West Indies Women Head Coach Courtney Walsh was impressed by the young bowlers, Qiana Joseph and Sheneta Grimmond, who performed well in the recent series against South Africa but insists that there is a need for greater levels of consistency from them.
Joseph, the 20-year-old left-arm spinner from St Lucia, was the leading wicket-taker for the West Indies Women with five wickets in the four ODI matches she played at an average of 19.40 and economy rate of 3.38.
Speaking to the media late last week, Walsh lauded Joseph’s performance during the series.
“Obviously, Qiana has played before but it’s the first time we were looking at her to play the role she did and she did it in both competitions; very, very satisfying,” Walsh said.
“We haven’t had a left-arm spinner for quite some time, most teams struggle against that or have that in their set up, so from a coaching perspective, it was something I had been very keen to have a look at and she has answered the right questions.
“She did well, it was very satisfying with her performance and how she went about it so it is definitely something to work on to give us those options with the bowling.”
Grimmond, the 23-year-old right-arm off-break bowler from Guyana, played in just two matches in the ODI series but four wickets at an average of 13.00 and an economy of 3.66.
“Grimmond came into the last two games and did well in the last game from a bowling perspective, so that is also another good question answered,” he said while also singling out Trinidadian Karishma Ramharack for praise on the strength of her best bowling figures of 3-8 in the T20 series.
“Ramharack did well in the T20 in the game she played and won Player of the Match, so these are some of the positive signs, what is lacking is the consistency and that is what we have to work on and which we will keep working on,” Walsh said.
“We want them to execute more consistently and once that is happening then it will give us more chances of winning games.”
Seattle Sounders beat Sporting Kansas City 2-1 to reclaim top spot in the Western Conference in MLS on Sunday.
Cristian Roldan and Will Bruin scored to lift the Sounders to the summit in the west, leapfrogging hosts Sporting KC.
Sporting KC were on a three-game winning streak against Seattle – the longest active winning run against the Sounders as no team had won four in a row versus the franchise since San Jose Earthquakes in 2012-13.
But Seattle ended that skid against Sporting KC – Roldan opened the scoring in the 31st minute at Children's Mercy Park, where the Sounders star got on the end of Brad Smith's cross.
Bruin doubled the lead against the run of play 10 minutes into the second half after heading home at the far post.
Entering the fixture, the Sounders conceded an MLS-low 20 goals this season, with opponents scoring with just 7.2 per cent of their shots, also lowest in the league. Seattle had also outperformed their expected goals against by 8.1 this season (20 conceded, 28.1 expected).
The Sounders were breached by Johnny Russell on the hour mark, but Seattle held on for victory to sit two points clear of Sporting KC in the west.
Elsewhere, Austin – bottom of the Western Conference – stunned fifth-placed LA Galaxy 2-0, while Chicago Fire held second-placed Nashville to a 0-0 draw in the east.
West Indies Women Head Coach Courtney Walsh believes middle-order batter Rashada Williams is on the verge of breaking into the first team following her outstanding series against South Africa.
For a record third year in a row, Jamaica’s standout shooter Jhaniele Fowler has been voted MVP of the West Coast Fever franchise of the Suncorp Super Netball League. She is now also the first winner of the Stacey Marinkovich Medal.
The MVP Award was renamed the Stacey Marinkovich Medal this season to honour the former captain and coach’s legacy at the club, which included being appointed inaugural captain and coaching 104 games, including two Grand Finals.
Fowler won the Stacey Marinkovich Medal with 55 votes ahead of captain Courtney Bruce with 35 votes and rising star Sunday Aryang with 21 votes.
“I am very grateful for all that this team has invested in me as a person and as a player and always believing in me, year in, year out,” said Fowler, who topped the scoring this past season with 883 goals at 96 per cent accuracy.
“Since I’ve been here in 2018, I’ve only wanted to do my best by this club to perform my best.
“I’m so much more mature in my game and in my personal life since I’ve been here and I’m very grateful for that. This wouldn’t have been possible without my amazing teammates so I’m very thankful to them too.”
In her four seasons in Super Netball, Fowler has scored 3455 goals for the Fever. Her 57 offensive rebounds were second overall and she was the Nissan Net Points leader board with a total of 1611 points.
The towering Jamaican recently signed for two more years with the Fever.
Portland Timbers continued their impressive form with a 6-1 demolition of Real Salt Lake in MLS, while Philadelphia Union edged Atlanta United.
Sibling pair Diego and Yimmi Chara were among the goals as the Timbers – unbeaten in six matches – eased past RSL at Providence Park on Saturday.
Felipe Mora, Dairon Asprilla, Jaroslaw Niezgoda and Cristhian Paredes also scored for the Timbers, who have netted in 16 consecutive matches against RSL (including play-offs) – the second longest streak against any opponent in their history, behind the 17 straight versus Dallas from August 2012 to March 2018.
The Timbers led 2-1 at half-time before putting RSL to the sword in the second period to match their six-game unbeaten streak from September-October last season.
Portland are fourth in the Western Conference, six points behind leaders Sporting Kansas City, while RSL occupy the seventh and final play-off position in the west.
Los Angeles FC are three points outside the top seven following their 2-0 defeat to San Jose Earthquakes, while Vancouver Whitecaps are also on 33 points after topping Dallas 1-0.
The Union defeated Atlanta 1-0 thanks to Kacper Przybylko's goal with less than 20 minutes remaining.
Back-to-back wins sent Philadelphia up to fourth in the Eastern Conference as Atlanta's three-game winning streak came to an end to leave them eighth in the east and outside the post-season positions.
In other results, Supporters' Shield leaders New England Revolution were 2-1 winners over Orlando City.
The Revolution extended their MLS single-season record for wins by one-goal margins to 16. Nine of New England's last 10 MLS victories have come by a one-goal margin.
It continued Orlando's misery against New England – the team have never won at the Revolution (D1 L5), the only side they have visited more than three times without recording a victory in MLS play.
DC United prevailed 4-2 against FC Cincinnati, New York Red Bulls overcame rivals New York City 1-0, defending champions Columbus Crew won 2-1 against Montreal, Houston Dynamo lost 2-0 to Minnesota United, while Colorado Rapids and Toronto played out a 0-0 draw.
Cavalier and Waterhouse will take 1-0 advantages to the second legs of the Jamaica Premier League (JPL) playoffs after narrow wins in their first leg matches, at the Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence, on Saturday.
With the game seemingly drifting towards a scoreless draw, Colin Anderson left entered the field of play to make a telling impact. Just 30 seconds after replacing Shaniel Thomas, Anderson was played through on goal by Nickache Murray and sprinted onto the brilliant through ball to round Tivoli goalkeeper Kewong Watkins and slot into an empty net to give Cavalier a precious first-leg lead.
The second match between Waterhouse and Mount Pleasant was a similarly cagey affair with both sides crafting good opportunities to take the lead. It was Waterhouse who took one late on, however, when Shaquille Bradford was set up by Kymani Campbell. The angle was a difficult one but his fierce shot managed to creep through the legs of goalkeeper Shaven Paul at his near post, in the 79th minute. Paul will, however, be slightly disappointed having been up to what would have been considered by many to be more difficult efforts throughout the match.
The teams will meet at the same venue on Wednesday for the second leg starting at 2:30pm.
MVP head coach, Stephen Francis, is content to take a wait-and-see approach when it comes to reports that track star Elaine Thompson-Herah could be planning to leave the club.
According to reports earlier this week, the double Olympic champion had submitted a letter to the club that stated her intentions to sever ties ahead of the new season. Later in the week, however, the athlete denied the reports suggesting that they may have arisen out of her not starting training as yet.
The athlete is, however, not back due in training as yet and Francis insists that while he is not jumping to conclusions the future remains uncertain.
“From my perspective, we start back training sometime in October, the 18th or 19th…and my philosophy, as usual, is to see who turns up,” Francis told Jamaica television station TVJ.
“What my experience tells me is that sometimes athletes, in general, especially those that come from a lower expectation level. In other words, not much was expected from them, they are usually unable to separate themselves from people who hop on to their bandwagon,” he added.
The 29-year-old is coming off her best season to date. Thompson-Herah successfully defended both the 100m and 200m title at the Olympics and joined with former MVP athlete Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Shericka Jackson, and Briana Williams to win the 4x100m relays. The sprinter later went on to record a blistering time just outside Florence Griffith-Joyner’s longstanding 100m record.
The MVP track club is no stranger to athletes leaving the club at the peak of their career with Fraser-Pryce and Melanie Walker also having secured moves away after years of success.
Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls could be forced to make adjustments for next month’s tri-series following the reported withdrawal of South Africa from the tour.
Originally, the series was set to feature the no 4 ranked Jamaicans, 5th ranked Australians and 10th ranked Trinidad and Tobago and was set to tip-off on October 9th. However, negotiations between Netball South Africa and the Jamaica Netball Association (JNA) are said to have broken down due to the island’s rising number of Covid-19 cases.
The JNA is expected to give an update on the situation in the next few weeks with a replacement team being added being another possibility that is being looked at.
The series will be the first for the Jamaicans since the Netball World Cup in 2020, the team is, however, also expected to travel to England, in September, where they will face the England Roses in a three-match series. The Sunshine Girls had been due to face England in January of this year, but those plans were postponed due to then-existing Covid-19 travel restrictions. The team will be looking to vastly increase its activities in the coming months with the Commonwealth Games scheduled for next year.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) has commenced its first-ever locally planned and delivered High-Performance Coach Development Programme.
Elaine Thompson-Herah has poured cold water on reports that she is leaving MVP Track Club.
She has described those reports as rumours and said she is on a well-deserved break following her record-breaking season during which she became the first woman to successfully defend 100 and 200m titles at the same Olympic Games.
Reports emerged on Thursday that following her outstanding season, Thompson-Herah had taken a decision to leave MVP and going forward will be coached by her husband, Derron Herah.
Late Thursday, the 2021 Diamond League 100m champion appeared on the Brother from Another show on NBC Sports, denouncing the reports.
"I am the fastest woman alive so they are going to create some sort of news to distract the world so it's rumours of course. I have seen articles in the media that I have died before, more than once. There are always rumours in the media, they are always targeting me, I don't know why,” she told hosts, Michael Smith and Michael Holley.
"It's probably because I didn't show up at practice. I am still on my rest period, so maybe they are just speculating why I am not at practice, but I just came back from the international circuit and we normally get like a month's rest and I am in my second week.”
Thompson-Herah set a new Olympic record of 10.61 while defending her Olympic 100m title and 21.53 to win back-to-back titles in the 200m. She won a third gold on Jamaica’s 4x100 relay team. After the Olympics, she ran the fastest series of times in history – 10.54, 10.64, 10.72 and 10.65 – to close out the season as the only woman to run four wind-legal times faster than 10.70.
West Indies Women’s coach Courtney Walsh admits the team’s inability to properly rotate the strike was a disappointment during the recent series against South Africa, as it had been a key area of focus ahead of the games.
The regional team just managed to avoid being on the wrong end of a sweep, after winning the final game of the series in a super over. The 4-1 scoreline was, however, an accurate reflection of the fact that the West Indies Women had struggled to keep pace with the South Africans for the great majority of the One Day Internationals.
One of those key areas was putting runs on the board, with the Windies Women on many occasions looking bogged down by South Africa’s bowling, before being dismissed after ill-advised shots. On four occasions the team struggled to get to one 150, a target that seemed an easy reach for South Africa.
“It’s a concern, the rotation of the strike, it’s something we’ve been talking about since the start of the camp but it was highlighted much more against South Africa,” Walsh told members of the media.
“In terms of just hitting the fielders and not being able to find gaps, not being able to play with soft hands and we have identified that,” he added.
“It has been an ongoing discussion before the series and it was one area I was disappointed in that we did not try to show that (strike rotation) because leading up to the series we had been practicing it, but match-day when we get out in the middle it wasn’t done. We just kept picking out the fielders. It’s the sort of the thing you have to do in 50 over games if you want to really compete and it has to be addressed.”
Former wicketkeeper batsman, Deryck Murray, believes the Windies World Cup squad has been picked for maximum fireworks even if they do not go on to win the tournament.
The selection of the final team for the upcoming tournament has caused a torrent of discontent around the Caribbean, with strong opinions regarding which players should have be included or left out making the rounds.
Despite agreeing that leaving Holder out of the squad was a mistake, he believes the majority of the team was determined over the last three months and has been selected along the lines of a certain philosophy.
“You saw the team in various matches around and the Caribbean and you could see the pattern of players. So, it was obvious that what the team has agreed to is what I call a very high-octane policy,” Murray told the Mason and Guest radio program.
“West Indies are undoubtedly going to be the best team to watch, I’m not sure if they’ll be the best team to support, but every moment of every game they play is going to be exciting,” he added.
“Every player is put in there to play a little cameo of some sort, batting bowling or whatever and it is going to be thrilling, people or going to be on the edge of their seats. To me what they’ve decided is these players are going to give us winner take all.”
The West Indies have been placed in a difficult group alongside Australia, England and South Africa.
Former member of the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) selection panel, Roland Butcher, believes it could be critical for the West Indies to find a capable replacement for retired batsman Marlon Samuels if the team is to have a chance of retaining the T20 World Cup.
The mercurial Samuels played a key role on both occasions the team won the title, managing to put together innings that balanced an abundance of caution at the crease, with scoring aggression when needed.
In 2012, Samuels average a solid 38.33, with a strike rate of 132 en route to the team’s triumph but more importantly top-scored in the final, with 78 from 56 deliveries, giving the West Indies a comfortable win over Sri Lanka.
In 2016, it was Carlos Brathwaite that got the accolades in a thrilling, brutal final-over onslaught in the final against England but it was Samuels who once again top-scored at the other end, his 85 from 66 balls proving just as crucial in the team’s title triumph. For that tournament, Samuels averaged 36.20 with a strike rate of 112.42.
“West Indies will play their brand of cricket, which is all guns blazing, but let us remember in those two World Cups that they won there was a certain Marlon Samuels who was the glue,” Butcher told the Mason and Guest radio program.
“Among all of those stars there was someone who could hold the team together and, when needed, up the scoring rate. What they need to do is to find someone to play that role and play it successfully,” he added.
Among the candidate to do so for the upcoming tournament will be Roston Chase whose performance during the recently concluded CPL saw him force himself into the thoughts of the selectors. For the finalists, St Lucia Kings this season, Chase averaged an impressive 49.55, with a strike rate of 144.33.
“The question will be whether Roston Chase can perform that role to that level on the international stage. This is the international level with the best teams, it’s not the CPL. Marlon Samuels proved, not just on those two occasions, that when things were tough, he was the go-to man.”
On the heels of her record-breaking, history-making season Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah is reportedly parting ways with MVP Track Club, just under 18 months after Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce departed to join Elite Performance.
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