Shai Hope hits unbeaten hundred in Best v Best game

Shai Hope struck an unbeaten hundred as Kraigg Brathwaite XI were solid in reply when the Best v Best Three-day game ended at the Coolidge Cricket Ground, Antigua, on Friday.

Brathwaite XI closed the game on 281-4 from 128.2 overs; Jermaine Blackwood XI made 384-6 declared.

Right-handed Hope faced 260 balls for his unbeaten 102, which included 10 fours and two sixes. Opener Brathwaite retired hurt on 78 (235 balls; 10x4s, 1×6), while Shamarh Brooks made 34 and Kyle Mayers 26.

Leg-spinner Imran Khan was the leading wicket-taker with 2-89 off 33 overs.

Blackwood XI’s total was built on an unbeaten 166 from Nkrumah Bonner and 71 from Raymon Reifer. Shayne Moseley and Kaveem Hodge scored 39 apiece, as off-spinner Rakheem Cornwall took 2-79 off 27 overs.

The second Three-day game will start on November 1.

The players are these matches as preparations ahead of West Indies’ forthcoming tour to Sri Lanka for two Test matches following the ICC T20 World Cup.

The team will depart from Antigua on November 6 and the tour will run until December 4. The full tour squad and schedule will be announced at a later date.

The series is the second of six series, three at home and three away, that West Indies will play in the 2021-2023 ICC World Test Championship after drawing the first Betway Test Series against Pakistan in August.