When you’ve been in broadcasting as long as Lance Whittaker has, nothing much comes as a surprise. Over a career that has spanned more than three decades, the Sportsmax Zone anchor has pretty much been there and done that.
Well, that was until last week, Friday, January 21, when he was presented with the prestigious RJRGleaner Foundation’s Chairman’s Award for 35 years of excellence in broadcasting at the local, regional and international levels.
“Complete shock! Was not expecting this at all,” remarked the unassuming but highly respected broadcaster, who for the last 12 years has been a Vice-President/Executive Producer at SportsMax Ltd, the Caribbean’s first all-sports cable channel.
“Remember, no media practitioner had ever won this award before so I was not even considering that I was a candidate. More than a week later, after being notified, I am still actually trying to assess how I feel. Immense pride, for sure, and really honoured that the RJRGleaner Sports Foundation has considered my body of work worthy. It means a lot to me and I feel the decades of hard work is appreciated.”
Those decades of hard work began back in June 1984 at Radio Jamaica where Whittaker spent the first 11 years of his superlative career. He started out reading the mid-day sports reports and subsequently hosted Sports Call on Wednesday nights.
Lance eventually rose through the ranks to be Assistant Programme Director – Sports. He had also begun to establish himself as a world-class commentator covering Pan Am Games in 1987 and 1991, the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona and the 1994 Commonwealth Games.
By 1995, he was ready to move on to greater challenges.
“I took a job offer at the Caribbean News Agency in (CANA) in March 1995 as CANA Sports Coordinator in Barbados where I established a daily radio sportscast and supervised the sports output in the CANA Wire Service which was the regional affiliate of Reuters International News Agency, transmitting hundreds of Caribbean sports stories monthly, covering the entire region – from Bermuda in the north through to Guyana in the south,” he said with pride.
“Our radio coverage output during this period also included the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and several CARIFTA Games. CANA also established CricketPlus, CANA’s high-quality radio coverage of international cricket led by esteemed commentators Fazeer Mohammed, Andrew Mason, Simon Crosskill and Reds Pereira.”
CANA and the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU) eventually merged in 2000 to become the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) for which Whittaker was Director of Sports until his resignation in March 2010.
“At CMC, I continued to lead our wire service output and television was added to my portfolio, as we established a daily television news,” he recalled.
“I presented our 15-minute sports news Monday to Friday evenings after our team sourced stories from our partners throughout the day. During that period, I also added three more Olympics to my log – Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.”
At SportsMax, he was mandated to improve the company’s standing as a regional and international television sports broadcaster and in July 2011, a SportsMax dream was realized, the first ever daily sports talk show in Caribbean television.
“I was lead presenter in the early years of SportsMax Zone and I am still on the show daily. We have tried to fashion the show – through the news stories and discussion topics – to ensure engaging topics for the viewers,” he said.
“Major coverage events for me so far at SportsMax include the 2012 London Olympics and Tokyo 2020 Olympics. In recent years, I have also been a part of increased live coverage of events on SportsMax, including local premier league, school sports and various international events.”
His body of work speaks for itself and is the result of years of hard work, dedication and commitment to excellence, the hallmarks of Whittaker’s sterling career.
“I am not sure if there is a secret to maintaining a high standard for a long time. It boils down to really hard work and dedication,” he said.
“Punctuality, preparedness and being thorough have always been watchwords for me in this job and in the media, these are critical to success. Also, my school motto at Wolmer’s ‘Age Quod Agis’ is, 'Whatever you do, do it to the best of your ability.
“I love what I do. I have been playing sports competitively and loving sports from before my teenage years and a lot of what I do on the job hardly feels like work. I fell in love with radio as a teenager and though I did not realize it then, it clearly triggered my passion for a career in broadcast media.”
Of course, with so many events covered, it might be surprising to hear that there isn’t any one thing that comes first to mind as most memorable; perhaps because there have been so many.
“There are so many memorable moments and some may find it surprising that my first interactions with broadcasters, who I found massively inspirational, would be very high on that list,” he said.
“I cannot explain in words how moved and star-struck I felt the first time I met Chris Armond, whose horse racing commentaries I would have studied and impersonated as a teenager at Wolmer’s, much to my mother’s consternation because she was sure I took horse racing commentary more seriously than my school work!
“Also, the first time I interviewed the great Tony Cozier live in the RJR studio on Sports Call. Another ‘star-struck’ moment. I was completely in awe of this cricket commentator, revered globally and to me the world’s best, and I swear, I was so nervous I struggled to conduct a proper interview.
“Those aside, I would list getting a signed picture and letter from sprint great Merlene Ottey thanking me for what she thought was my “classic” commentary of her 1993 IAAF World Championship 200-metre gold medal run in Stuttgart, her first global title after 13 years of trying; Usain Bolt’s stunning 9.69 world record 100-metre win at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and my commentary as he approached the finish, arms outstretched and celebrating, that “Usain Bolt makes it look easy” was not what I wanted to say, I stayed focused on my verbal delivery but trust me, the words in my mind were not fit for airplay! Not sure what would rank as a crowning moment but this Chairman’s Award certainly hit a spot. Never expected this at all.”
So what does one do for an encore after 35 years of excellence?
“Not much of a planner, so I am not sure,” he said.
“I will be 60 years old in September and taking things day by day. Getting some pressure/encouragement from some quarters to write a book on my adventures in almost 38 years of broadcasting and I am still trying to wrap my brain around that.”
The West Indies are in a position to knock off the number one ranked T20 International team in the world, England, with a win in the fourth T20I of their five-match series on Saturday.
After a 20-run victory on Wednesday, the Caribbean side now leads the series 2-1 with the chance to take an unassailable 3-1 lead on Saturday.
West Indies head coach Phil Simmons says that even with a series win in sight, he is focused on how the team is playing.
“Saturday, if we win the game we’ll win the series so yes, I’d be happy, but I’m happier now with the way that the players are taking on board how we want to play going forward,” Simmons said in a press conference today.
With the ICCT20 World Cup a few months away, the emphasis for the former Ireland and Afghanistan head coach is for the two-time champions to have a much-improved performance from the disaster of the 2021 ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup in the UAE where they won only one of their five group matches and crashed out of the tournament.
“Winning as a whole is a great thing for any team so it’s something that we’re happy with, but for me, at this point in time, it’s about building back the team because at the end of the day, October is another T20 World Cup and, especially with our performances in the last one, we want to get back up to where we normally are. I’m looking at the quality of the cricket we’re playing and how we’re improving rather than just a series win,” Simmons said.
The former West Indies player also commented on Rovman Powell’s brilliant maiden T20 hundred.
“I think it was a brilliant innings from the start. The way he assessed the situation at the beginning is something that we’ve been talking about as a group and I’ve been looking forward to someone doing that in a match and he did that. We’re moving in the right direction,” Simmons added.
West Indies vice-captain, Nicholas Pooran, believes his performance against England was enhanced by a certain clarity of thought regarding what needed to be accomplished for the team.
Rovman Powell may have stolen the headlines with his sensational knock of 107, but Pooran played just as critical a role in providing the backbone that the 20-run win for the West Indies was built on. As a pair, they combined to frustrate the England bowlers after adding 122 runs for the third wicket.
Pooran, who admits he is still working on adapting to batting at the unfamiliar position of three, scored a crucial 70 off 43 balls.
“For me it was simple. The last couple of games, even from Pakistan I got the opportunity to bat at number 3 and I’m trying to figure out how I should bat at number three. Today I just felt like I had to be clear. Today was about being clear and just executing. If I said I wanted to look for a single for example, I looked for a single and picked the gap. I just tried to put the ego away for me it was all about staying in the moment, playing the situations well. Trying to play things as well as I can."
The team was also forced to put in a strong effort in the field as led by 75 from Tom Banton, England made a good effort of chasing the target before falling short at 204 for 9.
"For me the extra 22 runs at the end was key. In saying that England batted well but we knew if we could string a couple good overs together we would have a good chance. It seems like they played more bowlers today, so that was also a big help for us."
West Indies all-rounder, Rovman Powell, stole the show with a maiden T20 hundred in the team’s 20-run win over England in the third of their five-match Betway Series at Kensington Oval in Barbados on Wednesday.
Powell smashed a belligerent 107 off 53 balls, including five fours and 10 sixes, to help the home side amass a total of 224-5 off their 20 overs. In the field, Powell took two catches to help the Windies restrict the English to 204-9 and secure a 2-1 lead in the series but it was with his batting that he spoke loudest.
“It means a lot. The last six or seven months have been tough, not getting a lot of runs so it was good for me to get an opportunity tonight and I took it. I hope it’s a breakthrough international performance. It’s just for me now to go back to the drawing board, think about the stuff that I did right and hopefully I can replicate it come Saturday,” Powell said after the game.
Many fans and pundits were left bemused when Powell strode to the crease at number four ahead of Darren Bravo, who batted at that position in the second game, but Powell said that the move was tactical and that he was told of the possibility the night before by captain Kieron Pollard.
“It was to split up the two left-handers. We didn’t want Pooran and Bravo at the crease at the same time, so I was the right-hander that slotted between them. Last night (Tuesday) he told me it's a possibility that I would bat four so I started to think back to some of my good innings and started to come up with a game plan. I think that plan served me well today. When I walked out to bat, I was confident because for the last five months I’ve been working hard and stroking the ball well so that confidence transferred into the game,” he said.
That confidence also comes from a fantastic stint Powell had at the Abu Dhabi T10 League in late 2021 for the Northern Warriors where he scored 305 runs in nine innings at an average of 33.88 with 15 fours and a mammoth 27 sixes.
“I think I’m in very good form. I told the guys I’m sure that I’m one of the best in the world at the moment when it comes to hitting the ball and it started from the T10. When I went there, I just tried to express myself and catch back the eyes of the selectors and now everything is coming to fruition,” he added. West Indies fans are hoping that that form will carry over into the fourth T20I which takes place on Saturday.
West Indies captain Kieron Pollard has pointed to the importance of putting egos aside in selecting the right team, following a stunning display from returning batsman Rovman Powell against England.
The Windies crept ahead in the five-match T20 International series, on Wednesday, on the back of a brilliant century from Powell. The batsman, who was playing his first match in the series, came into the line-up at four and smashed a stunning 107 a knock that included 10 towering sixes.
Ahead of the match, some considered it to be somewhat of a controversial decision to add Powell to the line-up at the expense of Odean Smith, who has also shown plenty of promise in recent innings. The result, however, spoke for itself. The captain believes it speaks to the versatility of the unit.
“It vindicated the team selection, obviously, it was a good game of cricket we batted first, and we batted well, kudos to Rovman. He came in having been out for the first two games and took his chance,” Pollard said after the match.
“We have a versatile team. Sometimes you have to take the ego out of it and give the opportunity to the guys who have the form and the confidence that’s what we did today, so kudos to the management team and to the players who went out and played a fantastic game,” he added.
Equally important was Powell’s pairing with West Indies vice-captain Nicholas Pooran who went into the line-up at the unfamiliar position of three and scored 70 from 43 deliveries. The pair put on 122 for the third wicket.
West Indies century-maker Rovman Powell admits he has spent the last few months away from the team working out a susceptibility to wrist spin.
The 28-year-old returned to the regional squad with a bang on Wednesday, blasting the first T20I century of his career, and third for a West Indian player, with 107 in a 20-runs win against England. The crucial innings, along with 70 from vice-captain Nicholas Pooran anchored the team’s effort in taking a 2-1 series lead.
In the batsman’s previous appearance, against Pakistan, he averaged 16.5 in three games where he had real issues navigating wrist spinner Shadab Khan.
“I think it’s been overall improvement, I can strike the ball well but I also have a little problem with wrist spin. Every time I start my innings they come and bowl wrist spin.
I went away and for the last six, seven months and I’ve been working on wrist spin and trying to open up the offside and I think that showed today," Powell said after the game.
Powell played a watchful innings in seeing off dangerous England spinner Adil Rashid, who claimed 2 for 24 in the previous match of the series.
“We know Rashid is the most threatening of all the bowlers, so all we did is see if we can get 24 or 30 off him, that’s good, just to limit his wicket count and take our chances against the other bowlers for the other 16 overs.”
A ruthless century from Rovman Powell gave the West Indies the perfect base to secure a 20-run win in the third T20I against England at the Kensington Oval in Barbados to go 2-1 up in the five-match series.
Powell became only the third West Indian to score a T20I century after Evin Lewis and Chris Gayle as he hit an incredible 107 from 53 balls, including 10 sixes. His partnership of 122 with Nicholas Pooran (70) set the hosts on their way to a daunting total of 224-5 from their 20 overs, though England and in particular Tom Banton (73 from 39 balls) and debutant Phil Salt (57 from 24 balls) put up a spirited chase.
Brandon King (10) fell to George Garton - also making his first appearance - in the second over as the Sussex bowler found the top of off stump, before Shai Hope went for just four after clipping a Liam Livingstone delivery against his own leg pad, which sent the ball into the air for a simple catch for wicketkeeper Banton.
Pooran and Powell then set about hitting England's attack all over the park, before the partnership was finally broken in the 17th over when Pooran hit Adil Rashid straight to the waiting Livingstone. Powell reached his century before also hitting a shot to Livingstone, this time off the final ball of Reece Topley's spell.
Jason Roy (19) tried to get England's chase going with a couple of big sixes but soon mishit a Romario Shepherd ball to the waiting hands of Jason Holder, though things looked promising for the tourists as they reached 61-1 at the end of the powerplay, seven runs ahead of the West Indies at the same stage.
Banton and James Vince kept the required rate within reach early on until the latter fell at the end of the eighth over as he hit Akeal Hosein to Kieron Pollard for 16. Stand-in captain Moeen Ali fell for a second-ball duck, dangerman Livingstone could only manage 11, and after Banton was caught by Holder off the bowling of Pollard, Salt and another debutant Harry Brook (10) tried to get the innings back on track before Brook was sent packing by Holder.
Salt's knock before he was bowled by Shepherd in the final over provided a hint of what he can bring to this England team in future, but on this night it was not a victory as the West Indies closed their opponent's innings at 204-9 to edge ahead again in the series.
Ka-Powell
Powell only averages 22.00 from his 26 T20I innings, but did a good impression of the legendary Gayle here as he hit England all over the Kensington Oval.
As well as reaching comfortably his highest score in T20Is, he also did so with a strike rate of 201.88, significantly above his average of 130.81.
England's bowling attack left battered and bruised
Rashid (25-1) and Topley (30-1) might consider themselves to have performed pretty well considering what happened their their team-mates at the hands of Pooran and Powell in particular.
Garton took an early wicket on debut but ended with figures of 57-1, while Livingstone came away with 42-1 from just three overs, and Tymal Mills took 52-1 from his four. Ali also bowled a single over for 14 runs and no wicket.
Rovman Powell scored a magnificent 100 as the West Indies amassed 224-5 in the third T20 International in the Betway Series against England at Kensington Oval in Barbados on Wednesday evening.
Powell scored 107 from just 53 with four fours and 10 sixes as he became only the third West Indian batsman behind Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis to score a hundred in a T20 International. His 50 came up off just 31 balls as he dominated England’s bowlers.
Coming to the crease with the West Indies 48-2 after the home side lost the wickets of Brandon King for 10 and Shai Hope for four, Powell and Nicholas Pooran put on a West Indies record 122 runs for the third wicket.
Pooran was also in belligerent form scoring 70 from 43 balls with four fours and five sixes as quickly as he scored, Powell was quicker.
The 100-run partnership came up in just 56 balls with Powell getting 71 of them. The Jamaican’s 100 came up off 51 balls and became only the third West Indies batsman to score a century in a T20 International. Only Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis have achieved that prior to Powell’s innings.
He hit a six off the 52 bowled by Reece Topley but was out next ball going for another big hit.
Fabian Allen was out first ball of the 20th over bowled by Tymal Mills but Captain Kieron Pollard, who made nine from four balls and Romario Shepherd 11 from five took the West Indies to their highest ever T20 score against England.
West Indies all-rounder Jason Holder believes he could be getting back to approaching his best form, partly due to a change in mentality, after a tumultuous past year of cricket.
The 30-year-old was replaced as captain of the team, in March, before finding himself controversially left out of the 15-man squad for the team to last year’s World Cup. Despite the turmoil, the player has, however, managed to put in consistent performance, particularly with the ball.
Against England, Holder recently achieved a new milestone after taking career-best figures of 4 for 7 against in the ongoing series. In two matches, he has taken six wickets and looked an assured presence for the team on the field. The all-rounder admits, these days, he is in a different frame of mind.
“In the recent past…I’ve probably been overthinking it too much. I’ve been working on some things technically as well from both the batting and bowling standpoint. Honestly speaking, I would have studied it a little too much in the game and not been as clear as I wanted to be,” Holder told members of the media on Tuesday.
“So, I’ve tried to iron out a few things mentally and trying to be a lot more focused and committed to what I want to do on a given day and try not to focus on just having a perfect technique,” he added.
The former captain believes it has been a difficult period for the entire group.
“There’s been a lot on my mind in the last year. I’m just trying to find ways to shut some of it out and try to narrow in and focus on what’s needed. I think the group has that challenge as well, we are working hard. Anybody that says we are not working hard enough, I would always challenge that, but there is a lot more to cricket and sport than just working hard.”
Experienced fast bowler Kemar Roach, Nkrumah Bonner and Brandon King have been included in a West Indies squad named for their white-ball tour of India next month.
India captain Rohit Sharma has been passed fit to lead the team for the upcoming series against the West Indies in February.
The 34-year-old batsman is only just recovering from injury, having missed out on the team’s most recent tour of South Africa, which ended in a disappointing 3-0 loss.
According to reports, the batsman is already back in training and will be ready to go for the T20 and perhaps ODI series. The series will get underway on February 6th, while the T20 series gets underway on February 16th. Rohit is recovering from a left hamstring injury. In the past, the player has captained India vs the West Indies in three matches in 2018. India won the series 3-0. Overall, in 17 T20Is India has won 10 and lost 6.
"Rohit is fit and available for the series against the West Indies," a BCCI source was quoted as saying.
"By the time the West Indies series starts, it will be more than seven and half weeks of rehabilitation and recuperation for Rohit.
The West Indies are expected to head to India immediately after the England tour.
West Indies Women opened their tour of South Africa on a winning note when they defeated a South Africa Women's XI by 53 runs in a warm-up match at the Imperial Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg.
Batting first, West Indies Women posted 202 all out from 46.5 overs. Shemaine Campbelle top-scored with 42 off 48 deliveries, which included 5-fours, followed by Rashada Williams with 30 off 73, inclusive of 3-fours. Nadine de Klerk returned the best bowling figures for the South Africa Women's XI with 7-0-27-3, followed by Tumi Sekhukhune with 5-1-20-2.
Tazmin Brits and Delmari Tucker top-scored for the South Africa Women's XI, with 32 and 24 respectively. Bowling for West Indies Women, Cherry Ann Fraser caused a middle-order collapse in her spell, finishing with 4-0-11-3, While Shamilia Connell wrapped up the innings with 2-0-13-2 and a direct-hit run-out.
West Indies Women's Head Coach Courtney Walsh was pleased with the performance but says the preparations are not completed with a win.
"I thought the girls did well, it was good to get out in the middle and play today. We haven't played a lot of cricket of late so even though it was a practice match, the atmosphere and the execution went pretty well. Most of the girls had decent knocks and a decent bowl as well. What I was most impressed was the two Super-Over practice scenarios we had as well, with how precise and good the execution was. This win will give us confidence going into the series (yes) but also for the World Cup."
West Indies will return to the Imperial Wanderers Stadium on Friday, for the first of four One Day Internationals against South Africa Women. It is a day/night fixture with first ball at 2 pm (8 am Eastern Caribbean/7 am Jamaica).
One of the key things that fans of West Indies cricket over the last few years have wanted from the regional team is consistency.
There are periods where the team is clicking at all levels, as evidenced by a dominant 4-1 T20I series win over Australia in July 2021 but there are also periods where the team just can’t seem to buy a win.
The Caribbean side are currently locked 1-1 in a five-match T20I series with England and Jason Holder, in a press conference today, pleaded for the team to strive for consistency.
“We’ve just got to keep challenging ourselves to play a complete game. If we can be a lot more clinical and consistent, we can make our lives a whole lot easier. The challenge for each and every individual is to seek consistency. I think consistency is something that we’ve been talking about for years and it’s just time we start heading in the right direction and progressing. I just want to see progression and development, consistently,” he said.
The former West Indies Test and ODI skipper, who has so far taken figures of 4-7 and 2-25, in the first two games of the series, also said that with a relatively young squad, he has to take on a leadership role even without the captaincy.
“I just try to give anything to the team that I think will benefit us. We have a relatively inexperienced group so I just try to help out as much as I can and give what advice I can give. I don’t think it’s a situation where I have to give too much information because that becomes clouded for individuals, so I keep it as simple as possible. Anything I pick up I pass it on to the captain and then obviously to individual players but I think my role is just to help guide and nurture the young talent that we have,” Holder added.
There are three games remaining in the series, but Holder wants the team to take a game-by-game approach rather than looking to the future too soon.
“I’m just focused on what’s ahead tomorrow. Tomorrow is our next encounter so there’s no point in looking at the last three matches before we get to the one tomorrow,” he said.
In the second T20I the regional team’s fielding left a lot to be desired and Holder echoed the same sentiments.
“I don’t think we were good enough in the field in the last encounter and that probably hurt us in the end,” Holder added.
The West Indies can, hopefully, have a better day in the field tomorrow when they take on England in the third T20I at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.
The Indian Premier League is the most popular T20 franchise league in the world and many cricketers across the globe dream about playing in it one day.
West Indies all-rounder Romario Shepherd is no different.
The Guyanese fast bowler and right-handed batsman, who dazzled with the bat with an unbeaten 44 in the second T20 international between the West Indies and England yesterday, has put his name in the last three IPL auctions but is yet to be awarded a contract.
Speaking in a press conference today, Shepherd says the dream, which at this point is very close to reality, is still alive.
“It’s a great platform for any youngster. Many people dream to go to the IPL and I’m no different. It’s something that I’ve dreamed about for a very long time. My name was in the draft for the last three years so this year I’m definitely looking forward to it,” he said.
In the midst of a five-match T20I series with England at the moment, Shepherd says his full focus is on helping the West Indies win.
“I’m trying my best to get there but, at the same time, trying my best to help us win this series. I try to focus on what is at hand right now and try to put my all in there. Eventually, if an IPL contract comes that would be great for me but I try not to think about it while in the game,” Shepherd said.
Shepherd has so far played 11 T20 Internationals with 100 runs and eight wickets to his name.
The IPL player auction is scheduled to take place on February 12 and 13 and he will have another opportunity to enhance his reputation when the West Indies and England square off in the third of five T20 internationals in Barbados on Wednesday.
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