West Indies’ batsman Denesh Ramdin is hit as he miscues a switch-hit during their ICC World Twenty20 2016
cricket match against Afghanistan in Nagpur, India, Sunday, March 27, 2016. Associated Press / Saurabh Das, fi le
ICC bans WI batsman for ball-tampering
By Azad Ali
West Indies talented batsman Nicholas
Pooran was on Wednesday slapped
with a four-match ban for ball-tampering,
casting a dark shadow over the Caribbean
side’s recent one-day whitewash
of Afghanistan.
The incident took place during the
third One-Day International (ODI) on
Monday when television footage showed
the 24-year-old wicketkeeper / batsman
“scratched the surface of the ball with is
thumbnail.”
On-field umpires Bismillah Shinwari
and Ahmed Durrani, along with
third umpire Ahmed Pakteen and fourth
umpire Izatullah, reported the matter
and Pooran on Tuesday pleaded guilty to
the charge of “changing the condition of
the ball.”
Pooran will now miss the three-match
Twenty20 International series against
the Afghans starting this week and also
sit out the first Twenty20 of another
Caribbean L 58 ife, NOVEMBER 22-28, 2019
three-match series against India next
month.
“I want to issue a sincere apology
to my teammates, supporters and the
Afghanistan team for what transpired on
the field of play on Monday in Lucknow,
India,” Pooran said in a statement.
“I recognize that I made an extreme
error in judgment and I fully accept the
ICC penalty”, he added.
The young left-hander has played 16
ODIs and 14 Twenty20 internationals for
West Indies.
He scored 21 against Afghanistan in
the third ODI last Monday, which the
regional team won by five wickets to win
the three-match series 3-0.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) President,
Ricky Skerrit said Pooran must use the
ball-tampering incident as a “learning
experience.”
“He will suffer the penalty and will be
missed from the team as a result,” Skerrit
said.
Barbados
Continued from Page 57
ahead of Barbados Tridents who badly
needed a victory to win one of the
four groups in League ‘C’ of the Confederation
of North, Central American
and Caribbean Football Nations
League competition thereby earning
a spot in the qualifiers playoff for the
four remaining places in the prestigious
Gold Cup competition.
Trident’s Hallam Hope scored in
the 32nd minute and Armando Lashley
notched one in the 86th, then
Hope came back to put the last nail in
Cayman’s coffin with a 90th minute
goal.
This victory also earned the Bajans
a promotion in the CONCACAF ranking
system, moving them from
League ‘C’ to League ‘B’ in the threeleague
hierarchy with League ‘A’
being the highest.
Twelve teams will play off in the
qualifiers in June 2020 for the four
remaining Gold Cup places. Among
them are eight Caribbean teams,
Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti,
Montserrat, Guyana, St. Vincent and
the Grenadines, Barbados and The
Bahamas.
Caribbean teams already qualified
for the Gold Cup based on their
performance in the Nations League
matches that ended Tuesday night
are Grenada, Jamaica, Curacao, Martinique,
and Surname.
Matthews set the tone earlier when
she removed dangerous 15-year-old
Shefall Verma for seven in the opening
over with score on eight.
India Women went on to score 50
for 7 off their nine overs.
In reply, West Indies Women came
up short at 45 for 5 off their allotted
overs. India led the five-match series
4-0.
Opener Evin Lewis made 24 from 23
balls but no other batsman passed 11
as the West Indies paid the price for a
slow start and losing wickets at critical
moments during the run chase.
Naveen-ul-Haq a 20-year-old fast
bowler who was handed the new ball
undermined the innings with 3 for 24
and also got the key wicket of captain
Kieron Pollard for 11 in the 18th over,
to snuff out the regional team last realistic
hope of victory. The result came
just 24 hours following their 41-run
loss at the same venue and marked
their fourth defeat to Afghanistan in
seven Twenty20s, but their first-ever
series defeat.
For the World Twenty20 Champions,
the series defeat was their third straight
following results against England and
India earlier this year and was their
17th loss in 21 Twenty20 games in the
last 20 months.
The day before, fast bowler Karim
Janat ripped through the West Indies
batting with figures of 5 for 11 from
four overs. The regional team crashed
to 108 for eight wickets. Afghanistan
made 147 in their first turn at the
crease. West Indies will now play a oneoff
Test against the Afghans starting at
the end of this month.
Continued from Page 57
West Indies’ Afy Fletcher celebrates
during their ICC Women’s
World Twenty20 2016 cricket
semi-fi nal match against New
Zealand at the Wankhede stadium
in Mumbai, India, Wednesday,
March 31, 2016.
Associated Press / Rafi q Maqbool, File
Continued from Page 57
WEST INDIES SUFFER SERIES DEFEAT
WI Women
West Indies’ batsman Nicholas
Pooran.
Associated Press / Scott Heppell, fi le