ACS Overseas First-Class Annual 2020

543 West Indies in 2019/20 West Indies’ solitary Test engagement of the 2019/20 season was against new boys Afghanistan, notionally a home match for the opposition but in practice played on neutral turf at Lucknow. Of course West Indies’ laurels have lost their lustre in recent times, but any concern they felt about meeting opponents fresh from an impressive win against Bangladesh were soon dispelled as their well-upholstered off-spinner Rahkeem Cornwall took 7-57 in the first innings and 10-103 in the match. West Indies won by nine wickets. It seemed very likely at one stage that the coronavirus might account for West Indies’ next scheduled Tests, in England in 2020; but in the event, the tour went ahead on a radically revised schedule with spectators excluded and both teams confined to a so-called ‘bubble’ to minimize the risk of infection. The first Test (and incidentally the first first-class match anywhere for nearly four months) proved to be a well-contested and thoroughly enjoyable game of cricket in which the tourists eventually prevailed by four wickets; but this encouraging performance was not to be repeated as England’s seam attack, so potent in their own conditions, exposed the brittleness of the West Indian batting. The upshot was that the home team won the second Test comfortably and the third by a distance. Despite the disappointment of a 2-1 defeat in England, West Indies might reflect that their overall return of two wins and two defeats was better than in most recent years. It did not lift them from eighth place in the ICC rankings, unchanged from a year before, but it did help ensure a healthy lead over Bangladesh in ninth. And at least the Test win in England provided West Indies’ first points in the World Test Championship and lifted them to seventh place, ahead of South Africa and Bangladesh. Maybe more WTC points might have been forthcoming if out-of-form South Africa had fulfilled their planned two-Test visit to the Caribbean in July and August, but coronavirus and the rescheduling of the tour to England put paid to that. On the domestic scene, Guyana had embarked on the Regional Four-Day Tournament with hopes of a sixth consecutive title, and their prospects seemed good after they crushed Leeward Islands in the first round at the same time as Barbados, last season’s runners-up, were unexpectedly going down to defeat against the Windwards. But in the very next round, Barbados achieved a decisive win over the defending champions, and from that point never looked back. The Tournament was still in full swing when the pandemic forced a halt with two full rounds to go; but the destination of the title was surely beyond doubt. Barbados, having won six of their eight games to that point, were acclaimed as champions by the West Indies Board, finally putting an end to Guyana’s winning streak. In assessing individual batting performances, it would be fair to say for several years now that anyone matching or surpassing Devon Smith must be considered to have had a highly satisfactory season. The veteran Grenadian maintained his standards in 2019/20 with 649 runs at 46.35; but his aggregate was exceeded by current Test player Jermaine Blackwood of Jamaica, with 768 at 51.20, while Kyle Mayers of Barbados, with 654 at 50.30, also narrowly passed the ‘Smith test’. Among the bowlers, Guyanese slow left-armer Veeraswamy Permaul was preeminent, not least because of his performances against Jamaica: in the two fixtures he claimed 4-39 and 6-50 in the home game followed by an astonishing 7-59 and 8-18 in the return, thus claiming 25-166 against these opponents. Not surprisingly he led the overall wicket-taking lists with 50 at only 12.98. Another slow-left-armer, Trinidadian Akeal Hosein, tied for second place with Chemar Holder (fast-medium) of Barbados; but with 36 wickets apiece they were well behind Permaul, and in the virus-shortened season no one else took more than 31. (JCB)