The West Indies Women are on their way home following 11 days of quarantine in Oman after the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Women’s Cricket World Cup qualification tournament in Zimbabwe was cancelled over Covid fears.
In the wake of the discovery of the new Omicron Covid variant, more severe global restrictions against travellers from a number of African countries, including Zimbabwe, forced the ICC to abandon the tournament prematurely and to send competing teams home as quickly as possible.
The West Indies squad was flown to Oman by an ICC private charter, with a short stopover in Namibia, along with eight other international squads. Oman was used as a staging area for the West Indies Women’s squad while they awaited an available route home.
“We are pleased to confirm that the West Indies Women’s squad will soon be making their way back home. We want to thank them for their patience and understanding as we worked with our counterparts at the ICC and Oman Cricket to facilitate their return at the earliest opportunity,” said CWI CEO Johnny Grave.
“We want to express our appreciation to the ICC, Oman Cricket and our operations team, who have worked tirelessly to ensure everyone was comfortable and remained safe.”
Meanwhile, Head Coach Courtney Walsh the players and coaching staff are relieved to be heading home after enduring challenging times in quarantine.
“The team is relieved by the good news that we will be home with our families before Christmas. The sudden cancellation of the Qualifiers and transition period in Oman has been mentally taxing on the entire team, both for the players and management staff,” Walsh said.
“As a management group, we tried to ensure that the players remained in a positive frame of mind. Our Strength and Conditioning Coach created a fitness challenge for all of us to participate in for the duration of the quarantine period, as it was something to take our minds off what was happening. I must say thanks to our Team Manager, the ICC and Oman Cricket, for all their logistical work, in ensuring we’re on our way home as quickly as possible.”
The players and team management are expected to arrive at their various West Indian home territories over the course of the next few days.
Following the termination of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers, ICC announced that the West Indies Women along with Pakistan Women and Bangladesh Women secured the final three qualification spots for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup by virtue of the existing ICC Women’s ODI rankings. The ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup will be played in New Zealand from March 4 to April 3, 2022.
West Indies head coach, Phil Simmons, says he’s looking for the young players to put their hands up during their white-ball tour of Pakistan starting December 13.
The West Indies will face Pakistan in three T20I and three ODIs during the tour that concludes on December 20 and Simmons is expecting members of the team to stand up and be counted.
“We’re looking to see who’s going to put their hand up to be a major player in this team. It’s about them putting up their hands and saying we want to go forward with this team. We want to do the things that are necessary to help this team win,” Simmons said.
Speaking in a press conference Friday after the team’s arrival in Pakistan, Simmons acknowledged that this is the team’s first white-ball assignment since the disastrous World Cup campaign and that it is time to move on from that.
“We know what happened in the World Cup and we’re not going to go back there. We’re looking to move forward and see who now wants to move forward with this team and our different ideas of how we want to play,” he said.
The former Ireland and Afghanistan coach also expressed that while many know what these players are capable of, it is time for them to show it in high-pressure situations.
“Yes, we have an idea of what they can deliver, but they’ve got to go out there and start showing us now that they can deliver under pressure. Playing against Pakistan in Pakistan is as much pressure as you can get,” said Simmons.
Simmons says he’s anticipating how the mental approach within the squad will change.
“We’re looking forward to seeing how things are going to change within this squad, not just from a cricketing point of view but also an attitude point of view,” Simmons said.
The West Indies coach also noted the threat of Pakistan left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi.
“He’s been brilliant for Pakistan and I’m sure he will continue to improve. Our batsmen will work on plans to of how to play him, how to score off him and we’ll see how their plans work out when the games come about,” said Simmons.
Former West Indies batsman, Philo Wallace, says the Caribbean side should look to the future instead of the past in order to return West Indies cricket to what it once was.
Veteran coach Vin Blaine has been appointed interim head coach of Jamaica’s Women’s senior team.
Paul Hall has been appointed head coach of Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz following the sacking of Theodore Whitmore earlier today, the Jamaica Football Federation has confirmed. Hall will be in charge for the remainder of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers that resume early next year.
“Bearing in mind that the World Cup campaign is still ongoing, the JFF has decided to appoint former assistant Paul Hall to lead until the World Cup cycle ends,” a statement from the JFF read.
“The JFF wishes to thank Mr Whitmore for the work that he has put in with the team over the years."
JFF President Michael Ricketts confirmed Hall’s appointment earlier today saying, “Paul is the new head coach. We have had discussions with Paul and he is willing and ready. Everything is in place for him to take over.”
Hall is no stranger to the Reggae Boyz. He was a member of the team that historically qualified for the 1998 FIFA World Cup along with other English-based players Fitzroy Simpson, Deon Burton and Robbie Earle.
Hall joined the coaching staff in June on a part-time basis while still being employed by the English club Queens Park Rangers.
The decision to fire Whitmore stems from a recommendation from the JFF’s Technical Committee, who voted almost unanimously to fire him after what has been a disappointing final round campaign in the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
After eight games, Jamaica has seven points and lies sixth in the eight-team table. Jamaica has only one win so far after wasting glorious opportunities to defeat the United States at the National Stadium in Kingston in November and Costa Rica a few weeks earlier.
Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, The Honourable Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, has described West Indies Cricket as being in a state of crisis.
Speaking on Mason & Guest radio show in Barbados on Tuesday evening, Prime Minister Gonsalves said he based his assessment on a string of poor performances from the Caribbean side and an apparent lack of development.
“On the basis of the recent performances in the T20 World Cup, the abysmally poor outcome we have had in Sri Lanka and the very mediocre performance here in the Caribbean in recent times, I think it would be fair to say that the cricket is now in a state of crisis,” said Gonsalves, who went on to say that he believes a lack of ideas for a way forward from leaders of cricket around the region continues to be a contributing factor to the demise of the game.
“What we are having here is a full-blown crisis, not a crisis of governance so much, but a crisis in the performance which is connected to governance. I see a crisis as a condition in which the principals are innocent of the extent of the condition and have no credible bundle of ideas as to the way forward,” he said.
Gonsalves said he doesn’t believe those in charge of West Indies cricket truly understand the magnitude of the situation at hand.
“Every time I hear persons speak after a poor performance, you get commentary about how we didn’t do so badly; that there are bright spots and we keep looking for them as though we have to fool ourselves as to what is taking place. I don’t think we ought to fool ourselves and I’m not so sure from what I’ve been hearing that the persons who are in charge at different levels fully grasp what is here upon us,” Gonsalves said.
The West Indies next assignment will be a limited-overs tour of Pakistan consisting of three T20 Internationals and three ODIs beginning on December 13.
Theodore Whitmore has been fired by the Jamaica Football Federation, Sportsmax.TV has confirmed.
The sixteen teams to advance to the quarterfinal round of the DaCosta Cup were confirmed as zone play ended on Tuesday.
The teams will be divided into four groups of four.
Each team will play three matches and the winners of each group will advance to the semi-finals of the competition.
Group 1 will have William Knibb, Dinthill Technical, Christiana High and Edwin Allen.
Mannings, Happy Grove High, Munro College and Vere Technical make up Group 2.
Group 3 will see STETHS, Garvey Maceo, Frome Technical and St. Thomas Technical do battle while Group 4 is made up of Manchester High, Clarendon College, Cornwall College and McGrath High.
Quarterfinal round play in the DaCosta Cup kicks off on Saturday, December 11.
Olympic gold medalists Elaine Thompson-Herah and Hansle Parchment have been named among the nominees for the 2021 RJR Sports Foundation Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year Awards set for January 21, 2022.
Due mainly to the ongoing pandemic, the Awards will be a made-for-television event instead of the usual gala.
Thompson-Herah will likely be the favourite to add to the award she won in 2016 when she became the first woman to win an Olympic sprint double since 1988. At the Tokyo Olympics, Thompson-Herah won three gold medals (100m, 200m and 4x100m).
She won the 100m in an Olympic record of 10.61 and the 200m in a national record of 21.53, the second-fastest time in history. Following the Olympics, she ran 10.54, the second-fastest time ever run by a woman, at the Prefontaine Classic in Oregon on her way to winning the Diamond League title.
However, she is among a stacked field of women who also performed at exceptionally high levels through the year, up to the end of November.
Chief among them is her perennial rival Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who was second in the 100m in Tokyo and was also a member of the gold-medal-winning 4x100m team. The Pocket Rocket also created history of her own in Tokyo when she became the only woman to win medals in the 100m at four consecutive Olympic Games.
She also ran a personal best of 10.60 which made her the third-fastest woman in history.
Shericka Jackson is also among the nominees for winning bronze in the 100m in Tokyo, gold in the 4x100m and a 4x400m bronze. She also ran a personal best 10.76 in the 100m.
Megan Tapper, another nominee, created history as the first woman from the Caribbean to win a medal in the Olympics 100m hurdles. This, after she surprisingly won her second national title in June.
Last, but definitely not least of the five female nominees of West Indies Women cricketer Stafanie Taylor, whose consistent performance with bat and ball saw her ranked among the best female cricketers in the world. She also became one of only three women to score 5000 ODI runs in the history of women’s cricket.
Parchment, who stunned the world to defeat American Grant Holloway and win gold in the 110m hurdles at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, leads the male nominees, that also includes fellow sprint hurdler and national champion Ronald Levy, who won bronze in Tokyo.
Also among the male nominees are West Indies and Jamaica batsman Nkrumah Bonner and Rally Cross driver Fraser McConnell.
The nominees for People’s Choice Performance of the Year include Mikhail Antonio’s wonder strike against the United States at the national stadium in Kingston and McConnell’s historic win in the Nordic Rally Cross in February.
The other nominees are Tapper’s surprise bronze medal in the 100m hurdles in Tokyo, Parchment’s golden run in Tokyo and Thompson-Herah’s blistering 10.54 run in Oregon on August 21.
West Coast Fever’s Jhaniele Fowler has been named Super Netball Player of the Year for the fourth year running at the Australian Netball Awards on Wednesday night. The towering Jamaican shooter finished the 2021 season as the league’s top goalscorer with 891 goals.
Fowler, 32, joined the West Coast Fever in 2018 and dominated winning the leading goal scorer award with 783 goals, which was then a record. She was also awarded the competition's player of the year title.
She won the leading goalscorer award for a second consecutive season in 2019 and capped off the year by becoming the first player in the league's history to win multiple Player of the Year awards.
Fowler would win her third consecutive Suncorp Super Netball Player of the Year Award after an outstanding 2020 season during a special online version of the Australian Netball Awards.
The 1.96m tall shooter, who had three games in which she shot 100 per cent from the field, was also named to the 2021 Suncorp Super Netball Team of the Year.
The team also included Trinidad and Tobago’s Samantha Wallace who made the team as Attack Reserve while Jamaica’s Shamera Sterling was a Defence Reserve.
In what has been described as a historic partnership, the Jamaica Paralympic Association and the Jamaica Surfing Federation have joined forces to help para-athletes make the transition to surfing with the hope that the island will be able to qualify surfers to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
And, so far things seem to be going well. Two para-athletes, Nathaniel Bailey and Toto Campbell, are in California competing at the 2021 Pismo Beach ISA World Para Surfing Championship, and demonstrating that despite only taking up the sport less than two months ago, that they possess natural talent as both have qualified for the second round of the competition.
"History has been made through a dynamic partnership of two sporting associations that are both committed to developing talent, encouraging excellence and making more capable those who society perceive to have challenges,” said proud JOA President Christopher Samuda.
During the past three years, the Jamaica Paralympic Association has been aggressively engaging with several ‘non-traditional sports’ while pursuing its policy of "creating opportunities and building capacity."
Having successfully already helped propel para-taekwondo and para-judo to the pinnacle of para-sports - the Paralympic Games - President Samuda is optimistic about the future.
"Our model is self-motivating and self-inspiring but we believe strongly in solid partnerships that will drive success and thanks to Billy Wilmot, President of the Jamaica Surfing Federation, and Icah Wilmot, a regional household name in the sport, we are transitioning talented surfers who hopefully will attain the coveted distinction of becoming Paralympians in Paris," he said.
With that in mind, early next year, the Jamaica Paralympic Association will be launching its campaign dubbed "Go for Paris" aimed at achieving qualification and to be competitive in at least five sports at the games in the French capital.
Former New Zealand bowler turned commentator, Danny Morrison, has named West Indies captain Kieron Pollard as one of the most overrated players of the current generation.
The 35-year-old is typically one of the sport’s most widely regarded players, having amassed an impressive 11,326 runs in 573 matches. The tally is surpassed only by compatriot Chris Gayle who is the top runs scorer in the format.
In addition, the player, who has spent 11-years at India Premier League (IPL) club Mumbai Indians, has played for the franchise and played a key role in capturing five IPL titles. Recently, Mumbai Director of Cricket Operations Zaheer Khan hailed the player’s leadership and influence, also branding him as one of the strongest finishers in the game.
The West Indian was one of only one four players retained, along with Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and Suryakumar Yadav. Speaking with Sportskeeda in a recent question and answer styled interview, the commentator singled out Pollard as a player he believed was overrated. In the same breath, Morrison listed Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan as one of the most underrated.
The eight teams that will be involved in the Manning Cup quarterfinal round have been set as group stage play concluded on Monday.
Jamaica College and Kingston Technical advanced from Group A as the top two teams while Charlie Smith advanced as one of the two best third-placed finishers after scoring a 1-0 win over St. George’s College in their rescheduled game at Stadium East.
Camperdown and Tivoli were the only two teams to advance from Group B while Kingston College, Mona High, and St. Catherine High advanced to the quarters from Group C to complete the field.
KC beat St. Catherine 2-1 to finish as group winners with a perfect 15 points from five games.
Mona finished second and St. Catherine advanced as the other best third-placed team.
The Manning Cup quarterfinal round is currently scheduled to get underway on Saturday, December 10th.
Triple Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah on Sunday announced the birth of The FastElaine Foundation that will focus on helping vulnerable children from mainly under-served communities as well some students from Christiania High and Manchester High Schools, educational institutions she attended during her childhood.
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