ACS Overseas First-Class Annual 2019

613 West Indies in 2018/19 Seven heavy defeats against two big wins was hardly a satisfactory return for West Indies in the Test arena in 2018/19 and 2019. Losing twice in India in October was no disgrace, but the subsequent 2-0 loss in Bangladesh – which included Bangladesh’s first-ever Test victory by an innings – was much more disappointing, particularly as it followed less than six months after a 2-0 victory at home over the same opponents. So wins by 381 runs and ten wickets in the first two Tests against England in early 2019 came as a very pleasant surprise, offset only a little by the 232-run defeat in the third Test. Two more losses to India in the 2019 ‘summer’ season left West Indies where they had been in the ICC rankings throughout this period – eighth, having been well adrift of seventh place until Pakistan lost points in the annual adjustment to the table, and for a while with ninth-placed Bangladesh nipping very closely at their heels.  Few of the West Indian side enhanced their reputations over this period, with the prominent exception of captain Jason Holder, who maintained the recent improvements to both his batting and bowling figures, and can now fairly be classed as a fully-fledged Test all-rounder. Credit too to Roston Chase, whose only eight wickets in the series against England all came in one innings as he bowled his side to victory at Bridgetown.  West Indies’A side played three games against a strong India A team in the Caribbean in the 2019 ‘off’ season, losing the first two but drawing the third thanks to solid top-order batting in their second innings.  The 30 matches of the domestic Four-Day competition produced 29 results and only a single draw. The tournament was won – for the fifth year in a row – by Guyana, who were victorious in seven of their ten games. Second and third places were taken by Barbados and Leeward Islands respectively, with six wins each. In a bizarre conclusion to the season, Leeward Islands declared their second innings against Barbados when still behind to concede the match, believing that this would secure them second place; but they had miscalculated, and ended up 0.2 points behind their rivals.  Devon Smith (Windward Islands), whose feats over the years were highlighted in last year’s Annual , was once again the season’s leading runscorer, with 745 runs at 43.82. Generously- proportioned off-spinner Rahkeem Cornwall (Leeward Islands) headed the wicket-takers with 54 wickets at 17.68; no other bowler took more than 42. (KSW) Regional Four-Day Tournament 2018/19: Final table P W L D BatBP BowBP Pts 12 0 3 1 Guyana 10 7 3 0 16 54.2 154.2 2 Barbados 10 6 4 0 14 48.2 134.2 3 Leeward Islands 10 6 3 1 15 44 134 4 Trinidad and Tobago 10 4 5 1 18 43.4 112.4 5 Jamaica 10 3 7 0 15 46.2 97.2 6 Windward Islands 10 3 7 0 11 45 92