Brandon King scored a half-century and Raymon Reifer claimed three wickets as the West Indies won their warm-up match against the United Arab Emirates at Junction Stadium by 17 runs on Sunday night.
It was not an easy win for the Caribbean men who would have suffered jitters when medium pacer Junaid Siddique took career-best figures of 5-13 to restrict West Indies to 152-9 from their 20 overs.
The West Indies owed their eventual match-winning score to a 95-run fourth wicket partnership between King and Captain Nicholas Pooran that spared the Caribbean men blushes after UAE won the toss and decided to bowl.
It seemed the right decision as the West Indies were struggling at 22-3 inside the Powerplay.
The dismissal of Evin Lewis (2), Johnson Charles (1) and Sharmarh Brooks (4) brought King and Pooran together in the fifth over and together they dragged the West Indies into a position of relative strength.
The West Indies captain hit five fours in his 31-ball 46 before he was bowled by Zahoor Khan, who had earlier dismissed Brooks. It was then 117-4 in the 15th over.
The loss of Pooran’s wicket saw the West Indies slip to 122-7 as Siddique, who had earlier removed Charles, scythed through the middle order with three wickets in four balls claiming Reifer for one, King for 64 and Akeal Hosein without scoring.
King's runs came from 45 balls and included seven fours and two sixes.
Siddique picked up his fifth wicket in the 18th over when he bowled Odean Smith for five.
Alzarri Joseph helped the West Indies past 150 with 15 well-needed runs from 11 balls before being the last man out, leaving Rovman Powell unbeaten on seven and Obed McCoy on four at the end.
Khan ended with 2-24.
Needing 153 for victory, UAE were 19-1 at the end of three when McCoy dismissed Chirag Suri for nine.
Muhammad Waseem and Vriityia Avarind took the score to 50 in the eighth when Reifer dismissed the latter for nine and CP Rizwan for one in the space of four balls as UAE slipped to 52-3 in the ninth.
The UAE ran into further trouble three balls later when Evin Lewis ran out Aayan Afzal Khan for a duck.
Waseem and Basil Hameed inched the score along to 66 by the 13th over when Reifer claimed his third after dismissing Hameed for five. It was soon 82 for 6 in the 16th when Odean Smith dismissed Kashif Daud for seven.
With nothing to lose UAE went for broke smashing 53 from the final 26 balls.
Waseem brought up his 50 with a six from the last ball of the 17th over bowled by McCoy that yielded 16 runs. The pair also took 15 from the 19th bowled by Alzarri Joseph, whose last ball was smashed for six by Zawar Farid, who ended unbeaten on 29 from the 14 balls he faced.
Waseem’s heroic unbeaten 69 came from 52 balls and included four fours and three sixes as UAE closed on 135-6.
Reifer took 3-13 while Odean Smith had figures of 1-20 from his four overs. McCoy gave up 49 runs from his four overs.
Real Salt Lake and Orlando City both claimed Decision Day victories to book their spots in the 2022 MLS playoffs on a dramatic final day of the regular season.
RSL moved above Portland Timbers into the last playoffs spot in the Western Conference with their 3-1 victory, while Orlando achieved the same feat in the east after beating Columbus Crew 2-1 after a late penalty.
Pablo Mastroeni's RSL will take on two seed Austin in the first round of the MLS playoffs, navigating their way past Portland who started the day in sixth spot, but dropped to eighth, with Minnesota United also qualifying with their 2-0 win over Vancouver Whitecaps.
Jefferson Savarino settled any nerves for RSL, who had claimed only three wins from their past 17 games, by curling in a 19th-minute opener before Rubio Rubin's deflected shot doubled their lead in the 48th minute.
Bode Hidalgo sealed RSL's playoffs spot with a classy finish in the 82nd minute, with Dairon Asprilla scoring a late consolation for the Timbers.
Minnesota, who will take on Dallas in the first round of the playoffs, got their win after Franco Fragapane's low 17th-minute drive. Jonathon Gonzalez added a second with a left-foot volley in the 77th minute to seal the Loons' spot.
Hany Mukhtar was confirmed as the MLS Golden Boot winner with 23 goals, although he did not score as Nashville locked in the five seed with a 1-0 win over Supporters Shield winners LAFC.
Teal Bunbury scored the only goal in the 53rd minute, with Nashville to face LA Galaxy in the playoffs. Galaxy beat Houston Dynamo 3-1 with Riqui Puig and Javier Hernandez among the scorers.
Facundo Torres converted an 84th-minute spot kick to send Orlando into the playoffs with a 2-1 victory over the Crew. The Lions will take on Eastern Conference two seed Montreal.
Columbus came into the game one point ahead of Orlando and had gone ahead through Derick Etienne in the 38th minute.
Junior Urso leveled for Orlando in the 56th minute before Milos Degenek's handball led to Torres' decisive penalty, condemning the Crew to missing the playoffs.
Cincinnati clinched their spot in the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, leapfrogging up into the five seed slot, with their 5-2 win at struggling DC United.
Brenner hit a hat-trick for Cincy, who will take on New York Red Bulls in the playoffs. The Red Bulls won 2-0 over Charlotte after Elias Manoel's double to secure the four seed.
Inter Miami lost 3-1 at home to Montreal, meaning Phil Neville's side slipped to the six seed and will take on reigning MLS Cup champions New York City. City beat Atlanta United 2-1 to clinch the three seed.
In other games, Seattle Sounders and San Jose Earthquakes drew 2-2, Chicago Fire drew 1-1 with New England and Austin and Colorado Rapids ended 1-1 after Diego Rubio's late equalizer for the visitors.
Eastern Conference winners Philadelphia Union thrashed Toronto 4-0 with Daniel Gazdag netting a hat-trick, while Western Conference three seed Dallas got past Sporting KC 2-1.
Discarded West Indies batsman Shimron Hetmyer has been selected by defending champions Berbice for the 50-over Inter-County Championships set to bowl off on Monday.
Barbados is to get a new national stadium following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Caribbean nation and China on Friday.
Attorneys representing Jamaica and West Indies opening batsman John Campbell have expressed disappointment at the decision of an independent anti-doping panel to ban the cricketer for four years effective May 2022.
Campbell was charged with evading, refusing or failing to submit to sample collection in April 2022. In their 18-page ruling, the panel said in part: "The panel is persuaded to a comfortable degree of satisfaction that the athlete committed an anti-doping rule violation, namely a breach of JADCO rule 2.3. The panel does not find, on the evidence presented, that the athlete's anti-doping violation was not intentional.
"In the circumstances of this case, the athlete is ineligible for a period of four years."
This means the 29-year-old batsman will not be able to play cricket until he is 33 years old, which could significantly impact his ability to represent the West Indies beyond 2026.
Campbell has scored 888 runs in 20 Tests for the West Indies.
In response to the ruling, attorneys Ayana L. Thomas and Mark-Paul Cowan of the noted legal firm Nunes Scholefield Deleon and Co. made clear their disappointment and did not rule out appealing the judgement.
“Mr Campbell has been a clean athlete throughout his outstanding career as a batsman and he remains committed to a clean sport,” the statement read.
“It is important to emphasize that the allegations against him was not relating to an adverse analytical finding or banned substances. The allegation concerned refusing or failing to submit a sample collection after proper notification pursuant to Article 2.3 of the JADCo Anti-Doping rules.
“Our client has to date, never returned an adverse analytical finding for banned substances.”
According to the attorneys, JADCO committed several breaches of the International Test Standards (IST).
“We have read the written decision of the disciplinary panel and believe there are legitimate grounds for an appeal concerning whether the necessary ingredients to sustain the alleged anti-doping rule violation were proved before the panel particularly as it relates to the notification requirements,” the lawyers said.
“Mr Campbell’s position was that he was not properly notified by JADCO. There were several breaches by JADCO of the mandatory International Testing Standards and Investigations in respect of the notification of the athlete of which, in our view, were not adequately addressed by the panel.”
That matter was not the only issue concern for Campbell’s attorneys.
“Additionally, there were several mitigatory factors supported by evidence which were not challenged by JADCO and which ought to have been mitigated against the imposition of the maximum penalty,” they said, “even if the panel found that the athlete committed a violation.
“It does not appear from the written decision that these factors in mitigation were adequately considered by the panel.
“Our client will, therefore, at this time, consider exercising his right of appeal after further consultation with his legal team and will make a decision shortly.”
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Dinthill Technical now have nine wins in as many games after a 1-0 home victory over Guys Hill in Zone K of the ISSA/Digicel DaCosta Cup on Friday.
McGrath High tightened their grip on second in the zone with a 3-0 win over Enid Bennett at the Bybrook Sports Club to move to 21 points from their nine games, five points clear of Charlemont who drew with Ewarton 1-1 at the Ewarton Sports Complex.
Glenmuir got their fourth win in as many games to move within three points of the top of Zone M. A 7-0 win over Tacius Golding at the Port Esquivel Sports Club means that they now have 12 points from four games, three behind leaders Central High who beat Old Harbour 3-2 at Effortville to move to 15 points from six matches.
Manning’s returned to winning ways with a comfortable 4-0 score-line over Belmont Academy at home. They now lead Zone D with 22 points from eight outings. Black River and Grange Hill played out a goalless draw at Black River in Friday’s other zone clash. Second-placed Petersfield (12 points from six games) and third placed Godfrey Stewart (nine points from seven games) will do battle on Saturday.
In the lone Zone I fixture, Oracabessa and Browns Town played out a 1-1 draw at Clemhard’s Park.
B.B Coke beat Lacovia 2-0 at home to move to second in Zone E. They now have 13 points from eight games, trailing leaders STETHS by eight points and moving two points clear of Munro College in third.
Belair High strengthened their hold on the lead in Zone F with a 2-1 win over Bellefield at Bellefield, their sixth win in a row. They now have 18 points from seven games, three more than DeCarteret College who won 4-1 over May Day at May Day to move past Manchester into second with 15 points from seven games. Manchester has13 from six games and will play May Day on Monday.
Jamaica international Adrian Mariappa has returned to English football with League One team Burton Albion following a brief spell in Australia.
The 36-year-old defender made somewhat of a surprising move after signing with Australian club Macarthur, where he made 19 A-League appearances. Prior to that, Mariappa was a regular feature in English football, particularly for Watford where he made more than 300 appearances over two spells.
In addition, Mariappa also played for the Hornets and made appearances in the Premier League with Reading and Crystal Palace. The deal is initially on a short-term basis but Burton manager Dino Maamria believes his experience will be invaluable.
"He brings a lot of good experience," said Maamria.
"He's a good talker on the field and he adds another option for us.
"He's kept himself fit - his last game was just two weeks ago for Jamaica against Argentina. He had a good season in Australia last year, so he's been at a high standard."
Mariappa has made 64 appearances for Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz and most recently featured for the team against Argentina.
Defending champions Kingston College, 22-time champions St. George’s College and defending Walker Cup champions St. Catherine High all scored wins on a goal-filled Friday in the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup.
Friday’s action saw 32 goals being scored in just four matches with the highest scoring game being St. Catherine’s 10-0 win over St. Mary’s College at the Owen Palmer Oval.
St. Catherine now have 16 points from six outings and are level on points with leaders Jamaica College in Group B, trailing them by 10 on goal difference.
Kingston College secured a 9-0 victory over Ardenne at Stadium East for their sixth win in as many games to remain three points clear of their North Street neighbours St. George’s College in second.
St. George’s got their own 9-0 victory over Meadowbrook at Winchester Park to move to 15 points while Calabar and Waterford played out a 2-2 draw at Calabar in the other group game. Waterford are third with 11 points while Calabar are fourth with eight.
Jamaica and West Indies opener John Campbell has been banned for four years by the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCo) after failing to provide a blood sample to doping control officers in April 2022.
In an 18-page ruling, Campbell who was charged with evading, refusing or failing to submit to sample collection, a three-member independent panel, found that the player was intentional in his actions.
"The panel is persuaded to a comfortable degree of satisfaction that the athlete committed an anti-doping rule violation, namely a breach of JADCO rule 2.3. The panel does not find, on the evidence presented, that the athlete's anti-doping violation was not intentional.
"In the circumstances of this case, the athlete is ineligible for a period of four years."
The ban takes effect retroactively in May 2022.
The 29-year-old left-hand batsman has played 20 Tests for the West Indies since he debuted in January 2019 against England.
In those Tests, he scored 888 runs at an average of 26.11 and included three half-centuries. His last Test was against Bangladesh in June 2022.
Andre Fletcher, Sunil Ambris, and Shermon Lewis, who have all played senior white-ball cricket for West Indies, are in a 26-member Windward Islands Volcanoes squad to prepare for the regional CG Insurance Super50 tournament starting later this month.
Barbadians Justin Greaves and Tevin Walcott along with West Indies 2022 U19 World Cup players Ackeem Auguste, McKenny Clarke, and Teddy Bishop are also picked in the squad that will contest a Best of the Best series of 50-over matches starting this weekend.
At the end of the Best of the Best series, the Steve Mahon-led selection panel will announce a captain, vice-captain, and the Volcanoes’ squad to play in the CWI CG Insurance Super50 in Antigua & Barbuda and Trinidad & Tobago from October 27 to November 20.
Bishop, 19, is one of five players from recently crowned Windward Islands Super50 champions Grenada, called up, joining his Spice Isle captain Darel Cyrus, Ryan John, Nicklaus Redhead, and Denis Smith.
Johann Jeremiah, leading scorer at the Windwards Super50 this past week while helping Grenada capture the title, is a provisional pick because of an injury. Fellow Grenadian Seandel Regis is named as cover for Jeremiah.
WINDWARDS VOLCANOES SQUAD: Sunil Ambris, Alick Athanaze, Ackeem Auguste, Teddy Bishop, Roland Cato, Mckenny Clarke, Keron Cottoy, Darel Cyrus, Kenneth Dember, Shadrach Descartes, Larry Edward, Andre Fletcher, Justin Greaves, Kavem Hodge, Asif Hooper, Ryan John, Shermon Lewis, Desron Maloney, Darius Martin, Preston McSween, Stephen Naitram, Gidron Pope, Nicklaus Redhead, Jerlani Robinson, Denis Smith, Tevin Walcott.
St. Thomas Technical hammered Robert Lightbourne 12-1 at Robert Lightbourne in Zone L action in the ISSA/Digicel DaCosta Cup on Thursday.
The win moves St. Thomas Tech up to 11 points from eight games, good enough for fourth in the zone. Yallahs are three points ahead of them in third after a goalless draw with Morant Bay at Morant Bay. Seaforth now have 15 points to trail leaders Paul Bogle by three after beating them 1-0 at home. Paul Bogle have now lost two in a row after winning their first six games.
Mile Gully secured a 1-0 home win over Christiana to move past them into second in Zone G. Alphansus Davis High comfortably beat Alston 4-1 at Kirkvine in the other zone game on Thursday. Mile Gully now has nine points from five games, trailing leaders Holmwood by four and leading Christiana by two.
York Castle beat Marcus Garvey 4-0 at the Mount Pleasant Academy in the lone Zone I game on the day to move to 16 points from their six outings, six points clear of Oracabessa in second and nine clead of Browns Town in third.
Mona High recorded a come-from-behind 4-3 win over Camperdown High at Excelsior on Thursday to remain undefeated in the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup.
Mona took the lead through Kshaine Gordon in the 22nd minute before Camperdown would reply only a minute later through a header from striker Devante McCrea.
Mona re-took the lead in the 31st minute though Zhaine Pinnock after some questionable goalkeeping by Camperdown’s Howain Jones. It was all square again after the 34th minute when McCrea got his second of the game after slotting the ball into an empty net.
In the 47th minute, Camperdown found themselves ahead for the first time through a left-footed strike from Shelton Ricketts. Pinnock got his second of the game in the 75th minute to make it 3-3 before centre-back Donhue Mitchell came up with Mona’s winner in the 88th minute.
With their seventh win in as many games, Mona leads Group E comfortably with 21 points. Wolmer’s Boys rebounded from back-to-back losses to Mona and Camperdown with a 5-1 win over Papine High at home to remain second on 15 points while Hydel trail them by two points in third after a 2-1 win over Kingston High at Breezy Castle.
Jamaica College got their fourth win in a row to remain at the top of Group B. The 30-time champions went to Cedar Grove and got a convincing 4-0 win to move to 16 points from six games. St. Catherine are second with 13 points from five outings and will look to go level on points with JC when they oppose St. Mary’s College at the Owen Palmer Oval on Friday. St. Jago are four points behind St. Catherine in third after a 5-2 win over Holy Trinity at Excelsior.
In the lone Group D encounter, Jonathan Grant beat Spanish Town 1-0 at the Spanish Town Prison Oval to move to 16 points, one behind leaders STATHS.
The top two teams in Group F, Excelsior and Campion College, played out a 0-0 draw at the latter. Excelsior now has 17 points after seven games while Campion has 14. Jose Marti is third with 11 after a 2-0 home win over Clan Carthy.
David Warner made a blistering half-century and Mitchell Starc starred as Australia beat West Indies by 31 runs at The Gabba to seal a 2-0 Twenty20 International series whitewash.
Holders Australia continued their preparations for the T20 World Cup on home soil with another victory in Brisbane on Friday, Warner making 75 off 41 balls and Tim David 42 from just 20 deliveries in their total of 178-7.
The Windies could only muster 147-8 in reply, Starc the pick of the bowlers with 4-20 and Pat Cummins (2-32) taking his 50th Twenty20 International wicket.
Australia will now travel to Perth for the start of a three-match T20I series against England on Sunday, while West Indies will have to come through their first-round group to qualify for a World Cup Super 12 spot.
The excellent Alzarri Joseph (3-21) dismissed Cameron Green in the second over, but Warner and Aaron Finch got Australia up to 45-1 at the end of the powerplay.
Warner raced to his half-century in 30 balls, but was caught and bowled by Odean Smith in the 12th over after captain Finch fell for a scratchy 15.
Glenn Maxwell was run out for only one and Steve Smith (17) was bowled by Joseph, but David cleared the rope three times in a swashbuckling knock to give Australia some impetus before he was trapped lbw by Obed McCoy (2-33).
Kyle Mayers was brilliantly caught and bowled by Starc in the first over of the Windies' run chase, but Johnson Charles and Brandon King steadied the ship with a stand of 50.
Adam Zampa redeemed himself for dropping Charles on two by getting King (23) stumped and Starc returned to see the back of Nicholas Pooran.
An unconvincing knock from Charles (29) was ended by Green as the wickets continued to tumble, Starc doing the bulk of the damage as Akeal Hosein's knock of 25 came with the Windies never really looking like squaring the series.
Warner sets the tone
Opener Warner was outstanding at the top of the order, laying the foundations for a total that proved to be too big for the Windies to chase down.
He demonstrated his great power and sweet timing, striking three sixes and hitting another 10 boundaries as he registered a brilliant 23rd half-century for his country in the shortest format.
Starc fires, Cummins brings up half-century
Australia will be relying on Starc to be firing on all cylinders when they attempt to retain the World Cup and he bowled beautifully in Brisbane, with a mixture of control and variety.
Cummins was more expensive, but the Test captain reached the 50 T20I wickets landmark in his 44th match.
West Indies all-rounder Rahkeem Cornwall treated spectators to an incomparable display of power-hitting after smashing 22 sixes and piling up 205 runs in the USA-based T20 league, Atlanta Open on Thursday.
Representing the Atlanta Fire, the batsman ended unbeaten, as the team racked up a massive 326 for the loss of just a single wicket. The victims were Square Drive who were defeated by 172 runs after they were restricted to 154 for the loss of eight wickets.
Cornwall’s knock also included 17 fours and came from just 77 deliveries. The all-rounder recently showed good form in the CPL scoring 242 runs in 9 matches for the Barbados Royals at the top of the order.
The towering ball-hitter, however, missed out on selection for the West Indies team and headed to the tournament soon after leaving the CPL. The massive numbers will, however, not go on the record as the Atlanta Open is not an officially sanctioned league.
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