Sunshine Girls climb to number three in world rankings, Trinidad and Barbados fall to 11th and 14th, respectively

By Sports Desk August 15, 2022

By virtue of their outstanding play during the recent Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls have moved up a place in World Netball’s global rankings.

The Sunshine Girls who defeated world number-one Australia and number-two New Zealand before losing to Australia in the final, have climbed a spot to number three in the world rankings released on Monday.

Meanwhile, Barbados’ Gems failed to win a single match at the Commonwealth Games and have dropped two places to 14th in the rankings. Trinidad and Tobago, meanwhile, fell one place to 11th.

According to World Netball, “Since the last WN World Rankings update published, on  March 1, 2022, many international test series and events have taken place including the PacificAUS Series, Europe Netball Open Challenge, COSANA Tri-Nations Series, Wales International Test Series, Netball World Cup 2023 Qualifiers – Oceania, and most recently, the 38 matches at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

“Within the top six teams Jamaica has moved up to third in the world, whilst England has dropped to fourth, this comes after Jamaica made history at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games making their first final and winning a silver medal.”

World Netball said the new rankings mean that world number-one Australia, New Zealand (2), Jamaica (3) and England (4) will now be invited to compete at the NWC2023. Uganda (6) will also be invited; they have also qualified through their world ranking, due to South Africa (5) pre-qualifying as hosts.

The Netball World Cup 2023 Qualifier – Oceania has already taken place with Tonga and Fiji qualifying to be invited by World Netball to compete at the event.

Tonga finished unbeaten at both the PacificAUS Series in March 2022 and the Netball World Cup Qualifier Oceania in July 2022.

World Netball requires teams to have played six or more matches in the ranking period to be eligible for a World Ranking.  Tonga has reached this threshold again and they now regain a world ranking, entering 9th place in the world.  This is a remarkable achievement as their highest previous ranking was 19th.

Malta (35) Israel (39) and Switzerland (45) have also regained a ranking after playing the required number of matches by competing at the Europe Netball Open Challenge in May.

The success of Tonga has led to Scotland moving down one place to 10, and Trinidad & Tobago and Northern Ireland also moving down one place to 11 and 12.

There have also been many changes lower down the table with Barbados, Cook Islands and Samoa all moving down two places, whilst the Republic of Ireland have moved up four places to 24th after winning the Europe Netball Open Challenge.

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  • Curators and grounds staff workshop reap benefits ahead of T20 World Cup Curators and grounds staff workshop reap benefits ahead of T20 World Cup

    The men and women who will be responsible for the preparations of the pitches and fields for the upcoming ICC Men’s Twenty20 (T20) World Cup, are now well equipped with the tool of the trade. Following a two-week series of workshops, the ground staff across the region went through theory and practical sessions geared towards education and re-education on the rudiment of their crucial roles.

    Over 100 participants completed the workshop series, which included both indoor educational sessions and outdoor practical events. The events were led by senior officials of Cricket West Indies (CWI).

    Winston Reid, the Lead Curator for the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA), lauded the initiative, which he hopes will continue beyond the World Cup.

    Reid, who is based at Kensington Oval in Barbados, the venue that will host the June 29 World Cup final, had a hugely successful cricket career when he played over 100 matches at the regional level for Barbados. He joined the staff at the historic venue in 2005, ahead of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2007.

    “This was a very good initiative by the ICC [International Cricket Council], CWI [Cricket West Indies] and the BCA [Barbados Cricket Association]. This is something that should be encouraged, and I know the staff here benefited tremendously. It was a wonderful eye-opener, an education in many ways it was enlightening and interactive and the responses I got from the others who participated, said to me it was clear they too benefitted in a meaningful way,” Reid said.

    “The reason behind the workshop was to improve in every way we can and to do better at our jobs. We are gearing up towards the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which will be the biggest event we have ever hosted. We will be staging the final here, at this magnificent venue, so we want to make sure everyone is fully equipped.

    “Not only for Kensington, but for curatorship at all the other venues around the island and the region. We want to see better pitches and fields and playing conditions for our players to show their skills and also to entertain the fans in the stands. So, this was a very timely workshop series which augurs well for the game in the West Indies going forward," he added.

    Roland Holder, CWI Manager of Cricket Operations and Head of Cricket for ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, outlined the reasons behind the series of workshops. He said the series was crafted by CWI and designed to upskill existing curators across the region by exposing them to international best practices for pitch preparation and applicable maintenance, while simultaneously expanding the cadre of curators by identifying new talent with the appropriate combination of theoretical knowledge and practical exposure, to lend further expertise to match venues to deliver a world-class event in June.

    A CWI Curators Manual was also produced in the lead up to the workshop and will be disseminated to the curators.

    Six countries in the West Indies will host matches in the ninth edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup which will be played from June 1-29. West Indies, which hosted the event in 2010, will hold matches at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua; Kensington Oval, Barbados; Guyana National Stadium, Guyana; Daren Sammy Cricket Ground, Saint Lucia; Arnos Vale, St Vincent and Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad and Tobago.

    The event will be the largest in the tournament’s history with 20 international teams playing 55 matches across nine locations. It is the first time USA will host matches at a T20 World Cup, with 16 first-round matches split between Nassau County International Cricket Stadium (New York), Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium (Dallas), and Broward County Stadium (Lauderhill).

  • Grange offers extra incentive to players as St Patrick's, Corinaldi Avenue cop Insports primary schools' all-island netball, football titles Grange offers extra incentive to players as St Patrick's, Corinaldi Avenue cop Insports primary schools' all-island netball, football titles

    St Patrick’s Primary of Kingston and St Andrew retained their INSPORTS Primary Schools All-Island Netball title, while St James’ Corinaldi Avenue Primary were crowned football champion on Tuesday.

    St Patrick’s defeated Bethabara of Manchester 23-21 in a close encounter played at the Leila Robinson Court at Independence Park, while Corinaldi edged Rosseau Primary, also of Kingston and St Andrew, 6-5 on penalties after battling to a 0-0 draw in regulation and extra time.

    Both all-island champions walked away with $200,000 each, as the runners up collected $125,000 each.

    Third-place finishers White Horses Primary of St Thomas and Portland’s Port Antonio Primary earned $75,000 for their efforts in the netball and football competitions respectively. White Horses defeated Corinaldi of St James 20-17, and Port Antonio bettered Holland Primary 3-1 on penalties.

    The fourth-placed teams received $50,000 each.

    Both winning coaches, Lecia Walters of St Patrick’s and Recardo Esmie of Corinaldi were rewarded with $10,000 each.

    Shantae Powell of St Patrick’s and Donovan Carey of Corinaldi were the Netball and Football MVPs. This was especially nice for Carey, who suffered a broken leg last year.

    While applauding the winners, Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sports, Olivia “Babsy” Grange, who assisted young Carey last year, revealed an additional incentive.

    “It has been a thrilling season with fantastic performances from all of our teams. This is a testament to all the hard work and dedication that has been put in over the season and I am proud to see such wonderful talents on display,” Grange said during the closing ceremony at the National Arena.

    “In addition to the prize money, twenty (20) football students (male and female) will be offered the opportunity to attend a one-week football camp to be hosted by the Spanish club OSASUNA from April 8-17 at the Barbican AstroTurf,” she shared.

    “This will be an incredible opportunity for our young athletes to hone their skills and learn from some of the best in the business. Furthermore, five primary school coaches will also be offered the chance to attend the camp to enhance their knowledge and expertise in the world of football,” the minister added.

    That said, Grange made mention of Jamaica and Chelsea’s rising sensation Dujuan “Whisper” Richards, who was discovered from this same competition.

    “A few years back for the 2015/2016 season, we unearthed one Dujuan ‘Whisper’ Richards of Harbour View Primary, who went on to Kingston College and made a name for himself in the Manning Cup and now, he is at one of the biggest clubs in the world – Chelsea FC,” she noted.

    “This is the kind of impact we want coming out of these football and netball competitions. These programmes will enable us to bring to the fore, the best talent in a competitive environment in line with INSPORTS mandate of unearthing talent in every nook and cranny of Jamaica,” Grange explained.

    The INSPORTS competitions – arguably the best of their kind anywhere in the region – started in December 2023 with 280 schools involving 4,200 kids in netball and 5,600 in football of which 560 were girls, as each team needed to have 2 girls.

    Result

    Netball

    St Patrick’s Primary 23 vs Bethabara Primary 21

    White Horses 20 vs Corinaldi Primary 17

    Football

    Corinaldi 0 vs Rosseau 0 (Corinaldi won 6-5 on penalties)

    Port Antonio 0 vs Holland 0 (Port Antonio won 3-1 on penalties)

  • On track: Hallgrimsson says CNL performance a positive step towards World Cup qualification On track: Hallgrimsson says CNL performance a positive step towards World Cup qualification

    With an historic third-place finish at the Concacaf Nations League now out the way, Jamaica’s senior Reggae Boyz Head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson is hoping they can ride the momentum to an even bigger accomplishment, which is to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

    Though Hallgrimsson would have preferred the 2023/24 CNL title, as opposed to the bronze they secured with a 1-0 win over Panama, he believes the achievement represents a step in the right direction on their quest to add to the country’s 1998 World Cup feat.

    “This is just a part of our journey. We were trying to build something for this tournament as there is a saying that ‘success is not a destination, success is not a date, it’s a continuous journey to the right direction’. So, we’re just working on improving this team, as our biggest goal at the moment is to try to reach the World Cup finals,” Hallgrimsson declared. 

    Jamaica’s third-place battle followed a heartbreaking 3-1 extra-time loss to United States in an entertaining semi-final contest that they led from the very first minute, but lost after Corey Burke’s last-gasped own-goal brought the opponents back into the game.

    Still, Hallgrimsson took the positives from the tournament, as he pointed to the psychologically importance and confidence gained heading into the prestigious CONMEBOL Copa America, which also serves as part of the Reggae Boyz preparation for the World Cup qualifiers.

    “This is a good step to play important matches, to play big tournaments, and to play strong opponents like the United States and Panama. They are two of the three highest-ranked Concacaf teams and we showed that we are closing in on this gap, even with the number of players not with us. So, I have to give a lot of credit to the players for the way they presented themselves for Jamaica,” Hallgrimsson said.

    “I think it’s psychological just to know that we can face these teams of this calibre. Again, talking about missing players, I normally don’t talk about missing players, but it gives belief in what we are doing, and I think that is the biggest benefit for us,” he added.

    Those benefits which Hallgrimsson alluded to, includes the fact that player such as Leon Bailey, Ethan Pinnock, Amari’i Bell, Demarai Gray, Michail Antonio and Shamar Nicholson all missed the nail-biting United States encounter. However, Gray and Nicholson played their part in the Panama win after returning from red card suspensions.

    For the Icelandic tactician, the absence of key players provided the opportunity for other to not only show their worth, but also to stake a claim on spots for the Copa America and World Cup qualifying squads. Interestingly enough, it was full-backs Greg Leigh and Dexter Lembikisa that got Jamaica's goals across the two games.

    “This camp has given us more depth in the squad, players really punched in and showed that they want to belong into this starting lineup. Jamaica is richer after this camp,” Hallgrimsson noted.

    “Tactics, it was both because we were missing players and playing good teams so we thought it would be better to play with three at the back. Given that we played 120 minutes (against United States) it was a really good performance, a solid performance from the team so I’m happy,” he ended.

    Jamaica is scheduled to face Ecuador, Mexico and Venezuela in Group B of the June 20 to July 14 Copa America, while Dominican Republic, Dominica, Guatemala and British Virgin Islands are their Group E opponents for the World Cup qualifiers, also scheduled to begin in June.

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