Jamaica national representative Kemba Nelson has de-activated her Twitter handle after it was flooded with a torrent of negative comments, in the aftermath of the women’s 4x100m relay team’s surprise loss to the United States at the IAA World Championships on Saturday.

Nelson, who finished second at the country’s national trials, ran the lead-off leg for Jamaica and was part of a botched first to second leg exchange with Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah.  On Sunday critical messages were posted to the @iamkemba account, which has since become unavailable.

 The athlete had also failed to keep pace with the United States’ Melissa Jefferson, who clocked an 11.35 split on the opening leg, compared to Nelson’s 11.45.  Despite blistering third and final legs from 

100m and 200m world champions Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson, the team narrowly failed to claw back the deficit.

The result left several fans upset, with some going on to blame Nelson for the loss and expressing the opinion that they did not believe the athlete should have been selected ahead of, another young sprinter, Briana Williams.  Williams was part of the successful relay team that won gold along with Thompson-Herah, Fraser-Pryce, and Jackson at last year’s Tokyo Olympic Games.  Interestingly, however, Williams's first-leg split in the first round was identical to the time Nelson ran in the final.  Williams was, however, the only Jamaican to win a relay leg.

West Indies batsman Shimron Hetmyer is expected to return to the regional team in short order, having recently passed a fitness test.

The player has been practicing with the Windies team during its ongoing One Day International series against India, despite not being named as a member of the ODI squad.  The way will now be clear for Hetmyer to return to active duty having passed a fitness test on Tuesday.

The talented batsman's struggle with his fitness has been well documented over the last few years.  Hetmyer missed out on two series against Sri Lanka in the span of a year, and again in January of this year against Ireland and England.  He could now be on course to be selected for the upcoming five-match T20 series, which will get underway on Friday.  West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran is delighted with the player’s impending return to the fold.

“We hope to have him back soon, I think he passed the fitness test this morning, which is wonderful news, so we expect to have him back as soon as possible,” Pooran told members of the media on Tuesday.

Hetmyer has not represented the regional team since November of last year, against Australia.

Jamaican 100m hurdler Britany Anderson believes someone will go below 12 seconds in the event one day.

Anderson, who won her maiden national title in June, took home her first global medal when she won 100m hurdles silver at the recently concluded World Athletics Championships in Eugene.

She ran a new personal best and national record 12.31 in the semi-finals on Sunday before returning to run a wind-aided 12.23 to claim second in the final later that day behind Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan who ran an insane wind-aided 12.06 for victory, hours after setting a new world record 12.12 in the semi-finals.

2015 World champion Danielle Williams previously held the national record of 12.32 which she set in 2019.

“I’m feeling really great. I’m excited that I came out here and did my best. It’s really great, the crowd is great and the energy out there is amazing,” Anderson said in a post-race interview.

She also revealed that it wasn’t a perfect race for her despite the fast time.

“The middle of the race wasn’t the best because I kept hitting the hurdles but thank God I finished with a medal,” she said.

The track at Hayward Field in Eugene has long been known to produce extremely fast times, an experience Anderson now knows first-hand.

“It’s definitely one of the fastest tracks I’ve run on. All I can say is we were blessed to have the perfect conditions, even though the time in the finals was wind-aided,” she said.

With the world record now standing at 12.12, “most definitely,” was Anderson’s response when asked if she thinks someone will go under 12 seconds in the 100m hurdles.

“The girls are really competitive so anything can happen. The hurdles has been so competitive these last few years. The girls have shown up and shown out and we can do so much more. The event, to me, is one of the best out here because it’s so technical. We have to keep the stride and the focus while going so fast,” Anderson said.

“I feel like we’re getting more control over our technique,” she added.

West Indies batsman Shai Hope says his success in the One-Day International format is down to his desire to spend time at the crease.

Hope celebrated his 100^th ODI on Sunday at the Queen’s Park Oval with a brilliant 115 in a losing effort against India, his 13^th century in the format to go along with 20 fifties.

The Barbadian, who now has 4193 ODI runs at an excellent average of 49.91, became the fourth West Indian and 10^th player to ever score a century in their 100^th ODI. Ramnaresh Sarwan, Gordon Greenidge and Chris Gayle are the other West Indians to achieve this feat while New Zealand’s Chris Cairns, Pakistan’s Mohammad Yousuf, Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara, England’s Marcus Trescothick, Australia’s David Warner and India’s Shikhar Dhawan make up the rest of that exclusive club.

“I would just say my desire to bat as long as I can,” was Hope’s response in a post-match press conference when asked what he attributes his performances to.

“I love batting and I always want to stay at the crease and do whatever I can for the team’s benefit. Just the desire and hunger to stay out there in the middle,” he added.

Current opponents India have become somewhat of a favorite opponent for Hope as the numbers would suggest. He now has 855 runs at an average of 47.50 with three hundreds and four fifties in 22 matches against the 2011 World Cup winners.

“They’re a very good opposition. I think playing against the best in the world usually brings out the best in myself. It’s something I’ve always looked forward to growing up and playing regional cricket so, it’s just one of those challenges that I try to grasp with both hands and, hopefully, I can continue that trend,” Hope said.

So, how does Hope plan to keep up this level of performance?

“The key is to try to keep learning. You never know it all so it’s just about trying to learn and develop as best as I can. It’s all about adding to your game,” he said.

Hope’s next chance to add to his tally of runs will come when the West Indies play for pride in the third ODI against India on Wednesday in Port-of-Spain.

Shai Hope scored a magnificent century but it was not enough to prevent the West Indies from going 2-0 down after a thrilling two-wicket victory with two balls to spare at the Queens Park Oval in Trinidad on Sunday.

The win means the home side’s seven-match losing streak continues as they ceded the three-match series to India with one match remaining.

India started slowly but eventually got the measure of the West Indies attack with half-centuries from Shreyas Ayer (63) and Sanju Samson (54) but it was Axar Patel whose quick-fire 64 from 35 balls that powered India over the line with a straight six from the fourth ball of the final over bowled by Kyle Mayers.

Mayers finished with 2-48 from 7.4 overs. Alzarri Joseph bowled well for his 2-46 from 10. Jayden Seales proved economical taking 1-40 from his allotment.

Earlier, after the West Indies had won the toss and chose to bat first, Hope scored 115 as the West Indies posted 311-6 from their 50 overs.

After sharing in an opening stand of 65 with Kyle Mayers who made 39, Hope also featured in a second-wicket partnership of 62 with Shamarh Brooks who contributed 32 before he too was dismissed after getting a start.

Brandon King made nought from five balls before Hope and Captain Nicolas Pooran shared in a 127-run partnership for the fourth wicket that got the West Indies back on track for another score over 300. Pooran was eventually dismissed for 74 with the West Indies positioned at 280-5 in the 44^th over.

Hope finally fell in the 49^th over, caught in the deep trying to hit over the long-off boundary as the West Indies' rate of scoring dipped. The home side managed 31 off the next six overs while also losing the wickets of Rovman Powell for 13 and Romario Shepherd for 14, something that West Indies would come to regret.

Shardul Thakur was the pick of the Indian bowlers with 3-54 from his seven overs but India’s ability to restrict the West Indies' scoring in the death overs was largely due to the excellent bowling of Mohammad Siraj, who ended wicket-less but who the West Indies batters found difficult to get away in the final three overs.

West Indies batsman Brandon King believes there is plenty of encouragement to be drawn from the team’s batting performance despite a 3 runs loss to India in the first One Day International series on Friday.

King made a crucial 54 from 66 balls as the Windies attempted to chase down India’s total of 308.  Despite eventually falling short of the target, the performance was one of the team’s best in several ODIs,  particularly on the back of a poor showing against Bangladesh.

In addition to King, Kyle Mayers added a half-century, while the lower order pair of Akeal Hosein and Romario Shepherd added a valuable 53-run partnership, which got the team close.  King himself formed part of two half-century partnerships, the first with Shamarh Brooks, then Nicholas Pooran.

“We always believe that if we bring a game down to the final five overs we have guys that can chase down a total.  Shepherd and Akeal showed that today (Friday), we were always in the game.  We would have liked some of the early wickets not to fall so we could have some batsmen at the end but that’s part of cricket,” King said.

“It’s just our batting formula and how we want to play cricket.  I think bringing down the game to the last ball, chasing 300 plus, was very good for us, another day we would have gotten over the line.”

The West Indies will attempt to level the series when they play India in the second ODI on Sunday.

Five-time world 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce has urged fans to be mindful of the things they say to athletes when things aren’t going well.

“Jamaicans have a short-term memory. You’ll do a great thing this year and come back and not have a good year and they want to beat you down to the ground,” Fraser-Pryce said to over 8,000 fans who tuned in to her Instagram live on Thursday.

There have been many instances where athletes have had a good year and, because of injuries or other troublesome circumstances, have failed to produce those performances consistently in the years after.

“It’s a whole lot they have to deal with so you have to be careful with your comments sometimes, because sometimes you make some comments and some of the athletes take them to heart and dwell on them,” Fraser-Pryce said.

“You have to big up the athletes. Every year is not the same…it’s not easy so, when you see the athletes out here representing you must know it takes a whole lot of work and they’re going to have good times and bad times,” she added.

Fraser-Pryce used her teammate and 200m gold medallist Shericka Jackson as an example. At last year’s Tokyo Olympics, Jackson failed to advance out of the heats of the 200m and, a year later, she is the world champion and fastest woman alive at the distance.

“Last year, Shericka didn’t run the 200m, and I know she cried and she came back and look, 21.45. She went back and put in the work, so you just have to understand that everything is a process and it takes time,” Fraser-Pryce said.

A late attacking onslaught from Romario Shepherd and Akeal Hosein proved to be inadequate as the West Indies came up short by 3 runs, against India, in a thrilling start to the One Day International series.

After a solid top order partnership of 117 from Shamarh Brooks and Kyle Mayers, following the loss of Shai Hope, the Windies found themselves needing 120 off the last 15 overs and with seven batsmen in reserve.

Shardul Thakur, however, checked that momentum after taking two wickets in two overs. The pacer removed both Brooks and Mayers.  Unlike the previous series, however, the Windies managed to keep putting partnerships together.  Brandon King and Nicholas Pooran then kept the score ticking over for the regional team with a 51-run stand.

Pooran was dismissed by Mohammed Siraj in the 36th over, and Yuzvendra Chahal lifted Indian spirits even higher when he removed Rovman Powell. King, Hosein, and Shepherd though, continued to take the fight to the India bowling line-up. King stitched together another fifty-run stand with Akeal Hosein before he was dismissed.

Hosein and Shepherd seemed determined to bring things over the line.  Hosein anchored from one end while Shepherd attacked from the other.  They kept going into the last three overs, hammering Siraj for 11 in the 48th and Prasidh for 12 in the 49th. The equation came down to 15 off Siraj’s last over but the bowler held his nerves, conceding 11 runs off and keeping Shepherd largely silent.  In pursuit of 308 for 6, the West Indies got to 305 for 6.

Former West Indies opener Philo Wallace described the feeling of watching the West Indies batsmen struggle against spin bowling as “disheartening.”

“It’s very disheartening to see our batsmen continue to struggle against spin,” said Wallace on the Mason & Guest radio show in Barbados on Tuesday.

The West Indies suffered an embarrassing 0-3 series defeat against Bangladesh last week at Providence in Guyana, a surface known to favor spin bowling.

“They have to find a method of how to play slow bowling. I find it very uncomfortable that our batsmen don’t seem to understand how to play on that type of surface,” said Wallace, who played seven Tests and 33 ODIs from 1997-2000.

The inability to play spin meant that the hosts were unable to bat out the full 50 overs in any of the matches, something Wallace said is not acceptable.

“You can’t consistently get bowled out inside 50 overs. When you find yourself three or four wickets down inside the first 20 overs, you’re going to struggle. They’re not getting the starts from the openers. The middle order is struggling and leaving it to some sluggers at the bottom,” he said.

When questioned about a solution to the problem, Wallace pointed to something that has been an issue for the West Indies in limited overs cricket for more than a decade, rotation of the strike.

“You have to be fit and you’ve got to work around the ball and know your partner at the other end. When you get your ones and twos up front, it will make it easier for the guys at the back end,” Wallace said.

He further emphasized his point by highlighting an innings played by South African Rassie van der Dussen against England on Tuesday where he scored 134 off 117 balls hitting only 10 fours and no sixes. South Africa hit no sixes in their innings and were able to score 333-5 from their 50 overs before bowling England out for 271.

West Indies coach Phil Simmons admits he is pleased to welcome Jason Holder back to the fold after the all-rounder was recently rested due to load management considerations.

The 30-year-old former captain has not represented the regional team since March of this year.  Following his return from the India Premier League (IPL), it was announced that the player would be left out of the team, for the upcoming series, considering a recent heavy workload.

As a result, Holder has missed the team’s One Day International tours against The Netherlands, and Pakistan and a recent visit of Bangladesh.  The team easily won the first series but could certainly have used Holder’s experience and explosive all-round play as they struggled to find their footing against both Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The player is once again available ahead of the team’s series against India, which begins on Friday and Simmons admits he is impressed by what he has witnessed in training so far.

“It’s good to have him back,” Simmons told members of the media on Wednesday.

“He looks fresh, he had some time out of the game.  He has been bowling well the last two days and batting well too so it’s good to have him back.”

  The West Indies and India will face off in three ODIs.