West Indies spinner Gudakesh Motie excelled in the opening rounds of the 2026 West Indies Championship.
Gudakesh Motie stars for Guyana against Windward Islands
The third round of the revamped competition kicked off on April 26, and Guyana played Windward Islands in the final match of their three-game bilateral series. Guyana had already sealed the series with wins by four wickets and an innings and 141 runs in the previous two fixtures.
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They posted 242 batting first, before Gudakesh Motie's 4-52 helped them skittle Windward for 223. The defending champions slid to 129-6 in their second dig, when Motie came to the crease at No.8. He scored 53 in a 91-run stand with opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul, who carried his bat for 117, helping Guyana to 299 and setting Windward 319 to win.
Nial Smith and Shamar Joseph made the early breakthroughs in the fourth innings, reducing Windward to 36-3. Motie entered the attack and trapped Shadrack Descarte lbw, before taking the last three wickets of Kenneth Dember, Alick Athanaze and Darel Cyrus to finish with 4-82.
Match 8, Windward Islands Volcanoes vs Guyana Harpy Eagles
vs
- Ball by ball Over
The match haul of 8-134 took Motie's haul for the season to 24 wickets in three games; he recorded 1-4 & 5-51, and 6-73 & 4-46 in the previous two fixtures. The half-century also took his runs tally to 120.
Windward Islands have been a particular favourite opponent of Motie's; in all first-class cricket against the team, he averages 21 with the bat and 14 with the ball against them.
Gudakesh Motie: Record vs Windward Islands in first-class cricket
| Matches | 11 |
| Runs | 229 |
| Bat Avg | 20.8 |
| High Score | 53 |
| Wickets | 52 |
| Bowl Avg | 14.4 |
| Best Bowling | 6-38 |
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