West Indies bowler Kemar Roach and wicketkeeper Joshua Da Silva created a bit of history during the West Indies’ 87-run loss to South Africa at Centurion last week.

In a match that lasted less than three days, the accomplishments of both players were overshadowed by the loss but were no less significant in the rich history of great performances by players from the West Indies.

The 34-year-old Roach had match figures of 1-71 and 5-47 during the match in which he picked up his 260^th Test wicket and became the fifth most successful West Indies bowler behind Courtney Walsh (519), Curtly Ambrose (405) Malcolm Marshall (376) and Lance Gibbs (305).

His five-wicket haul in the second innings that helped bowl South Africa out for 116, was the 11^th of his career that has so far lasted 76 matches since he made his debut against Bangladesh in July 2009.

Joshua Da Silva, meanwhile, playing in his 21^st Test, joined now retired West Indies wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs in a pantheon of five ‘keepers who have had seven dismissals in one innings. Other than Jacobs, the only other players to have accomplished the feat were Pakistan’s Wasim Bari, England’s Bob Taylor, and New Zealand’s Ian Smith.

Both players will get the chance to add to their records when the second Test between the West Indies and South Africa bowls off on Thursday, March 8 at Wanderers. The West Indies will be hoping to produce a better performance with the bat and level the series that South Africa now leads 1-0.

Jamaica's Practical Pistol shooters were in impressive at the recently concluded Florida Open Pistol Shooting Tournament in Fostproof, Florida.

Despite going up against more than 200 shooters that included Grand Master from 12 countries from the Americas, Europe and the Caribbean, the local team overcame the odds to win several awards.

Ryan Bramwell, one of Jamaica's Master Class shooters was the runner-up in the Carry Optics Division (Master Class). Pistol captain Alrice Palmer walked away with first place in the B Class category while Thomas Hall finished third in C Class while Adrian Randle was fourth in A class.

Ekpedeme Otoukon was awarded second place in the Senior category.

"I am really proud of my team's achievement. Based on the growth and development of the male and female members of this team and the club, I am seeing where we will have several Master Class shooters in the near future," said Bramwell, who was the only Master Class shooter on the team.

Jamaica pulled off a sweep in the Men’s Limited Division B Class in which Darin Richards finished first, Owen Campbell second and Ellesworth Dixon was third. Campbell also finished first in the Senior Category of his division.

Jamaica was also represented in the Open and Production Division where Bernard Lawrence (Open Division) and Sanjay Welsh (Production Division) were equally impressive, copping third place in C Class and second place in B Class, respectively.

The two Alpha Angels female shooters on tour were not to be outdone as Constable Shayon Francis was on target winning the Carry Optics C Class and was second in the Carry Optics Lady Category while team captain Detective Corporal Sasha-Gay Mullings finished in third place.

"The match was a very good one. The shooting stages were fun and I'm really happy with my performance and by extension my team's performance,” Francis said.

“We could have even done better, however, some of our members had equipment malfunction and we dropped some points on those stages but our team did exceptionally well nonetheless."

Meanwhile, Evan Medley who placed fourth in the Production Division and Keith Miller were among the range officers who officiated the match.

Seven-time Olympic medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce says the 2024 Olympics in Paris will be her last.

The 36-year-old, who won back-to-back 100m gold medals in Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012, made the declaration in an interview with NBC Sports.

“Yes, 2024 will definitely be my last Olympics,” said Fraser-Pryce before going into how her foundation will become her priority once she exits the track.

“As I chase world championship and Olympic glory, the legacy that I leave off the track is important and my Pocket Rocket Foundation has been near and dear to me. We’ve been trying to expand on what we do here in Jamaica and hopefully go regional. Being able to run fast and win medals is great, but using that platform to give young people the chance to succeed and balance education with sports and transcend their own thoughts and ideas is what I’m passionate about as well,” she added.

By the time the Paris Olympics roll around, Fraser-Pryce will be 37 and aiming to become the oldest Olympic 100m gold medallist ever, male or female.

“I definitely want 2024 to be my last hurrah. I’ve accomplished so much, and I’m so, so grateful for it all. All the people that I’ve been able to touch, all the memories that I’ve made. After the Olympics I want to make different memories,” she said.

The 2024 Paris Olympics are scheduled for July 26-August 24 with Track & Field scheduled for August 1-11.

West Indies Vice-Captain Jermaine Blackwood called out his team’s batting performance after their 87-run loss in the first Test against South Africa at SuperSport Park in Centurion.

The tourists recovered from a scary situation in South Africa’s first innings when they orchestrated a batting collapse which saw the hosts go from 226-1 to 342 all out.

In the Windies’ first innings, they had their own collapse, going from 169-3 to 212 all out. The West Indian bowlers were then excellent, restricting South Africa to 116 all out in their second innings leaving the Windies needing 247 for victory.

In the end, the regional side put on a poor batting performance, being bowled out for 159 in 41 overs and losing the Test by 87 runs.

“I think we could have been a bit more selective,” said Blackwood, who top scored in the second innings with 79, to reporters after the match.

“We got out too easy and soft. If we stayed positive, I thought we could have got the runs,” he added.

The tourists will have six days before the start of the second Test in Johannesburg and Blackwood says they will have to fix these problems quickly if they are level the series.

“Obviously, it’s something that we have to learn quickly because we are playing against a quality bowling attack,” Blackwood said.

“Once we can go out there and express ourselves, put away the bad balls and keep out the good balls, I think we can beat South Africa but, as a team, we have to believe we can do that,” he added.

The second Test bowls off on March 8.

Flow 4G Cayon Rockets defeated Honda Newtown United 2-0 on Monday in their rescheduled match in the St. Kitts and Nevis Premier League and move to the top of the table.

In the match played at the Newtown Sporting Complex, Carlos Bertie gave the visitors the lead in the 22^nd minute. Malik Hendrickson added the second in the 39^th minute that gave his side the three points and a spot atop the Premier League table on nine points.

Winning coach Al Edwards said victory was achieved because his team stuck to the game plan.

“We got early chances, scoring just two out of three or four. At half-time, we just wanted to be cautious, not too overly aggressive. Be careful, protect what you got,” he explained.

He said the strategy in the second half was to absorb pressure and try and get another goal. That plan changed, he said, when their main striker got injured. “It’s an overall good fight. Sometimes you have to (win) ugly, sometimes it can’t go all your way but you have (the points) and that’s what really matters.”

Newtown’s Anthony Nets Isaac said the team defended poorly in the first half but they responded well in the second half.

“In the first half we allowed the game to get away from us due to poor marking in the defensive area but we went in (at halftime), came back and totally dominated the second half of the game. It’s just that we didn’t get the goals we wanted,” Isaac said.

On Sunday, Hotsprings Bath United got their first win of the season when they defeated Fast Cash Saddlers 1-0 at the Warner Park.

 Chris Browne scored in the 49th minute from a corner kick.

Bath’s Coach Alex Claxton was obviously elated at the result.

“We are very, very happy. We worked really hard for this win and I just want to congratulate the players in putting in the work in the course of the week and today it paid off,” Claxon said.

Meanwhile, defending champions S.L. Horsfords St. Paul’s United FC, came back from a slow start to defeat Jones Group Sandy Point FC 3-1 in the second of Sunday’s double header.

Anthony Alves put Sandy Point ahead in the 37th minute but the lead didn’t last long as Dion Taylor’s own goal in first-half stoppage time meant the teams went into the break locked at 1-1.

St Paul’s went ahead late in the second half when Keithroy Freeman netted in the 71^st minute before Tahir Jefferson secured all three points when he scored a minute from full time.

Manager of St. Paul’s Austin Lewis said even though they won they are capable of playing better.

“I think we can do better. I think we displayed poor football today,” Lewis said.

Assistant Coach to Sandy Point Kenneth Douglas blamed his team’s mistakes for the loss. “I think that we are beating ourselves so we have to go back to the drawing board on the pitch and commit to certain decisions,” Douglas said.

Tiquanny Williams of MFCR United Old Road Jets was the star of the show Saturday night as he scored four goals to seal a 5-0 demolition of Security Forces FC at the Newtown Playing Field.

Jardel Isaac got the ball rolling when he scored in the 28th minute before Williams took over scoring in the 32nd, 40th,80th & 83rd minutes to complete the rout.

Williams’ four goals comes in the back of the hat-trick he scored last week, making him the leading goal scorer so far in the season.

Assistant Manager of the Old Road team Azariah Vanterpool praised the team for their performance and lauded Williams’ accomplishment.

“Today I would say they played a very good game. We started off a bit shaky but we started to play our own game and in the end we came out victorious,” Vanterpool said, adding that she expects more hat-tricks from Williams this season.

Meanwhile, Coach St. Clair Morris of Security Forces FC, said team preparation has been a challenge. “We are still trying to get our team together in a sense. We had a few challenges with players showing up for practice,” Morris said, adding that this has a lot to do with their work commitments.

In the night’s other match SOL IAS Conaree FC blew an early 2-0 lead in the first half to lose 3-2 to Rams Village Superstars. All the goals were scored in the first half.

Jahleel Warner put Conaree ahead just two minutes into the match and took a 2-0 lead when Kadeen Lewis scored from the penalty spot in the 14^th minute.

However, Village would come storming back as Joseph Wilkes pulled one back in the 23rd minute and then Kimaree Rogers pulled them level five minutes later. Shaken, Conaree conceded a third just one minute later when Dahjal Kelly found the back of the net to secure the win.

Both teams had players sent off in the match. Village’s Kimaree Rogers was sent off in the 45^th minute for serious foul play. Wazim Howe was shown the red card for violent conducts in the 50th minute.

After the match, Village’s Coach Stephen Clarke hailed the character of his team but said they must get better starts to games.

“If it’s one thing we preach about is starting the game slow. We really want to cut that out,” Clarke said. “We can’t keep doing it every game. At some point in time we have to come out in front.”

Conare’s coach Al Richards was disappointed with the loss but believes his team played well. “We started the game according to plan. We scored early, which we wanted but we made three defensive errors and that was it from there,” Richards said.

Only one match was played Friday night at the Newtown playing field.

Hobson Enterprises Garden Hotspurs and St. Peters FC played to a 1-1 draw.

Shervin Allen scored for Spurs in the 30th minute with his team dominating the first half. But in the second half, St. Peters rose to the occasion and dominated possession, pressing for the equalizer.

In the end, Shevene Boston scored a stunning strike from outside the area giving St. Peters a well-deserved equalizer.

Jamaica and Manchester City Women forward Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw has signed a contract extension with Nike. The 26-year-old Shaw broke the news to her more than 70 thousand followers on Instagram on Thursday.

According to reports emerging from Trinidad and Tobago, football’s world-governing body FIFA has extended the mandate of the T&T Football Association (TTFA) normalization committee until March 31, 2024.

The decision, reports said, was "due to the challenges that the TTFA continues to face and to ensure that the mandate of the normalization committee. The mandate includes a revision and amendment and statutes and conducting of the election of a new TTFA executive, the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian reported Thursday.

FIFA first appointed the Normalization Committee in March 2020 following a FIFA/Concacaf fact-finding mission to assess, together with an independent auditor, the financial situation of TTFA.

The mission found that extremely low overall financial management methods, combined with a massive debt, have resulted in the TTFA facing a very real risk of insolvency and illiquidity. Such a situation is putting at risk the organization and development of football in the country and corrective measures need to be applied urgently, FIFA said.

The life of the normalization committee was further extended in December 2021 until March 2023.

Barbadian all-rounder Jason Holder made history on day two of the first Test between the West Indies and South Africa at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Wednesday.

With the second innings wicket of Keegan Petersen with the final ball of the day, Holder took his 150^th Test wicket, joining the legendary Sir Garfield Sobers as the only West Indians to take at least 150 wickets and score at least 2500 runs in Tests.

“I guess it hasn’t really sunk in yet,” he told reporters in a press conference after day two.

“Honestly, my inspiration is just the other guys on the field. I was obviously captain at quite a young age and had a good run of it, especially in the Test arena and I thoroughly enjoy this group specifically,” Holder, who captained the West Indies in 32 Tests from 2015-2019, added.

Debuting in 2014, the 31-year-old has amassed 2644 runs at an average of 28.73 with three hundreds and eleven fifties in his 61 Tests. His highest Test score, 202*, came against England in 2019 at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.

With the ball, Holder has taken 151 wickets at 28.98 including eight five-wicket hauls.

One might ask the question: How did this take so long when he debuted all the way back in 2014?

“It’s a tough one man. I think the way world cricket is going now, apart from the big three, everybody else is barely playing any Test cricket,” said Holder.

“We’ve averaged, in the last three years, maybe six to eight Test matches a year. This year we’ve got six and next year will be around six as well so, it was a slow grind,” he added before comparing the Test appearances of current West Indies Captain Kraigg Brathwaite and former England skipper Joe Root to further emphasize the point.

Brathwaite, who debuted against Pakistan in May 2011, has played 84 Tests while Root, who made his debut against India in December of 2012, has played 129 Tests.

Kagiso Rabada took six wickets as South Africa recovered from a batting collapse on day three to beat West Indies by 87 runs in the first Test in Centurion.

A haul of 6-50 from Rabada carried the hosts home as West Indies were bowled out for 159 in their second innings, with Jermaine Blackwood's terrific 79 from 93 balls providing the chief resistance.

The SuperSport Park crowd had seen South Africa fall from their overnight 49-4 to 116 all out in the morning session, with Aiden Markram following his century in the first innings with 47 as only two others reached double figures.

Kemar Roach took 5-47, with Markram among his victims, to fuel hopes of a first Test win for West Indies against South Africa since December 2007.

Yet momentum began to tilt back the Proteas' way when West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite fell to Rabada just before lunch, before any runs went on the board in the chase.

The tourists needed 247, but a wretched start saw them crumble to 20-4 and left the middle and lower order with a cliff face to climb.

Rabada had Brathwaite and Raymon Reifer caught behind by Heinrich Klaasen, before Marco Jansen drew a badly timed hook from Tagenarine Chanderpaul and then bowled Roston Chase with the next ball.

They were 33-5 when Gerald Coetzee had Kyle Mayers taken at slip, and it was only Blackwood keeping West Indies in the game.

He delivered a sparkling innings that nobody else could match, with Joshua Da Silva (17) and Jason Holder (18) briefly joining him in handy stands, but both fell to edges off Rabada.

Eventually, so too did Blackwood, a fiery delivery from Rabada into the body jabbed to Markram at second slip.

That gave South Africa a ninth wicket and it was effectively job done with the dangerman out of the way. Rabada duly wrapped it up, pinning Roach lbw.

Rabada hits Windies for six

This was Rabada's first six-wicket haul in Tests since taking 6-54 against Australia in March 2018, and his three best innings performances have all now come at Centurion. This ranks third on the list, behind the 7-112 and 6-32 that he took in the same game against England in January 2016.

It was not enough for man-of-the-match honours this time, though, with Markram taking that award.

Proteas keep rivalry one-sided

South Africa led by 130 after the first innings of this match, meaning their dismal display with the bat second time around did not prove too costly. The result means they are now unbeaten against West Indies in their last 11 Tests (W9 D2), with this a fourth victory on the bounce. Indeed, all four matches between these sides at SuperSport Park have been won by the hosts.

Home captain Temba Bavuma made a pair of ducks in his first game as skipper, but got away with it. The second and final Test of this series begins at the Wanderers in Johannesburg next Wednesday.