ST JOHN’S, Antigua (CMC) – The West Indies Championship 2022 will resume on May 18, Cricket West Indies (CWI) said yesterday as it unveiled the match schedule for the final three rounds of the four-day first-class red-ball tournament for the six professional regional franchises.

The first and second rounds were played in February ahead of the Apex Test Series which concluded on Sunday with West Indies beating England 1-0 to win the newly minted Richards-Botham trophy.

The West Indies Championship returns with all matches being played in Trinidad at the Queen’s Park Oval, Brian Lara Cricket Academy and the Diego Martin Sporting Complex. The third round will run from May 18 to 21, the fourth May 25-28, with the fifth and final round from June 1 to 4.

CWI’s Director of Cricket, Jimmy Adams, stressed the importance of the regional four-day competition, saying it plays a critical role in the player-development pathway.

“While we cannot recover the two years lost to the COVID-19 pandemic, we can now restart critical aspects of our development pathway that depended on this tournament. I’m especially pleased for all the players and support staff who have had to put their own development on hold during the enforced break,” he said.

Defending champions Barbados Pride lead the points table with 42 points and Trinidad & Tobago Red Force are second on 38.6 points – both recording wins in their first two matches. They are followed by Leeward Islands Hurricanes on 24.6 points, Guyana Harpy Eagles on 21.4 points, Windward Islands Hurricanes on 10.8 points, and Jamaica Scorpions on 8.8 points.

The teams will be competing for the Headley/Weekes Trophy named in honour of West Indies legends George Headley and Sir Everton Weekes.

The current top two teams face each other in Round 4 at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy with the chasing four teams aiming to win their games in round 3 of the West Indies Championship to close the points-gap ahead of the concluding matches.

For the ongoing tournament, each squad will consist of 15 players due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

CWI is also implementing a special “player loan” system to try to ensure that each team will be able to complete their fixtures. If teams have a player(s) ruled out due to a positive COVID-19 result, they can request to use a player(s) from another team and/or from a pool of locally registered reserve players.

MATCHES TO BE PLAYED
Round 3 – May 18-21
Guyana Harpy Eagles v Barbados Pride at Queen’s Park Oval
Trinidad and Tobago Red Force v Leeward Islands Hurricanes at Diego Martin
Jamaica Scorpions v Windward Islands Volcanoes at Brian Lara Cricket Academy

Round 4 – May 25-28
Trinidad and Tobago Red Force v Barbados Pride at Brian Lara Cricket Academy
Windward Islands Volcanoes v Leeward Islands Hurricanes at Queen’s Park Oval
Jamaica Scorpions v Guyana Harpy Eagles at Diego Martin

Round 5 – June 1-4
Windward Islands Volcanoes v Barbados Pride at Diego Martin
Trinidad and Tobago Red Force v Guyana Harpy Eagles at Queen’s Park Oval
Leeward Islands Hurricanes vs Jamaica Scorpions at Brian Lara Cricket Academy.