Manchester City Women have announced the signing of Jamaica’s Khadija Shaw on a three-year deal, subject to the approval of a work visa and international clearance.
Shaw, 24, arrives from Bordeaux in France where she scored 22 goals to win the Golden Boot Award in the Women’s First Division.
“It feels amazing to be a Manchester City player. I chose this club because I want to be a part of the environment, the culture and to play for this amazing team,” she said. “I want to be tested and there is so much experience in the team here, so I know I will learn a lot from everybody around me. I grew up as a City fan, and I even have some family members who live in Manchester. When I told them about my move, they were so happy and excited.”
Goal.com had reported in April that the player was close to a deal with Manchester City, which was looking to add depth to their forward pool and provide their head coach with different tactical options.
The player took to Instagram last week to announce that she was leaving Bordeaux but there was no confirmation as to where she was headed.
That confirmation came today with the club’s announcement.
Naturally, head coach Gareth Taylor was delighted with the signing and welcomed the Jamaicans to the club, who plays in the Women’s Super League in England.
"She's enjoyed a successful couple of years in France with Bordeaux and the fact that she finished as the league's top scorer this past campaign speaks volumes about the calibre of player that she is,” he said. “Her form on the international stage is incredibly impressive too and we're very much looking forward to working with her over the coming seasons."
The forward arrives from Bordeaux after scoring 22 goals in 20 league
Fast bowler Shannon Gabriel and middle-order batsman Darren Bravo have been recalled to the West Indies squad ahead of the second Betway Test match at the Darren Sammy Cricket Stadium in St Lucia starting on Friday, June 18.
After spending the last seven years at St John’s and last season as an associate head coach, four-time Guyanese Olympian Aliann Pompey has been appointed head coach of the school’s Track and Field and Cross Country programme.
Former West Indies captain Jason Holder has backed an ‘inexperienced’ batting line-up to eventually find its feet against better bowling attacks, on the back of a disappointing showing against South Africa in the opening Test match.
The start of the series against the visiting Proteas was no contest, with the regional team losing by an innings and 62 runs inside three days. In a dreadful showing at the crease, the West Indies put up 259 in two innings and scored just 97 in the first innings.
After a string of positive performances against Bangladesh and then Sri Lanka, the outings at the crease against South Africa were more reminiscent of games last year, in New Zealand, where the Windies struggled to 385 in two innings against a fierce bowling attack and against England earlier in the year.
Holder believes the issue has to do with the team’s inexperience and the lack of cohesiveness it causes at the crease.
“It’s not every day that everyone will go out there and perform but what you would like is to have a bit more consistency and not have these massive imbalances when you get performances such as the one we had with our bat,” Holder told members of the media.
“You must also understand that we have a relatively inexperienced batting line-up. Bonner is in about his fourth Test match, the same thing with Mayers, Joshua Da Silva, the majority of the top order is relatively inexperienced. You only have Kraigg who has been around for a while, Powell coming back into the side…Roston coming back into the team after a little while as well,” he added.
“Guys are looking to re-engage themselves in the Test arena, some are looking to engage themselves for the very first time. All these things add up in the grand scheme of things and we have to be a little more patient with this line-up.”
In demand Bayer Leverkusen and Jamaica winger, Leon Bailey could stay in Germany after the summer transfer window, after reportedly attracting interest from Borussia Dortmund.
The 23-year-old is currently under contract with Leverkusen until 2023 but is once again on the radar of some of the globe’s top clubs after a strong performance this season. Bailey has scored 15 goals this season, including 9 in the Bundesliga.
The Jamaican has been linked with English clubs Everton, Manchester City, and Manchester United but has lately been tipped to replace Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho who could be heading to Manchester United.
Sancho has been a long-term interest of Man United but the club and Dortmund have had disagreements over the player’s price. Bailey missed the last two weeks of the Bundesliga season after suffering a broken toe during a league match against Werder Bremen.
The winger has made 8 international appearances for the Jamaica national team and scored one goal.
Despite being shot out twice for less than 300 runs at the Darren Sammy Cricket Stadium in the first Test against South Africa last week, West Indies fast bowler Kemar Roach says pitches like the one they played on will help West Indies cricket in the long run.
On a grassy surface that offered bounce and pace to fast bowlers, South Africa bowled the West Indies out for scores of 97 and 162 while securing victory by an innings and 63 runs inside three days. South Africa made 322 in their only turn at-bat.
However, according to Roach, who took 2-64 from the 20 overs he bowled, said pitches like the one they played on will ultimately benefit the players in the region.
“I think the pitches benefit us in the long run, especially when we go on tours to South Africa and Australia where the bounce is a lot more,” Roach said.
“We wouldn’t be unfamiliar when we go to these countries. I think it’s good to have a pitch like this in the Caribbean we can prepare ourselves for these overseas tours.”
The bowler, who is a few days shy of his 33rd birthday, had a successful stint in May with Surrey in the English County Championship where he took 22 wickets at an average of 20.54. Among the 22 wickets were nine that he took in his final match against Middlesex.
He said the pitches he played on were different in nature to the one in St Lucia.
“Pitches don’t bounce much in England. There is a lot of movement because of the atmosphere and the amount of grass they put on the pitch,” he said, adding that he believes he and his teammates will need to adjust their game to suit the surface.
“The pitch in St Lucia bounced a lot more than I have seen in a while. It reminds me of a wicket in Australia or probably South Africa, so it’s about us adapting. It’s about taking on the challenge and trying to be as positive as we can.”
The West Indies will see how much they have adjusted to the St Lucia pitch when the second Betway Test begins on Friday.
Several top Australian cricketers including Pat Cummins, Marcus Stoinis and David Warner, have withdrawn from the white-ball tour of the West Indies, Cricket Australia has announced.
In addition, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, and Daniel Sams have also requested that they not be considered for the tours of the West Indies and Bangladesh for various reasons.
"We are naturally disappointed not to have all players available for the Australian team at this time however the National Selection Panel respects the decisions of those who have opted out of this tour," said head selector Trevor Hohns.
“Steve Smith was unavailable for selection due to an elbow injury and will now be able to use this time to fully recover ahead of the World Cup and home Ashes Series. Steve was disappointed to miss the tour with the decision made on medical grounds. International tours in the time of Covid-19 undoubtedly present many additional challenges for athletes.
"They also present opportunities for others and, in this case, the chance to push for selection in the Australian men’s T20 World Cup squad later this year and beyond. This is a great chance for these players to make a case for the World Cup and all are considered very real prospects of making that tournament by performing well across these tours.”
The 18-man squad comprises Aaron Finch (c) (Victoria), Ashton Agar (Western Australia), Wes Agar (South Australia), Jason Behrendorff (Western Australia), Alex Carey (South Australia), Dan Christian (New South Wales), Josh Hazlewood (New South Wales), Moises Henriques (New South Wales), Mitchell Marsh (Western Australia), Riley Meredith (Tasmania), Ben McDermott (Tasmania), Josh Philippe (Western Australia), Mitchell Starc (New South Wales), Mitchell Swepson (Queensland), Ashton Turner (Western Australia), Andrew Tye (Western Australia), Matthew Wade (Tasmania), and Adam Zampa (New South Wales).
Texas A&M’s Lamara Distin, fresh from her silver medal performance in the high jump at last weekend’s NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships, is targeting the Olympic standard of 1.96m when she competes at the Jamaica National Championships beginning June 26.
Former West Indies captain and top all-rounder Jason Holder has urged caution in the development of young fast bowler Jayden Seales.
Despite some amount of debate surrounding the selection of the inexperienced player, the performance of the 19-year-old Seales was one of the few bright sparks in a wretched series for the regional team.
The teenager, who came into the line-up with the absence of Shannon Gabriel due to injury, claimed figures of 3 for 34 and overall figures of 3 for 75. He did not get the chance at a second innings as South Africa only needed to bat once. Prior to his debut, Seales had only played one First-Class match.
While admitted to being delighted by the young bowler’s potential, Holder recommends caution as a necessity in ensuring he lives up to his full potential.
“I’m very excited for Jayden. It was special to see not just the way he bowled but also the way the team rallied around him,” Holder told members of the media on Tuesday.
“I was actually commenting on his first Test wicket and everyone was saying they really enjoyed how he got around it. I honestly felt like I was taking my first wicket when Jayden got his wicket,” he added.
“The most impressive thing for me about Jayden's debut is the sustenance of his consistency. He was there, thereabouts nagging. He asked tons of questions at multiple stages of the game, which is impressive for a 19-year-old.”
The sky’s the limit for him if he can just stay fit. I just hope that we manage him well. When I say manage him well, we still have to understand that for Jayden that’s his second first-class game, first Test match. The body will take a little bit of time to adjust to the workload and we have to be careful not to bowl him to the ground. I think sometimes we get excited by a young prospect like Jayden and throw him into all formats. I would like to see a gradual build-up with him.”
West Indies coach Phil Simmons has insisted the team’s lack of productive opening partnerships continues to be a major concern.
While poor all-around batting display was the order of the day in a lopsided loss against South Africa in the first Test, the West Indies, as has become customary, had another slow start at the top of the innings.
The opening pair of captain Kraigg Brathwaite and recently recalled Shai Hope only managed to put 30 on the board in the first innings, with Brathwaite then partnering with another recalled batsman, Kieran Powell, to combine for 21 in the second innings.
Prior to this series, however, Brathwaite and opening partner John Campbell has had an average stuck at around the 22 mark for the last several series played. Campbell has been ruled out of the current series with an injury.
On the back of the lopsided defeat to South Africa, Simmons insists it is an area the team is desperate to fix.
“It’s one of the things we have been desperately trying to work on because if you look back, a lot of times when we win Test matches against top teams, we have good opening stands,” Simmons recently told members of the media.
“It’s disappointing because when you look at the last 7 Test 100s scored by an opener, I think they were all scored by Kraigg. So, it’s disappointing for us and we are trying to work very hard on that,” he added.
The Heart Institute of the Caribbean (HIC) is now a sponsor of the Jamaica Premier League. It is a partnership that will see the HIC providing cardiovascular screening to an estimated 407 footballers, coaches and managers from all 12 teams in the Jamaica Premier League for the 2021 season.
Kemba Nelson has characterized her first season competing on the American collegiate circuit as ‘incredible’ after her fourth-place finish in the 100m at the NCAA Division I Outdoor season that concluded in Eugene, Oregon on Saturday.
Goals from Carli Lloyd, Lindsey Horan, Margaret Purce and Alex Morgan powered the world champions, the USA, to a 4-0 drubbing of Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz at the BBVA Stadium in Houston on Sunday night.
The result meant that Jamaica leaves the USWNT Summer Series with a win and a loss having defeated Nigeria 1-0 in their opening match last Thursday night.
The USA got off to a fast start and scored 24 seconds after the first whistle when a cross to the left of Jamaica’s 18-yard box found Lloyd who fired into the Jamaican goal from close range.
The USA were on the board again six minutes later when Christen Press, on a run into the box from the left, was brought down by Konya Plumber. Horan converted easily sending Jamaican keeper Sydney Schneider, the wrong way.
Purce added the USA’s third in the 22nd minute when she ghosted in behind the Jamaican defence to receive a cross slotting in unchallenged past the advancing goalkeeper.
Jamaica produced a better performance in the second half partly due to the USA taking their foot off the gas and giving the Jamaicans more room to play.
However, Morgan scored a header in the 90th minute to complete the lopsided victory.
Former Trinidad and Tobago midfielder Angus Eve is to be the next head coach of his country’s national side following the dismissal of head coach Terry Fenwick on Friday.
The 49-year-old Eve will, according to sources, have Reynold Carrington as his assistant coach, Clayton Ince as his goalkeeper’s coach and Adarayll John as team trainer. Richard Piper will be the team manager. He replaces Terry Fenwick, who was fired on Friday, a week after Trinidad and Tobago’s 2022 FIFA World Cup campaign ended with a goalless draw against the Bahamas.
However, Eve and his staff will have to hit the ground running as he will only have the CONCACAF Gold Cup qualifying matches to prove his mettle. His contract runs until August 31, 2021.
"I am really honoured and privileged to have this opportunity to continue to represent my country," Eve said. "I'm committed to provide a lift to Trinidad and Tobago, especially in this time where we are battling so many different adversities at the same time."
Normalisation Committee Chairman Robert Haddad expressed his gratitude to the outgoing coaching staff.
"We thank the previous coaching staff for their commitment and efforts. We now look forward to the Gold Cup competition and wish Angus all the best. We will do our very best to support him and the team."
Under Fenwick, Trinidad and Tobago, playing in Group F in World Cup qualifying, defeated Guyana 3-0, drew 1-1 with Puerto Rico and then 0-0 with the Bahamas before rebounding to defeat St Kitts & Nevis 2-0. However, it was not enough for Trinidad and Tobago to advance to the next round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying.
Prior to taking the head coaching job, Eve was coaching at Club Sando in the TT Pro League and at Naparima College in the SSFL.
Eve represented his country 117 times between 1994 and 2005 scoring 34 goals.
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