Lancashire sign New Zealand internationals

Mitchell and de Grandhommefor 2023

LANCASHIRE have signed

New Zealand internationals

Daryl Mitchell and Colin de Grandhomme for the 2023 season.

The pair will be available for both their County Championship and T20 Blast campaigns, with the county finishing runners-up in both last year.

De Grandhomme, 36, will join before the season, with Mitchell, 31, joining in time to face Somerset on 11 May.

Director of cricket performance Mark Chilton said the signings would help during a busy mid-season spell.

"We are excited to add Daryl and Colin to our squad and to be able to do so for such a large portion of the 2023 season - which was a key factor for us when looking to make overseas additions this year," he said.

"The schedule, as it has been for the last few years, continues to be really challenging particularly in the middle part of the summer throughout May, June and July, due to the amount of cricket we're playing in a short period.

"With that in mind, we want to ensure we've got enough strength in depth to cover for all eventualities and Daryl and Colin provide us with exactly that."

During New Zealand's tour of England in 2022, Mitchell, 31, scored two fifties and three centuries, including 190 at Trent Bridge, and has scored 5,038 runs with an average of more than 40 from 90 first-class matches.

All-rounder De Grandhomme has hit 15 centuries in first-class cricket, taking 212 red-ball wickets and hitting more than 4,000 T20 runs across the Indian Premier

League, Big Bash League and T20 Blast.

"I really enjoy playing in English conditions and the special history of the game around the country. I have very fond memories of my two tours to England with New Zealand and hope to build more with Lancashire," Mitchell said.

De Grandhomme added: "Lancashire has an exciting squad who have been so close to silverware in the last couple of years, hopefully I can help to add some experience to the dressing room so that we can go one step further this season."

Jeremy Cole, Julian Mohabir, and Arush Ramnarine who came in fourth, fifth and sixth in the competition respectively.

Meanwhile, Sam finished ninth overall in the overall event with four points and her losses came from Julian Mohabir, Jacob

McDonald, and Nicholas Zhang.

She also took home the prize for Best Under-10 female player.

In second place for the girls was Chelsea Harrison while third place went to Skyler Gurchuran. Both nine-year-old girls finished on 2.5 points each.

Seven-year-old Landon Mohabir, the youngest player in the tournament, earned a prize for his exceptional performance, granting him a trophy as the Best Under-8 player. He finished on three points, having defeated Harrison, Ethon Marks and Lucas Smith.

Notable performances came from Joseph Prendergast, Adam Rahaman, Veer Persaud, Francis Thomas and Shaheem Khan who all finished on 4 points.

According to the Guyana Chess Federation, they are pleased with the performances of the players most of whom are part of the training programs provided by the GCF.

The tournament was supervised by FIDE Arbiters John Lee and National Arbiter Jessica Callender. The next tournament will be the Under-14 Nationals which will be held in February.

WI slide to ninth successive T20I defeat against India

EAST LONDON, South Africa, (CMC) – Injury-riddled West Indies Women slumped to an eight-wicket loss to India Women in their final game of the Twenty20 International Tri-Series, to extend their depressing losing streak to nine games here Monday.

In an all too familiar tale, the Caribbean side’s batsmen once again failed to shine and could only muster a meagre 94 for six from their 20 overs, after being sent in at Buffalo Park.

And opener Jemimah Rodrigues then struck an unbeaten 42 from 39 balls while Harmanpreet Kaur carved out 32 not out off 23 deliveries, with India Women coasting to their target with 37 balls to spare.

For West Indies Women, the defeat was their fourth in as many matches in the tournament, coming on the back of their 5-0 series whitewash to England Women in the Caribbean last December.

“It was a bit difficult for the team results-wise but at the same time we understand what we’re going through at the moment,” said West Indies Women captain, Hayley Matthews.

“We still have a lot of senior players injured. It was really good to have Aliyah Alleyne back today but obviously the absence of Chinelle Henry and Stafanie Taylor plays a massive role when it comes to our batting lineup.”

Due to their injury crisis, West Indies Women handed debuts to the Under-19 World Cup pair of Jannillea Glasgow and Zaida James, and also included Djenaba Joseph and Trishan Holder who also participated in the recent ICC showpiece here but who made their interna- tional debuts last year.

Rashada Williams (8) and Shemaine Campbelle (0) were early casualties – both bowled by Player-of-theMatch off-spinner Deepti Sharma (3-11) with successive deliveries in the fourth over.

Matthews, who topscored with a run-a-ball 34 with five fours, added 21 for the third wicket with Joseph (3) before perishing to a catch at the wicket off seamer Pooja Vastrakar (2-19) in the 12th over.

The left-handed James, with two fifties in the Under-19 World Cup, punched 21 not out from 31 deliveries with a couple of sixes, helping to add 21 for the sixth wicket with Alleyne (9) and get her side past 90.

Defending their small total, West Indies Women struck early when fast bowler Shamilia Connell bowled Smriti Mandhana for five in the second over with eight runs on the board.

However, Rodrigues led India Women’s recovery, first in a 33-run, second wicket stand with Harleen Deol (13) and then in an unbroken 54-run, third wicket partnership with Kaur.