Three uncapped players have been named in a 12-man West Indies squad selected to play the first Test against Bangladesh at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua from June 16-20.
Wicket-keeper/batsman Devon Thomas, left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie and fast bowler Anderson Phillip are the players set to make their West Indies senior Test debuts.
Meanwhile, experienced fast bowler Kemar Roach is to undergo a fitness assessment as he recovers from an injury sustained in the English County Championship with Surrey. If he is passed fit, he will be included as the 13th player in the Test squad.
Allrounder Jason Holder is unavailable for selection as CWI has granted his request for a period of rest and recovery. He will therefore miss Bangladesh’s all-format tour of the West Indies. Batter Tagenarine Chanderpaul and fast bowler Shermon Lewis have been selected as reserves.
Thomas has played 21 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and four T20 Internationals (T20Is) while Motie has so far played one T20I and was a reserve for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates last year.
Phillip was in the squad throughout the recent Apex Test Series victory against England but has not made his debut to date. He has featured in three ODIs, including last week’s 3-0 Series win against the Netherlands and is in the ODI squad for the ongoing ODI series in Pakistan. The Test squad also includes left-handed allrounder Raymon Reifer, who has one match on his record.
“Devon Thomas has been knocking on the door for quite some time. He has done extremely well in our franchise cricket system and we view this as a good opportunity to give him a go,” said lead selector Sir Desmond Haynes.
“You would notice that Raymon Reifer is also in the squad. He is another person that has done impressively well in the four-day competition and against England. So again, we are giving opportunities to guys who are performing.
“We think Gudakesh Motie is one of those guys who is also bowling well and we think it will be a good opportunity for him to be involved. We are looking to pick up World Test Championship points against Bangladesh which will be very important. It would be good for us to use our home advantage to win both Test matches and collect those points.”
The Selection Panel also named the CWI President’s XI to face the visitors in a three-day warm-up match at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua from Friday, June 10 to Sunday, June 12. The team will be captained by all-rounder Yannic Cariah.
“Yannic Cariah has captained Trinidad & Tobago at youth level and he was also the captain of the West Indies Emerging Players team which won the CG United Super50 Cup in 2019,” Haynes said.
‘We are looking at future leaders. We need to start identifying these persons as early as possible. While we will need some assistance from the territories as well, we want to make sure there are leaders we can identify and begin grooming for the future of West Indies cricket.”
Test squad: Kraigg Brathwaite (Captain), Jermaine Blackwood (Vice Captain), Nkrumah Bonner, John Campbell, Joshua Da Silva, Alzarri Joseph, Kyle Mayers, Gudakesh Motie, Anderson Phillip, Raymon Reifer, Jayden Seales and Devon Thomas.
Reserves: Tagernarine Chanderpaul, Shermon Lewis
CWI President’s XI: Yannic Cariah (Captain), Colin Archibald, Alick Athanaze, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Bryan Charles, Roston Chase, Tevin Imlach, Jeremiah Louis, Preston McSween, Marquino Mindley, Jeremy Solozano and Jomel Warrican.
Pakistan captain and talisman Babar Azam scored a century to help steer Pakistan to a five-wicket victory over the West Indies in a keenly contested ODI in Multan on Wednesday.
The Jamaica Gymnastics Association has received a boost in the form of well-needed equipment from the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG).
El Salvador got a late goal from Cristian Gil to rescue a 2-2 draw with Grenada in Group D of League A of the 2022-23 Concacaf Nations League on Tuesday night at the Kirani James Athletic Stadium in St. George’s, Grenada.
Just like in their first encounter on Saturday, a 3-1 El Salvador win, the two sides would trade goals in quick succession in the first half.
This time it was Grenada breaking the deadlock in the 29’ when Jacob Berkeley Agyepong pounced on a deflected ball in the El Salvador area and fired into the net to make it 1-0 to the hosts.
But six minutes later in the 35’, El Salvador was on level terms, 1-1, when Nelson Bonilla was fouled in the Grenada area and Alexander Larin calmly converted the spot kick.
When it comes to the CNL for Grenada, no player delivers more in the big spot than Jamal Charles and the star striker would score his seventh career CNL goal for the Spice Boyz in the 54’ when he got behind the El Salvador defence and hammered in a right-footed shot to give his side a 2-1 advantage.
El Salvador looked to respond right away but they had to wait until the waning minutes for the 2-2 equalizer to come.
In the 88’, Darwin Ceren lofted a pass to Roberto Molina, whose shot was initially blocked by Grenada GK Jason Belfon, but Gil swooped in and scored to earn a precious point.
Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz cruised to a comfortable 3-1 win over Suriname in group A of the Concacaf Nation’s League at the National Stadium on Tuesday.
After a fairly even opening stanza, which saw Suriname slightly shade the scoring chances, it was Derby County midfielder Ravel Morrison who gave the Jamaicans the lead, with an inch-perfect free-kick, in the 16th minute.
Plucky Panama, however, mounted an almost immediate response and were back on level terms five minutes later. The speedy Yanic Wildschut, who was played in over the top, from just over the half-line, left a flat-footed Jamaica defense trailing in his wake before blasting the ball wide of Jamaica custodian Amal Knight 6-yards away from goal.
The Reggae Boyz refused to be kept quiet and would take the lead again in the 43rd minute. The influential Morrison would find himself involved again. This time the midfielder showed off a silky touch to bring down a lofted pass into the area and played the ball back to Junior Flemmings, who drifted across the area before firing a shot that wrong-footed Suriname goalkeeper Warner Hahn.
The Jamaicans were a much more dominant unit in the second half and capped that advantage off with another goal in the 70th minute. This time, Jamal Lowe was played through on goal by Shamar Nicholson, following Suriname’s loss of possession, and easily placed the ball wide of Hahn.
The win saw Jamaica move to the top of the three-team group A, after a 1-1 draw between the teams on Sunday. Mexico, the other team in the group, are yet to play a match.
West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran is confident of breaking free of an indifferent run of form at the crease, sooner rather than later.
Since the start of the year, the recently appointed West Indies captain has played in 9 matches, spanning three series. He has averaged a mere 11.22 with a high score of 34.
Heading into Wednesday’s series against Pakistan, Pooran scored a total of 24 runs in three matches against The Netherlands. Despite the added responsibility of captaincy, however, Pooran is backing himself to turn things around.
“This isn’t the first time I haven’t scored runs. If you check my stats I’m always scoring runs so I am not bothered,” Pooran told members of the media on Tuesday.
“I think something big is close. I’m working very hard and it’s only a matter of time,” he added.
In his career so far, Pooran has only faced Pakistan once scoring 34 unbeaten in 2019.
The Cricket West Indies (CWI) Selection Panel has added allrounder Keemo Paul to the squad for the upcoming One-Day International Series in Pakistan. The West Indies arrived in Multan on Monday, after the impressive 3-0 series win in The Netherlands. They will now prepare to face Pakistan at the Multan International Cricket Stadium on June 8, 10 and 12.
“Keemo Paul has been kept out in the recent past due to injury and we view the management of his body as paramount to his success, not only when on West Indies duty but also when he is with his regional franchise. We have watched him perform in the recent West Indies Championship Four-Day
During the first-class tournament Paul was the leading fast bowler and second highest wicket-taker overall. He ended the five matches with 20 wickets at an average of 22.8 runs per wicket. He had best figures of 6-50. He was also among the leading allrounders with 169 runs including a highest score of 73.
The West Indies tour of Pakistan will bowl off on Wednesday, June 8. First ball is 4pm PKT time (7am Eastern Caribbean/6am Jamaica).
The series will also form part of the ICC ODI Super League where the teams will have the chance to earn points as they try to secure automatic qualification to the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in India.
President of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) Michael Ricketts was candid in offering his thoughts on the tenure of former JFF General Secretary Dalton Wint which came to an end on Monday.
Wint tendered his resignation in the wake of an administrative nightmare which saw the Reggae Boyz being stranded in Suriname after their Concacaf Nations League encounter on Saturday.
The team was expected to return to Jamaica on Saturday night for the return fixture on Tuesday but were unable to after the JFF had failed to make proper arrangements. The players ended up arriving in Jamaica at 7:15am on Monday.
“In a meeting in Suriname, all the players gathered and briefly called Mr. Wint and myself and said that the situation as it is now is that they have gotten a mandate from all the members that they will not work with Mr. Wint and they’re insisting that he tenders his resignation,” Ricketts outlined in an interview with Nationwide Radio on Tuesday before pinpointing why the players wanted Wint gone.
“They cited incompetence and, for whatever reason, there seems to be a very strained relationship,” he added.
Players had also informed Ricketts that they would not play in Tuesday's game if Wint wasn't removed from his post.
“I think Dalton, like all of us, did have his shortcomings and my only problem with him is that I don’t think he would’ve learned as quickly I would’ve liked,” Ricketts said when asked to sum up Wint's tenure as General Secretary.
“He was strident, loyal, and committed to what he was doing but, like I said, there could very well have been some shortcomings that he would have, not with the level of urgency that I would’ve liked, learned, and been able to correct,” Ricketts added.
While also explaining how unfortunate it is for players to be able to essentially dictate staff members' job status, Ricketts ultimately said Wint did what had to be done.
“In the interest of the sport, the own players, and this nation, Wint has decided to offer his resignation,” Ricketts said.
Jamaica Football Federation General Secretary Dalton Wint appears to have yielded to the demand of the Reggae Boyz that he resigns his position.
Wint has been the target of the players’ ire after being left stranded in Suriname on Saturday night, June 4, after their 1-1 draw with the host country. The JFF had failed to make proper arrangements for the players to return to Jamaica, an embarrassing situation that the players laid squarely at the feet of the beleaguered general secretary.
According to a statement reportedly coming from the players, “it was the straw that broke the camel’s back” and they refused to go on unless Wint resigned from his post. JFF President Michael Ricketts confirmed on Monday that the board had met to discuss the situation but up to later that day, there was no official word regarding the board’s position on the demand made by the players, who Sportsmax.TV understands refused to train in preparation for the return match against Suriname on Tuesday evening.
However, in a statement released late Monday night, the JFF signalled that an end to the impasse is in sight.
“The General Secretary of the Jamaica Football Federation, Mr Dalton Wint, has given his unequivocal and irreversible commitment to submit his resignation from the post,” the JFF said. “The Board of Directors of the JFF look forward to receiving same soonest. Other relevant information regarding this matter, will be shared with the country in the coming days.”
Meantime, Jamaica’s Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sports, revealed its part in getting the players home from Suriname early Monday morning.
Minister Olivia Grange revealed that her ministry intervened to facilitate the safe return of the irate players, who returned to Jamaica at approximately 7:15 am Monday.
“On Saturday, June 4, 2022, I was advised of challenges being experienced by the Reggae Boyz delegation in Suriname. I was made to understand that travel arrangements for their return to Jamaica, after the match against Suriname on Saturday, had been cancelled and my assistance was being sought,” the minister said in a statement.
“I was told that because the players had to return in time for another match, normal flight schedules would not allow for their return. On my instructions, a number of steps were taken by my Permanent Secretary and the General Manager of the Sports Development Foundation (SDF) to assist in addressing the problem.
“A company was identified from which we could charter a flight in the short time frame. Reggae Boy Leon Bailey was instrumental in identifying the charter company.
“We were advised by the company identified that the charter flight would cost US$105,000.00 which had to be paid immediately in order for the aircraft which was in Mexico to be released to pick up the team in Suriname. Unfortunately, with this taking place over the weekend, the circumstances prevented the SDF from accessing the required banking services.”
As a result, Minister Grange said, JFF President Michael Ricketts contacted Christopher Williams, CEO of PROVEN and Chairman of the Premier Football Jamaica League (PFJL) to assist with the identification of the required funds and the Government of Jamaica through the SDF committed to ensuring that the funds advanced would be repaid.
“Based on the commitment of the Government, Mr Williams put the necessary mechanisms in place to advance the payment for the charter flight, with the firm understanding that he would be reimbursed in the shortest possible time,” the minister explained.
“All the parties involved were aware of the urgent need to act, bearing in mind the risk of the Jamaican delegation being stranded in Suriname, and the players not being able to honour the fixture scheduled for Tuesday, June 7, 2022,” the minister continued, adding that she spoke directly to the players, who she said were upset with the JFF Administration which they blamed for the crisis.
The players, she said, then agreed to play the game in Suriname on schedule.
“The Under Secretary for the Diaspora, Protocol and Consular Affairs Division in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade (MFAFT) played a critical role in securing the landing and fly over permits. The team from the Ministries were in negotiations from Saturday afternoon until early Monday morning to ensure that the permits were received,” the minister said.
“I will be writing to the JFF requesting a detailed report on the matter and my team and I will continue to work closely with the JFF and the Reggae Boyz as we are also aware of other matters of concern related to the management of what is possibly the most popular sport in Jamaica.”
Canada players have ended their strike to continue preparations for the 2022 World Cup but warned "questions have yet to be answered and actions have yet to be taken".
The team, who qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time since 1986, had taken action in a dispute over Qatar 2022 prize money.
As a friendly against Panama had to be called off, Canada Soccer responded to reports players would receive only 10 per cent of the pot it received from FIFA.
Canada Soccer said it had proposed 30 per cent would go to the men's team, 30 per cent to the women's team and 40 per cent to the association.
The players, the association claimed, asked for somewhere between 75 and 100 per cent of the money. A letter from the players asked for 40 per cent.
This letter said negotiations over compensation had been "unnecessarily prolonged" by executives "taking vacations" before players were presented with "an archaic offer" last week.
The team apologised to Panama as they went on a short-lived strike, which was ended by their return to training this week – albeit without a resolution.
"We, the Canadian men's national team, have decided to resume training in preparation for the road to Qatar," they said in a second letter.
"To be clear, we have not reached an agreement with [Canada Soccer].
"The players have met with the senior leaders of Canada Soccer on Sunday evening and will continue the negotiation process, but questions have yet to be answered and actions have yet to be taken.
"We move forward in hope that Canada Soccer will work with us to resolve the situation."
Canada Soccer added: "Canada Soccer senior leaders and the men's national team players met on Sunday night to continue the negotiation process.
"The players will train this [Monday] afternoon with future meetings scheduled toward a resolution."
Canada begin their World Cup campaign against 2018 semi-finalists Belgium in Al Rayyan on November 23 and will also play Croatia and Morocco in Group F.
Head coach of the Jamaica Men’s National Football Team Paul Hall expects his Reggae Boyz to be better defensively in their return Concacaf Nations League contest against Suriname at the National Stadium on Tuesday.
Both teams played out a 1-1 draw at the Flora Stadium in Paramaribo on Saturday after Junior Flemmings gave Jamaica the lead in the 39th minute before an Amal Knight own goal in the 84th meant the points were shared.
“We need to make more improvements defensively,” said Hall in a pre-match press conference on Monday.
“I thought we gave them a little bit too much respect attacking us and allowed them to get through some shots at us which forced Amal (Knight) to make some really good saves, especially early on,” he added.
In the game on Saturday, the hosts were able to get off 10 shots, a statistic Hall says his team will need to bring down at home to secure the win.
“I’m looking for the boys to really make it a fortress at the back and just really focus on trying to be stingy with the number of efforts that we allow Suriname to make on us,” Hall said.
Coach Hall also pleaded to the Jamaican supporters to make their presence felt at Tuesday's game.
"I want the supporters to come to the match tomorrow. I want them to show us that they're on our side. We need them to bring us over the line, we need that support," he said.
When Briana Williams finished ninth in the 100m dash at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon on May 28, she could not have imagined the wave of negative reaction that was to follow on social media.
After a successful indoor season during which she ran a new lifetime best of 7.04 while finishing fifth in the 60m final at the World Indoor Championships in Serbia in March, Williams and her coach Ato Boldon turned their attention to preparing to compete in Jamaica’s National Senior Championships at the end of June with the intention of making Jamaica’s team to the World Athletics Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene in July.
Apparently, the heavy workload had taken its toll and Williams, who won gold in the 4x100m relay at the Tokyo Olympics last summer, was clearly not at her best. Following the run in Oregon, social media blew up with toxic narratives. She was not progressing fast enough. She needs to leave Boldon. Other Jamaican women had surpassed her now.
Those criticisms stung and were partly behind her decision to travel to Jamaica to compete at the JAAA/SDF Jubilee Meet at Jamaica College in Kingston on Saturday. There, she ran a wind-assisted 10.91 (3.4m/s) in the preliminary round and then returned for the final where she ran a season's best 10.98 which went a long way toward silencing the armchair coaches.
“I definitely did,” said Williams while speaking with Sportsmax.TV after her triumphant performance on Saturday night.
“We don’t always have perfect races. Last week (Oregon) wasn’t my best. I wasn’t feeling my best but I am glad I got this meet in, was able to have a prelim and a final and finish healthy with a new season’s best.”
In truth, following her performance at the Prefontaine Classic when she clocked a relatively pedestrian 11.20, Williams did begin to doubt herself. However, those doubts were quickly extinguished by Coach Boldon.
“Well, I only had Prefontaine that was really bad. After the race, I was like ‘Oh My God, what’s going on? I am putting in the work’, but my coach said just trust the process. The work is there in training; you just have to wait. Everyone has their time, and we will not always have the best races,” she said.
“I would love for people to actually understand that we’re human beings and we’re athletes and we go through a lot and one bad race, we bounce back into a good race and we move forward.”
In fact, Williams believes that despite what the naysayers believe, she has been having a really good season.
“This season has been going well so far, especially indoors, my first full season indoors, 7.04. No one at 19 has done that and just to be the youngest at the World Indoor Championships and to place fifth really meant a lot,” she said.
“After indoors I went straight into training, heavy training, and I think that was where I was feeling it, at Prefontaine.”
Now with that disappointing performance clearly behind her, Williams is now firmly focused on being at her best for Jamaica’s National Senior Championships from June 23-26, when she will face off against some of the fastest women in the world with the aim of booking a ticket to Oregon in July.
To do that she will face as deep a field as she has ever faced in Jamaica. In addition to the usual suspects, Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who will compete despite having a bye to Oregon as the defending 100m champion and Shericka Jackson, Williams will come up against an in-form Kevona Davis, Natasha Morrison, Remona Burchell, Natalliah Whyte, Kemba Nelson and Shockoria Wallace all of whom have been having strong seasons.
Notwithstanding the depth of talent, the Olympic gold medallist said nothing will change in how she prepares for the fierce battles ahead.
“Never, it is always the same. It is always a hot field and I always perform my best when the time is right,” she said.
“I know that trials will be hard. Everyone is running fast. That is how it’s supposed to be. I am looking forward to trials.”
West Indies white ball captain Nicholas Pooran had high praise for his batsmen unit after the team’s 3-0 series sweep of the Netherlands last week at Amstelveen.
Shamarh Brooks (167 runs from three games), Shai Hope (161 runs from three games) and Brandon King (159 runs from three games) were all among the top five run-scorers in the series.
The Caribbean side comfortably chased targets in the first two games reaching 249-3 in the first game and 217-5 in the second game before posting 308-5 in the third contest and batting their full quota of overs in the process.
“Batting 50 overs was one of the goals we set before the series and we achieved that in the last game,” Pooran said in an interview on Sunday.
The Windies had three centurions in the series with Shai Hope, Shamarh Brooks and Kyle Mayers all reaching three figures, something Pooran says is a good sign going forward.
“I think the batsmen are settling in nicely and taking their opportunity,” he said.
“It’s always important getting multiple batsmen scoring centuries. It’s very important for a team in terms of getting a big score or a score to actually defend. It shows that the batsmen are hungry for runs and willing to spend time in the middle to get those big runs,” Pooran added.
Pooran, who was on his first assignment as the West Indies official ODI skipper, said the inexperienced squad made the series triumph more special.
“I felt it was a really good one for us. It’s a new team and I felt like we bonded really well. We spoke about learning on the job and taking this opportunity,” he said.
Pooran and his team’s next assignment will be the three-ODI series against Pakistan in Multan on June 8, 10 and 12.
The 3-2 favourite Blue Vinyl used a devastating last-furlong acceleration to stage a massive win in Sunday’s Jamaica 2000 Guineas at Caymanas Park, giving young rider Raddesh Roman his first ever Classic success.
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