Legendary West Indies wicketkeeper Jeffrey Dujon believes the Test team will be forced to continue its search for an opening batsman as the current selections have not produced a great many positive results to date.
Since the team's successful tour of Bangladesh in February three players, John Campbell, Shai Hope, and Kieran Powell have been paired at the top of the innings with West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite.
To date, the pairing with the Brathwaite has not bred much success. Campbell has averaged 18.5 in eight innings, Powell 14.57 in seven innings, and Hope 15 in the one match played so far. The results have often left the team well short of a solid start that has not been a feature of its play in recent times.
“I still think we need to find another opener, we are still looking for an opener and one more top-class batsman in the middle,” Dujon told the Mason and Guest radio program.
“Right now we are not getting the results, we need good open partnerships and we have not been getting that,” he added.
Dujon believes that so far, the openers paired with Brathwaite have been plagued by shortcomings with playing the new ball.
“I just don’t get the feeling that he is playing down the right line, as an opening batsman playing a moving ball, I don’t think he gets down the wicket far enough,” he said of Powell.
Having only recently returned to the team, Hope has also been tried in the position. While he certainly believes that Hope should have a spot in the team, Dujon is convinced it is not at the top of the innings.
“He’s a very good player but he is not an opener. His style of play to open the batting in limited over cricket is fine. He should be in this batting line-up but somewhere around four or so.”
Saint Lucia Kings earned their second victory of the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with a dominant victory over the Guyana Amazon Warriors by 51 runs, Roston Chase starring with both the bat (85), then the ball, as he took the valuable wicket of Warriors captain Nicholas Pooran.
St Kitts & Nevis Patriots carried on their unbeaten start in the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with a six-wicket victory over the Jamaica Tallawahs.
Sarah Storey said it was "truly amazing" to land a 17th gold medal as the cycling star became Britain's most decorated Paralympic athlete of all time.
The 43-year-old beat the haul of Mike Kenny, who won 16 golds in swimming between 1976 and 1988, by powering to victory on Thursday in the C4-5 road race.
Storey's latest Tokyo 2020 triumph followed her individual pursuit track success and time trial win, with the Manchester-born veteran leading a British one-two as Crystal Lane-Wright took silver.
Storey began her Paralympic Games career in 1992 at Barcelona, when she competed in swimming and bagged her first two golds.
After a stunning transition to cycling following Athens 2004, Storey has not looked back, adding 12 gold medals to the five she won previously in the pool.
Storey has been competing in her eighth Paralympics this year in Japan and said she "couldn't have imagined" enjoying such longevity and rich reward coming her way.
"It's the dream I didn't think would come true," Storey said. "I just wanted to be a British athlete, I wanted to compete for my country for as long as I possibly could, and to still be going strong in Games number eight is truly amazing.
"I never felt a weight on my shoulders. You're defending a title and it's added to a tally afterwards. I've never really felt that pressure to be overwhelming before a race. It's just each race as it comes."
She added, according to Paralympics GB: "It is the sweetest feeling to know that I go back to my room and there are a couple of gold medals in the safe to put this one with. That makes that tally very real then."
Germany's Kerstin Brachtendorf, 49, had made a bold breakaway that saw her move over a minute clear at one point; however, she was reeled in and eventually finished fifth, with Storey crossing the line seven seconds ahead of Lane-Wright.
Storey could yet target Paris 2024, having declared Tokyo will not necessarily mark the end of her Paralympics career, but Lane-Wright has reached the end of this particular road.
"Right now, I never want to look at a bike again," Lane-Wright said. "When we came up the climb I told myself, 'last time I ever have to do this'.
"When Sarah and I got away, I told her it was her gold medal. I said, 'You don't have to worry, I'm not even going to attempt to take it away from you'.
"There are times when I think, 'What would Sarah do?'. She inspires me that much."
Jamaica sprint king Usain Bolt has voiced a modicum of support for mercurial United States sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, admitting he is a fan of the energy the young athlete brings to the sport.
Earlier this summer, the 21-year-old was expected to be one of the headliners at the Olympic Games, but things did not go to plan as she missed the event after being suspended for a month after testing positive for marijuana.
Nor did her match-up with the medal-winning Jamaica trio from the Olympics, Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and Shericka Jackson. Despite plenty of pre-race hype, the American finished last in the event. The result divided social media users with many still offering support for Richardson, while many others ridiculed her.
Recently the sprinter also drew heat for what many construed to be disrespect shown to legendary American sprinter Alyson Felix who called for patience and support for the young runner. Bolt, however, believes the athlete’s personality draws more people to the sport.
“I like her energy because I think she’s good for the sport because her energy is different. It’s spicy, it’s a vibe,” Bolt told hip hop magazine Revolt Tv.
“Everybody is different. But, I think she brings a different spice to track and field. And sometimes sports need somebody like that to give the energy, to get people talking about it,” he added.
The double world record holder also offered some kind words of advice to the young American.
“You will have failures throughout your career, it’s just one of those things. In my first Olympics in Athens, I didn’t make it outside the first round. So, it’s just about being determined and pushing yourself, and just believing that you can do it, and just go and do your best.”
Guyana Amazon Warriors claimed a stunning Super Over victory over the Trinbago Knight Riders at the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
Jamaica Tallawahs earned their second victory of the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with a six-wicket victory over the Barbados Royals.
The Royals won the toss and opted to bat, with Azam Khan’s fluent 50 off just 30 balls taking them to 151 for 8.
However, the Jamaica Tallawahs were able to chase the target in 17.4 overs through the sublime batting of Kennar Lewis, his innings of 89 the highest score of the tournament so far, supported by the graceful play of Sharmarh Brooks, who hit 47 not out off 26 balls.
Barbados Royals had found themselves in early trouble, losing key batsmen Shai Hope and Kyle Mayers in successive balls in the Powerplay to Fidel Edwards, who was making his first appearance in this year’s Hero CPL.
A recovery mission was led by Azam and Phillips; the pair putting on a partnership of 71 runs off 51 balls to build a foundation for the innings. Joshua Bishop then struck 18 off 8 balls at the back end of the innings to take his side to a respectable total.
Migael Pretorius was the standout bowler for the Tallawahs, taking four wickets, while Rovman Powell led by example with three excellent catches in the field.
Tallawahs response was led by Lewis, who powered the innings despite his team losing early wickets to the spin of Joshua Bishop, including captain Powell, who was dismissed by a superb piece of fielding as Jason Holder held on to his shot with one hand at long-off.
Barbados Royals will count themselves unlucky as star bowler Mohammad Amir had to leave the field injured during the second innings. The win takes the Jamaica Tallawahs up to second in the Hero CPL standings.
Heavy rains forced the abandonment of the first CG Insurance T20 International between the West Indies Women and South Africa Women at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground.
Batting first Marizanne Kapp top-scored with 36 as the visitors put 135 for three on the board. In pursuit, the Windies Women were off to a tough start, after losing Deandra Dottin to injury and Hayley Matthews for 8 before the rain intervened. Despite not playing the full encounter West Indies stand-in captain Anisa Mohammed took positives from the encounter.
"I’m really happy with the way the girls bowled today. I think we had them good up until the 18th over but with wickets in hand, we expected them to come hard at us. Having said that I still believe that 135 was a good total for us to chase unfortunately the rain had other plans. We now have a day to refocus and fine-tune carrying through the consistency until the end of 20 overs,” Mohammed told CWI Media.
The second and third CG Insurance T20Is take place at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground on Thursday, September 02, and Saturday, September 04 respectively. The five CG Insurance ODIs will be played from September 7 to 19, with the first three matches being played at the Coolidge Cricket Ground (CCG) and the last two at the SVRCG.
Trinbago Knight Riders moved up to second in the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) table with a 27-run victory over the Saint Lucia Kings.
The Kings won the toss and opted to field first and for the first half of the TKR innings, they had full control of the game. However, a late salvo from Kieron Pollard and Tim Seifert helped the Knight Riders to post a challenging total.
In reply, Andre Fletcher played a fine lone hand for the Kings, but the team never got going as a disciplined Trinbago bowling attack kept a firm stranglehold on proceedings throughout.
The Knight Riders opened their innings with the familiar pair of Lendl Simmons and Sunil Narine and they put on a partnership of 23 from 18 balls before Wahab Riaz trapped the former plumb in front.
It took the introduction of Tim Seifert for the Knight Riders innings to gain impetus after Tion Webster, Narine and Colin Munro had all fallen in consecutive overs.
Along with Kieron Pollard the pair put on 78 runs from 44 balls to help post a competitive total.
Just like the TKR innings, the Kings struggled to find any momentum in the first half of their reply amidst some exceptional and parsimonious bowling from Sunil Narine and Akeal Hosein that left them needing an unlikely 82 runs from 36 balls.
Despite Andre Fletcher’s unbeaten 81 from 55 balls, three wickets by the tournament’s top wicket-taker Ravi Rampaul ensured no one was able to stick with him to chase down the TKR total.
Jamaica 100m sprinter Nesta Carter has retired from the sport of athletics on the back of recent struggles with an undisclosed medical condition.
The 35-year-old, who was part of Jamaica’s world record gold-winning 4x100m relay team at the London Olympics, made the announcement, on Tuesday, via social media platform Twitter.
“…I am no longer able to give of my best as an athlete to the sport that I know and love. As a result, and for other reasons, I am announcing my retirement from track and field and an athlete,” the release read.
“My ultimate decision to retire from athletics was also precipitated by a private medical condition, which has been getting worse. This condition has hindered me from training and competing since March 2021. A medication prescribed by my doctor to address this medical issue breaches existing anti-doping rules. As such, I had to make a choice between my health and athletics, and I chose my health.”
The athlete was also part of Jamaica’s gold medal-winning relay team at the 2008 Olympics, but the medal was stripped after a retrospective test returned a positive sample from Carter. The athlete was also part of a gold medal-winning relay team at the 2011, 2013, and 2015 World Championships. Carter claimed an individual bronze medal at the 2013 World Championships and has the eighth fastest time ever recorded over the distance.
Coming off a successful series against Pakistan, West Indies Women Head Coach Courtney Walsh is expecting greater levels of consistency from his players when they take on South Africa in the first of three T20 Internationals in Antigua on Tuesday.
During the series that the West Indies won 3-2 over Pakistan, the Caribbean women benefitted from players like Kyshona Knight and Britney Cooper stepped up with the bat to support Captain Stafanie Taylor and Hayley Matthews, especially in light of Deandra Dottin’s poor form.
On the eve of the series against South Africa, Walsh says he expects even better performances from his players against a tough South African contingent.
“We are looking to execute a lot better than we did against Pakistan. Obviously, South Africa being ranked above us we have to be a lot more consistent than we were against Pakistan, so we will be looking to execute a lot better and improve. We know that they are a decent team and we have to be ready for that,” said Walsh.
He said it was a good sign to see players other than the ‘big three’ step up and wants to see more of that against South Africa.
“That’s the only way we are going to get the team where I think we can compete against the top teams and give ourselves a chance of winning major competitions.
“We have to move away from one or two players consistently getting us out of trouble so it was very good to see all the other players who performed well in the last series and we want that to continue and to try to extend that consistency from them, and once we can complement it with both departments, batting and bowling it will be good for us.
“And then, if we can complete the whole thing when we are in the field it would be excellent. So we just need to keep improving, raising the bar in those areas that we have to. It’s good to see other players putting their hands up and we want to see more of that.”
Nicole Grant is of the view that the new additions to the board of the Jamaica Amateur Gymnastics Association will bring the required dynamism needed to take the sport forward in Jamaica.
Portland Timbers upset Western Conference leaders Seattle Sounders to win Sunday's derby 2-0 after two defensive blunders to round out the rivalry week in the MLS.
Second-half strikes from Sebastian Blanco and Felipe Mora earned the Timbers the points, ending Seattle's three-game winning run and ensuring they missed the chance to extend their lead to five points.
Portland had failed to win in their past three games, with the result lifting them from 10th in the west, up to sixth.
Blanco's goal was particularly special, having torn his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) at the same venue nearly a year ago.
Mora pounced on a poor Yeimar Gomez Andrade back pass, swooping in and setting up Blanco for a 58th-minute tap-in.
Timbers goalkeeper Steve Clark made numerous saves, including from a rocket 61st-minute Joao Paulo volley, before Mora capitalised on an error from Sounders keeper Stefan Cleveland, sealing the points with a classy lob in the fifth minute of stoppage time.
Eight goals were scored in an entertaining Texas derby as Dallas got the better of Austin 5-3 – teenager Ricardo Pepi and Jesus Ferreira both netting braces for the winners.
Dallas raced to a 4-1 lead at the break before Jader Obrian added a fifth shortly after half-time, with Austin pulling goals back via Diego Fagundez and Alexander Ring as Ferreira hit the post late in pursuit of a hat-trick.
Pepi, who turned 18 in January and last month became the youngest player in MLS history to score a hat-trick, has netted 11 times this season for Dallas.
Meanwhile, Vancouver Whitecaps continued their resurgence under interim head coach Vanni Sartini with a 4-1 rout of Real Salt Lake.
The Whitecaps piled on three goals inside 16 second-half minutes after Marcelo Silva's own goal had given them a 1-0 lead at the interval.
Cristian Dajome was dangerous down the right flank, as Brian White, Ryan Gauld and Florian Jungwirth netted before Anderson Julio's consolation for RSL.
St Kitts & Nevis Patriots maintained their unbeaten start to the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with a dramatic six-wicket victory over the Guyana Amazon Warriors.
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