 Yeah, voting off this week of the Sportsmax Zone with a cricket. West Indies took a 1-0 advantage in their 3-match 1-day international series against England, winning the first and counter by 4 wickets in Antigua and Barbuda on Sunday. Led by their captain Shay Hope, the winners chased 326 to win, with 7 deliveries to spare. Hope carried his bat for 109, while Dominic and Alec Athene scored 66. Ramario Shepard also contributed an important cameo of 48 from 28 deliveries, as the winners reached 326 for 6 of 48.5 deliveries. The visitors had earlier been dismissed for 325, Harry Brooktop scored with 71, while Zach Crowley added 48. For the winners, Seymour, Ramario Shepard and Ashain Thomas, along with the spinner Guterkesh Moti, took 2 wickets each. Now, Shay Hope made the following comments following the match. I don't want to know if we had pretty much had a game in the balance, and like I said, if we had that over to finish the game, I always try to finish the game with one over to spare if we can, and I don't want to leave it up to anyone else, so they were just to finish off on the back end. Yeah, he didn't leave it to anyone else at all. Let's now join Nikhil Utam-Chandani, international cricket commentator, who is in Antigua and Barbuda, and who was on commentary for yesterday's first one day international. Nikhil, it's a pleasure to have you back on the Sportsmax Zone, and it is especially a pleasure to be talking about a West Indies victory, and by and large, a real solid performance from the Caribbean men. Yeah, most definitely, Ricardo, before I start, I want to say, thoroughly enjoy your commentary on the football a couple of days ago. I had it on, you know, the German-Acan football, the excitement. It inspired me for yesterday, so well done to you, and well done to the West Indies as well. I think that performance is exactly what you want after there's been a lot of grief around the Caribbean for West Indian cricket fans. I think just the fact that obviously we missed out on the World Cup, we won't be in the next Champions Trophy. So to put in a performance like that against, yes, an inexperienced England team, but a team that really hit the West Indies, I think, in the mouth of the few punches at various times, and the way that they fought back, to me, was quite impressive. I mean, if you go back to the start, the way that Salt and Jax got them, got England off to a great start after winning the toss, they got to 184 balls. And then even when the West Indies were able to take some wickets, get the openers in quick succession, England still kept going hard. Harry Brook was brilliant with his half century. And you know, in 50 over cricket, you tend to say after 30 overs, you multiply that score by two, and that's where teams aim at. Well, after 30, England were 183 for four, so they're looking at over through 50. So the fact that the West Indies restricted them to 325 on a pitch that I thought was really conducive for batting, even though, yes, it spun, I thought that was really impressive. And I even think they can even be better at the back end of the innings because they conceded a 51 run. So all in all, I mean, Shea Hope was brilliant. That partnership with Shepard, and I'm sure we'll get into it. But I think a really great way to start the series, not only for the team morale, but for the fans of the West Indies who deserve some success. Yeah, good. Akesh Monty did put down Zuck Crowley in the field. A few other half chances may be going down. How would you assess the West Indies overall performance in the field, notwithstanding that you have pointed out that they did pretty well to restrict England to just 325. And I say just in the context of what you just explained. Yeah, I would say, I mean, I remember Jonathan Trot, who was the Afghanistan head coach at the World Cup, talking about the one per centers, and he actually focuses on that more than the other facets of the game. And that is the extras, the fielding and the running between the wickets specifically. I would add one to that and then dot balls for the West Indies. I saw an improvement in the batting side of things in terms of rotation of strike. I think by and large that was a big part because of Shea Holt's presence at the crease and his ability to rotate strike. But the relationship he has with guys like Shea Holt, I'm sorry, with guys like Sherman Hepmire, Romario Shepard, the running between the wickets for me was really impressive yesterday. And I can see that there's been a clear intent to lessen the amount of dots that they face in terms of the fielding a few half chances, but I thought the ground fielding was relatively tight. And then towards the back end, the catching improved as the game went on. So I think with some inexperience, you're always going to get a few drops you saw it from England's perspective as well, where there were a few extra runs given in the field to the West Indies. So I think yeah, there's a few areas because it's that Crawley drop could have been a lot more costly. He was dropped twice off the bowling of Yannick Carrier. So I think once they can rectify that going forward, we've seen all the raw materials that show the West Indies can win this series. Yeah, you touched on Shea Holt, and I just want to get into that a little bit. It was a fantastic innings from the West Indies captain yesterday. No doubt about it. He now has 16 centuries to go with his 24 half centuries in one day international cricket 11th West Indian to get to 5000 one day international runs. In terms of quickness of getting there, the joint third fastest ever, you have Babar Azam, who is the fastest at 97 innings, and he is tied with Viv Richards and Virat Kohli on 114 innings. I want to get your analysis of Shea Hope as the complete one day international player. We have seen him make a lot of runs, but he's also been criticized for how he has made those runs in one day cricket. Where do you stand on the debate of Shea Hope in ODI cricket and whether his numbers are a true reflection of what he has brought to the West Indies ODI batting lineup? It's actually funny, Ricardo, because I was having this discussion a bit earlier. When you think about the best in one international cricket, no, you look at guys like Virat Kohli and Babar Azam, both were on that list of fastest of 5000, as you mentioned. But I would argue that at times Shea Hope has had an even more difficult challenge than them because they have the luxury of having a Rohit Sharma, Imam Ul Ha, Afakha Zaman at the top of the order. And sometimes they get to bat in the middle overs when it's a lot of spin. And you know, it's not against a swinging new ball. Shea Hope has not only batted at four now, as we've seen, he's opened the batting against a swinging ball, but also even batting at four, there've been a lot of times, especially this year, where he's almost virtually opened the batting. So I think the most impressive thing for me is not the volume of runs or the quickness. It is the way that he has adapted. And as you rightfully pointed out, he has been heavily criticized in years past about the strike rate in which he's scored his runs at. This is the first year where he's scored at a higher than 90 strike rate. And still the consistency has maintained. He's got 300s and I think 350s now. And as a captain, which is another responsibility and another challenge, and still he finds a way to take it on, to hit more sixes, to win them games when chasing. And it's just the intelligence man. Yesterday was one of the first times where I saw him under pressure when he faced Ray Anameh, the leg spinner, and still never gave it away, invited his time and knew that Shepherd was at the other end and batted really smartly to ensure he was there, as he mentioned earlier, towards the back end. Right, really special stuff from Shea Hope, but there was also a special innings from the man, Romario Shepherd. He got 48 runs and Nikhil talked to us about the importance of what we saw from Romario Shepherd in getting the windies over the line. I think Romario Shepherd continues to be an improving cricketer and a real asset for Weston East Cricket. And I think in all three passes of the game, I wonder how they use him in ODI cricket and whether him bowling the new ball is the best way. Oshane Thomas for me was really impressive yesterday with that slightly new ball, but also in the Super 50 bowling the new ball. I wonder if there can be a swap in terms of the roles because you look at the numbers, Shepherd historically has bowed a lot better using the variations he possesses and going to those wide Yorkers at the back end of the inning. So that's food for thought for Sammy Hope and others in terms of his batting. Well, we've all seen in the CPL where he struck it over 200 this year and for the Weston East in previous times, the Ireland series where he scored a 50. He's always shipped in with his performances. I think having that sort of power and finishing ability. Remember, there's no Robman Powell. There's no Jason Holder. So there would have been a lot more on us on his shoulders with just Kyariah and Azari Joseph to come. And still he was able to play that fearless brand of cricket, but also be very smart in which in terms of the bowlers he decided to take down and also the ends in which he decided to take the attack to the bowlers from because there was a win factor, which they had to manage. And I think they did it to a tee. It would have obviously helped having the experience of Shea Hope at the crease, but Shepherd continues, I think, to grow immensely as a batter and it adds a huge value to him, not only an international cricket, but in the leagues around the world in which he's sort of established himself in in the last two years. I have to agree with you there, Nikhil. And Shea Hope in his post match interview, he stressed the importance of, you know, chasing whatever total is put on the board by the opponent because for quite some time, whenever Westonese had a massive total to chase, you just feel as if, you know, the bat is going to crumble and we're not going to get that score. I think based on that interview, Shea Hope is trying to drill into the player's mindset that we are a batting team as opposed to just, you know, relying on the bowlers. Do you get that sense and do you get the sense that it's being reflected in the combination of batting performances and batting starts that a lot of the players got? Well, I'll credit them on the positivity in which they started the innings. I mean, to be a hundred and three without loss. And what has been a resident opening pair in terms of Mayors and King, now a new role for Athenese. And the way that he went up to the top of the order and just dominated, he faced an examination of short bowling. What I would say, Moriah, is that I think there needs to be more responsibility, especially in areas like the middle overs for the Westonese. And Hope and Sami have been very vocal about it in the media and the press leading up to this series. And obviously it would have pained both of them to be at home watching the World Cup and not in India. It was the first time since 2019 that the Westonese have chased over 300 in the ODI. So it tells you all you need to know about just how, I think, disappointing we've been in terms of chasing totals. So the fact that we can take this step, but key in terms of the key thing for me was the way that they were able to just fight back. Usually after that really quick start you would see from Mayors and King, the spin would come on in the middle overs and just completely dominate. And then there would be a capitulation and the Westonese would inevitably fall short. It was different yesterday. Even Ray Anamed and Liam Livingston both a really good 10 overs fell. I think it was like 33 runs they conceded and took two wickets. And still, Hettmeier came in, he was positive. Shay Hope, they built a small partnership and they set up the game and 12 and over in the last 10 is not easy, but it was a good surface. And in the end they got the job done. Yeah, definitely showed a lot of maturity in that chase. And you have to congratulate the Westonese on a really good job. Even while we point out, Nikhil, that of course it is an inexperienced England squad for this three mat series. Quickly before we go, I just wanted to point out that Ashim Amla was the other player who has gotten to 5000 ODI runs faster than Shay Hope. So he took 101 innings, Babar Azam leading the way with 97 and then you have Koli Viv Richards and Shay Hope, 114 innings to get to 5000 runs. You'll be chatting again soon, Nikhil. The second ODI will be on Wednesday and we'll be catching up then. Take care. All right, my other best. Thanks for having me. And keep up the great work. All right, we'll take a break. We'll be back with more on the Sportsmax Zone.