– Guyana Harpy Eagles to open against Trinidad Red Force

CMC – This year’s West Indies Championship opens on Wednesday in Jamaica and St Kitts with a view towards identifying competent and consistent performers to help build on the success of the West Indies Test side on their tour of Australia earlier this month.

The four-day, first-class tournament offers followers of the sport in the Caribbean a welcome break from the surfeit of white-ball matches in recent months, and a chance for the authorities to find players that could help fortify the Test side with a tour of England carded for July this year.

Under a new format, two territories – St Kitts and Jamaica – will stage the first rounds of matches in the tournament.
In St Kitts, defending champions Guyana Harpy Eagles face Trinidad & Tobago Red Force at the Conaree Cricket Centre on the outskirts of the capital of Basseterre, and hosts Leeward Islands Hurricanes will battle the Cricket West Indies Academy a stone’s throw away at Warner Park in the heart of the city.

In Jamaica, hosts Jamaica Scorpions meet Windward Islands Volcanoes at Sabina Park in the capital of Kingston, and on the outskirts at Chedwin Park in Spanish Town, traditionally strong Barbados Pride, led by West Indies Test captain Kraigg Brathwaite, play against a Combined Campuses & Colleges Marooners squad packed with no less than eight Barbadians.
The Harpy Eagles, to be led by emerging batsman Kevlon Anderson, will be looking to secure their seventh title in the Professional Cricket League era of the tournament.

They start the season without three of their recognised players – left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie, all-rounder Romario Shepherd, and wicketkeeper-batsman Tevin Imlach – because of West Indies white-ball duties in Australia.
The Harpy Eagles were forced into a couple more changes before the team departed Georgetown this week with all-rounders Neiland Cadogan and Richie Looknauth taking the place of injured pacer Niall Smith and batsman Akshaya Persaud, who will be playing for the Marooners.

It means that the squad is topped up by five uncapped players, and they will be hoping that they could emulate the West Indies Test side and overcome the lack of experience and lift the title again.

In that regard, they will be boosted by the return from Australia of the West Indies Test pair of off-spin bowling all-rounder Kevin Sinclair and left-handed opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul, son of former Guyana and West Indies captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

Brathwaite, Sinclair, and the younger Chanderpaul are three of the members of the West Indies Test squad that were part of the Tour of Australia that have returned to the Caribbean and will be taking their places in their respective territorial franchises.

Test wicketkeeper-batsman Joshua Da Silva will lead the Red Force, and injured pacer Jayden Seales, who missed that trip, has also been included in the squad for the match against the Harpy Eagles.
Left-handed batsman Kirk McKenzie will be part of the Scorpions line-up for the first elite-level match in his homeland for close to two years.

Pacer Akeem Jordan and opener Zachary McCaskie, two members of the Test squad in Australia who did not play in the series, will also be part of the Pride squad, which also welcomes back former West Indies Under-19 pacer Chemar Holder from a career-threatening shoulder injury.

The decision to allow the return of the Marooners to the tournament, and the entry of the CWI Academy will be under scrutiny to determine if they bring the kind of value and talent that the authorities envisage.

The Marooners were formed 16 years ago under the umbrella of the University of the West Indies, and they played in the tournament for seven seasons, winning 17 matches during that period.

They beat all comers, except the Scorpions, against whom they played in the final of the 2011 tournament, before they were excluded from the 2014-15 season onwards as part of a series of changes to the tournament.

This year, they are led by former Pride batsman Jonathan Carter, and they have been boosted with the presence of discarded Test batsman Shamarh Brooks, while former West Indies Under-19 World Cup-winning batsman Kirstan Kallicharan has also found a place in the squad.

The Academy is all set to make their debut in the tournament after they won the Headley-Weekes best-of-the-best tri-series last year, and a strong performance in the West Indies Super50 Cup.

They will again be led by Barbadian all-rounder Nyeem Young and include three players who have played in the tournament previously – left-arm pacer Ramon Simmonds and left-handed opener Rashawn Worrell for Pride, and former West Indies Under-19 captain Ackeem Auguste for Volcanoes.

With eight teams in the tournament, there will be seven rounds of matches with the first three taking place between February 7 and 24, the fourth and fifth rounds between March 13 and 23, and the final two rounds between April 10 and 20.
The tournament will feature a significant increase in prize money with the champions receiving U.S. $250 000, while the runners-up will pocket U.S. $100 000.