 Alright, let's switch to cricket, lovely cricket, round 4 of the ongoing West Indies 4 day championship concluded at various grounds across the Caribbean on Saturday, where the leader is taking a hit in their campaign for the title. Let's have a look at the first match, the Wynwood Islands Volcanoes, taking on the Trinidadian Tobago Red Force. This was at Queen's Park, over in Port of Spain, the Wynwoods Volcanoes, 191 in their first innings, Alec Atheneus, getting a house-centre there, 56 against Anderson Philipp, 5 for 37, Trinidadian Tobago in reply, 294, so they had a 103-run first innings advantage, Tian Webster with 107 not out, and Kenneth Dembo taking 5 wickets for the Volcanoes. Then the Wynwoods in their second time at bat, doing much better than the first innings, getting 288 German Salazzano, getting 70 in the second innings for the Volcanoes. Jadon Seals, 3 for 45, good to see him fit and bowling well, and then the Trinidadian Tobago Red Force, getting to victory 186 for 4, Zed Gulli retiring hurt on 90, Kavim Hodge taking 1 for 19, well the best bowler for the Volcanoes, Red Force winning that one by 6 wickets. Let's get Nikhil Utamshandani on this discussion, Nikhil, great to have you, who are you doing first of all? Yeah, I'm doing well Ricardo, it was amazing to see you in the field yesterday at that Jamaica game, I'm doing some nice hard work, you know? Yeah, I was going to say the only man who's watched more regional cricket in the last week than I have is right here, Nikhil Utamshandani. Talk to me about this win on Ireland's Trinidadian Tobago Red Force game, because the win was when they played their first three rounds here in Jamaica looked rather imperious, and I wondered if they could go through the campaign unbeaten Trinidadian Tobago trying to build some momentum, this must have been a pretty good win for them. Yeah, massive win Ricardo, I think I expected on paper you look at the two teams, especially that the win was welcome, someone like Ali Athene is back, great to see him contributing, but I would have thought they would have started as favourites in a Trinidad batting line up that I think is still trying to find its way, trying to find that I think right combination and guys like Tiong Webster who came to the fore is someone that I think really needs to gain that sort of consistency and he's shown us the potential of what he can do at the regional level. This is his 25th first class game and he's now not just 300, but I think we've seen this a couple of times in terms of his talent, think back a couple of years ago when he was in the Caribbean Premier League. We've seen what he's capable of, but I think he'll be really hoping now that someone that came can build on that hundred and maybe get one or two more to end the season and really sort of knock on the door. But what was the big stand up for me was that the West Indian players are those that are sort of on the fringes. So you look at the silver, Athene is both getting 50s and then see is the Anderson Fiddler who played Test cricket at the end, well in 2023. It's great to see those guys contributing and I think that is what we need from our regional setup. When we get our West Indian internationals and 18 players, being the ones that are standing out and being the ones that are dominating. Yeah, we've been singing that tune for the duration of the tournament so far. Let me quickly just run through the other results from round four before we move on. Nikhil, where do we start with the other matches? Let's go. Combined campuses and colleges, yeah, taking on the Leone Islands Hurricanes. This was at the Sir Francois Memorial Ground. Combined campuses and colleges, 273 in their first innings of our Goodrich, top scoring with 75. The Leone Islands Hurricanes replying with 259. Kyren Paul, 114, CCC, 361 in their second innings and the Leone Islands Hurricanes getting to victory, losing seven wickets. So they win by three wickets. Moving along to the next encounter. Guyana Harpy Eagles taking on the Barbados Pride at the Coolidge Cricket Ground. The Harpy Eagles 436, batting 142.1 overs. Always good to see, but it was Verasame Pomolou, top scored with a non-beaten 90, Kimmar Roach, 2-4-52, then the Barbados Pride, 230. Jonathan Driggs getting 101 in their second innings. Guyana Harpy Eagles 136-4-8 declared Kevlin Anderson, the top scorer with 3-3-3-4-32 for Jamil Wark and the left-arm spinner and the Barbados Pride 309, the Harpy Eagles winning by 3-3 runs. That was quite an exciting contest there. It was also exciting at Sabina Park in Kingston, where the Jamaica Scorpions beat the West Indies Academy by two wickets. West Indies Academy 324, Joshua Dorn, top scoring with 83. OJ Shields 3-4-38 for the Scorpions. Pete Salmon led with 81 for Scorpions as they replied with 3-7-2. The West Indies Academy then got to 281 after Joshua Bishop batting 6-9-6 and then chasing 235 for victory. The Scorpions got to 236-8, led by the captain Brandon King with 65, so two-half centuries in the match for Brandon King and Joshua Bishop ending with 10 wickets in the match, the left-arm Barbadian spinner for the West Indies Academy. So that was pretty good to see. And just a quick word, since we ended there on Brandon King, because I was quite impressed with his approach against the West Indies Academy. It's not the best team in the competition, but sometimes you look for more than just the runs on the board. And he got a couple of off-centers and the approach for me was also important. How did you see it? Well, let me just say that if he's impressed Ricardo, then he's done something right. But what I'll say in terms of Brandon King or Ricardo, it's just amazing to see him bat playing Red Bull cricket. There's been a lot of discussion around his technique, his game, and many believe that he can be a feature in that West Indies middle order. I would say I would even look past that. You hear some of the best C20 players in the world. Josh Butler mentioned it for an early part of his career. Mirac Poli always speaks about it. They always say how much the Red Bull game can just help you as a batter in the T20 format. We know how important Brandon King is to the West Indies T20 international side. I think just being able to spend time at the crease and bat in high pressure situations like he did in that second innings where they were eight down, and he really guided them home. I think it was going to do his game, you know, a world of good going into a very important year in T20 and White Bull cricket on a whole for the West Indies. But I think the second innings was a real stand-up to me because of the fact that they lost wickets at the other end. You're batting on day four. But also it's a West Indies Academy boarding line up that I'm very impressed with. Joshua Bishop, Ashmi Ned together have taken 45 wickets together. And I think the fact that they're both in the top five wicket takers, it tells you how well they've won this year. You've got Naim Young, who's quite widely with his pace. You've got Johan Lane, who was menacing at time. So it wasn't an easy run chase. And I credit the West Indies Academy and CCC who we saw earlier for fighting and taking these teams deep into therefore and making them really have to earn victories because everyone thought initially, especially for CCC, I know many people thought they would just be a roll over, but they've really put up a great fight. And it's good for our game that we've added these two teams and it's been more competitive. Yeah, I want to ask you, Nikhil, about the chances of the winwards going all the way in this championship. Because the last time we had winwards players winning four-day championship in regional cricket, I think you would have to go way back to 1981 when they played as the Combined Islands when that team included the likes of Andy Roberts and Vivian Richards and winwards players like Irving Schillingford and Winston Davis and so on. So I know they had won a Super 50 title back in 2018, but the winwards cricket is improving. We can see that they lost their three-match winning streak in this defeat this past weekend, but they look capable of rebounding. And I just want to get from you if you think they can go all the way and win the championship. Yeah, definitely Lance. I think when I look at two things. One, their batting lineup is extremely strong. I think even without Atheneus and Hodge, who were their two West Indian guys, their batting lineup and they've made some quite smart acquisitions as well. They've got Shamar Springer in, retained him from last season, but they've also got Tevin Walcott, the keeper, who hasn't really come to the fore as yet with bat, but he sort of bolsters that batting lineup. But I think when they look at that top seven, it's one of the strongest in the competition. And then the way that their spinners have developed, they've got Darryl Cyrus, who's a leg spinner and Kenneth Demba, who showed with his finger spin just how potent he can be. He picked up a fifer in that game, which I thought was the turning point and what allowed sort of them to wrestle some momentum back. So I think when they look at that team, they're definitely one of the strongest in the competition. What I would say is I think the Leroy Islands are a force to be reckoned with. They lost that first game against the West Indies Academy, but since then it has been carnage. And Justin Graves, they've just got him back from the Australia series. He's a newcomer who they've brought into this season. They've also got Ocean Thomas, who we haven't seen as yet. But then you look at the spin that they have. Cornwall, nothing needs to be said about what he's achieved at the regional level. Daniel Durham, who with his height and extra bounce is really causing some problems for batters. And then Hayden Walsh Jr, who hasn't even done too much with the ballers yet. And then Jeremiah Lewis pitching in with his team. So I think the Llewards and winwards play each other in the final series of the season. I think this can easily come down to it between the two of them. And it's great for our cricket that these two teams are at the top of the table right now. You can't rule out the defending champions, Guyana, but I definitely think those two are the school that I'm looking at. You just mentioned Darryl Cyrus just now. I was having a look at him because as a leg spinner, leg spinner usually have some license to bowl some bad balls because there's much less control as a wrist spinner than there is with a finger spinner. But I find him very steady. He doesn't bowl that many bad balls. How good is he, Darryl Cyrus? Yeah, what impressed me was in the Super 50, which was a white ball format. He played for winwards. There was his first real opportunity in professional cricket. And as you mentioned, under pressure, he held his own and really held his nerves. So when guys are coming at him, you remember he played the Barbada Sprite and seemed to hold his own well enough. And then now in the red ball format, speaking to some of the guys in the Winrod Islands, Volcano said that he's putting a lot of work in the off season, specifically on his action, just bowling a lot more deliveries so that he establishes that rhythm coming into the season. And so far it's paid off. He's been in the wickets. And as you mentioned, the control has been key. Another one I'm looking at, Zeisha Mottara. 17 years old picked up seven wickets in the first series, sorry, second series, but 17-year-old leg spinner who, again, six foot three, and I think is a prospect we can look to for the future. Yeah, I notice we're speaking a lot about the spinners, Nikhil, is there any fastballer that you've seen in this tournament that we don't already know about that you will say, yeah, I've been impressed with what I see from him? Well, to be honest, Ricardo, and I know many people have always complained that he doesn't have the pace, but what Jeremiah Louis is doing this season with 23 wickets, I think it can't go unnoticed. He's bowling in an attack that has guys like Cornwall Durham who, one of them probably will get four or five every innings, but Louis has swung the new ball and even the all ball, to be honest, I've even seen him get some reverse swing at times, which I've watched him over the years and he hasn't really been able to find that much swing consistently throughout maybe an A-2 of a span. So it's been really impressive. I don't know what they've done with him in the off season because he's always had a 10 wicket or 12 wicket season where he's been in and around contributing, but not consistently. If he can go on to get 40 or 50 wickets this year, I just wonder if how close is he? He's been in and around the Westinies A setup, but if he finishes in the top three wicket takers, surely he must be knocking on the door, even if it's not on the international side and a consistent A-team setup to then try to make a way into the test team. Yeah, and I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I want to get your thoughts on the surfaces because just looking at the entire tournament so far, there seems to be great contests between button ball, the spinners, the fast bowlers, the batsmen are all having a chance on the surfaces that I've seen to date. Yeah, I think the fact that we had four direct results in this series, it means well. I think we want entertainment in our cricket. Batters will tell you they want flattered decks. The bowlers will say there needs to be more in it for them, but watching most of the games, I think the pitches have been relatively consistent. I want to give credit to Jamaica as well because they have dealt with the most cricket and to me, the pitches seem to have held up pretty well. You're getting scores consistently over 300 and you're getting close run chases as well, which means batting on the fourth day is not as difficult as it has been in the past. I think there are some cases where there's been some variable bounce. I was happy to see at Coolidge that you had live green grass for the first two days of that Guyana Barbados game. And this is what, I mean, Dr. Kishor Shalos stressed on it a lot when he came into power. Pitches are the most imperative thing for our cricket to improve. And I think there has been an improvement. When you look at how much cricket we've played with the addition of two new teams, meaning two extra games. Yeah, for sure. And I was certainly impressed with the wicket at Savannah Park for the last round against WestEnders Academy because first two days I thought really good for batting by day number three. There was some assistance to the bowlers and day number four, more assistance for the bowlers. But the batsmen still had a chance if you have the technical ability to withstand what was being put to you. And we saw that it ended up being a great game. But it wasn't the only great game. There are quite a few and we had four outright results. Nikola Tamchandani, as usual, it's a pleasure speaking with you. And I'm sure we'll chat again soon because there's a lot more cricket to talk about, including this week where we'll have more regional four day stuff. Take care. Let's go to a break. We'll be back with more on the sports mic zone. Mariah will have her favorite part of the show, zone update two.