Having said in my column at the end of May that June will be a big month for cricket and football, it hasn’t disappointed. It started with the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup and the opening rounds of the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualification here in the CONCACAF region.
Perhaps I should begin with the little hiccup by Trinidad & Tobago failing to defeat Grenada in the opening game at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on June 5.
A crowd of approximately 8,500 came out expecting a victory against the Spice Boys but in the end, the T&T team had to come from behind to earn a hard-fought 2-2 draw. I thought the team started slowly, and they appeared to lack the necessary intensity and quick movement off the ball to put the Grenadians under pressure.
The passes were not crisp enough and it appeared that the T&T team was complacent as victory would have easily been theirs. But, as we all know, football is played on the field and Grenada seemed to be more hungry than the local lads. They bullied the T&T players off the ball; they were physical and tough which appeared to rattle the Warriors.
It came as no surprise when Grenada took the lead even though I thought referee Mario Escobar of Guatemala’s decision to award a penalty kick to Grenada for a handball offence was extremely harsh. The ball was traveling at speed and was quite close to Daniel Phillips giving him very little time to react. In addition, Phillips’ position of his arm, in my opinion, did not make his body unnaturally bigger and indeed, it was not only a strange decision but arguably an incorrect one in law.
The resulting goal from the penalty kick gave the Grenadians the confidence they needed and 4 minutes later, they led 2-0. This was the inflection point for T&T. At 2-0 down, the team suddenly woke up and began to put pressure on the opposition. When they pulled a goal back before half-time, the Hasely Crawford stadium was expecting something big in the second half.
It was disappointing not to see the re-emergence of Levi Garcia for the start of the second half as I felt he was needed to engineer the comeback but credit to the players as they fought the game without Garcia and when Reon Moore equalised with 16 minutes to go, the fans felt that the hosts were on top and would go on to win it.
However, credit must go to the Grenada team. They never dropped their heads and deserved to come away with a 2-2 draw. It certainly was not the start the T&T team wanted but it served as a wake-up call and going across to St Kitts and Nevis to battle Bahamas meant T&T needed to win there by a big margin.
It was an excellent performance for T&T winning the game by 7-1. I suppose if the odd fan wanted to be critical, they can point to the fact that the team did not keep a clean sheet but they did hit the back of the net seven times. Sure, I would have loved to have seen the team keep a clean sheet as well and I would have liked to have seen more shots coming from the top of the penalty area. But this was a performance that the team needed as they had to rebound after the disappointment of the Grenada game so kudos to them.
They still have a lot to play for as the qualifiers resume in June 2025 with Grenada at home to the Bahamas while T&T is at home to St Kitts and Nevis with the final game against Costa Rica away from home. I have all the confidence that the Warriors will pull through to the next round of qualification no one has to tell them that life will get tougher but hopefully, they will realise that only the strong will survive.
In World Cup cricket, I did suggest holding on to your seats as surprises were in store and no bigger surprise came than the USA’s victory against Pakistan. I’ve said this before, Pakistan is one of the most inconsistent teams and you never can tell which Pakistan team will show up on the day. They should have beaten India but their batting in the end lacked the application needed to get them over the line.
As I also mentioned previously, I am not happy with the pitches that are being produced as there has only been one score of over 200 and in T20 cricket fans come to see the ball going beyond the boundary with regularity but in general, batsmen have struggled to get scores close to 180 to 190.
After the game against Papua New Guinea, West Indies came good against Uganda. It was a clinical performance, especially with the ball, and the hero was a local boy Akeal Hosein. I thought that if the West Indies decided to go with the extra pace bowler, he may have missed out on selection but they decided to go with the extra spinner and Hosein got his usual role of opening the bowling.
I remember seeing Hosein as a youngster playing for Queen’s Park and one day going into the Oval, he was batting in a club game and he was hitting the ball straight in an area known as the ‘V’—between extra cover and a wideish mid-on.
I never laid my eyes on this guy before and I was so impressed with him I enquired as to who he was and I thought to myself he was going to be a superb batsman.
In the following years, his left-arm bowling has picked up and his batting has fallen away but he can still come in and make a useful contribution. Akeal Hosein works extremely hard at his game and when you hear his story on how he has made cricket a career, you have to take your hat off to this fine young man on his progress.
I am writing this column not knowing the result of the game against New Zealand but I hear people saying West Indies should beat the Kiwis. While I agree with those sentiments, New Zealand is a dangerous opponent and they have a fantastic bowling line-up with the likes of Trent Boult, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Tim Southee, and Mitchell Santner.
If the West Indies batting does not click, they could be behind the eight ball and hoping the bowlers can do the job but with Kane Williamson leading the Kiwi’s batting, they are not to be underestimated.
West Indies must be hoping to play a perfect game and be ready to take their place in the Super Eights. They will not want to leave it too late and find themselves in a must-win position against Afghanistan—a team that has proven to spring quite a few surprises and can be dangerous on their day.