In a display of dominance and talent, the West Indies Academy clinched a monumental 432-run victory over Emerging Ireland, sealing the first-class series with a convincing 2-0 sweep. The Academy declared on 326-8 giving the Irish a little under two days to get the 576 runs needed for a victory.

Kevin Wickham kicked on from his overnight score to bring up his second first-class century to remain not out on 105. Irish seamer Tom Mayes picked up his second five-fer of the match to finish with figures of 5-75 on the third day at the Coolidge Cricket Ground on Monday.

Full scorecard here

Joshua Bishop once again was the man with the golden arm for the Academy as he made easy work of the Irish batting lineup. He had figures of 4/36 to lead the home team to the commanding triumph. Liam McCarthy 35 and Stephen Doheny 23 were the leading batsman while seamer McKenny Clarke chipped in with 2-16 as Ireland were bowled out for 143.

Kevlon Anderson was Player of the Match.

Academy skipper Nyeem Young beamed with pride as he spoke of the series win, saying

“It was an excellent performance by the boys throughout the series, I am very happy as a captain. There were some very good individual performances throughout the series, a lot of the guys put their hands up and got us through some tricky situations throughout the series.”

Young added “We played the Headley-Weekes series earlier in the year and we had some KPIs for those games, we took them into this series as well and the players just put their hands up, which as a captain makes me very happy.”
Joshua Bishop scored 125 runs and 10 wickets to be named the Four-Day Player of the Series. He was the most outstanding player on show as he followed up another Player of the Series performance in the List A (50 over series) which West Indies earlier won 2-1.

He said:

Joshua Bishop
“It feels good, and I am just glad that my performances were able to help the team win the series convincingly. Coming into the series I was just looking to back myself and my skills, and to be prepared for the regional four-day tournament. I really enjoyed the red-ball format because it’s much different from the white-ball because there are no limitations, I can bowl the red-ball all day and bat the whole day, so I’m really enjoying it. I’m looking forward to pursuing more red-ball cricket in 2024.”
Isai Thorne
Emerging as a surprise package was fast bowler Isai Thorne, who claimed the most wickets in the series. The teenager bowled with genuine pace to end with 12 wickets – which included match figures of 8-41 in the opening match last week.

Series schedule

November 17: 1st One Day, Sir Vivian Richards Stadium- Emerging Ireland won by 26 runs

November 19: 2nd One Day, Coolidge Cricket Ground- West Indies Academy won by 7 wickets

November 21: 3rd One Day, Sir Vivian Richards Stadium- West Indies Academy won by 6 wickets

November 25-28: 1st Four-Day, Coolidge Cricket Ground- West Indies Academy won by an innings and 134 runs

December 2-5: 2nd Four-Day, Coolidge Cricket Ground- West Indies Academy won by 432 runs

-CWI [https://www.windiescricket.com/news/]