West Indies' white-ball captain Nicholas Pooran will use the hurt of his team's first-round exit at the T20 World Cup as "motivation" to bounce back strongly.

The Windies failed to make it to the ongoing T20 World Cup main tournament for the first time after suffering defeats against Scotland and Ireland last week.

"Obviously, we don't know what the future holds but we will take it day by day," Pooran said ahead of the Super50 Cup, West Indies' regional one-day tournament, where he is set to lead Trinidad & Tobago.

"Again, it was a learning experience for all of us and this is our journey and our story. Time will tell what will happen but for now it is just about focusing on ourselves and how we can get better as individuals.”

The reaction to West Indies' early exit was sharp and swift, with CWI president Ricky Skerritt blaming the batters and promising that a "thorough post mortem" would be carried out. Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting was also critical of West Indies' performances, calling their first-round exit a "disgrace". Phil Simmons, meanwhile, has resigned as head coach, with his last assignment set to be a two-Test series in Australia, which starts next month.

Pooran also suggested that he would not step down as captain, but look to learn from these setbacks.

"I have been thinking about the last couple of months...Playing cricket is my dream and obviously I have had my test in life as well and this is another test for me," he said.

"I am a person that embraces challenges and this was just another one for me. It is not going to stop me. I am going to continue to learn from my experiences and again I am happy I can wake up in the morning and see that I have an opportunity to play cricket again."

Pooran's immediate focus will be to help Trinidad & Tobago defend their Super50 title, with the tournament scheduled to begin on Saturday.

Outstanding shooting from their eight-man Long Range Team team helped Guyana land the Milex Cup at the 2022 West Indies Full Bore Championships currently underway at Twickenham Park in Jamaica on Friday.

The shooters from South America aiming at targets at 900 yards were the only team to score over 700 out of a possible 800, with a total of 715.35 to take the title over Canada (682.32), Antigua & Barbuda (655.22). Hosts Jamaica finished fourth with a combined score of 652.16.

Four of their shooters score higher than 90 points during the competition - Sherwin Felicien shot 93.3, Roberto Tewari, 92.7, Peter Persaud, 91.5 and Dylan Fields 90.6 – as Guyana dominated the competition.

However, the best shooter on the day was Antigua & Barbuda’s Anderson Perry who scored 49.1 on the first detail and 48.2 on the second for a combined score of 97.3 out of a possible 100. His teammate Christopher Joseph was also excellent with a score of 96.6.

Karen Anderson was Jamaica’s top shooter with her score of 88.3.

Guyana will go for the sweep on Saturday in the Short Range Match at 300/500/600 yards in which Lennox Brathwaite is defending champion in the Wogarth Cup.

After a four-year wait to receive monetary damages from the Trinidad and Tobago Gymnastics Federation (TTGF), gymnast Thema Williams received payment on Thursday afternoon, following a ruling from a High Court judge.

High Court judge Frank Seepersad ruled on Thursday that Republic Bank at which the TTGF held an account, make out a cheque payable to Williams for $223,800.19. The amount includes interest accrued on the original judgement in 2018 of TT$200.000.00. According to the Newsday publication, the bank complied with the order about two hours before the 4:00 pm deadline set by the judge.

Her lawyer Martin Daly SC, meanwhile, has expressed concern over how the athlete was treated by the federation while it was collecting funds from the Trinidadian government mirroring comments made by Judge Seepersad in his ruling.

In his written judgement the judge stated; "Transparency of conduct, strict compliance with the law and accountability must define the way in which persons, organizations and entities operate. It is difficult to comprehend why the Judgment Debtor has continued to be in receipt of State funding and donations when it stands in violation of a court order."

In 2018, Williams won a court battle against the TTGF that was deemed to have discriminated against the gymnast when they withdrew her from the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio Brazil. In her place, the TTGF selected Canadian-born gymnast Marisa Dick.

Williams had sought to recover damages of TT$11 million but the court ordered that she receive TT$150,000 in exemplary damages and a further TT$50,000 in lost earnings.

At the time of Thursday’s order, the amount in the TTGF’s account was just over TT$257,000.

Daly told Sportsmax.TV that he was delighted at the outcome but expressed concerns over how the state had treated the athlete who had to wait as long to be compensated after being egregiously wronged.

"I am pleased that she has finally got her money," he said while highlighting comments from Judge Seepersad during his ruling on Thursday.

 "I think the most important comments in the judgement yesterday is the criticism of the state for continuing to provide funds for a federation that had behaved in the way that it did."

It brings into question the accountability of sporting bodies and why would a government continue to provide subvention to a body that had behaved in that way. One of the things that had greatly upset me was that as few as 14 days after the original judgement there was a picture in the newspaper of officials from sporting bodies receiving money from the state and included in that was the TTGF and I just could not understand why they couldn't have, as we say colloquially, 'mash brakes and think about what they were doing.

"So I think there is a very important long-term outcome of this which is the judge's criticism of the state being blind to egregious acts by sporting bodies. That is the long-term message we should take from this."

Jamaica goalkeeper Andre Blake continued to be showered with accolades on the back of an outstanding season for Major League Soccer (MLS) club Philadelphia Union after being presented with the John Wanamaker Athletic Award earlier this week.

Blake made history last week when he became the first player to win the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year honours on three separate occasions.  The Wanamaker award, which has been presented to Philadelphia’s top athletes since 1961, is given to a team or organization which has done the most to reflect credit upon Philadelphia and the team or sport in which they excel.

Behind Blake’s top-class performances in goal the Philadelphia Union have reached the conference final of the MLS Cup, where they will play New York City on Sunday.  The Jamaican custodian delighted in receiving the city’s recognition.

“I am grateful to be recognized by the Philadelphia sports community and honored to accept the Wanamaker Award on behalf of my family, teammates and the entire Philadelphia Union organization,” said Blake. “Throughout my career, I have strived to set an example on and off the field of what it means to be a strong leader and community advocate. I hope that I’ve inspired the future generation of young athletes to work hard and keep chasing their dreams.”

Antiguan all-rounder Rahkeem Cornwall will reportedly make his return to the West Indies Test side for the two-test series against Australia from November 29-December 12 in the land Down Under.

The 29-year-old has played nine Tests for the Windies, with his last coming against Sri Lanka in November 2021. In those nine Tests, he has taken 34 wickets at an average of 37.76 and a strike rate of 78.3.

The squad is also expected to include Guyanese left hander Tagenarine Chanderpaul, son of West Indies legend Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who is in line to make his Test debut after incumbent West Indies opener John Campbell was banned for four years by an Independent Anti-Doping Panel after failing to provide a blood sample to doping control officers in April 2022.

Full Squad: Kraigg Brathwaite (Captain), Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Nkrumah Bonner, Kyle Mayers, Jermaine Blackwood (Vice Captain), Joshua Da Silva, Shamarh Brooks, Raymon Reifer, Jason Holder, Devon Thomas, Rahkeem Cornwall, Alzarri Joseph, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales, Anderson Phillip.

Multiple-time winner Lennox Braithwaite of Guyana won the Grand Aggregate in the individual event at the 2022 West Indies Full Bore Shooting Championships on Thursday. The championship is being held at Twickenham Park in St. Catherine, Jamaica.

Brathwaite, who lamented the pandemic-induced relative lack of preparation coming into the tournament, won with a score of 467.39 out of a possible 480 points. He defeated Emmanuel Gauvin and Avtar Nanrey of Canada as well as compatriots Sherwin Felicien and Ransford Goodluck, who finished in the top five.

Guyana had five shooters in the top 10.

Jamaica’s national champion Dwayne Forde scored 449.30 to finished seventh while Karen Anderson was 17th.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Jordan-Cousins of Barbados scored 436.20 while out-dueling Anderson (435.25) to win the Amazon trophy which goes to the top female shooter. Women shoot against the males on the same targets and use same equipment in the competition.

The competition continued on Friday, October 28, with the team event which comprises a short-range and long range component.

The long-range team match, for the Milex Cup, began on Friday and will be followed by the short-range (300m/500m/600m) team match for the Wogarth Cup.

Braithwaite is the defending champion. The short range team match is Saturday, October 29.

After almost a decade of offering scholarships to needy student-athletes across all sports in Jamaica, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce’s Pocket Rocket Foundation is planning to go a step further in the near future to help prepare beneficiaries for the next stage of their lives.

Founded in 2013, the Pocket Rocket Foundation has since offered scholarships to 62 student athletes. Some of the recipients in pursuit of careers outside of sport have achieved great success.

Among them are commercial pilot Jovaine Atkinson, a former student-athlete of Kingston College, Brenton Bartley, a former Campion College volleyball player, who now holds a degree in Civil Engineering and J’Voughn Blake, a former Jamaica College student now studying a Dartmouth College in the United States.

The five-time world 100m champion and two-time Olympic champion takes great pride in these achievements and others that she has been able to make possible through the work of the foundation.

“We were able to assist 62 students and also participate in our Christmas treat, our football Peace Through Sports Initiative, the Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Resource Centre in Waterhouse with computers and tablets for the students in the community, donated to children’s homes and just have a presence,” said the super-star athlete who holds a degree in Childhood Development from the University of Technology.

“I think for us as a foundation, where we want to go is having programmes geared towards student-athletes, educational equity, as well as sports and play community initiatives and I am really excited about the progress of the foundation and where we are heading and this time around we are making sure that we create impact when it comes to our student-athletes and making sure that they, too, have a future.”

Of the nine cohorts that have benefitted from the foundation’s largesse there is one that stands out, she said, even though all have a special place in her heart.

“I would have to say the first cohort is very dear to me. Out of that cohort we have had Brenton as well as Jovaine, who is a pilot and it’s just remarkable to see the transition. I am proud of all of them, to be honest, recently we saw J’Voughn Blake matriculate to university overseas and it’s just incredible to see what we have been able to accomplish being a part of the Pocket Rocket Foundation and the lives we were able to change.”

Not one to rest on her laurels or those of the foundation, Fraser-Pryce revealed that come January 2023, there are plans to introduce a new facet that will go even further in equipping student-athletes with the skills needed to thrive.

“What’s next is making sure that is having more community-based initiatives, mental wellness and we are definitely come January having our PR and Etiquette seminar for student-athletes making sure we equip them for the next stage of life, making sure we are giving them access to different things that will help them to advance their lives.”

Defending champions Garvey Maceo will continue their quest for back-to-back ISSA/Digicel daCosta Cup titles after advancing to the quarterfinal round after a 10-0 home hammering of DeCarteret College in the second leg of their second-round fixture on Tuesday. Overall, they won the tie 15-0 after a 5-0 first leg win at Brooks Park on October 21.

With 32 teams advancing to the second round of the daCosta Cup, the teams played two leg knockout fixtures to determine the 16 teams to take part in the quarterfinal round. The quarterfinal round will involve four four-team groups with the winners advancing to the semi-finals.

Joining Garvey Maceo in Group 1 of the quarterfinal round will be Central High, Christiana High and Manchester High. Central advanced after beating Irwin High (Zone A winners in the preliminary round) 4-1 on aggregate. Christiana came out on the right side of a dogfight with Happy Grove, prevailing 4-3 on aggregate while Manchester beat B.B Coke 3-1 over two legs.

Group 2 will be contested by Cornwall College (Zone A runners up), Dinthill Technical (Zone K winners), Paul Bogle (Zone L winners) and William Knibb (Zone C winners). Cornwall College got to the quarters after beating Vere Technical 5-3 on penalties after the teams were deadlocked at 3-3 after two legs. Dinthill Technical now have 12 wins from as many games in this year’s daCosta Cup after 4-1 and 4-0 wins over Browns Town to advance. Paul Bogle beat Cedric Titus 2-0 on aggregate while William Knibb beat Petersfield 1-0 over two legs.

Clarendon College (Zone H winners), Frome Technical (Zone B winners), Rusea’s (Zone B runners up) and York Castle (Zone I winners) make up Group 3. Clarendon College hammered St. Mary Technical 12-1 on aggregate. Frome are still unbeaten this season after 3-0 and 3-1 wins over Titchfield, Rusea’s enjoyed a pair of 2-0 wins over Belair High and York Castle put seven past Seaforth over two legs without conceding.

Group 4 will be occupied by Edwin Allen (Zone H runners up), STETHS (Zone E winners), Manning’s (Zone D winners) and Glenmuir (Zone M winners). The second round saw STETHS secure a narrow 2-1 aggregate win over Holmwood, Edwin Allen beat McGrath 3-0, Manning’s get past Charlemont 4-2 and Glenmuir beat Tacky 10-1.

The quarterfinals get underway on Saturday.

Defending champions Kingston College were held to a surprising 0-0 draw by Jose Marti High in the first leg of their second-round tie in the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup at Royal Lakes on Wednesday.

The second round of the Manning Cup will see 16 teams face off in two leg knockout fixtures to determine the eight teams to advance to the quarterfinals.

Kingston College advanced as winners of Group A while Jose Marti advanced as one of the best non-automatic qualifiers after finishing fourth in Group F.

Wednesday’s other second round fixtures saw Group B winners Jamaica College beat Norman Manley 5-0 at Calabar, STATHS (Group D winners) beat St. Jago (Group B third-place finishers) 2-1 at the Spanish Town Prison Oval and St. Catherine (Group B runners up) secure a 1-0 win over Wolmer’s Boys (Group E runners up) at Stadium East.

On Tuesday, Group E winners Mona High, the only team to have achieved maximum points from their 10 first round matches, continued their quest for a perfect season with a 2-0 win over Tivoli (third in Group C) at Stadium East.

Campion College (Group F runners up) and Charlie Smith (Group C winners) played out a 1-1 draw at Jamaica College while Haile Selassie (Group C runners up) and St. George’s College (Group A runners up) got 1-0 and 4-1 wins over Excelsior (Group F winners) and Jonathan Grant (Group D runners up) at Calabar High and the Spanish Town Prison Oval, respectively.

The second legs for the Tuesday fixtures will take place on Friday and the ones for the Wednesday games will happen on Saturday.

Former Cricket West Indies (CWI) president Dave Cameron has branded the player-centric approach employed by the incumbent administration as a failure, insisting it prioritizes the needs of a few players over those of the region.

After surprisingly ending six years of the Cameron administration in 2019, the Skerritt and Shallow body promised significant improvements to the player, regional cricket board dynamic, which had soured over previous decades.

Under the new administration, the cricketers, board and players association seem to enjoy a less acrimonious existence, but previous issues of players choosing to make themselves unavailable for the regional team, while continuing to take part in lucrative T20 leagues around the world has remained an issue. 

The Skerritt association has, however, insisted that no action would be taken against players who choose to go that route.  Cameron has again questioned the merit of the approach.  

“The Shallow-Skerritt experiment has failed, basically what that Shallow-Skerritt experiment did was it put the players ahead of the region and that is the challenge,” Cameron told the Mason and Guest radio program.

“Someone had attacked me and said some players weren’t happy and I said to him you could name the players that weren’t happy on one hand versus the region,” he added.

“If you are running a business and you are trying to move the system forward you have to look at greater good not just what’s good for a few players.”

Sir Andy not skilful enough

Ambrose Windies cricket in trouble

Barbadian Christopher Husbands repeated as champion jockey at Canada’s Fort Erie racetrack this week after strong performances in the final weeks of the season.

Steering the 1-5 favourite Milwaukee Bay to victory in Monday’s final day first race, Husbands finished the five-month-long season with 32 wins, two ahead of title rival Melanie Pinto, who went winless on the final day.

The three-year-old filly Milwaukee Bay, trained by Daniel Wills, was held off the pace by Husbands and flew past the front-running 8-1 bet Cloud Runner in the homestretch to win the CAN$14,700 Maiden Claiming event by 4-1/4 lengths. Milwaukee Bay clocked one minute 49.02 seconds for the mile and sixteenth trip.

Although finishing No.2 to Husbands in wins in the 2022 campaign, Pinto, who was leading rider for long periods during the season, earned the title of Outstanding Rider, voted by her peers.

Three other Caribbean riders finished in the top six of the jockeys’ table – Jamaicans MarkLee Buchanan (24) and Kirk Johnson (20th) at fourth and fifth respectively with Barbadian Juan Crawford sixth on 19 wins.

Husbands, 32, won his first Fort Erie title last year and now has four jockeys’ championship titles in Canada, having lifted crowns at Assiniboia Downs in Winnipeg in 2014 and 2016.

As a 16-year-old, Husbands had won the 2006 Trinidad Derby aboard Sara’s Music and he now has 590 career wins in Canadian racing. This 2022 jockeys’ triumph for Husbands makes it 10 times in the last 12 years a Caribbean rider is No.1 at Fort Erie.

Crawford, five-time champion Johnson, and the Barbadians Chris Griffith and Terry Husbands have also been Fort Erie champions in the past dozen years.

In a career spanning more than a decade during which she has five 100m world titles, two Olympic 100m titles, and is one of the fastest women to have ever lived, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is just now accepting that she is among the greatest, if not the greatest of all time.

Since she became the first Jamaican woman to win an Olympic 100m title when she crossed the line first at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, Fraser-Pryce has established a number of firsts that have augmented her incredible legacy of dominance on women’s sprinting. She would eventually win back-to-back 100m gold medals and at the Tokyo Olympics became the first woman in history to win 100m medals in four consecutive Olympic Games when she finished second to compatriot Elaine Thompson-Herah.

She was also the first to simultaneously hold Olympic and World 100m titles; she has done it twice (2008/2009 and 2012/2013) and she also became the first female sprinter to win the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay at a World Championships (Moscow 2013).

And this past summer, she became the first running athlete – male of female – to win five world titles in a single event, the oldest woman ever to win a world 100m title and capped it off running a record seven times below 10.7 in the 100m including the world-leading 10.62 in Monaco in August.

However, with all that under her belt she never believed herself to be in the conversation on who is Greatest of All Time.

“As an athlete, especially as a young athlete growing up I never had that belief in myself,” she said. “The mindset has been the greatest asset that I have had throughout my years and I always think I am very good at what I do because that is why I continue to show up knowing that I know that I can do it.”

However, her accomplishments during this past season has opened her up to the reality of the true strength of her legacy.

“To be able to accomplish the things that I did is only because of the grace of God because I have worked really, really hard and I think this time around I was more contented than ever knowing that I belong, having fun and a sense of being at peace and to be even considered one of the greatest is truly remarkable,” she said speaking to Sportsmax.TV at the conclusion of her Pocket Rocket Foundation’s ninth annual scholarship awards at the Jamaica Pegasus.

“So I am glad to even be able to me mentioned in the conversation. For me, I am just happy to be mentioned.”

Fraser-Pryce, who turns 36 in December will be going after a sixth World 100m title in Budapest in 2023 and what would be a record third Olympic 100m gold medal at the Paris Olympics in 2024.

Retired Reggae Boy Ricardo Fuller is set to step into coaching after taking a role at the academy of former club Stoke City.

The 42-year-old former player is a cult favorite at the West Midlands club where he made 182 appearances between 2006 and 2012 and scored 43 goals.

The Jamaican will return to the club as part of the Professional Player to Coach scheme, an initiative that is jointly administered by the Premier League, EFL, and Professional Footballers' Association.  The aim of the program is to increase the presence of minority coaches in the game of English football, a major talking point for the last several years.

Fuller will do work with all age groups at the club’s youth academy, where players range in age from 9-21.  Despite being a former fan favourite, the club made it clear the retired striker was not simply handed the position.

“Ricardo was one of a host of applicants for the role and he proved to be the strongest candidate after a thorough interview process,” Garth Owen, the director of the club’s academy, explained.

Fuller made 72 appearances for the Jamaica national team and scored a total of 9 goals.