‘FUTURE BRIGHT FOR WINDIES, SRI LANKA’

Kingstown, St. Vincent – West Indies A Test captain, Kirk Edwards, believes the future of both West Indies and Sri Lanka cricket looks bright after both A teams played to a 0-0 in the two ‘Test’ series over the last two weeks.

Edwards was speaking moments after his side shook hands, ending a rain-hit 2nd ‘Test’ at Arnos Vale in St Vincent where the entire of Day 2 was washed out. He feels the selectors on either side should be happy with how both teams played in the series.

West Indies A Captain, Kirk Edwards, and Sri Lanka A
Captain, Dimuth Karunarathne, share the two 'Test'
trophy after the series ended 0-0.

He said, “It was a chance for the people to actually play and show what they could do. I think it’s a positive for both West Indies and Sri Lanka that they have players that could play over a four-day period, which they will be looking for these players to move into Test cricket. I think both territories should be pretty pleased with the way the players went about the job.”

The matches though were far from any exciting spectacle as the first ‘Test’ at Warner Park consisted of 1 273 runs with six batsmen getting centuries and another four getting half-centuries. Onto St. Vincent and after a sunny first day, Days three and four suffered heavy losses to rain that ultimately ended any chance of a result.

But had the rain not intervened at Arnos Vale, Edwards was optimistic of one team grabbing a win. “When you go into a game, you’re looking for a result and cricket is funny as we saw in St. Kitts; one team gets a huge total and the next team comes in and chases down that total so who knows who would have gotten stuck in here at Arnos Vale?” Edwards stated.


But amid Warner Park’s batsman-friendly pitch and Arnos Vale’s rain, there were periods of play in which West Indies A players dominated, effectively putting their hands up for the selectors to see.

Impressive performances

These players impressed Edwards, who said, “We had Fudadin getting a hundred, Leon Johnson getting his first hundred, Narsingh getting a hundred today [Saturday, Day 4, 2nd ‘Test’], and Nikita Miller I thought bowled really well, and that’s the guy who has been doing well for a very long time. Obviously getting a chance to play four day cricket for the A-Team, he grabbed it with both hands. But then Cummins bowled really well for his four wickets in this game along with the talented Cotterell so we have a lot of positives.”

Not mentioning himself, the skipper too hit a remarkable 190 in the 1st ‘Test’ in a knock that lasted 404 minutes, facing 276 balls, stroking 26 fours and a six. His ultimate goal is to get back into the West Indies Senior Test team, but his plan to get back at the highest level is very simple; “My job is to score runs so every opportunity I get, it’s just to go out there and do that.”

Having captained his native Barbados to Regional 4-Day success this season, Edwards felt privileged to be handed the role of West Indies A Team captain, though he admitted, it was a step up from leading at the domestic level. He said, “It’s totally different because when you’re captaining the West Indies, you’ve got guys coming from different places so in such a short space of time for us to gel it was kind of difficult whereas in Barbados we are more familiar with each other so that was just the difference.”

Following the two Twenty20’s, both teams travel to Grenada for the final leg of the series which entails three One-Days on June 23, 25 and 27.