West Indies bowling coach Roddy Estwick believes West Indies will miss middle order batsman Shimron Hetmyer during their upcoming tour of the Netherlands and India but hopes the player will make himself available for future tours.

The West Indies will take on the Netherlands in three ODIs on May 31, June 2 and 4. The team will then travel to Pakistan for three more ODIs on June 8, 10 and 12.

Estwick was speaking at a media conference late last week when he addressed the Hetmyer situation. Hetmyer recently withdrew from Rajasthan Royals in the IPL to travel back to Guyana for the birth of his first child.

Mere days later, he returned to the Royals which will play the Gujarat Titans on Tuesday, May 24 in the first IPL qualifier. However, the explosive Guyanese batsman has not made himself unavailable for the West Indies tours.

Estwick said the West Indies will miss his talents.

"If someone like Hetmyer's not playing, you're obviously going to miss his talent. He's having an outstanding season for Rajasthan Royals. He's doing very, very well. He's playing well,” Estwick said.

“He will be missed, but at the end of the day, he's not there. He's asked not to be selected for this tour so we have to get on without him and we hope that he will make himself available for future tours."

Notwithstanding Hetmyer’s absence, Estwick said he expects the West Indies to win the three ODI series against the Netherlands.

"Our expectation is to win all three ODIs [in the Netherlands] but it's not going to be easy," Estwick said. "Remember, a lot of the players won't have played in conditions like the ones we'll encounter in the Netherlands.

"It's about how quickly we adjust to conditions. We've only got a couple of days' practice before we go into the first ODI so it's all about adjusting and getting used to the conditions and then executing plans as well as possible."

Following an impressive season-best run over 400m at the second JAAA/SDF Jubilee Saturday night, Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Candice McLeod revealed that she has been working on a new race plan that she believes could make even faster than she was in 2021.

Inside the National Stadium in Kingston, the well-chiselled McLeod exploded at the 250m mark and pulled away from the field to win handsomely in 50.58. In her devastating wake were the Sprintec pair of Tiffany James and Ashley Williams, who ran 52.10 and 53.40 for second and third, respectively.

McLeod’s winning time was the third-fastest by a Jamaican woman behind Charokee Young (49.87) and Stacey-Ann Williams (50.21).

Surprisingly, she was pleased but not overly impressed with the performance.

 “I feel okay but I feel like I have a little more (to give). I feel like I was just working on what we have been working on in training,” she said following the victory.

The new race plan that she and coach Fitz Coleman has been putting together is intended to take her to the next level because despite running a massive personal best of 49.51 at the Olympics last summer, McLeod feels as if she needs to suffer to get the best out of her body.

“Honestly, even when I ran 49.5, I never felt like I gave it my all. I didn’t feel the leg pain, the headaches and whatever so I feel like I didn’t do enough,” she explained.

“I have always wanted to feel at my maximum regardless of what it feels like. I want to feel like I am dying so I felt like I needed to switch it up a bit to get that dying feeling. Today wasn’t bad, it still wasn’t there but it’s getting there.”

That plan has been coming together since the outdoor season began earlier this year when she opened with 51.78 at the MVP Velocity Fest meet in Kingston on April 2 before flying off to Bermuda where in extremely windy conditions on April 9, she clocked a solid 51.57. She was second in both races to the 2019 World Championship 400m bronze medallist Shericka Jackson.

The University of the West Indies accounting graduate followed up on April 23 with what was then a season-best 51.20 in Kingston.

However, just over a week ago, on May 13, the 25-year-old Olympic finalist ran her worst race of the season clocking 52.37 in a fifth place finish at the Doha Diamond League meeting. Despite the poor showing, McLeod said that race was important to her plans for this season even if things didn’t work out as planned.

“I needed Doha because after the 51.2 here, I needed to see if I could get it (the race plan) in play but, unfortunately, I didn’t do what I wanted to, so I came today even though it wasn’t part of the schedule to run,” she said while explaining what went wrong in Doha.

“It was the wind. It was bad execution by me too. Bad judgement of the wind and as for recovery, I am not too keen or known to recover well after travel but I am working on that. It takes time.”

She expressed confidence that most, if not everything, will fall into place by the time Jamaica’s National Championships roll around in late June when she believes a new lifetime best is probable as she heads into the World Championships in Oregon just over two weeks later.

“With practise comes improvement,” she said. “Everybody wants to be better than they were before so if I get that (below 49.51) then, wow. If I get 49.5, then wow again, but I am working towards just bettering myself,” said McLeod who is relishing the prospect of going up against the best that Jamaica has to offer, namely Young, Williams and defending national champion, Stephenie-Ann McPherson.

“I am very confident in my preparation, my conditioning and everything. I love competition. It’s all fun for me because I love what I do, so regardless, competition or not, I am here for it,” she said.

Los Angeles FC momentarily moved to the top of the Western Conference in the MLS on Saturday, claiming a 2-0 victory over Columbus Crew.

Goals in the second half from Carlos Vela and Jose Cifuentes handed LAFC the three points, to put them three points clear of Austin FC, who have a game in hand.

James Igbekeme missed from close range for the Crew in the third minute and with the majority of possession, failed to create anything of substance from that point.

LAFC were able to punish them in transition through Vela in the 62nd minute, darting in behind the defensive line before finishing past Eloy Room.

Cifuentes doubled the margin in the 73rd minute, left with a relatively simple finish after Cristian Arango claimed the ball just outside the penalty area in a comical loss of possession from a Crew goal kick.

The win moves LAFC to 26 points from 13 games but elsewhere in the Western Conference, Nashville SC were unable to move to fourth, twice letting the lead slip in a 2-2 draw with Atlanta United.

In the Eastern Conference, DC United and Toronto FC also played out a 2-2 draw, while Tommy McNamara's spectacular finish in the 89th minute handed the New England Revolution a 3-2 win over Cincinnati.

Jamaica 100m sprinter Oblique Seville ran the second-fastest time recorded over the distance this season after clocking 9.86 to take the event at the JAAA/SDF Jubilee Series.

Seville got away well before pulling away from the field to record a massive new personal best, shattering his previous mark of 10.00.  Conroy Jones took the second spot behind Seville in 10.14 seconds, with Emmanuel Archibald taking third in 10.20.

In the women’s equivalent, Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah dominated the field to take first place in 10.94.  Thompson-Herah pulled away down the stretch to finish well clear of second-place Remona Burchell who was next in 11.31 and Jodean Williams who was third in 11.40.

Reigning Olympic 110m hurdles champion Hansle Parchment ran a world-leading 13.09 to win at the Birmingham Diamond League, at the Alexander Stadium, in London on Saturday.

Parchment finished ahead of countryman and 2016 Olympic champion Omar McLeod who ran a season’s best 13.17 for second, while Spain’s Asier Martinez was third in 13.22.

Reigning Olympic bronze medallist in the Women’s 100m Shericka Jackson narrowly finished second in the Women’s blue-ribband event, running 11.12 to finish behind British 2019 200m World champion Dina Asher-Smith (11.11). Asher-Smith’s countrywoman Daryll Neita was third in 11.14.

Olympic 800m finalist Natoya Goule was third in the Women’s 800m in 2:00.13 behind Olympic silver medallist Keely Hodgkinson of Great Britain (1:58.63) and Renelle Lamote of France (1:59.53).

Leeward Islands Hurricanes spinner Rahkeem Cornwall produced a solid spell of his own to end the T&T Red Force resistance and secure a 187-run win in the West Indies Championship at the Diego Martin Complex.

The Red Force began the day behind the 8 ball, facing a deficit of 316 runs and with six wickets already lost.  Yannic Cariah, who resume the day on 37, however, did his best to keep T&T in the contest eventually going on to score a gritty 100 from 180 balls.

His overnight partner Bryan Charles only managed to add 16 to his total before being Cornwall’s first victim, caught by Amir Jangoo.

Anderson Phillip’s stay at the crease lasted just five deliveries as he was dismissed for 4, undone lbw by Hayden Walsh Jr.  Jayden Seales partnered with Cariah to put on 86 for the 9^th wicket but Cornwall ended the partnership when he accounted for the valuable wicket of Cariah who was caught by Kieron Powell.  The innings was brought to an end when Seales was dismissed on 33 by Sheeno Berridge.  Overall Cornwall ended with second-innings figures of 4 for 50.

Spinner Verasammy Permaul grabbed a four-wicket haul as the Guyana Harpy Eagles enforced a follow-on after the Barbados Pride fell 244 runs short of their first innings total in the West Indies Championship match at Queen’s Park Oval.

At the close of play, Barbados Tridents were 44 without loss with openers Kraigg Brathwaite (17) and Sheyne Moseley (25) at the crease.  Earlier, in the Pride’s first innings it was Permaul who got the breakthrough after removing Brathwaite for 17, before adding the dangerous Shai Hope and Roston Chase to his tally.

Hope had, however, staged a furious fightback after coming to the crease with his team in trouble at 49 for 3.  Hope went on to make 119 from 2oo deliveries, before being caught by Leon Johnson, which ended the Pride’s resistance at 266 all-out.  Prior to that Shane Dowrich added an enterprising 44 from 60 and shared in 64 runs partnership with Hope but became Permaul’s third wicket after also being caught by Johnson.

In Guyana’s first innings Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Gudakesh Motie each made a century as the team declared at 490 for 7.

Another brutal spell from Leewards Hurricanes pace bowler Jeremiah Louis pushed the T&T Red Force to the verge of defeat in the West Indies Championship at the Diego Martin Sports Complex.

At the close of play, the Red Force were left on 143 for 6, still, some 316 runs short of the victory target.  Similar to his performance in the first innings, it was Louis who devastated the top order when the T&T unit took to the crease for a second time. 

T&T opener Jeremy Solozano only managed to score 6 before he was dismissed by Kieron Powell off the bowling of Sheeno Berridge.  Then Louis went to work, removing Tion Webster, Darren Bravo, and Jason Mohammed to leave Red Force struggling at 53 for 4.

Yannic Cariah and Joshua Da Silva briefly came together to stage a rescue act, putting on 47 for the fifth wicket but Da Silva’s innings came to an end when he was trapped lbw by Rahkeem Cornwall.

Cariah remains at the crease on 37 and has been joined by Brian Charles, who is not out on 6, following the dismissal of Akeal Hosein who was bowled by Cornwall on 10.

Earlier, enterprising half-centuries from Kieron Powell (83) and Devon Thomas (84) had pushed the Hurricanes' second innings to 241 for 7 declared after resuming the day on 23.  Cariah was the pick of the Red Force bowler, having taken 3 for 33, while Hosein picked up 2 for 64.

The best women’s cricketers in the West Indies will be back in action as Cricket West Indies (CWI) hosts the CG Insurance Super50 Cup and the T20 Blaze regional tournaments in Guyana.

The CG Insurance Super50 Cup matches will be played at three venues – Everest Cricket Club, Enmore Cricket Ground and the Guyana National Stadium from June 7 to 17.

The T20 Blaze event will feature five full days of entertainment for the fans from June 19 to 25. There will be three matches per day – starting at 10 am 2:30 pm and 7 pm under lights at the Guyana National Stadium.

For this year’s CG Insurance Super50 and the T20 Blaze, several world-class players will be representing their home territories in what promises to be a keenly contested three weeks of action. Barbados are defending champions in both formats.

This will mark a significant return as the women’s tournaments were not played in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During that period CWI continued its investment in the development of women’s players and organized several high-performance camps at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua and also hosted international series, including an inaugural Women’s “A” Team series, while the West Indies Women’s team also toured England, Pakistan and South Africa.

“We are delighted to see the return of the women’s regional tournament on our annual calendar as it is a crucial component of our cricket in the region. We are also pleased to have our international players in action on home soil playing with our regional players,” said Jimmy Adams, CWI’s Director of Cricket.

“Our women’s game is showing improvement, as was demonstrated with some good performances during the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand earlier this year. Ideally, we want to see a further demonstration of that progress as we look to upcoming bilateral series and international events. Very importantly, the regional tournament will serve to identify players who could potentially graduate to our international squads in the near future.”

Five-wicket hauls from off-spinner Jamie Merchant and medium pacer Derval Green propelled the Jamaica Scorpions to their first win of the 2022 West Indies Championship, defeating the Windward Islands Volcanoes by an innings and 14 runs on Friday at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba.

The Volcanoes resumed on 101-3 with captain Kavem Hodge (30) and Ackeem Auguste (0) at the crease needing to score 209 to overhaul their first innings deficit of 209 runs.

The pair added a further 26 before Auguste became Merchant’s first scalp of the day for 11.

First innings half-centurion Keron Cottoy joined his captain and the pair put on 36 before Merchant dismissed Cottoy for 21 to leave the Volcanoes struggling at 163-5.

The popular cricket phrase “one brings two” was in full effect as just two balls later, Merchant removed wicketkeeper/batsman Denis Smith for a duck to leave the Volcanoes 163-6.

In the midst of the carnage, Hodge brought up a well-played half century before being the seventh wicket to fall, dismissed by Green for 63 as the Volcanoes slumped to 173-7.

Sherman Lewis (6), Preston McSween (4) and Josh Thomas (0) were the final three wickets to fall as Merchant and Green mopped up the tail to secure the massive win for the Scorpions.

Merchant, who scored 58 when the Scorpions batted, followed up with 5-72 from 28 overs to cap a fine all-round performance while Green ended with 5-46 from 18.2 overs.

Final scores: Windward Islands Volcanoes 137 and 195, Jamaica Scorpions 346.

Jamaica’s Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sports is backing Netball Jamaica’s hosting of the Americas Netball World Cup Qualifier for the 2023 Netball World Cup to the tune of US$77,000 (JMD$12 million).

Minister Olivia Grange, the official patron of the event, made the announcement at the launch of the qualifier at the NCB Care and Wellness Centre on Phoenix Avenue in Kingston on Thursday.

“The Ministry and its agencies are providing ($JMD1.8M) to Netball Jamaica for team preparation, $2.5m for transportation and will be covering the cost of rental of the National Indoor Sports Centre where the qualifier will take place from October 16 to 21, 2022,” Minister Grange said.

Ten teams will be playing in the Qualifier for the two remaining places in the World Cup. Jamaica has already qualified by virtue of its number four world ranking, a fact of which the minister takes great pride.

“I am proud, all of Jamaica is proud of this first for Netball Jamaica; playing host for the staging of a Netball World Cup Qualifier,” Minister Grange noted.

“History will also be made when the next Netball World Cup, the 16th edition, takes place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, South Africa since it will be the first time that the tournament will be held on the African continent. South Africa has gained a reputation for the staging of world-class events so we can expect something extra special when they host the Netball World Cup.

“The upcoming Qualifier will certainly serve to project Netball Jamaica afresh to the nation.

“I am deeply moved that Netball Jamaica would see fit to honour me by asking me to be Patron for the Americas Netball World Cup Qualifier.

 “So who is a Patron and what is the duty of a Patron? A Patron is a distinguished person who gives financial or other support to a person, organisation, or cause. 

The most effective Patron will have a passion for what the person or organization does. Need I say more?”

The minister also suggested that Netball Jamaica needs to see their value if they are to convince corporate Jamaica to provide the needed support.

“Netball Jamaica will tell you that I have challenged them to reimagine how they see themselves. Their value is great and we need corporate Jamaica to come on board in a greater way to support them. I would love to see partners coming on board to provide a bus, sports gear and all the other services they need because I am sure that our Sunshine girls will give sponsors value for their money!”, she said.

“Sport and the opportunity to participate in sport at all levels is a right that we take seriously. Netball is a favourite pastime in Jamaica and one that is practised from the primary school levels in Jamaica. We know that through the work of the Institute of Sports (INSPORTS) we have netball competitions at the primary level. There is also competition at the high school and tertiary levels.

“We want to see the sport grow in Jamaica and continue to give our girls and yes, boys too, the avenue and outlet to express themselves and dare to dream to play at higher levels.

  “We anticipate that on the final day of the Netball World Cup on August 6, 2023, when Jamaica celebrates its 61st Anniversary of Independence, our Sunshine Girls will be one of the two teams competing for the title and that they will be the new champions of world netball.

 “Netball and our Sunshine Girls have always made us proud.” 

 Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Gudakesh Motie each crafted centuries as Guyana Harpy Eagles completed a dominant showing at the crease, against Barbados Pride, declaring at 490 for 7 on day 2 of the West Indies Championship.

At the close of play, Barbados had already lost two wickets in pursuit of the massive target with captain Kraigg Brathwaite (17) and Sharmarh Brooks (2) already back in the Pavilion.

Earlier, resuming the day at 219 for 4 Chanderpaul, who toiled to 64 on the previous day, pushed on to triple figures and remained unbeaten on 140 off a marathon 434 balls.  Throughout the innings, the batsman was part of several fruitful partnerships.  Tevin Imlac added 53 to feature in a 94-run partnership with Chanderpaul but Motie was even more devastating, adding a dispiriting 110 off 118 deliveries at the bottom of the innings.  Motie was eventually caught by Sharmarh Brooks off the bowling of Keon Harding.  Akeem Jordan was the pick of the Pride bowlers with 3 for 108, while Raymond Reifer took 2 for 37.

Brooks and Shai Hope will be the batsmen to resume the chase for Barbados at the start of the third day.