 | |
| Personnel | |
|---|---|
| Captain | Kraigg Brathwaite (First class),Shai Hope (List A) |
| Coach | Vasbert Drakes |
| Team information | |
| Colours | Blue, Gold, Black |
| Home ground | Kensington Oval |
| Capacity | 28,000 |
| History | |
| Four Day wins | 23 (plus 1 shared) |
| Super50 Cup wins | 7 (plus 1 shared) |
| CT20 wins | 0 |
| Official website | barbadoscricket |
TheBarbados national cricket team is the nationalcricket team ofBarbados, organised by theBarbados Cricket Association (BCA). Barbados is a member of theWest Indies Cricket Board (WICB), which is a member of theInternational Cricket Council (ICC) in its own right, and Barbadians play internationally for theWest Indies cricket team.
Barbados does not take part in any international competitions (the1998 Commonwealth Games tournament being an exception), but rather in inter-regional competitions in theCaribbean, such as the Professional Cricket League (which includes theRegional Four Day Competition and theRegional Super50). The team competes in the Professional Cricket League under the franchise nameBarbados Pride.
The most prominent Barbadian cricketers includeConrad Hunte,Wes Hall,Charlie Griffith,David Holford,Joel Garner,Gordon Greenidge,Desmond Haynes,Jason Holder,Malcolm Marshall,Garry Sobers,Seymour Nurse,Kemar Roach,Wayne Daniel,Shai Hope,Clyde Walcott,Everton Weekes andFrank Worrell.
Cricket in Barbados dates from at least the late 18th century, with theBarbados cricket buckle depicting a slave playing cricket around 1780.[1] In February 1865, Barbados took part in what was later designated the inauguralfirst-class match in the West Indies, hosting Demerara (nowGuyana) at theGarrison Savannah inBridgetown.[2] Barbados won the match by 138 runs,[3] but lost the return fixture, played inGeorgetown later in the year, by two wickets.[4] In September 1891, theInter-Colonial Tournament was inaugurated, which saw Barbados, British Guiana, andTrinidad engaged in regular competition for the first time. The tournament was played every two seasons until the 1907–08 season, and annually until the 1938–39 season (with a gap during World War I).[1] Barbados won the tournament 11 out of the 28 times it was played, and only failed to make the final on five occasions.[5]
In January 1888, Barbados played their first match against a team that was not another British colony in the West Indies, appearing in a fixture against anamateur team representing the United States.[6] That match was not classed as first-class, but the 1890s saw several tours from English sides that were granted first-class status.[2] In 1896, Barbados also played againstJamaica for the first time, winning by an innings and eight runs.[7][a] A representative West Indies team was organised for the first time in 1897, to playa touring English team led byArthur Priestley.[9] The inaugural team included three Barbadians –Harold Austin,Donald McAuley, andClifford Goodman.[10] Austin, a future speaker of theBarbados House of Assembly, later became the first Barbadian to captain the West Indies, doing so in January 1902 againstanother English team, led byRichard Bennet.[11]
The West Indies played their firstTest matches ona 1928 tour of England, with five members of the 17-man touring party being Barbadians. The most experienced Barbadian on tour was the 40-year-oldGeorge Challenor, who has been called the "first of the great West Indian batsmen".[12] The first Barbadian to captain the West Indies in a Test match wasTeddy Hoad, who did so when England touredduring the 1929–30 season. That match was played at Bridgetown'sKensington Oval, and was the first Test to be held in the West Indies.[13] When the West Indies toured Australia for the first timeduring the 1930–31 season, another Barbadian,Herman Griffith, became the first bowler to dismissDon Bradman for a Test matchduck.[14]
In February 1946, two Barbadian batsmen,Clyde Walcott andFrank Worrell, set a new record for the highestpartnership in first-class cricket, putting on 574 not out against Trinidad.[15][b] Walcott, Worrell, and another Barbadian,Everton Weekes, all made their Test debuts duringEngland's 1947–48 tour of the West Indies. The trio eventually became known as the "three Ws", and as "one of the greatest middle-order line-ups the game has ever seen", were key members of the West Indies from the late 1940s through to the late 1950s.[17] All three eventually received knighthoods, and were inaugural inductees into theICC Hall of Fame in 2009.[18] Worrell was especially esteemed as the first black man to captain the West Indies, doing so on the team's1960–61 tour of Australia.[19] He was succeeded as captain by another Barbadian,Garfield Sobers, whose 365 not out againstPakistan in 1958 set a record for the highest Test score that was not passed for another 36 years.[20]
Barbados gained full independence on 30 November 1966, having earlier been a part of the short-livedWest Indies Federation (between 1958 and 1962).The inaugural season of theShell Shield had been played earlier in the year (and won by Barbados),[21] marking the return of a formal first-class structure for the first time since 1939, when the last Inter-Colonial Tournament was played. In 1973, Barbados also wonthe inaugural edition of what is now theRegional Super50, the West Indianlimited-overs competition.[22] Barbados were the dominant team throughout the early years of the Shell Shield, winning 12 out of the first 20 editions (including five consecutively from the 1975–76 season to the 1979–80 season).[8] In the one-day format, Barbados won the first three editions of the tournament, but did not secure a fourth title until the 1987–88 season, and a fifth title until the2002–03 season.[23]
The West Indian teams that won the1975 and1979 World Cups included three and four Barbadians, respectively.Joel Garner, who took a five-wicket haul againstEngland inthe 1979 final, was a Barbadian,[24] as wasMalcolm Marshall, who was in the squad but did not play any matches. Marshall, who had only made his Test debut the previous year, was one of the world's leading fast bowlers during the 1980s, and established a new record for the most Test wickets taken by a West Indian (since beaten byCourtney Walsh).[25] The West Indian opening batsmen throughout the 1980s wereGordon Greenidge andDesmond Haynes, both Barbadians. Greenidge and Haynes opened the batting together in 148 innings between 1978 and 1991, and put on 6,482 runs together, both records for opening batsmen that have yet to be beaten.[26]
At the1998 Commonwealth Games inKuala Lumpur,Malaysia, Barbados and the other West Indian teams participated individually inthe cricket tournament, held for the first and only time. Barbados easily defeatedNorthern Ireland andBangladesh, but lost toSouth Africa in their final group-stage match to miss out on qualification for the semi-finals.[27] The team's participation in the Commonwealth Games coincided with a period of superiority at domestic first-class level – from the 1994–95 season through to the 2003–04 season, the team won six out of ten titles.[8] Internationally,Floyd Reifer captained the West Indies ina 2009 Test series against Bangladesh, the first Barbadian to do so since Desmond Haynesin 1990. However, his appointment was only temporary, coming during a players' strike.[28]Jason Holder, who was appointed Test captain in 2015, is the most recent Barbadian to serve as captain of the West Indies.[29]
Players with international caps are listed inbold.
| Name | Birth date | Batting style | Bowling style | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batsmen | ||||
| Jonathan Carter | (1987-11-16)16 November 1987 (age 37) | Left-handed | Right-arm medium | |
| Kraigg Brathwaite | (1992-12-01)1 December 1992 (age 32) | Right-handed | Right-arm for spin | First-class Captain and captain of theWest Indies in Test cricket |
| Shamarh Brooks | (1988-10-01)1 October 1988 (age 36) | Right-handed | Right-arm leg spin | |
| Shayne Moseley | (1994-04-11)11 April 1994 (age 30) | Left-handed | Right-arm medium | |
| Kjorn Ottley | (1989-12-09)9 December 1989 (age 35) | Left-handed | Right-arm off spin | |
| Nicholas Kirton | (1998-05-06)6 May 1998 (age 26) | Right-handed | - | Plays international cricket for Canada |
| Leniko Boucher | (1997-09-13)13 September 1997 (age 27) | Right-handed | - | |
| Roshon Primus | (1995-08-14)14 August 1995 (age 29) | Left-handed | Right-arm medium | |
| All-rounders | ||||
| Kyle Mayers | (1992-09-08)8 September 1992 (age 32) | Left-handed | Right-arm medium | |
| Justin Greaves | (1994-04-26)26 April 1994 (age 30) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | Played for West Indies Emerging team inSuper50 |
| Shamar Springer | (1997-11-26)26 November 1997 (age 27) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | |
| Jason Holder | (1991-11-05)5 November 1991 (age 33) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium-fast | |
| Roston Chase | (1992-03-22)22 March 1992 (age 33) | Right-handed | Right-arm off spin | |
| Wicket-keepers | ||||
| Tevyn Walcott | (1994-11-25)25 November 1994 (age 30) | Right-handed | - | |
| Shane Dowrich | (1991-10-30)30 October 1991 (age 33) | Right-handed | - | |
| Shai Hope | (1993-11-10)10 November 1993 (age 31) | Right-handed | - | List A Captain |
| Spin Bowlers | ||||
| Ashley Nurse | (1988-12-22)22 December 1988 (age 36) | Right-handed | Right-arm off spin | |
| Jomel Warrican | (1992-05-20)20 May 1992 (age 32) | Right-handed | Left-arm orthodox | |
| Joshua Bishop | (2000-05-30)30 May 2000 (age 24) | Right-handed | Left-arm orthodox | |
| Pace Bowlers | ||||
| Chemar Holder | (1998-05-03)3 May 1998 (age 26) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast | |
| Keon Harding | (1996-11-01)1 November 1996 (age 28) | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | Played for West Indies Emerging team inSuper50 |
| Kemar Roach | (1988-06-30)30 June 1988 (age 36) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast | |
| Miguel Cummins | (1990-09-05)5 September 1990 (age 34) | Left-handed | Right-arm fast | |
| Carlos Brathwaite | (1988-07-18)18 July 1988 (age 36) | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | Played forCombined Campuses and Colleges inSuper50 |
Source:Regional Four Day Competition,Regional Super50
The primary venue for Barbados isBridgetown'sKensington Oval, which has a capacity of 28,000 people. Kensington Oval is the only ground in the country to have hosted international cricket (Tests,One Day Internationals, orTwenty20 Internationals), and was the venue forthe final of the2007 World Cup.[30] An additional nine grounds have hosted Barbados home matches (with eitherfirst-class orList A status),[31] listed below in order of first use:
One other ground in Barbados has hosted first-class cricket without hosting any home games for Barbados –Foursquare Park, in Highland.[32]
| Commonwealth Games record | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | GP | W | L | T | NR | ||
 1998[33] | Group stage | 6/16 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Total | 0 Title | 1/1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
