Geographical neighbours and cricket rivals, the Leeward Islands Hurricanes and Windward Islands Volcanoes will square off in the premier match as Round 4 of the West Indies Championship bowls off at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad on today Wednesday.
Both teams are coming off victories in Round 3, the Hurricanes with a two-wicket win over defending champions Barbados Pride at the Queen’s Park Oval and the Volcanoes with a 181-run win over the Jamaica Scorpions at the Guyana National Stadium.
Hurricanes skipper Jahmar Hamilton is cognizant of the “good cricket” that both teams are playing.
He said:
“It’ll be a good showdown, our bowlers are ready for the challenge and my team is ready for the challenge so it’s all about us going out there and playing some hard cricket.”
Hamilton added that it was key for his team to continue building partnerships throughout their innings as this is what led to them defeating Barbados last week and will help them against the Volcanoes.
“The partnership is what counts in the game, Hodge wasn’t getting runs but he was there with Powell who was scoring. Our middle has to continue and propel the start we get for us to get a big score. We are here to play hard cricket which is the Leeward Islands spirit,” Hamilton said.
His opposite number from the Volcanoes, Alick Athanaze shared a similar sentiment.
“Basically what we want to do as a team is continue playing good cricket and trusting the processes that we have been doing. We have been gelling as a team, so we just want to continue that. We’re trying not to put too much pressure on ourselves, we’re leaving the outside noise outside of the dressing room. We’ll continue to keep an eye on their players but trust our house and continue playing good cricket,” the left-handed batter said.
In the other fourth-round matches: Trinidad and Tobago Red Force take on Barbados Pride at Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad, and Guyana Harpy Eagles face Jamaica Scorpions at Guyana National Stadium.
The first ball daily is 10 am (9 am Jamaica).
Fans can stream all West Indies Championship matches live on the Windies Cricket YouTube channel and access live ball-by-ball scoring at http://windiescricket.com/ match center. Following the Championship, the new Headley Weekes Series will feature three teams and matches, drawing from top performers in the 2023 West Indies Championship and players outside the starting West Indies Test XI. The Series will run from April 18 to May 6 at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua.
-ENDS-