Gudakesh Motie returned to first-class cricket in style, picking up a six-wicket haul in his first outing in the format since March 2025.
Gudakesh Motie returns to first-class cricket with six-wicket haul
The West Indies left-arm spinner has been out of the first-class circuit for over a year, having last played a four-day game in the previous West Indies Championship, for Guyana against Windward Islands. Interestingly, Motie had picked up a six-wicket haul in that game as well. Playing for the same side, against the same opposition, he repeated the act on Sunday (April 12).
Batting first, Windward Islands lost wickets at regular intervals, but their innings was anchored by opener Ackeem Auguste, who fell just five short of a hundred. Motie got into the act with the ball with the wicket of Sunil Ambris, which was the fourth wicket to fall in the innings. From thereon, he took five of the remaining six wickets, including that of top-scorer Auguste, to finish with figures of 6-73.
Windward Islands were bowled out for 286, and Guyana batted out one over without the loss of any wickets.
This was Motie's seventh six-wicket haul in first-class cricket and the sixth-best figures of his career. Five of his six-plus wicket hauls have come for Guyana, while two have come for the West Indies in Test cricket.
Motie was 'rested' from the Test side last year after playing in the Pakistan series. He didn't feature in the India Test tour, where Khary Pierre made his debut. Later in the year, Motie was also dropped from the T20I squad for the New Zealand tour due to poor form, but he made his way back into the setup for the 2026 T20 World Cup, where he was West Indies' joint-highest wicket taker.
Motie was supposed to play in the PSL following the T20 World Cup, but reportedly decided to skip it after the West Indies were stuck in India for an extended duration due to airspace closures following the West Asia conflict.
He will now be looking to put up a consistent run in the West Indies Championship to force his way back into the Test setup. The domestic first-class tournament has undergone a change in format this year, with the round-robin league stage replaced by multiple bilateral series between the same set of sides.
