West Indies batting legend Gordon Greenidge has revealed that he no longer feels the pain of watching the regional team struggle.  His secret, turn off the television.

As one half one of a devastating batting duo, the other being Desmond Haynes, for a Windies team that rarely found itself on the losing end, it is completely understandable how the Caribbean team’s recent failures would be a cause of discomfort.  

The Windies' struggles now date back decades but recently things have seemed particularly grim. At the last two World Cups, the team failed to progress from the preliminary rounds, while in the Test arena, a recent demolition at the hands of Australia will hardly have inspired feelings of all-conquering nostalgia.

“It used to hurt me but it doesn’t hurt me anymore because I don’t watch cricket anymore. Only if it is Test cricket and only if it is about a young player, who I have heard about, I will try my best to go and watch that kid play and make my own judgment about what I feel about that player," Greenidge told SportStar.

The former batsman’s recent grievances, however, run deeper than just the poor performance of the West Indies team.  Greenidge has also expressed concern for the longest format of the sport, where he scored 7558 runs, and its continued relevance and longevity in the face of the blossoming of several T20 leagues around the globe 

“On a personal note, I would not like to see 50-over withdrawn and just T20 being played. I believe T20 is a spectator’s sport, and it is no anymore a cricketer’s sport. Yes, cricketers play, but T20, for me, is like fast food. Test cricket is real cricket. From Test cricket, we came to 50-over, then T20, and now we are going to 10-over, where will we go from here maybe one-over or two-over per side? Keep the cricket alive but don’t banish Test cricket, that is the real cricket we all are here for, we all grew up with.”

The Cricket West Indies’ (CWI) Men’s Selection Panel on Tuesday announced the 15-member squad for the upcoming two-match Test Series in Zimbabwe, starting on 4 February. The Selection Panel recalled experienced fast bowler Shannon Gabriel, as well as left-arm spinners Gudakesh Motie and Jomel Warrican.

Gabriel has taken 161 wickets in 56 Tests, placing him joint 12th in the West Indies all-time wicket-takers list and more recently was the joint-leading wicket taker in the CG United Super50 Cup for the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force in November last year.

Gabriel’s last Test Match was against Sri Lanka in November 2021.  Warrican’s last international appearance was also in Sri Lanka in December 2021 when he played in both matches in the Test Series. Motie made his Test debut for West Indies in Antigua in June 2022 in the first Test of the two-match Series victory against Bangladesh.

Jayden Seales is unavailable for selection following a knee injury and subsequent surgery; while Anderson Phillip is also unavailable due to injury.

Lead Selector, The Most Hon Dr Desmond Haynes said: “This is the start of the international calendar for 2023 and we will hope to start with a win. We appreciate it won’t be as easy assignment as Zimbabwe, like most other teams in world cricket, play very well on their home soil on pitches that will support their style of play.”

Haynes added: “We looked at the conditions we anticipate playing in, and have included two left-arm spinners who didn’t go to Australia in Motie and Warrican. With our fast bowlers, Seales has done extremely well for us since he started back in 2021, but with him unavailable we have decided that Gabriel would be best able to fill that role. He (Gabriel) is an experienced bowler who has been at the international level for over 10 years and has knowledge of the conditions in Zimbabwe when we won there in 2017.”

West Indies will play both Test matches at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo, with the first Test running from 4 to 8 February, and the second match from 12 to 16 February. Ahead of the two-Test Series, West Indies will have a three-day warm-up match against a local side set for 28 to 30 January at Bulawayo Athletic Club. All matches start at 10am local time (4am Eastern Caribbean/3am Jamaica).

The last Test Series between Zimbabwe and the West Indies was also played at Queens Sports Club in October 2017. West Indies won the two-match Series 1-0, winning the first contest by 117 runs with the second Test ending in a draw.

FULL SQUAD

Kraigg Brathwaite (captain)

Jermaine Blackwood (vice-captain)

Nkrumah Bonner

Tagnarine Chanderpaul

Roston Chase

Joshua Da Silva

Shannon Gabriel

Jason Holder

Alzarri Joseph

Kyle Mayers

Gudakesh Motie

Raymon Reifer

Kemar Roach

Devon Thomas

Jomel Warrican

MATCH SCHEDULE

28-30 January: three-day warm-up match at Bulawayo Athletic Club

4-8 February: 1st Test at Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo

12-16 February: 2nd Test at Queens Sports Club

Kingston College standout Dujuan ‘Whisper’ Richards is among 32 players invited to training sessions with Reggae Boyz Head Coach Heimir Hallgrinsson at the Jamaica Football Federation headquarters at the University of the West Indies on January 17 and 18.

The 17-year-old Richards recorded 29 goals and 19 assists in the Manning Cup and led Kingston College to the semi-finals.

The full list of players is as follows:

Kemar Foster (Waterhouse FC), Ramone Howell (Waterhouse FC), Ricardo Thomas (Dunbeholden FC), Peter McGregor (Dunbeholden FC), Trivante Stewart (Mount Pleasant FC), Ky-Mani Campbell (Mount Pleasant FC), Demario Phillips (Mount Pleasant FC), Devonte Campbell (Mount Pleasant FC), Jamoi Topey (Mount Pleasant FC), Tafari Chambers (Mount Pleasant FC), Sue-Lae McCalla (Mount Pleasant FC), Alwayne Henry (Mount Pleasant FC), Odane Murray (Mount Pleasant FC), Eric Edwards (Arnett Gardens), Kimani Arbouine (Arnett Gardens), Earl Simpson (Arnett Gardens), Ajuma Johnson (Arnett Gardens), Richard King (Cavaluer SC), Dwayne Atkinson (cavalier SC), Collin Anderson (Cavalier SC), Kyle Ming (Cavalier SC), Jeadine White (Cavalier SC), Gawaine Austin (Portmore United), Oshane Staple (Harbour View FC), Colorado Murray (Harbour View FC), Jahshaun Anglin (Harbour View FC), Nicholas Hamilton (Harbour View FC), Okeemo Jones (Chapleton Maroons), Malachi Douglas (Chapleton Maroons), Dujuan Richards (Phoenix Academy), Jason Wright (Molynes United).

The sessions will commence at 3:00pm.

Brendaline Descartes is the new President of the Saint Lucia Athletics Association, following an elective congress on Saturday.

She was formerly second vice president and takes office as the second woman to be installed as president of the SLAA.

The rest of the executive is as follows: Samie D Henry (1st vice president), Andy Behl (2nd vice president), Wayne Burton (Secretary), Lisa Joseph (Assistant Secretary), Cornelius Breen (Treasurer), Makeba Alcide (Public Relations Officer), Kenvin McPhee (Floor Rep) and Laurisia Laurent (Floor Rep).

Jamaica's Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Olivia Grange, has announced prize money totaling $900,000 for the top-four teams emerging from the Institute of Sports (INSPORTS) 2023 primary schools’ football and netball competitions.

In the announcement made on Thursday at the National Stadium during the launch of the draw for the final round of these competitions, Grange outlined that the winning schools in both the netball and football competitions will receive $200,000 each with the runners-up getting $125,000.

“The third-placed teams will collect $75,000 and $50,000 will go to the fourth-placed teams. In addition, the winning coaches will get gift vouchers of $10,000 each,” she added.

The competitions started with more than 200 schools and now there are 32 in football and 32 in netball.

Grange outlined what she hopes to achieve with the launch of this competition.

“The aim of this program is to create the biggest age group competition of its kind in the English-speaking Caribbean and it will act as a feeder programme for both Netball and Football at all levels.”

She also announced that INSPORTS will be one of the entities visited by Trinidad and Tobago’s minister of sport and community development, Shamfa Cudjoe, along with 11 delegates when she is in Jamaica for an Anti-doping conference.

“She’s coming here to look at our athletes insurance plan, she’s going to visit INSPORTS and she’s going to look at your program, the program that you’re now participating in because they don’t do that program and they want to do a competition similar to what we are doing for you,” she said.

Minister Grange also made a presentation of hurdles to the 2019 winners of the track and field competitions in the three regions, Eastern, Central and Western. The respective winners were St Richard’s Primary, Spanish Town Primary and Black River Primary.

Texas standout and St. Lucian 100m and 200m national record holder Julien Alfred opened her 2023 indoor collegiate season with a 23.10 effort to win the 200m at the University of Louisville Cardinal Classic at the Norton Healthcare Sports and Learning Centre. 

Jamaica's Kevona Davis, also of Texas, was second in 23.57 while their teammate Lanae Thomas ran 23.65 for third.

The time was also a new facility record for the St. Lucian who is coming off a phenomenal 2022 season in which she won 100m titles at the Caribbean Games and NCAA Championships.

She also took 100m silver at the Commonwealth Games and became the NCAA record holder in the indoor 60m.

 The West Indies Rising Stars opened their ICC Women’s U19 World Cup campaign with a 7-run win over Ireland Women’s U19 at the North-West University Oval.

Zaida James told CWI Media, “It’s certainly a great feeling to have an all-round performance like this and even better that we had a team victory. Our focus is one game at a time and to finish the group stage strong, then we will look at the remaining stages of the tournament.”

The victory sees the West Indies move to the top of the table in Group C, with 2 points and a Net Run Rate of +0.350. They play Indonesia on Tuesday January 17 at North-West University Oval, Potchefstroom – 7:45am Eastern Caribbean/6:45am Jamaica.

West Indies Rising Stars

125/3 (20 overs)

Zaida James 52 ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

​ ​ Freya Sargent 4-0-9-2

Naijanni Cumberbatch 21

Ireland Women's U19

118/7 (20 overs)

Annabel Squires 42 ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

​ Zaida James 4-0-20-4

Amy Hunter 21

Two time defending champions Craig Simpson and Aliana McMaster are ready to drop a 'three-peat' in the Proven David East Memorial Sporting Clays Challenge organized by the Driftwood Gun Club. 

The shoot will be held at the picturesque Murphy Hill Estate over-looking the town of Ocho Rios on Sunday with a 9:30 am shotgun start. 

It kicks off the first sporting clays shoot of the year for the Jamaica Skeet Club, which has robust calendar for 2023. 

Simpson will have to battle over 100 competitors including three-time national shotgun champion Christian Sasso, who he got the better of by way of long-run in 2021, six-time national shotgun champion Shaun Barnes and nine-time national shotgun champion and current president Ian Banks as well as the very consistent Ray McMaster and Robert Yap Foo among others. 

The Ladies section will be also be competitive as well with McMaster expecting to be challenged by her mother, five-time national shotgun champion Wendy McMaster, former national shotgun champion Marguerite Harris and a number of very good lady shooters. 

The shooters will compete in various classes including A to E, Juniors, Sub-Juniors, Ladies and Hunters or beginners. 

All the shooters are looking forward to this year's event which will be the first one which does not feature Covid-19 pandemic restrictions. It is expected that there will be on-course hospitality and lunch post- competition as well as the very popular prize giving and camaraderie among the competitors and members of the Jamaica Skeet Club. 

The proceeds of the tournament will be used for the Driftwood Gun Club’s charities which are dominated by educational support in the Treasure Beach area in the parish of St. Elizabeth. 

The club president, Christina East was happy to have Proven on board for the third consecutive year as title sponsor. She credited David East who passed away in 2020 with playing a pivotal in securing the venue as the home of the club's annual competition. East was a visionary club member who only wanted the best for sporting clays in Jamaica, hence the competition was named in his honour.

Barbadian 400m superstar Sada Williams took home four awards at the Barbados Olympic Association’s annual Awards Ceremony on December 22 at the Hilton Barbados Resort.

Williams, who won gold in the women’s 400 metres at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in a new meet and national record of 49.75, was rewarded for that feat.

In addition to being named Senior Female Athlete of the Year, she also received the International Excellence award and the coveted President’s Award from BOA chief, Sandra Osborne.

“I am extremely honoured to receive such an important award – the President’s Award. I also want to recognise the other nominees who also had an outstanding season,” the 25-year-old World Championships bronze medallist said.

“The successes I had this past season would not have been possible without the contributions and encouragement of so many people, too many to name and I sincerely thank each one of you for helping me make this a memorable season and for giving me a chance to win this award,” she added.

In addition to her medals at the World Championships and Commonwealth Games, Williams also took silver at the NACAC Championships in the Bahamas in August.

Interim West Indies coach Andre Coley insists he is eager to embrace the challenge of coaching the regional cricket team, despite the numerous challenges associated with it.

Former all-rounder Phil Simmons became the latest casualty in a long line of coaches tasked with pushing the Caribbean team back among global cricket’s elites and failing to achieve that elusive target.

Coley, who has had stints with the region’s High-Performance Centre, women’s team and also served as an assistant coach for the men’s team, was appointed to fill the role, while Cricket West Indies (CWI) contemplates its next moves.

CWI announced that Coley would oversee the two-Test tour of Zimbabwe from the 28th January to 16th February, as well as the multi-format tour of South Africa, which includes two Tests, three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and three T20 Internationals (T20Is) from the 21rd February to 28th March.

Despite finding himself placed under the microscope, in light of some of the team’s recent poor performances, he remains motivated and enthused to take up the role.

“Every coaching opportunity bring a different challenge and I have never been one to back away from a challenge,” Coley told the SportsMax Zone.

“If offered generally I look to take them on.  It’s just about assessing working with staff working with the players and coming up with the right strategy,” he added.

The 48-year-old has had a few stints with the senior, first joining the coaching ranks under Otis Gibson and serving spells under Stuart Law and briefly Simmons.  In his estimation, communication will be a crucial part of his plans for success.

“In this case communication is going to be very crucial, so working out what that communication strategy is going to be.”

Jamaica's Reggae Girls will kick off the Cup of Nations tournament in Australia on February 16 against one of the top women's teams in world football, Spain. They will then play two other powerhouses; the Czech Republic and Australia, respectively.

Football Australia announced today, that with the support of the New South Wales Government through its tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW, they will host the four-nations Cup of Nations comprising three double-header matchdays in Gosford, Sydney, and Newcastle.

The six-match tournament will kick-off at Central Coast Stadium in Gosford on Thursday, 16 February with FIFA number seven rank Spain playing Jamaica (44th) followed by the CommBank Matildas (12th) against Czech Republic (27th).

Three days later, the tournament will shift to Sydney as Jamaica and the Czech Republic go head-to-head at CommBank Stadium in Parramatta, followed by a blockbuster clash between the CommBank Matildas and Spain on match day two on Sunday, 19 February.
Newcastle’s McDonald Jones Stadium will play host to match day 3 of the Cup of Nations on Wednesday, February 22, where Czech Republic will take on Spain, and the CommBank Matildas will meet Jamaica in the last game of the competition.

The highest-placed nation following the completion of all three match days will be crowned the Cup of Nations champion on 22 February in Newcastle. 

Football Australia Chief Executive Officer James Johnson said he is delighted with these opportunities for the Australian public to experience world-class football and cheer on the CommBank Matildas and their football heroes in the lead-up to the FIFA Women’s World Cup campaign.

“In 2022 we have seen the drawing power of the CommBank Matildas with matches in Townsville, Brisbane, Canberra, Sydney, Gosford, and Melbourne drawing over 109,000 spectators as we took the CommBank Matildas to different parts of Australia,” said Johnson.

“February’s Cup of Nations will build on the success of the first tournament held in 2019 and be one of the final opportunities for fans to see the CommBank Matildas on home soil before the commencement of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023.

“The Cup of Nations will continue to take football to regional areas with the Central Coast, Greater Sydney, and the Hunter presented an opportunity to farewell the CommBank Matildas ahead of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, as well as get a taste for the international football festival that awaits in 2023.

Jamaica Football Federation President Michael Ricketts, believes that the tournament is excellent preparation for the FIFA World Cup 2023.

"Engaging in tough games like these in World Cup venues in front of large audiences will help to prepare our team for their World Cup challenges in July. The atmosphere will be similar to what can be expected come summer, so the coaching staff will be able to assess the conditioning and mentality of the players at their disposal. We are extremely happy that Jamaica has been invited to this prestigious tournament and we anticipate some outstanding performances,"  said Ricketts.

Former West Indies batting coach, Toby Radford, is confident world-class former batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul would make a ‘solid’ pick for the role of Windies head coach.

The addition of the name of the former legendary batsman to the speculative list of potential replacement for Phil Simmons has garnered mixed reactions.  In opposition, some have pointed to Chanderpaul’s relative lack of experience, while others believe he would be more suited to a role in administration.

For Radford, who is well acquainted with the former player, there is no doubting the quality he would be able to bring to the role.  

“I’m a big fan, I’ve often talked about Shiv and what he brought to the game as a player.  He was a very hard worker and meticulous in preparation, a lot of the things I think he would instil as coach for the younger players,” Radford told the Mason and Guest show.

“He has been there and done it.  He was number one in the world for a period of time, a top Test player in the world.  He has played all round the world.  I think he would bring a huge amount to it,” he added.

“He is new to coaching and still finding his feet but he is having relative success and I think he would bring a lot to it,” he added.

Radford, however, believes the former batsman would have to be supported by a very capable team, which is always the case for head coaches as opposed to specialist coaches.  Chanderpaul, who retired from the sport six years ago, has already experienced some success as a coach, having led the Jamaica Tallawahs to the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) title last year.