got something to address, and for us to get back on top, or to be a competitive nation in world cricket, we’ve got to address these situations and address them shortly, quickly, and hopefully we can reap the benefits in the years to come.”In many ways, it’s a starting point for West Indies cricket – at the moment, there is a women’s ODI World Cup which West Indies failed to qualify for, while the men are on the back foot after just one day’s play in a two-Test series in India – and CWI’s director of cricket, Miles Bascombe said, “While challenges remain, our commitment to cricket development across the region is unwavering, and all efforts will be made to prioritise the execution of these initiatives.”