The 2005–06 West Indian cricket season includes all domestic cricket matches played by senior teams with first-class status in the West Indies between October 2005 and March 2006, and also the international feats of the West Indies team, who is not scheduled to play any home games during this period but are to play home matches during April, May and June 2006. The season began on 2005-10-03 with the first matches of the one-day KFC Cup and is scheduled to last until 2006-03-19 when England A depart after their tour which will include one-day and first-class matches against the West Indies A team. The West Indies will not play any home Tests during their home season, but they have toured Australia (losing the 3-Test series 0–3), and toured New Zealand in February and March, immediately after the conclusion of the 2005-06 Carib Beer Cup, the first-class competition.
In domestic cricket, Guyana won the KFC Cup on home soil after going unbeaten through the group stage, though the final result was determined on the Duckworth-Lewis method. The Carib Beer Series began on 25 November with a replay of the KFC Cup final between Guyana and Barbados. The first four matches all ended in draws, and rain caused one round to be delayed until February – which also delayed the Carib Beer Challenge part of the competition until April. Trinidad and Tobago were the first teams to record a win, beating Jamaica in January, but successive wins from Barbados put them twelve points ahead of second-placed Trinidad and Tobago with the game against T&T left. However, Trinidad and Tobago won by 264 runs, drawing level with Barbados in the table but winning on the head-to-head result.
Domestic competition tables Carib Beer Cup – Final Table Pos Team Pld W L D A FI Pts 1 Trinidad and Tobago 5 2 1 2 0 6 36 2 Barbados 5 2 1 2 0 6 36 3 Guyana 5 1 0 4 0 6 30 4 Windward Islands 5 1 0 3 1 0 25 5 Leeward Islands 5 0 1 3 1 0 13 6 Jamaica 5 0 3 2 0 6 12
For an explanation of the points system, please see the Carib Beer Cup#Current structure.
Legend: W: Won L: Lost D: Drawn A: Abandoned FI: First-innings points KFC Cup League Stage – Final Table Pos Team Pld W T L BP Pts NRR 1 Guyana 5 4 1 0 2 20 +0.51 2 Barbados 5 3 0 2 0 12 +0.12 3 Windward Islands 5 3 0 2 0 12 +0.03 4 Leeward Islands 5 2 1 2 1 11 +0.18 5 Jamaica 5 2 0 3 1 9 -0.31 6 Trinidad and Tobago 5 0 0 5 0 0 -0.68
For an explanation of the points system, please see KFC Cup#Current structure.
Legend: W: Won T: Tied L: Lost BP: Bonus points In the tables above, the green colour indicates that a team has qualified for the second stage of the competition.
Roll of honour
Test series: Frank Worrell Trophy: West Indies lost the 3-Test series to Australia 0–3 New Zealand tour: West Indies lost the 3-Test series 0–2
One-day International series: New Zealand tour: West Indies lost the 5-match series 1–4
Twenty20 International: New Zealand tour: West Indies lost the Twenty20 match after bowl-out
A tour: England A in West Indies: West Indies A won the first-class match series 1–0 (two matches) and the one-day series 3–2 (five matches).
KFC Cup: Guyana beat Barbados in the final and won the KFC Cup
Carib Beer Series: Carib Beer Cup: Trinidad and Tobago Carib Beer Challenge: Trinidad and Tobago
KFC Cup
League stage
Matchday One, 3 October
Before the tournament began in Barbados, the Guyana Chronicle claimed that "no team...[had] distinguished itself as an odds-on favourite in the competition." The tournament did not have a brand name sponsor until 5 October, when KFC agreed to a deal worth 3,000,000 US dollars, and the opening round was played with the tournament still named the President's Trophy. Guyana recorded an opening win over Barbados, gaining a three-run win on the Duckworth-Lewis method, after West Indies Test batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan hit 106 not out before bad light stopped play with Guyana two ahead of their target score of 204, with their opponents Barbados making 244. The Windward Islands defeated reigning champions Trinidad and Tobago, in a victory described as "remarkable" by the Guyana Chronicle, with captain Rawl Lewis scoring 30 and taking three for 32 to become Man of the Match as Trinidad and Tobago fell from 56 for 0 to 176 all out chasing a total of 190. The Leeward Islands went top, however, after bowling Jamaica out for 145 before Runako Morton put on 133 with Junie Mitchum in a nine-wicket win that gave the Leewards a bonus point.
Guyana (4pts) beat Barbados (0pts) by three runs (D-L method) Leeward Islands (5pts) beat Jamaica (0pts) by nine wickets Windward Islands (4pts) beat Trinidad and Tobago (0pts) by 17 runs
Matchday Two, 4 October
The following day, Guyana and the Leewards faced each other, and the Leewards became the first – and only – team to avoid defeat against the Guyanese in this year's tournament. After Leewards captain Sylvester Joseph sent Guyana in to bat, and after half-centuries from Narsingh Deonarine (52 with five fours and two sixes), and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (off 44 balls, ending with 52), along with another century from Sarwan, Guyana made a total of 291 for 5 in conditions described as "excellent" for batting by the Guyana Chronicle. The Leewards then struck three half-centuries from the top – Runako Morton was dropped twice on 0 before going on to make 68 – and they needed nine off the final over, getting eight off the first five balls before Carl Simon edged the final delivery to the wicket-keeper. The other matches ended in the Windwards chasing down Jamaica's 230 in 40.1 of 43 allotted overs to go top of the table with eight points – one ahead of the Leewards and two more than Guyana – while reigning champions Trinidad and Tobago lost to Barbados and were the joint bottom of the table after two games.
Barbados (4pts) beat Trinidad and Tobago (0pts) by 41 runs (D-L method) Guyana (2pts) tied with Leeward Islands (2pts) Windward Islands (4pts) beat Jamaica (0pts) by four wickets (D-L method)
Matchday Three, 6 October
5 October saw no matches, but the following day the Leewards went top of the table and became the first team to qualify for the Final Four after a victory described as "miraculous" by the Guyana Chronicle. Their opponents Trinidad and Tobago were chasing 245 to win and needed three off the last over with a wicket in hand and West Indies wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin at the crease on 48, facing the first ball from Gavin Tonge (who had bowled nine overs for 60 previously). A fast, full-length ball saw Ramdin play across the line, missing the ball as it hit him on the pad, and the umpire gave him lbw. With no more wickets remaining, the Trinbagonians had lost by two runs. Guyana went second in the table after their seven-run win over Jamaica, with Sarwan missing out on a third successive century but still making 63 off 59 balls in a total of 219, and Jamaica then lost four wickets for 20 runs at the death to need 22 off the last eight balls; they could only get 14. The Windward Islands also went down for the first time of the season, losing to Barbados after needing seven runs off the final over. They had needed 92 with four wickets in hand in the 34th over, but Rawl Lewis and Liam Sebastien put on 81 in 14.1 overs, and Sebastien was batting with the number 10 Mervyn Matthew. He was bowled on the first ball from substitute Corey Collymore, and Alvin LaFeuille could only make four off the final five balls as the Windwards closed one run short of a tie.
Guyana (4pts) beat Jamaica (0pts) by seven runs Leeward Islands (4pts) beat Trinidad and Tobago (0pts) by two runs Barbados (4pts) beat Windward Islands (0pts) by one run
Matchday Four, 7 October
The Leeward Islands were toppled from the top of the table on 7 October, after losing to Barbados in a match where Collymore took his first five-for in regional one-day competitions to become Man of the Match. Barbados had batted first, making 229 before their number 11 Tino Best was run out with seven balls remaining, but Collymore took three of the first four wickets as the Leewards were 27 for 4. 73 from captain Sylvester Joseph took them close, but Collymore returned to end with five for 27 from ten overs, helping Barbados to limit the Leewards to a total of 212 for 9 which meant that Barbados had qualified for the semis. Guyana took over the ascendancy, qualifying for the Final Four after bowling the Windward Islands out for 197 to take a 55-run win and a bonus point to boot, while Jamaica and Trinidad/Tobago – the only teams without a win in the competition – faced off at Wildey. In a match shortened to 20 overs after heavy morning rain, Jamaica bowled out the Trinbagonians for 101, with five bowlers getting wickets, before opening batsman Danza Hyatt hit 47 not out and Jamaica took a bonus point, also eliminating Trinidad and Tobago in the process. With five points, they were still fifth in the table, three points behind the Windwards.
Barbados (4pts) beat Leeward Islands (0pts) by 17 runs Guyana (5pts) beat Windward Islands (0pts) by 55 runs Jamaica (5pts) beat Trinidad and Tobago (0pts) by six wickets
Matchday Five, 9 October
After a rest day, Guyana beat Trinidad and Tobago as the former finished unbeaten and the latter without a win, but the fight for the last place was between Jamaica and the Windward Islands. Jamaica did their part of the job, chasing 209 against Barbados with six overs to spare after 75 from opener Brenton Parchment (who was dropped off Collymore on 28 – Collymore ended with four overs for 10 with the scalp of Hyatt), but in the islands battle, the Windwards dismissed the Leewards for 144 after three wickets from captain Lewis, and West Indies opener Devon Smith hit 59 in the chase as the Windwards went past the target with 7.3 overs to spare, sending them into the Final Four.
Guyana (5pts) beat Trinidad and Tobago (0pts) by eight wickets Jamaica (4pts) beat Barbados (0pts) by six wickets Windward Islands (4pts) beat Leeward Islands (0pts) by six wickets
Final four
Semi-Final One: Guyana v Leeward Islands, 12 October
Guyana beat the Leeward Islands by seven wickets to qualify for the KFC Cup Final
The four qualifying teams arrived in Guyana on 10 October, with the first semi-final played two days later. All three matches were played at the Bourda ground, and Guyana's Ramnaresh Sarwan became the first player to score three centuries in a domestic limited-overs tournament season, making an unbeaten 113 in a chase of a target of 242 set by the Leeward Islands in the first semi-final. Sarwan also passed Keith Arthurton's eight-year-old record tournament aggregate of 408 runs in a tournament. Earlier, Runako Morton and Wilden Cornwall had hit half-centuries as the Leewards made 241 for 8 in 50 overs, but the second-wicket partnership between opener Sewnarine Chattergoon and Sarwan was worth 109 runs, and Sarwan pushed on to make it to the target.
Semi-Final Two: Barbados v Windward Islands, 14 October
Barbados beat Windward Islands by 41 runs (D-L method) to qualify for the KFC Cup Final
The other semi-final was played two days later in overcast conditions, and the bad light conditions brought Duckworth-Lewis into play. Barbados had made 270 for 7, with Dwayne Smith hitting 96 off 81 balls amid Kenroy Peters' three-wicket-haul, and Courtney Browne and Ian Bradshaw added 67 for the last wicket as Barbados accumulated 270 for 7. Corey Collymore took two early wickets, but the Windwards recovered to 100 for 3 in the 25th over when play was stopped. 12 overs were lost, and the Windwards set a target of 217 – they lost five wickets in the process, and could only get 75 of the 117 runs required, losing by 41 runs.
Final: Guyana v Barbados, 16 October
Guyana beat Barbados by seven runs (D-L method) to win the KFC Cup