West Indies draws first test against South Africa

Top-order batsman Alick Athanaze missed out on his first Test century as West Indies salvaged a draw against South Africa in the opening Test match at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad.

The left-handed batsman scored 92 runs of the 298 needed for victory. The West Indies reached 201/5 on the last day of the Test match which was affected by rain.

Athanaze faced 116 balls smacking nine boundaries, helping his team recover from a shaky start after they lost captain Kraigg Brathwaite for a duck in the first over and fellow opener Mikyle Louis, for nine, with the score on 18.

Athanaze shared in half-century stands with Kavem Hodge and all-rounder Jason Holder.

He had earlier added 46 for the third wicket with Keacy Carty, who hit 31 with four boundaries, and 63 with Hodge, who scored 29 with four boundaries.

But entering the 90s Athanaze was caught by Ryan Rickelton off Keshav Maharaj (4-88), leaving the West Indies at 192/5.

Former captain Jason Holder (31) and vice-captain Joshua Da Silva then batted out the remaining overs to ensure the game was drawn with 6.4 overs of play remaining. A total of 142 overs were lost during the five days of the match.

Earlier, South Africa with a first innings lead of 124 declared their second innings on 173.3 with Tristan Stubbs hitting his first Test 50, scoring a brilliant 68 off 50 balls with six boundaries and two sixes before he was bowled by Kemar Roach. 

Opener Tony de Zorzi scored 45 off 60 deliveries with four boundaries. He was caught at the wicket by Da Silva off spinner, Jomel Warrican,(2-57). 

Maharaj was later declared the Man of the Match bagging 8-164 from his 66.2 overs.

Following the game, Brathwaite said he was happy with the batting.

South African Temba Bavuma said his team tried “our best to get a result in our favor.”

Cricket West Indies to appeal Guyana court ruling over Bassarath

Cricket West Indies (CWI) will appeal a High Court ruling in Guyana, which declared the nomination and election of Azim Bassarath as CWI vice-president in March 2023, “null, void and of no legal effect.”

CWI’s decision comes after High Court judge Justice Navindra Singh ruled that Bassarath’s election as vice-president was contrary to CWI Articles of Association and the laws and rules governing elections.

A statement by Guyana Cricket Board’s (GCB) counsel outlined the reasons which led to the judges’ decision, and CWI’s appeal.

Also, another GCB statement on August 5 confirmed that they were not “privy to any meeting of the CWI directors where the decision was made to file an appeal against the ruling of the learned judge.”

Bassarath was appointed CWI vice-president and the current CWI president Kishore Shallow was also elected both for two-year terms at the association’s annual general meeting in Antigua on March 23, 2023. .

In the statement, the GCB said they did nominate Bassarath for the deputy post in January 2023 but withdrew the nomination in writing before the election because of “certain reports /information received by them in relation to Bassarath’s conduct as president of the TT Cricket Board.”

At the election, GCB made objections to Bassarath’s nomination but CWI returning officer Gregory Nicholls and a “selected few immediate past directors of CWI” met in a “huddle” and still elected him vice-president.

The GCB said they wrote CWI several letters highlighting their “wrongdoing” but refused to “correct the wrong” over one year later.

Hailing Bassarath’s election “unlawful”, the GCB approached the Guyana High Court for redress.

“Bassarath, Nicholls and CWI were named as respondents in the High Court action and notwithstanding that they were served with the proceedings in May 2024 and June 2024, they did not file any defenses of applications prior to the first court hearing in July 5, 2024,” the release read.

It added that the High Court granted further time for them to do so but they did not.

CWI filed an application challenging the court’s jurisdiction and claiming the matter should be referred to arbitration which was opposed by GCB counsel Arudranauth Gossai.

In response to CWI’s arbitration request, the court stated that CWI never offered any different interpretation to the Articles of Association and therefore it could not be said that a dispute arose as to the interpretation of the Articles of Association and therefore the arbitration clause did not apply. 

Singh then ordered Bassarath’s election “null and void” and “unlawful”, that GCB’s withdrawal of its nomination was “valid”, declared the vice-president position “vacant” and that a new election be called to fill this position.

The GCB also requested that the costs incurred up to $100,000 to be paid to them by CWI, before Aug. 26.