Calvert Fitzgerald has resigned as head coach of Jamaica Premier League club Molynes United with immediate effect but remains as its technical director, Sportsmax.TV has confirmed.

Veteran West Indies batsman Chris Gayle has hailed the influence of team captain Kieran Pollard following a return to form against Australia.

The 42-year-old scored an enterprising 67 from 38 balls as the Windies took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match T20 series.

The half-century would have come as a relief for the under-pressure batsman who had struggled to make an impact since being recalled to the team.  In eight matches, against Sri Lanka, South Africa, and Australia, Gayle has averaged 12.71, with a combined 89 runs, and has a highest score of 31.  In addition, the batsman has a strike rate of 94.68, well below his career average of 139.71.  In fact, the score was the highest for the player since March 2016. 

“It’s good to be among the runs.  Yes, it’s a relief, any batter who hadn’t been among the runs for quite some time now would definitely want to be back among the runs…but it wouldn’t have been possible without my teammates,” Gayle said.

“He told me that he was backing me to go out there and play the cricket that Chris Gayle is accustomed to playing.  So, getting the backing from my teammates, senior guys like Dwayne Bravo as well, Nicholas Pooran. 

“It gave me goosebumps when Pollard was speaking in the dressing room.  Me being a leader and I used to captain Pollard and I tried to help him excel in his career, now’s he’s the captain and for him to stand up and say ‘hey Chris’ and give me a reminder of how good I am.  It’s fantastic.”

Left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein and off-spinner Kevin Sinclair have been named in the match-day squad as replacements for Shimron Hetmyer and Obed McCoy for the fourth and fifth matches of the CG Insurance T20 International (T20I) series against Australia.

Hetmyer and McCoy are both nursing injuries and will be unavailable.

West Indies have already clinched the series following their six-wicket victory on Monday night that came after an 18-run victory last Friday night and an impressive 56-run triumph on Saturday night.

The next two matches will be played under lights at the Daren Sammy Cricket Stadium (DSCG) on Wednesday, July 14 and Friday, July 16 with the first ball at 7:30 pm (6:30 pm Jamaica Time).

“The team has played really well to win the first three matches and the CG Insurance Series – they have played good cricket in every department,” said CWI Chief Selector Roger Harper.

“The aim is to continue to build on the momentum created and strive to win the remaining games. Winning builds confidence from a team perspective and will give the players greater belief in the roles they are playing. So, it is important to keep winning. We took the decision to rest players who have picked up some niggles and give opportunities to other players in the squad.”

This CG Insurance T20I Series forms part of the West Indies T20 World Cup preparation. The defending champions have a total of 15 T20Is to be played across three months in the build-up to the ICC T20 World Cup which is being staged in the United Arab Emirates and Oman from October 17 to November 14.

Fully vaccinated patrons will be able to buy tickets for the series from the stadium ticket office at the East Gate on presentation of their vaccination documentation and their national ID, with tickets available at EC$50 per match.

The full squad comprises Kieron Pollard (Captain), Nicholas Pooran (Vice-Captain), Fabian Allen, Dwayne Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Akeal Hosein, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Kevin Sinclair, Evin Lewis, Andre Russell, Lendl Simmons, Oshane Thomas, and Hayden Walsh Jr

Fidel Edwards, Shimron Hetmyer and Obed McCoy are the travelling reserves.

Panama came from behind three times to draw with Qatar, while Honduras swept aside Grenada 4-0 in their opening CONCACAF Gold Cup matches on Tuesday.

In a tight game in Houston, six goals were scored in the second half as 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar hit the lead three times but failed to capitalise.

Panama's Rolando Blackburn levelled the game twice in a flurry of goals in the first 20 minutes after half-time, as Hassan Al Heidos put Qatar up 3-2 from the spot in the 63rd minute. Eric Davis equalised with a 79th-minute penalty.

Honduras dominated Grenada in the later game, with goals from Jerry Bengtson, Edwin Solano, Johnny Leveron and Romell Quioto.

Panama and Honduras will meet on Saturday in Houston after Grenada and Qatar face off at the same venue.

  Former champions Arnett Gardens came from behind to beat Humble Lion 2-1 in an exciting encounter in the final game of round three of the Jamaica Premier League at the Stadium East field on Monday.

Former Arnett Gardens star, Vishinul Harris opened the scoring for his new club Humble Lion in the 8th minute.  But goals by Jonoy Cunningham (14th) and Renaldo Cephas (75th) turned it around for the Junglists.

Harris latched on to a Levaughn Williams defense-splitting pass and slotted home, but Cunningham pulled Arnett Gardens level with a thumping header from an Oshane Roberts corner kick.

Then the lively and skilful Cephas, who missed a sitter in the 72nd minute, returned three minutes later and found the clincher in clinical fashion, side-footing home from close range in the 75th minute.

It was a very good win for Arnett as they moved into eighth spot with three points from two games. The Alex Thomas-coached outfit has a game in hand and sits just three points adrift of the leaders Portmore United.

Clarendon-based outfit Humble Lion remained at the bottom of the 11-team league. without a point from three games and with a lot of work to do.

Losing coach Andrew Price of Humble Lion said his team is getting fitter but they didn’t close down the opponents and paid the price.

“We didn’t press the Arnett Gardens team enough. They are a young team, full of energy, and if you don’t pressure then you won’t be able to gain the ascendancy,” Price said.

“I think we played in patches and weren’t very consistent throughout the game and we will just have to continue to work,” he added.

 “We didn’t play well enough today to win the game and we will have to accept that. We have to look in the mirror and see we weren’t good enough today.”

He remained optimistic that things will turn around for the better, but it will take time.

Dunbeholden assistant coach Ricardo Smith hailed the performance of standout midfielder Nickoy Christian for a man-of-the-match performance that inspired the team to its first win of the truncated Jamaica Premier League (JPL) season at the Stadium East Complex.

Throughout the game, it was Christian who controlled the tempo, marshalled the midfield, and was the key talisman behind all Dunbeholden’s set pieces.

In truth, from the opening whistle, Dunbeholden seemed to be the team that wanted it more. The blue and red-clad team were on the attack almost immediately and it paid dividends in the 5th minute of the game.

Off the end of Christian’s corner, veteran defender Andre Dyce latched on at the back post with a side-footed effort that nestled into the net for the opener and the only goal of the game.

A delighted Smith commended Christian’s performance and lauded his leadership in driving the team to a win.

“He took the team and was leading from the front, all the training sessions leading up to today. He was the leader from the warm-up to the game, he encouraged them, he did everything hence the performance today from him,” Smith explained.

However, Smith also commended his players for sticking to the game plan and stepping up to the challenge.

“We know that we had to come here today and soak up a lot of pressure because this team [Cavalier FC] is a ball possession team. And they are youthful, they run a lot, so we expected this from them. We talked about it we watched them before and we just gave it that strategy, we sit back and catch them on the counter,” he added.

This win came on the back of the new appointment of head coach Harold Thomas after losing their first two fixtures to Portmore United and Waterhouse FC, respectively.

Having won their first game and drawing their last, Cavalier FC suffered their first defeat of the season. Though it’s still early days, Cavalier coach Rudolph Speid acknowledges that they did not play well and that it was a tough defeat.

“I can’t put my finger on any one thing, but I think the early goal kind of stunned us. We were not able to be our usual standards and then the conditions were really breezy, very difficult to control the ball.”

On the day, Cavalier lacked the creativity that JPL is accustomed to seeing from them.

The Kingston-based team playing at home for the first time this season was, however, missing their main danger man Shaniel Thomas, Speid believes it hampered their way of playing.

Dunbeholden FC now moves from the bottom of the table to eighth position, on three points, while Cavalier FC remains in fourth on four points.

Two teams on the rise will meet in their second match of Group A of the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup, as a resurgent Trinidad and Tobago take on a confident El Salvador on Wednesday night at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.

Trinidad and Tobago have parlayed the positive momentum gained from the Prelims into a good start in the tournament after a 0-0 draw against reigning champions Mexico in their opener last Saturday.

The hero for the Soca Warriors was GK Marvin Phillip. The 36-year-old shot-stopper produced one of the finest goalkeeping performances in Gold Cup history by making seven saves to help secure the clean sheet result for the Caribbean side.

With a point under their belts, Trinidad and Tobago will now try to have their attack take flight in the tournament.  Forward Reon Moore had a pair of goals in the Prelims, as did MF Kevin Molino, and getting those two players involved early and often could lay the groundwork for a full three points.

Meanwhile, El Salvador are brimming with confidence heading into Wednesday’s affair after the Cuscatlecos delivered a commanding performance in a 2-0 opening win over Guatemala.

While it took until the final 10 minutes before they finally breached the Guatemalan goal, El Salvador controlled the tempo and enjoyed the majority of the scoring chances.

MF Alex Roldan, came off the bench to make his El Salvador debut and promptly scored his first international goal, while another substitute, FW Joaquin Rivas, scored in his Gold Cup debut to nail down the victory.

Those two players, along with FW Joshua Perez and FW Juan Portillo and others give El Salvador a dynamic attack that will test the Soca Warriors.

 Wednesday’s match will be the fourth Gold Cup meeting between the two sides, with El Salvador holding a narrow 2W-1D-0L edge.

Hayley Matthews scored an unbeaten century on Monday as the West Indies Women beat Pakistan Women by eight wickets at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in their five-match CG Insurance ODI Series.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce has been signed to represent HUMBL, the company announced today.

HUMBL provides merchant services software that is being developed to accommodate the migration by governments to digital forms of their national currency. It also serves to facilitate key functions like cross-border remittance, foreign exchange, bill payment, and lending products from smartphones.

“HUMBL has signed Jamaican track and field athlete Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce to represent the brand for the coming year,” it said on Twitter this morning.

“Excited to have you onboard, Shelly-Ann.

Fraser-Pryce, 34, is a GraceKennedy Global Brand Ambassador and a brand ambassador for digital company Digicel.

She is one of the most successful track and field athletes in history having won Olympic 100m titles in Beijing in 2008 and again in London in 2012. She was third in the 100m in 2016 in Rio. She goes for an unprecedented third Olympic title later this month in Tokyo.

In addition to her Olympic 100m titles, Fraser-Pryce is also a four-time World 100m champion. No other athlete - male or female - has ever won four 100m titles. She also has a 200m title from the 2013 World Championships in Moscow.

She won silver in the 200m at the 2012 London Games.

She won the World Indoor 60m title in 2014 and has won four Diamond League titles.

Waterhouse and Vere United battled to a 0-0 stalemate in their Jamaica Premier League match at the Stadium East field.

Vere United are showing that they belong with another sturdy, well-organized display that earned them a share of the points with their more celebrated opponents. The team that flirted with relegation in the last campaign have now climbed to fourth spot with five points, the same as Waterhouse, who are third because of a better goal difference.

However, it was a game that Waterhouse should have won as they created more and better chances throughout. The Drewsland-based team had 16 shots, seven of them on target and enjoyed 55 per cent of the possession.

Meanwhile, the Clarendon-based Vere United had only two shots and one on target, but they stuck to their game plan and defended stoutly, led by the uncompromising Ricardo Campbell, who was voted Man-of-the-Match.

Head coach Donovan Duckie said he was pleased with sharing the points against one of the league’s best teams.

“We knew that getting a point from this game would be a good achievement for us,” said Duckie. “We understand what is against us, those teams were playing in the CONCACAF league and are more prepared than us and I thought we did exceptionally well.”

Waterhouse’s assistant coach Damion Gordon thought his team played well but just did not get the desired result.

“I am not disappointed with the performance of the team but with the result. We did move the ball in changing the point of attack but they defended well,” said Gordon. “It’s a game-by-game situation and there will be games like this.”

The United States started their CONCACAF Gold Cup campaign with a 1-0 win over Haiti on Sunday.

Sam Vines' first international goal proved to be enough for the USA at Children's Mercy Park in Kansas City.

The eighth-minute header helped the USA make a winning start in Group B, in which they sit behind Canada, who crushed Martinique 4-1 earlier on Sunday.

The USA are six-time Gold Cup champions, including winning two of the past four editions – in 2013 and 2017.

They went close to an opener in just the sixth minute, but Walker Zimmerman's volley from a corner hit the crossbar.

However, they opened the scoring just three minutes later as Vines headed in powerfully from close range after Gyasi Zardes' pass from inside the area.

The USA continued to threaten and went close to doubling their lead in the 66th minute, but Nicholas Gioacchini hit the post with a side-footed effort.

Gregg Berhalter's side are next in action on Thursday, when they take on Martinique.

Defender Andre Dyce’s fifth-minute goal lead Dunbeholden FC to a 1-0 win over Cavalier SC in their Jamaica Premier League encounter at the Stadium East field.

With the last kick of the game, Damano Solomon gave Portmore United a 1-0 win over Molynes United in the first Jamaica Premier League at the Stadium East field on Saturday.

Solomon latched onto a free-kick by Ricardo Morris six minutes into stoppage time and snatched victory in a game that seemed destined for a draw. It was a heartbreaking loss for a Molynes United team whose spirited display deserved a share of the points.

In the end, Portmore United secured their second win from three games and jumped to the top of the league with six points in the first match of the third round.

Molynes United remained in eighth on one point from two games.

Winning coach Ricardo Gardner was more than happy to take all three points.

“Football is like this sometimes. We would love to have put our chances away but, unfortunately, it wasn’t like that,” he said.

“I think our keeper made a very good save to keep us in the game. We left ourselves a little bit too open at times and gave our opponents (the chance) to go through on our keeper but we just have to improve on this.”

Molynes United’s coach Calvert Fitzgerald said the manner of the loss was disappointing.

 “It’s a heartbreaker because we lost with the last kick of the game,” he said. “I thought Portmore played well, we countered and with the ebb and flow of the game, if I had gotten a point I would have been satisfied,” he said.

Portmore United created many opportunities but was thwarted by outstanding goalkeeping by Roje Williams and poor finishing.

In the 17th minute, Shante James whipped in a vicious shot that goalkeeper Williams blocked. A mad scramble ensued inside the box a Portmore United attacker committed a foul that ended any goalscoring opportunity.

As Portmore continued to dominate, Demario Phillips long-range free-kick took a deflection that forced goalkeeper Williams to save low to his left after initially going to his right.

A minute later, Portmore’s captain Ricardo Morris was on the end of a defence-splitting pass but smashed the ball into the side netting with his weaker right foot. Morris kicked over the bar in minute 30.

The lively Demario Phillips unleashed a powerful shot at goal that was parried for a corner, and from the resulting kick, Phillips teed up Seigle Knight, who crashed his shot onto the crossbar in the 40th minute. Molynes goalkeeper Williams would again come to the rescue of his team in true sweeper-keeper fashion, racing off his line to nullify Javick McFarlane, who was clean through on goal.

Morris would later kick high with Williams badly out of position.

Molynes United came out firing in the second half and former National Under-20 striker Nicholas Nelson, was through on goal on a couple of occasions, but good goalkeeping by Kemar Foster negated his chances.

In minute 52, Portmore came close to opening the scoring when Revaldo Mitchell slotted past the onrushing Williams but the ball was cleared off the line by Damion Thomas.

In the 65th minute, Nelson latched onto a ball over the top but Foster advanced to block with his feet. Then Foster again saved well to his left with another fantastic effort from Nelson.

Another good build-up play by Molynes involving three players was thwarted by a last-ditch tackle.

Portmore United’s Alvinus Myers was named Man of the Match.