The Jamaica Scorpions and the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force entered day 3 of their West Indies Championship match at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy evenly poised.
After starting the day 234-6, the Red Force were bowled out for 273 after 114.3 overs to lead the Scorpions by 132 runs.
Yannic Cariah led the way for the Red Force with 72 while Isaiah Rajah finished with 65.
Marquino Mindley completed his fourth five-wicket haul in first-class cricket with 5-70 off 28.3 overs while Nicholson Gordon provided good support with 4-65 off 28 overs.
In their second innings, the Scorpions fought gallantly to reach 212 all out, setting the hosts a target of 81 for victory, thanks to 45 from captain John Campbell and crucial knocks of 41 not out from Derval Green, 30 from Jamie Merchant, and 28 from Alwyn Williams.
Anderson Phillip was the pick of the Red Force bowlers in the second innings with 5-82 off 15 overs while captain Imran Khan supported him well with 3-46 off 16.5 overs.
At the close of play, the Red Force were 22-0 needing a further 59 runs on Saturday for outright victory with Keagan Simmons on 11 and Isaiah Rajah on eight.
Trinidad and Tobago Red Force ended a rain-affected day 2 of their West Indies Championship encounter with the Jamaica Scorpions at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in a commanding position.
The Red Force entered the day 98-3, trailing the Scorpions first innings score of 141 by 43 runs with Joshua Da Silva and Yannic Cariah at the crease on 32 and 11 respectively.
Da Silva added 5 to his overnight score before he was dismissed for 37 by Derval Green to leave the hosts 104-4.
Jyd Goolie was next to go for just six to leave the Red Force in a spot of bother at 118-5 before a magnificent 116-run partnership between Cariah and Isaiah Rajah put them in a comfortable position leading up to the end of play.
Cariah, who brought up his 10th first class half-century off 181 balls in the 80th over, eventually fell near the close of play for a patient 72 off 222 balls.
Rajah batted fluently to end the day, making 58 not out off 268 balls, including seven fours.
The Red Force ended Day 2 on 234-6 off 98 overs, leading the Scorpions by 93 runs.
Nicholson Gordon has so far led the way for the Jamaican bowlers with 3-51 off 21 overs while opening bowling partner Marquino Mindley has taken 2-52 off 20 overs.
After a relatively disappointing season in 2021, Trinidad and Tobago’s Jereem Richards announced on Sunday that he is determined to make 2022 a better year.
West Indies Under-19s secured an eight-wicket win over Zimbabwe Under-19s to finish 11th in the ICC Men’s Under-19 Cricket World Cup on Monday.
In the match played at the Diego Martin Sports Complex in Trinidad and Tobago, Zimbabwe Under-19s won the toss and elected to bat first.
This proved to be a good decision as they batted well to amass 256-4 off their 50 overs thanks to half-centuries from David Bennett who made 77 not out off 105 balls and Brian Bennett, who made 62 off 84 balls. Connor Mitchell provided the Zimbabweans with an important late innings push with 42 not out off 26 balls.
Johann Layne took 2-44 off seven overs for the West Indies.
A pair of stunning innings from Kevin Wickham and Teddy Bishop ensured the West Indies chased their target without much trouble.
Wickham scored a well-played 104 off 116 balls with 17 fours.
The 18-year-old Barbadian, who was originally one of the reserves for the squad, got his third score of 50 or more in four matches in the tournament after getting 56 against Sri Lanka and 61 against Papua New Guinea.
Bishop got the second hundred of the innings and third for the West Indies in the tournament with a brilliant 112 not out off 121 balls with 11 fours and one six.
Rivaldo Clarke got 28 not out and was at the crease with Bishop when the young Windies eventually got to 262-2 off 49.2 overs to seal the win.
Wickham, with 243 runs in four innings including one hundred and two fifties, was the West Indies leading runs scorer while pace bowler Shiva Sankar was the team’s leading wicket-taker with nine scalps in six matches.
West Indies Under-19s will now compete in the 11th place playoff at the ICC Men’s Under-19 Cricket World Cup after an embarrassing 83 run loss to UAE Under-19s in their Plate semi-final in Port of Spain today.
UAE won the toss and elected to bat first, reaching 224-9 off their 50 overs thanks to half-centuries from Aayan Khan (93) and Shival Bawa (51).
Shiva Sankar led the way for the Windies bowlers with 3-31 off nine overs while Nathan Edward and Matthew Nandu took two wickets each.
Jash Giyanani and Dhruv Parashar then combined to take seven wickets between them to restrict the West Indians to a modest 142 all out in reply.
Nathan Edward (51), Kevin Wickham (22), and Isai Thorne (17) were the only batsmen to score double figures against Giyanani’s 3-21 off 10 overs and Parashar’s 4-30 off nine.
The West Indies will now play the loser of the Plate semi-final between Ireland and Zimbabwe in the 11th place playoff while UAE will play the winner in the ninth-place playoff.
Two Plate competition matches at the ICC Under 19 Men’s Cricket World Cup have been cancelled after nine Canada players tested positive for COVID-19, organizers revealed today. The players will now undertake a period of isolation where their welfare will be monitored by the event medical team.
As a consequence, the Canadian team has insufficient available players to be able to take any further part in the event. Canada’s plate play-off semi-final with Scotland on 29 January is cancelled and in accordance with the playing conditions, Scotland will progress to the 13th/14th play-off as a result of having a better net run rate than Canada from all matches played in the event.
The 15th/16th play-off that would have featured Canada against either Uganda or PNG will also not take place.
“We are incredibly disappointed to have to cancel two ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup games due to COVID-19 at this stage of the event,” said ICC Head of Events, Chris Tetley.
“We were expecting to see some positive cases throughout the event and to date, these have been managed in accordance with our bio-safety plan without impacting on fixtures. However, with so many players from the Canadian team testing positive it will not be possible to stage these games.
“The players are now self-isolating and will receive full support from the event medical team under the guidance of the Bio-Safety Advisory Group.”
The cancelled matches are as follows:
29 January - Canada v Scotland, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad and Tobago
30 January - 15th/16 Play-Off, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad and Tobago
A century from Matthew Nandu and half-centuries from Shaqkere Parris and Kevin Wickham led West Indies U19s to a comprehensive victory of 169 runs over Papua New Guinea in the Plate Quarter-Final Round of the tournament of the ICC U19 World Cup in Trinidad and Tobago on Wednesday.
Nandu scored 128 as the West Indies made 317-6, their highest score of the tournament.
The 18-year-old Guyanese faced 134 balls and hit 15 fours and two sixes in his match-winning knock. He shared in an opening stand of 155 with Parris before the latter was dismissed by Rasan Kevau for 64 from 89 balls with eight fours and two sixes.
Teddy Bishop and Nandu took the score to 191 when Bishop was bowled by Patrick Nou for 15.
Wickham joined Nandu at the crease and together mounted a third-wicket stand of 107 that took the West Indies to 298 when the Caribbean youngsters suffered a late middle-order collapse.
The drama unfolded in the 49th over when Boio Ray removed Nandu with the second ball, Rivaldo Clarke first ball and then with the fifth ball of the over dismissed Jordan Johnson, who also failed to score.
It was left to Wickham, who remained unbeaten on 61, to take the West Indies past 300.
Ray finished with figures of 3-43 and was PNG’s best bowler.
Needing 318 for an unlikely victory, PNG were bowled out for 148 in 37.4 overs. Aue Oru top-scored with an unbeaten 27 while Peter Karoho contributed 21. Barnabas Maha made 15 as Nandu took 2-14, McKenny Clarke 2-34 and Isai Thorne (2-30) combined to destroy the PNG batting.
West Indies Under-19s will play Papua New Guinea Under-19s on Wednesday in Trinidad & Tobago in a quarter-final of the ICC Men's Under-19 Cricket World Cup Plate Tournament.
Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Bronze medallist Deon Lendore died last night after reportedly succumbing to injuries he suffered in a car accident in Texas.
The 29-year-old from Arima, whose 400m personal best was 44.36, was part of the Trinidad and Tobago team that won bronze in the Men’s 4x400m at the 2012 London Olympics and silver at the 2015 World Championships in the same event.
Individually, Lendore won bronze medals in the 400m at the World Indoor Championships, in Oregon, in 2016, where he was also part of T&T's bronze medal-winning 4x400m team and Birmingham in 2018.
A three-time Pan Am Junior Championships silver medallist, Lendore also had a wonderful junior career, which resulted in him excelling at Texas A&M University, winning the Bowerman award in 2014.
President of the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee, Brian Lewis, reacted to the unfortunate news.
“Words cannot adequately express our sadness at the devastating and untimely loss. Deon has flown the Trinidad and Tobago flag with pride, honour, patriotism, and an indomitable will throughout his career while helping and inspiring many. We express our deepest and heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, teammates, coaches, and all who he would have touched. May Deon Rest and Sleep in Eternal Peace,” he said.
Lendore represented T&T at three Olympic Games in 2012, 2016 and 2021 and three World Championships in 2013, 2015 and 2019.
Trinidad & Tobago’s Men’s Bobsled team is aiming to qualify for the Beijing Winter Olympics in February 2022 and end a 20-year hiatus from the Games.
The team consisting of Summer Olympic hurdler Mikel Thomas, sprinter Andre Marcano, Axel Brown, and brothers Shomari and Shakeel Brown has been competing on the North American Cup tour and will know whether or not they’ve qualified for the Olympics on January 16.
Their best seven out of eight races in recent months will count towards Olympic qualification.
Right now, the team is comfortably ahead of countries like Italy, Croatia, Israel, and Jamaica and Brown says the team’s chances look good as long as they can stay ahead while also pointing out that they are relatively inexperienced.
“We are currently comfortably ahead of them, but this is elite sport and anything could happen. I understand that a lot of people were not aware T&T had a bobsleigh team, but it only happened realistically three months before the start of the season so this has only existed in a tangible form since July,” Brown told the Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.
Brown, born to a Trinidadian mother and British father, has also represented Great Britain in the past and says he’s overwhelmed by the response of the Trinidadian public to the team.
“It feels great. I am really excited over not only what we have been able to do on the ice, but also the reception that it’s had. It’s been incredible. To be doing what I am doing still, but having such a warm welcome and such an excited kind of fan base is honestly so validating and lovely…it is exciting that now all of a sudden, the TT population is kind of embracing us and what we are able to do. That’s again, so nice,” he said.
Brown hopes that this team can inspire future generations of Trinidadian bobsledders.
“Going forward into the next four years…hopefully, there are other TT teams that are inspired by what we are doing, but I think we certainly have the athletic pool from which to choose great athletes from but also the four that we’ve got at the moment are doing incredibly well and I am really excited to see what they can do,” Brown added.
West Indies rookie wicketkeeper/batsman, Joshua Da Silva, is eyeing a fruitful regional first-class season in the coming months to secure his place in the West Indies Test side.
The Trinidadian has described his first year as a West Indies cricketer as “up and down” after so far scoring 445 runs in 11 Tests, at an average of 24.72, with three fifties to his name.
The West Indian first-class season is expected to get underway in February and Da Silva, speaking to the Trinidad and Tobago Express newspaper on Thursday, expressed his desire for a big season in 2022.
“The first-class season is coming up and I’m going to work very hard and try to score as many runs as I can so it is not a question of whether or not I will be in the starting eleven,” DaSilva said.
Da Silva has so far made 1317 runs in 28 first-class games with eight fifties and one hundred and wants to build on these numbers this season.
“I will just bat and make runs and let the selectors do their job and given the opportunity, I will just put my best foot forward for the region,” said Da Silva.
He'll be looking to follow up on a fantastic 2019/20 West Indies Championship campaign, which saw him vault into the Test setup after scoring 507 runs from eight matches, at an average of 50.70, with one hundred and three fifties.
Those 507 runs placed Da Silva fifth on the most runs list for that season.
Former West Indies wicketkeeper-batsman, Denesh Ramdin, is now under new management after signing with Sophie Claire Management.
Ramdin was a member of the West Indies T20 World Cup sides in 2012 and 2016. Claire reacted to the signing on her Instagram page.
“Two-time World Cup T20 winning wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin. It is a privilege to work with people you admire for all their accomplishments,” she said.
The Trinidadian is a former West Indies captain at both the Under-19 and senior levels and holds the West Indies wicketkeeping record for most T20 dismissals.
The 36-year-old scored 2898 runs in 74 Test matches at an average of 25.87 for the West Indies with four centuries and 15 fifties with his highest score of 166 coming against England in 2009.
In 139 ODIs, Ramdin scored 2200 runs at an average of 25.00 with two centuries and eight fifties with a highest score of 169 against Bangladesh in 2014.
He also represented the West Indies in 71 T20 Internationals scoring 636 runs at an average of 18.70 with one half-century
Cyclist Nicholas Paul and track and field athlete Michelle Lee Ahye walked away with the top male and female honours at the Trinidad & Tobago Olympic Committee 27th Annual Awards Ceremony held on Wednesday evening.
In the event, which was broadcast over video-conferencing platform Zoom, Paul and Ahye were named TTOC’s senior Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year respectively for 2021.
TTOC President Brian Lewis addressed the virtual audience before the distribution of awards.
“In 2021, our athletes showed that they faced their fears. They went to Tokyo and gave their best. They did not make excuses and of course, they showed emotional, physical, and mental stamina by facing their disappointments, their failures, their mistakes, and the criticism of those who weren’t in the arena; who didn’t have to overcome economic issues, lack of training issues, doubt issues, death in their families and close circles,” said Lewis.
“As we look forward to 2022, we are encouraged by the example and the discipline and resolve shown by team TTO at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and the Junior Pan Am Games,” he added.
It was Ahye’s fourth time holding the title after winning from 2016-2018 while Paul received the award for the second time, his first coming back in 2019.
Paul, the current world-record holder in the Men’s flying 200m, earned the top male award based on his silver medal performance in the Men’s one-kilometre time-trial at the UCI Tissot World Track Cycling Championship in Roubaix, France, back in October.
He was also sixth in the Men’s Sprint at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Ahye was deemed the top female based on her ninth-place finish in the Women’s 100m at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where she narrowly missed out on the final.
Swimmer Nikoli Blackman, a member of T&T’s teams at both the Pan Am Junior Games and Swimming World Championships (SC) this year, was named Junior Sportsman of the Year for the second consecutive year, and track and field athlete Rae-Anne Serville, now representing USC, was Junior Sportswoman of the Year.
Olympic long jump finalist and 2021 NCAA Heptathlon Champion at Texas A&M, Tyra Gittens, was named the Sports Personality of the Year and reacted to it on her Instagram page on Wednesday.
“Blessed to receive the Sports Personality award during the TTOC 27th Annual Award Ceremony this evening. I can’t wait to represent TTO again next year,” she said.
West Indies senior women’s vice-captain Anissa Mohammed won the Future is Female award.
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has extended the time the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) will be run by a Normalisation Committee, which will now hold the reins of power for another year.
The Committee was put in charge of the day-to-day affairs of the country’s football in 2020 after FIFA claimed it had concerns over the organisation's ability to repay its debt. The move was initially contested at the nation’s High Court by the then William Wallace-run administration, which briefly led to T&T suspension from world football. The body was, however, later re-admitted after dropping the court case.
The interim body was initially scheduled to hand power back to the TTFA in March of next year, but the period will now be extended to March 2023. The decision, which was made by The Bureau of the Council, was communicated by FIFA secretary general Fatma Samoura via a letter. The Normalisation Committee, headed by Robert Hadad, was tasked with establishing ‘a debt repayment plan that is implementable by the TTFA administration, to review and amend the TTFA Statutes (and other regulations where necessary), and ensure their compliance with the Fifa Statutes and requirements before duly submitting them for approval to the TTFA Congress, and to organise and conduct elections of a new TTFA Executive Committee for a four-year mandate.’ The Committee it appears will not complete the task list in time.
According to the document, however, The Bureau of the Council took note of delays that impacted the Normalisation’s Committees ability to complete its duties. One issue mentioned was the lawsuit brought before the courts by the former TTFA board and also the impact of the global pandemic, which has hampered its ability to freely go about its tasks. In addition, The Bureau also pointed to certain other issues ‘that led to the backlog in the normal operations of the TTFA, including finance.’
Indian Premier League franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad has brought West Indies batting legend, Brian Lara, onboard ahead of the coming season.
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