McCarthy, 33, and 21-year-old Jeavor Royal, a slow, left-arm spinner will both miss this season after they were exposed to someone who had tested positive for the COVID-19 virus just days before they were to depart for Trinidad on Monday.
According to Miller, who was in his first day of a 14-day quarantine period at his hotel in Trinidad, said he was disappointed that the players will not be in the squad but the health and safety of the other players had to be protected.
He explained McCarthy and Royal had tested negative for the virus and would have to take another test in seven days. However, by then it would be too late as there are no commercial flights going into Trinidad.
Consequently, they have been permanently replaced by Jermaine Blackwood and Romel Lewis, who Miller said were already on the Tallawahs’ radar. They were on their way to Trinidad on a charter flight Monday night.
“This is a devastating blow to McCarthy,” Miller said. “He wanted to prove a lot of his critics wrong.”
The Tallawahs had already lost the services of Tabraiz Shamsi, who was unable to travel to the Caribbean because of flight restrictions in South Africa. Mujeed Rahman, the 19-year-old sensation from Afghanistan, has replaced Shamsi on the team roster.
Rahman has 17 wickets from 16 matches in the IPL and has 25 wickets in 19 T20 international matches for his country.
The two-time champions endured a disastrous season in 2019 when they won only two games and finished at the foot of the six-team standings. With the disaster behind them, the Tallawahs decided on a complete overhaul of the squad that included releasing veteran T20 batsman Christopher Gayle while retaining only five players from the previous campaign.
In Monday’s draft, the Tallawahs brought in 2016 T20 World Cup hero Carlos Brathwaite and the big-hitting Glen Phillips to complement Captain Rovman Powell, Andre Russell and Chadwick Walton. They have also added Nkrumah Bonner and Andre McCarthy.
Meanwhile, Fidel Edwards, Veerasammy Permaul, Sandeep Lamichhane and Preston McSween have bolstered the bowling.
“I am hoping that we have a better team. We were rebuilding and that was the whole idea,” Miller told Sportsmax.TV on Tuesday.
“After retaining the five we were looking to rebuild around them.”
Miller explained that they brought in Edwards, the former West Indies pace bowler, to partner young fast bowler Oshane Thomas and McSween to support them both. Right-arm leg-spin bowler Sandeep and Permaul, he said, add a cutting edge to a bowling attack that he expects to be effective on the pitches in Trinidad.
“We expect the pitches to be bowler-friendly,” Miller said, indicating that he believes the pitches in the twin-island republic to wear as the tournament progresses.
Miller is also hopeful that the Tallawahs’ batting will deliver this coming season. He is relying on the experienced Powell, Russell, Phillips and Walton to get the bulk of the runs but in Brathwaite and the returning Andre McCarthy, he is expecting additional stability and firepower.
Brathwaite, he believes, can “do damage” at the back end of the innings but further up the order is where he expects McCarthy to finally deliver on his potential. “I am hoping that McCarthy and Nkrumah Bonner can solidify the number-three slot. I am hoping that a maturing McCarthy can step up to the plate,” he said.
Without going into detail, Miller hinted that they might have missed out on some players they were hoping to sign but those players were drafted by other franchises before the Tallawahs had a shot at them.
Volcanoes made 260-8 off their 50 overs as left-hander Keron Cottoy top-scored with a 64 off 47 balls with four fours and five sixes.
In reply, Jamaica had a bad start were 61-5 in the 15th over before being bowled out for 168 in the 37th over. Left-arm spinner Larry Edward celebrated his 26th birthday in style with a match-winning spell of 3-36 off 10 overs.
When Windwards batted, Andre Fletcher made 60 from 51 balls at the top of the order with four fours and three sixes.
Cottoy was named the CG Insurance Man-of-the-Match, as he continued his good form to follow up his career-best 72 in the previous match against Trinidad & Tobago Red Force. Volcanoes were 171-5 after 40 overs but Cottoy raised the tempo with a number of breathtaking shots as and the last 10 overs yielded 89 runs.
Andre McCarthy top-scored for Jamaica with a run-a-ball 55 which included six fours and a six as he maintained good form - his previous knocks were 48 against Guyana Jaguars and 40 against Trinidad & Tobago Red Force.
Fabian Allen played a number of brave shots in 39 from 43 balls. At the end, Fletcher showed his new skill set as a leg-spinner and captured the last two wickets.
“It’s always good to perform for your team especially in victories. I’m just glad I’ve been able to put up my hand and bat deep into the innings and it paid dividends,” said Cottoy. “We have to take it one game at a time although it feels good to win two out of three.”
Today: Leeward Islands Hurricanes vs Trinidad & Tobago Red Force at Coolidge Cricket Ground. First ball is 1:30pm (12:30pm Jamaica Time)
With Jaguars in trouble on 21-3 in the ninth over, Barnwell scored 107 off just 90 balls to rescue the innings. The career-best knock surpassed his previous highest of 99 not out.
Wicket-keeper Anthony Bramble followed up by smashing 69 from 49 balls, also the highest score of his List A career. Then lower-order batsman, Ramaal Lewis, hit a whirlwind 35 off 22 balls, to help lift the Jaguars to an imposing 299-9 off their 50 overs.
Barnwell struck four boundaries and six sixes, first adding 91 for the fourth wicket with Akshaya Persaud (25) before putting on a further 88 for the fifth with the attacking Bramble.
Left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie then spoiled the Scorpions run chase, as he picked 4-55 to move his tally to nine wickets from three matches.
Seamers Niall Smith (2-15) and Romario Shepherd (2-26) supported with crucial wickets as Scorpions declined from 116-3 in the 28th over, to 190 all out in the 45th over.
Andre McCarthy top-scored with 48 from 55 balls, captain Rovman Powell chipped in with 32 from 44 while Aldaine Thomas scored 29 but the Jamaicans failed to build any meaningful partnerships and lost their second match of the tournament.
Shimron Hetmyer led Jaguars in the absence of injured captain Leon Johnson and noted the side’s winning streak was important. “It’s really nice to be on the winning side to be honest and it’s always good to win back-to-back games. That’s what we always talk about and it’s a good feeling for us,” he said.
The Warriors won the toss and chose to field first, a decision which looked like the wrong one at the halfway stage of the game.
Former West Indies Under-19 representative Tristan Coleman was in destructive form for the Titans with a rapid 23 off just 10 balls including three sixes.
Cameos from Oshane Walters (20), Wayne Davis (18) and Jamaica Scorpions all-rounder Jamie Merchant (16) helped the Titans post a formidable 106-6 off their 10 overs.
Mikheil Silver (3-11 off two overs) and Andre McCarthy (2-21 off two overs) were the best bowlers for the Warriors.
Cornwall then got contributions from all their batsmen to eventually overhaul the Titans' total on the very last ball of the match reaching 107-4 off 10 overs.
Ockeeno Farquharson (29), Andre McCarthy (23) and Kerry Holness (17) were the main contributors while Jamaica Scorpions batsman Paul Palmer Jr and Captain Damion Ebanks chipped in with 13 and 13 not out, respectively.
Merchant took 2-21 off his two overs for the Titans.
In what was a must-win match for both teams, if they were to remain in the tournament, McCarthy stepped up for Jamaica taking career-best figures of 6-16 as Barbados, chasing 2019 for victory, crumbled to 167 all out.
Jamaica will now go onto play the unbeaten Trinidad and Tobago Red Force in the semi-final on Wednesday.
In a match that Jamaica’s bowlers provided the runs and the wickets, McCarthy, a senior middle-order batsman, failed to deliver with the bat, bowled by Joshua Bishop for a duck after facing just five balls. It was during a spell when Jamaica’s first five batsmen fell for just 35 runs within the first nine overs of their innings.
But while the Scorpions’ batsmen struggled, they found a sting in their tail in the form of an unbeaten 68 by Odean Smith, who while producing his career-best List A score, helped Jamaica’s last two wickets put on 131 runs.
Jamie Merchant’s 37 and Jeavor Royal’ 16 also contributed to the significant wag in the Scorpions’ tail.
However, for McCarthy, not being able to deliver with the bat, spurred his belief that he had to contribute to the team’s chances of getting to the semi-finals.
“I’m one of the senior players in this team and have to give a big performance. I didn’t make any runs so I knew I had to contribute with something in the game. I told the skipper ‘give me the ball and I am going to do the job for you today,” McCarthy said after the victory.
“I’ve been working really hard on my bowling. I was in Bangladesh with the West Indies team and I was doing a lot of bowling. The coach really recognized my bowling and it’s something that is working for me now.”
Despite winning the man of the match award for his six-wicket haul that featured a game-changing hat-trick in his ninth over, McCarthy said he thrived on the backing of his teammates.
“It’s overwhelming and just a full team effort, everyone believed in me and I just went out there and did the job,” he said.
“I normally keep it tight as a bowler and knew once I did that on this surface, the wickets would come. When I bowled to their batsmen they were tentative, so I just applied the pressure.”
Asking the Stars to bat first after winning the toss, the Warriors had early success after removing West Indies opener John Campbell for 14.
Sashane Anderson (22) and Suwayne Wilson (12) were the only other Stars batsmen to reach double figures as Frew, a member of the West Indies U-19 World Cup winning squad in 2016, ripped through the batting line-up to finish with figures of 4-16 from his two overs.
In the end, the Stars were restricted to a modest 81-7 off their 10 overs.
The Warriors made light work of the chase, reaching 83-3 off 8.4 overs to get their second win of the competition.
They got home thanks to some indiscipline from the Stars bowlers and solid showings from Ockeeno Farqharson (21), Jevoy Spence (15) and Andre McCarthy (13 not out).
West Indies U-19 representative Andel Gordon took 2-11 off his two overs.
Chasing 218 for victory, Barbados were cruising along at 118 for 1 but crumbled losing their last nine wickets for just 49 runs in what will go down as a famous victory for Jamaica.
Shai Hope and Justin Greaves put on an opening stand of 52 when Jamie Merchant broke the partnership with the wicket of Greaves for 36. Hope and Shamarh Brooks then added 66 for the second wicket when, with the score at 118, Brooks was run out for 27.
Hope carried on to a half-century while adding 23 with Johnathan Carter before he was caught by Brandon King off Fabien Allen for 51 and triggered a rot from which Barbados would never recover.
Allen then had Carter caught and bowled for 26 as Barbados reached 152 for 4, opening the door for McCarthy to take the next six wickets as Barbados collapsed to 167 all out.
After getting Jason Holder for one and Nicholas Kirton for 3 with the scores at 153 for 5 and 163 for 6, respectively, McCarthy dismissed Ashley Nurse for 2 and Akeem Jordan and Joshua Bishop in consecutive balls to have Barbados on the verge of defeat at 165 for 9.
He would bowl Chemar Holder for 2 with the first ball of his next over as Barbados fell for 167.
McCarthy finished with 6-16 from 9.1 overs and was rightly named Man of the Match. Allen took 2-41.
It was a match in which the bowlers rescued Jamaica with the ball and the bat.
Jamaica’s last two wickets added 131 runs that eventually got them to 218 all out from a precarious position after 24.2 overs of 87 for 8 after Bishop ripped through the Jamaican top order taking 5 for 35 from his 10 overs.
However, Odean Smith scored an unbeaten 68 from 75 balls and featured in an 80-run ninth-wicket partnership with Jamie Merchant who contributed an invaluable 37.
Smith and Jeavor Royal (16) then took Jamaica beyond 200 runs with a stand of 51 and onto what turned out to be a winning total.
Ashley Nurse took 2-51.
Jamaica finished their preliminary round in fourth place on eight points.
After winning the toss and choosing to field first, the Kings were in good form with the ball, holding the United Stars to a modest 82-6 in their 10 overs.
Jamaica Scorpions player, Alwyn Williams, was the only batsman to make a significant contribution for the Stars with 35 against 3-13 off two overs from medium-pacer Oraine Williams and 2-5 off one over from leg-spinner Kenroy Williams.
When it came time for the Kings to chase, McCarthy, batting at number four, was the chief destroyer with his 39 coming off just 12 balls including two fours and four sixes.
Opener Kennar Lewis also contributed 19 as the Kings easily chased their target reaching 83-3 off just 5.3 overs.
Left-arm quick Andel Gordon was the best bowler for the United Stars with 2-21 from his two overs.
The Surrey Kings now have five wins in five games, living up to their tag as favourites.
The Kings posted 102-6 off their 10 overs after the Warriors won the toss and chose to field.
Pacer Andre McCarthy was economical for the Warriors with 1-10 off his two overs.
The Warriors' reply never got out of first gear due to intelligent bowling from the Kings, eventually culminating with them reaching 79-2 after 10 overs.
Openers Ockeeno Farquharson (35) and Paul Palmer Jr (17) top-scored for the Warriors.
Shalome Parnell (1-13 from two overs) and Kenroy Williams (1-20 from two overs) were the wicket-takers for the Kings, which moved back to the top of the table with 13 points and secured a spot in the final with their sixth win in nine matches.
The Warriors are fourth on eight points after their fifth loss in nine matches.
Defending champions Surrey Kings kicked off their 2025 Dream11 Jamaica T10 campaign with a huge 67-run win over the United Stars on day one of the tournament at Sabina Park on Friday.
The Tallawahs, champions in 2013 and 2016, won only three of 11 games and were eliminated in the semi-finals by eventual champions Trinbago Knight Riders in what was a lop-sided affair.
Powell, who scored 33 in that semi-final loss, his best score of the season, had an otherwise disastrous season with the bat.
Prior to last week’s semi-final match, Powell had scores of 8, 23, 2, 4, 1, 2, 5, and 2. He was equally poor with the ball, failing to take a wicket while conceding 109 runs in a season he would want to quickly forget.
However, notwithstanding the disappointing season, Miller said both still have his full support.
“I am going to fully back the coach and I am going to fully back the captain. They both did the job at hand with the personnel that they had. I am not going to bash any of them,” he said.
“This is a team, not individuals and both of them did as much as they can with the personnel that they had.”
That said, Miller concedes that the Tallawahs went into the season knowing that they had deficiencies in the batting. Andre McCarthy, for example, was unable to travel to Trinidad for the tournament after being exposed to someone who was infected with the COVID-19 virus. His absence was missed.
“We can see from the performance that we were lacking that one batsman who was a specialist batsman who would come in a serve a purpose and we would have the big hitters around that batsman, but unfortunately, we did not have that one specialist batsman and it showed up in our performances from the batters,” Miller said.
“McCarthy, or any other specialist batsman, would have helped us out this year.”
The Scorpions won the toss and chose to bowl first.
Red Force openers Kjorn Ottley and Amir Jangoo put on 46 before the latter was caught off the bowling of Scorpions skipper Rovman Powell for 23 in the 13th over.
Ottley was next to go four overs later for 33 off the bowling of Jeavor Royal to leave the Red Force 57-2.
One became two for Royal when he dismissed the experienced Jason Mohammed for just three in the 19th over to leave the Red Force 66-3.
Dennis Bulli then got into the action with the crucial wicket of Darren Bravo for 14 in the 22nd over to leave the score at 79-4.
The Red Force brought up their 100 in the 26th over but then found themselves in further trouble as 100-4 quickly became 101-5 as Odean Smith removed captain Nicholas Pooran for eight in the 27th over.
Yannic Cariah (39) and Akeal Hosein (20) brought the Red Force past 150 in the 36th over. One over later, the Red Force found themselves 157-6 after Cariah was dismissed hit wicket off the bowling of Nicholson Gordon for 43.
The Red Force lost their seventh wicket in the 41st over when Terrance Hinds was dismissed by Gordon for 17 with the score on 184.
A Sunil Narine six off Peat Salmon in the 45th over brought up the Red Force’s 200. In the same over, Salmon took the Scorpions’ eighth wicket, removing Akeal Hosein for 37 with the score on 206.
Gordon took his third wicket and the ninth overall when he dismissed Narine for 12 in the 46th over with the score on 208.
Shannon Gabriel was the last man to go for one as the Red Force were bowled out 217 in 47 overs, their lowest total in the tournament.
Nicholson Gordon ended with 3-51 from eight overs and got good support from Jeavor Royal (2-22 from four overs) and Odean Smith (2-29 from six overs).
Scorpions openers Brandon King and Chadwick Walton brought the score to 24 in the sixth over when King was dismissed by Shannon Gabriel for 12.
Walton (27) and Andre McCarthy (11) combined to bring up Jamaica’s 50 in the 11th over.
In the 20th over, Walton brought up his first fifty of the tournament off 60 balls.
The Scorpions’ 100 was brought up one over later through a boundary from Walton off Yannic Cariah.
McCarthy was next to bring up his first fifty of the tournament, and 13th in List A cricket, off 75 balls in the 30th over.
The final ball of the 32nd over saw Walton being dismissed by Cariah for a well-played 80 to leave the Scorpions 150-2 needing 68 to win from 108 balls.
McCarthy was next to go for 55 in the 35th over with the score on 155. Four overs later, with the score on 172, Alwyn Williams became the fourth Scorpions batsman dismissed when he was caught on the boundary off the bowling of Kharry Pierre for three.
Captain Powell was next to go in the 44th over for 25 with the Scorpions only needing 18 more to win from 39 balls. With 344 runs in total, Powell finished the tournament as the leading run-scorer.
With the Scorpions needing 14 more runs from 29 balls, Dennis Bulli was bowled by Terrance Hinds for two. The next over saw Peat Salmon going for 11 with just eight runs needed to win from 23 balls.
Odean Smith was the hero in the end with a six and a single in the 47th over bring the score to 218-7 to give the Scorpions their first CG Insurance Super50 Cup title since 2012, when they also beat the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force in the final.
