Month: January 2019

5:01 PM ET Shai Hope has said he considered qualifying to play for England while at school in the country. Hope made his Test debut for West Indies against England at Bridgetown in 2015, aged just 21. But just a couple of years before that, he acknowledged it crossed his mind to go the same route as Chris Jordan and now Jofra Archer and complete the England qualification process. Hope…

3:19 PM ET England could face some tough selection decisions after a first look at the Kensington Oval surface suggested less help for seamers than was anticipated. Despite much of the talk in recent weeks suggesting the pitches in this series would be full of pace and carry, England have turned up to find a mottled surface that appears to be both damp and crumbling. While West Indies officials claim…

1:07 PM ET England have to be “open-minded” about their selection policy ahead of the World Cup, according to the ODI captain, Eoin Morgan, who said he would not rule out the likes of Jofra Archer or Sam Curran making it into the final 15-man squad. Neither player will be involved in the upcoming limited-overs series in the West Indies – Archer will have to wait until March to even…

12:07 PM ET ESPNcricinfo staff The PCB has awarded central contracts to 17 women cricketers for the first half of 2019. In a press release, the Pakistan board said the new contracts were handed out after “the settlement of all outstanding payments from the July-December 2018 contract period”. In 2018, the women cricketers contracted with the PCB faced issues with regards to payments and drawing up of new contracts as…

11:26 AM ET Cricket West Indies (CWI) have requested the ICC insist on a first-class warm-up match ahead of every Test series in the World Test Championship. CWI were disappointed that, despite several requests to the ECB, England declined the invitation to play a first-class game ahead of the Test series in the Caribbean. Instead they took part in two, two-day warm-up matches involving 12-players per side. CWI were also…

11:23 AM ET ESPNcricinfo staff Vasbert Drakes, the former West Indies allrounder, has been named as one of three assistant coaches for the forthcoming Test series against England by the interim head coach ,Richard Pybus. Drakes, who played 12 Tests and 34 ODIs between 1995 and 2004, was the head coach of West Indies women when they emulated the men’s squad in winning the 2016 World T20 in India –…

10:48 AM ET Liam Brickhill South Africa are wary of a resurgent Pakistan team that cruised to a five-wicket win in the first of five one-day internationals in Port Elizabeth on Saturday. “We know Pakistan is a good one-day outfit,” opener Reeza Hendricks, who contributed 45 to an opening stand of 82 in the first ODI, said. “They’ve been performing really well over the years in one-day cricket, so we’re…