Cricket West Indies (CWI) Desmond Haynes says the panel decided to not pick T20 big-hitter Andre Russell for the Windies World Cup squad based on a combination of his long-term absence from the regional team and recent struggles.

The 34-year-old has not played for the West Indies since representing the squad at the World Cup last year, despite controversially featuring in several lucrative T20 tournaments since then, including the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Vitality T20 Blast.

In addition, the player has failed to make much of an impression in this season’s Caribbean Premier League (CPL), which is admittedly closely watched by the panel of selectors.  In six matches the all-rounder has averaged 7.40 and has a top score of 17.  With the ball, he has taken four wickets.

“We just didn’t consider Russell for selection and that was it,” Haynes said of the player’s exclusion.

“We haven’t really seen a lot of Russell in playing cricket for the West Indies recently and judging from what is happening now we just decided that we would move on,” he added.

Russell has played 67 matches for the West Indies and averaged 19.50 with a strike rate of 150.  He has taken 37 wickets at an economy rate of 9.18.

Goalkeeper Andre Blake has been added to the Reggae Boyz squad selected to play Argentina on September 27.

The 31-year-old Reggae Boyz’s captain exclusion from the squad had prompted speculation that the players’ remarks on social media suggesting that the hiring of a new coach would change nothing for the current administration.

Legendary Windies skipper Viv Richards believes it is important for players to remember the role representing the team played in earning big-money T20 contracts, but insists there should be plenty of room for negotiation with cricketers currently out of the team.

The absence of the likes of Sunil Narine and Andre Russell, for example, two of the team’s most explosive players, from the unit for the last year has been a sore point.  Despite the fact that they have continued to play in lucrative T20 leagues around the world, both players have been unavailable for the regional team.

Russell has not played for the team since last year’s World Cup while Narine has not appeared since 2017.  Another player, opener Evin Lewis, remains out of the team after opting out of fitness tests.  Recently West Indies coach Phil Simmons expressed frustration with the issue.  Richards believes a lot of the issues could come down to communication.

 “Guys sometimes try and make that particular decision in terms of what they want to do because they don’t feel that they are represented well enough on the left, and that’s why they will move to the right so it is pretty much troublesome knowing and hearing that from the coach, which means there are issues where these matters are concerned,” Richards told the Antigua Observer.

“There has got to be a meeting of all the individuals who participate and that’s the board and all the individuals they may believe to be in that particular lane where they do not want to play,” he added.

“That’s always your first aim, for you to represent your country as a sports person and then, if you can move further up-field like representing the region, which is obviously the West Indies cricket team, and then expand elsewhere because if that’s what you’re looking for, then that’s the opportunity you’re looking for,” he said.

“Also, there are times when we should look at the lighter side of things where one has got to remember that it was the West Indies platform that obviously gave you an opportunity for you to expand yourself.”

Icelandic coach Heimir Hallgrimsson was on Friday introduced as the new head coach of the Jamaica National Senior team in what Jamaica Football Federation President Michael Ricketts described as a game-changing event.

Having signed a four-year contract, the 55-year-old dentist who guided Iceland to FIFA World Cup qualification in 2018 has been tasked with aiding the development of Jamaica’s football and qualifying for the 2026 World Cup that will be held jointly by the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Ricketts described the signing of Coach Hallgrimsson as the ushering in of a new era that will see the controversy-plagued administration change direction.

“The federation has been making important internal changes that will position the federation to fully support what we will announce today as well as a number of other national activities,” he said during the press conference to announce the new coach at the Jamaica Pegasus in Kingston on Friday afternoon.

“The changes I will not speak about too much except to say that the call to action for optimism is based on efforts that we will all make effective immediately. On behalf of the Jamaica Football Federation, I wish to formally announce that Mr Heimir Hallgrimsson has accepted the offer of the JFF to become the head coach of the senior men’s national team for a period of four years.”

Declaring that he chose to take the Jamaica project because of the great potential for success, Hallgrimsson was under no illusions regarding to the magnitude of the undertaking.

“When I was looking for projects to coach, I was really selective. It was not about money, it was about the project and for me, it was a perfect match to come now to Jamaica and to try to fix what is broken, obviously, there are some obstacles we have to cross and we have to improve some big things but for me, it was a perfect match. I see so much potential here and if I compare this one to the Icelandic project I think the potential is much more than in Iceland,” he said.

That said, Hallgrimsson is also aware that he does not have much time to right the many wrongs of Jamaica’s football.

“We have a year until we start playoffs (World Cup qualification) the group stage of the World Cup so we have to start quickly and try to stabilize the Jamaica national team. The second job is assisting in the improvement of football here in Jamaica through coaching education of elite players and we are happy to be a part of an assist in that,” he said.

“While going this, we all know that in every match there is pressure to win. There is an expectation to win and no coach will survive in his job without winning football matches. So two different things, first to develop talent and the second to improve the national team and I think both of these projects can support each other.”

To do that, Hallgrimsson will bring with him two other coaches, who he believes will be assets to his plans.

“I will bring two coaches with me. One assistant his name is John Wall. He is a teacher, has a BA in Sports Science, coached at many levels in Sweden. He was a tactical coach for the Finnish national team. He is good in player development and really useful in the transition getting local players to a higher standard and eventually and hopefully to the national team,” he said.

“The other staff member I will bring with me is Gudmundur Hreidarsson. He will be our goalkeeper coach. I worked with him for seven years in the national team. All the years I was there he was the goalkeeper coach. He is, in my opinion, one of the best ones I’ve seen. He has the highest education possible for goalkeeper coaches in Europe, very experienced.”

Hallgrimsson’s first test will be against Argentina in less than two weeks and he believes that the encounter against the number-four ranked team in the world will be a blessing in disguise.

 “It’s a great opportunity because they will expose all of our weaknesses, especially defensive weaknesses,” he said.

“Probably, we will be defending more or less, most of the game so it’s really a good chance to see how are when we compare to the best in the world.”

Cornwall College kicked off their 2022 Dacosta Cup campaign with a 2-0 win over Maldon at home on Wednesday.

They were joined in the win column by Irwin High who prevailed 1-0 over St. James High at Jarrett Park in the other Zone A encounter.

Cedric Titus took the early lead in Zone C thanks to a 4-1 away win over Muschett High. The other Zone C clash saw Herbert Morrison and Spot Valley play out a 0-0 draw at Herbert Morrison.

Petersfield secured a 4-1 win over Grange Hill at the Llandilo Sports Complex to move level with Zone D leaders, Manning’s, with two wins from two games. At Godfrey Stewart, the hosts beat Belmont Academy 4-1 for their first win.

STETHS beat Lacovia 2-0 for their second win from as many games to move to the top of Zone E. Munro College rebounded from a matchday one draw with Maggotty by going to B.B Coke and grinding out a 1-0 win.

In Zone K, Enid Bennett handed Guys Hill their second loss with a 1-0 win at Tacky High while McGrath got a commanding 4-1 win over Ewarton at the Ewarton Sports Complex.

Only Zone F was in action on Thursday as Manchester beat Bellefield 3-1 to move to two wins from two. Belair hammered May Day 6-0 while DeCarteret College secured a 6-2 win over Mt. St. Joseph in the other Zone F clashes.

Action continues Friday with nine matches. In Zone J, St. Mary High will tackle Horace Clarke at the Highgate Community Centre, the Westmoreland Oval will host a clash between Annotto Bay and Wycliffe Martin High and Tacky will host St. Mary Tech.

In Zone L, Paul Bogle will face Seaforth at York Oval, St. Thomas Tech will face Robert Lightbourne at Eastern Banana Complex and Yallahs will host Morant Bay.

Foga Road will host Winston Jones while Kemps Hill will visit Vere in Zone N. The lone Zone O fixture will see Titchfield facing Happy Grove at Carder Park.

St. George’s College hammered Meadowbrook High 8-0 on Thursday to maintain an early lead in Group A of the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup.

The 22-time champions now have two wins from as many games with a goal difference of 14 to lead defending champions Kingston College, who also went to six points with a 2-0 win over Ardenne at Ardenne bringing their goal difference to six.

Elsewhere in Group A, Waterford and Calabar played out a 1-1 draw at Waterford.

Haile Selassie moved to the top of Group C with a 2-1 win over Vauxhall at home. At Charlie Smith, the hosts got their first win of the season with a 1-0 victory over Bridgeport while at Edith Dalton James pulled off an upset with a 3-2 win over Tivoli High at home.

In Group F action, Excelsior bounced back from their 2-2 draw against Kingston Technical on matchday one with a 6-0 hammering of Cumberland at home to take the lead in the standings. Kingston Technical also moved to four points with a 2-1 win over Clan Carthy at the Alpha Institute while at Campion College, the hosts played out a 0-0 draw with Jose Marti.

Action continues Friday with St. Catherine facing Jamaica College at the Spanish Town Prison Oval, St. Mary’s College hosting St. Jago and Cedar Grove hosting Holy Trinity in Group B.

In Group D, Camperdown and Papine will do battle at the Alpha Institute, Hydel will face Mona at Royal Lakes and Kingston High will take on Wolmer’s Boys at Breezy Castle.

The Jamaica Tallawahs consolidated second place in the league table with a six-run (DLS) victory over Barbados Royals, inflicting their first loss of the 2022 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) season on Thursday.

The Jamaica Tallawahs won the toss and chose to field first, Imad Wasim getting them off to a spectacular start by bowling two maiden overs and taking three wickets in the powerplay to leave the Royals reeling at 17-3 after six overs.

It was South African internationals Quinton De Kock and David Miller who rebuilt the innings for the Royals with an 83-run partnership that took them to 146-6 at the end of their innings. 

Brandon King and Amir Jangoo got off to a flying start in the chase, scoring 50 runs by the fifth over to put the Tallawahs in a commanding position. Jason Holder would take three wickets as the Royals fought back, but it was not enough as the Royals reached 126-5 and won by five wickets (DLS), six runs ahead of the par score.   

Jamaica Tallawahs shocked the Royals early on in the innings with Wasim striking three times within the powerplay, removing Rahkeem Cornwall, Kyle Mayers and Corbin Bosch with his bamboozling deliveries. But it was de Kock, once again batting lower down the order at four, who led the way with a sublime 74 off just 43 balls, with support from David Miller as the Royals ended up finishing on 146/6.  

 Tallawahs had a dream start to their chase with King and Jangoo finding the boundary consistently in the PowerPlay. However, Obed McCoy would strike with two wickets, before Holder set up a tense finish by taking three wickets. In the end, a six from Rovman Powell just before the rain fell would prove critical, as it meant the Tallwahs finished ahead by six runs on DLS and picked up the win. 

Scores: Jamaica Tallawahs 126-5 (King 46, Jangoo 29; Holder 3-33, McCoy 2/19) beat  Barbados Royals 146-6 (de Kock 74, Miller 34; Wasim 3-14, Allen 1-14) by six runs (DLS)

Cricket West Indies (CWI), in conjunction with the New Zealand Cricket (NZC) Team Management have agreed to the postponement of the 1^st CG United One Day International scheduled for Friday 16 September, due to the passage of Tropical Storm Fiona, which is likely to pass over Antigua and the Leeward Islands on Friday. CWI and NZC will confirm the rescheduled date and any implications for dates in the wider eight-match itinerary featuring three CG United ODIs and five T20Is in due course.

A decision will also be made on the 2^nd CG United ODI scheduled for Sunday 18 September subject to the impact of the storm.

Both teams want to ensure that, if possible, the full eight-match Series can be played since points won in the CG United ODI Series contribute towards the new ICC Women’s Championship which provides a direct pathway to qualification for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in 2025. The T20 International (T20I) Series plays a key role in both teams’ preparations for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2023. It is also the West Indies Women’s first home international cricket since September 2021. ​

CWI Director of Cricket, Jimmy Adams said, “We have put player safety at the forefront of this decision and will be working very closely with New Zealand Cricket to protect all the internationals matches via a revised schedule if possible. We are very keen to get as much high-quality competitive cricket for our Women’s team as possible, especially in this period leading into next year’s Women’s T20 World Cup.”

Once the matches are rescheduled, fans will be purchase tickets for any of the matches at tickets.windiestickets.com, the official Windies Tickets service presented by Mastercard. For all matches, adults can purchase general admission tickets online at US$5.00, with free admission for children under the age of 16 when accompanied by a paying adult. Seniors benefit from half price tickets. The stadium ticket office will open on the day of the rescheduled 1^st CG United ODI with printed tickets available for EC$15.00/US$5.00.

All eight matches will be streamed live on the Windies Cricket YouTube channel. Live ball-by-ball scoring will also be available on the ​ www.windiescricket.com Match Centre. 

Interim Reggae Boyz head coach Paul Hall has claimed that uncertainty regarding his contract and a lack of resources were key considerations informing his decision to resign from the post.

Hall, who served as the assistant coach under former national coach Theodore Whitmore, took charge of the national team in December of last year, following the dismissal of the head coach.

He would go on to coach the unit for 10 matches, which included the successful qualification of the team to the Concacaf Gold Cup from the Concacaf Nation’s League competition.  Hall last took charge of the team in a 1-1 draw against Mexico in the Nations League in June.

Since then, the JFF announced that Merron Gordon had been named interim coach for the team’s most recent fixture against Morocco and Qatar and is expected to announce former Iceland coach Heimir Hallgrimsson as head of the program in the coming days.

In a release posted to the social media platform Instagram, Hall attempted to bring some clarity to the issue.

“I felt I had to resign as many of my requests, such as the standard of the training pitch, additional kit for cold weather in Canada and in particular organistion for transport were well below par,” Hall said via the release.

“After qualifying for the Gold Cup and with the situation with administration being strained.  I felt like my position had become untenable.  I was still being expected to be part of conference calls, team talks, and matchday selections, but my role, contract, and remuneration questions were being ignored,” he added.

The coach went on to claim that he was yet to receive full monetary compensation for his period with the team, despite receiving a payment last week.

Trinbago Knight Rider captain Kieron Pollard has admitted it was a relief to finally get over the line in a 26-run over the Guyana Amazon Warriors on Wednesday.

After making what looked to be around a part score of 150, the home franchised seemed well on their way to a comfortable win after pushing the Warriors to the verge of defeat at 89 for 7.

A stubborn last-ball partnership between Tabraiz Shamsi and Junior Sinclair, which was worth 24 from 18 deliveries, however, briefly gave the team a few nervous moments before Andre Russell ended the innings.

The Knight Riders' mood would not have been helped by a poor start to CPL managing just one win in their prior 5 matches.  Pollard is, however, hopeful that the team’s latest win will provide a bit of momentum.

“The guys wanted it badly and it was a total team effort.  Things haven’t gone the way that we would have liked but one thing I can say is the guys come in day in, day out, and out in the practice and believe in the process and finally we got the win at home,” Pollard said following the match.

“Hopefully we can go back and look at where we can still do better for the next few matches.”

Trinbago Knight Riders ended their three-game losing streak and reignited their Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) campaign with an exciting win against the Guyana Amazon Warriors Wednesday night.

 The Amazon Warriors won the toss and opted to field first and they produced a disciplined performance with the ball that kept the Knight Riders in check throughout. 

Led by Tabraiz Shamsi’s 4-36, wickets were taken at regular intervals to ensure that no batter ever felt comfortable at the crease as the Knight Riders reached 150-8.

 Needing 151 to win the Amazon Warriors got off to the worst possible start losing Paul Sterling for a duck and three wickets in total in the power play.

Shimron Hetmyer and Colin Ingram briefly threatened to take the game away from the Knight Riders but when Andre Russell removed Hetmyer the collapse began and the remaining Amazon Warriors batters fell for just 26 runs.

Earlier on the Knight Riders had constructed their best total of the Hero CPL campaign courtesy of a well-compiled 42 from Colin Munro. Overcoming the early loss of Tion Webster and Nicholas Pooran, Munro combined with Tim Siefert to compile a 51-run partnership that set a foundation for some late order risk taking.

 Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard and Ravi Rampaul hit a combined five sixes to help the Knight Riders set a total of 150 runs that always appeared as if it would be tricky to chase.

 This proved to be the case in the Amazon Warrior reply. No batter was able to face more than 20 deliveries despite reaching 81-4 in the 10^th over. The Amazon Warriors lost their remaining six wickets for 43 runs to succumb to a heavy defeat.

 The returning Akeal Hosein proved to be crucial in the Knight Riders' bowling attack taking 3-36 and he was ably supported by the parsimonious Andre Russell (3-16) and Sunil Narine (2-9).

 Scores: Trinbago Knight Riders 150-8 (Munro 42, Seifert 27; Shamsi 4-36, Shepherd 3-22) beat Guyana Amazon Warriors 124 all out (Hemraj 28, Hetmyer 20; Russell 3-16, Hosein 3-36) by 26 runs 

The Vancouver Whitecaps found another gear in the second half of Wednesday's home game against the Los Angeles Galaxy, finding the back of the net three times after the break in the 3-0 win.

It was all Galaxy in the first half, controlling 71 per cent of the possession while not allowing a single shot on target, but that all changed after what must have been an inspired half-time team talk in the Vancouver dressing room.

While Los Angeles still had the bulk of the possession in the second half (64 per cent), it was the Whitecaps generating the chances, with six shots on target to the Galaxy's two.

It took a corner to produce the opening goal, with an initial sharp header from close range being saved by Galaxy goalkeeper Jonathan Bond, before Ryan Gauld was able to force home the rebound in the 57th minute.

The advantage was doubled 11 minutes later when an unsuccessful Los Angeles corner launched a Vancouver counterattack, with a cross into the near post being expertly flicked on for Pedro Vite to tap-in at the back post, marking his first MLS goal.

Tosaint Ricketts came off the bench to complete the rout, getting behind the defence and finishing off a one-on-one in the 88th minute to trim the gap between Vancouver and the last Western Conference playoff spot to six points.

Meanwhile, it was the first time since July that Atlanta United have kept a clean sheet as they left Orlando City with a 1-0 result.

The only goal of the game – despite a combined 30 shots – came in the 72nd minute when Thiago Almada snaked his way into the penalty box, getting on the end of a one-two with Andrew Gutman before tucking away his match-winning finish.

Atlanta are now two points out of an Eastern Conference playoff spot, while Orlando City are one point inside that line, while also having a game in hand.

Austin FC strengthened their position as the West's second-best team, comfortably handling the challenge of fellow playoff side Real Salt Lake 3-0 at home.

Just like Vancouver, Austin piled on all of their goals in the last half-hour, with Moussa Djite bagging a hat-trick as he came on in the 58th minute and struck in the 60th, 76th and 80th.

In the final game of the day, the San Jose Earthquakes remained stuck to the bottom of the table as they went down 2-1 on the road against the Colorado Rapids.

Professional Football Jamaica Limited has secured a JMD$10 million club sponsorship from JN Money Services Limited for the Jamaica Premier League season that is set to get underway next month.