An impressive all-round bowling performance and ice-veined innings from captain Hayley Matthews saw Barbados Royals defeat Guyana Amazon Warriors by one wicket with a solitary delivery remaining in a thrilling opening match of the 2024 Massy Women’s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL). 

 Matthews won the toss and chose to field first at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, Trinidad and her side restricted the Warriors to what was thought to be a below-par score of 118-9 off their 20 overs. The wickets were shared around between Royals’ seam and spin bowlers, Aaliyah Alleyne taking 3-21 from her four overs including the crucial wicket of a well-set Stafanie Taylor for 38.

 It was far from a comfortable chase for the Royals, the 2023 champions found themselves 44-3 and 50-4 during their innings but Matthews kept her head with wickets falling all around her, finishing unbeaten on 61 not out off 58 deliveries having batted through the innings to secure victory for her side and get the defence of their trophy off to a winning start.

An undulating match began with the Warriors struggling to get any momentum with the bat after losing both openers inside the PowerPlay. Captain Lauren Winford-Hill was bowled by a fast delivery from Alleyne that zipped off the floodlit wicket and Natasha McLean fended off Qiana Joseph to be well caught inside the inner circle by a diving Cherry-Ann Fraser.

At 59-2 after 10 overs the Warriors then lost wickets regularly in the second half of their innings which duly served to stifle their run scoring. 

 Stafanie Taylor played a typically classy knock, hitting four fours and a six to anchor the innings for the Warriors before Alleyne made the crucial breakthrough by bowling her with the second ball of the 17th over.  Amanda-Jade Wellington found turn and a kept a tight line for the Royals, the Australian leg-spinner finishing impressively with 2-19 off her four overs to set up a seemingly straightforward chase.

 The Royals also lost regular wickets in their reply, Shabnim Isamil the pick of bowlers for the Warriors,  picking 4-16 from her four overs and looking threatening with almost every delivery she sent down.

 Erin Burns pulled off an early contender for catch of the competition, a flashing drive by Georgia Redmayne seeing Burns produce a wonderfully athletic diving grab at point. Definitely one for the highlights reel and the repeat button.

 Chloe Tryon ensured the game went down to the wire by stitching together five consecutive dots to Shabika Gajnabi in a penultimate over that went for just one run.

 With seven needed off the final six balls, Winford-Hill entrusted 19-year-old leg-spinner Nyia Latchman with the final over. The teenager kept her nerve impressively but it wasn’t enough to stop Matthews using all her skill and experience to find the gaps in the outfield and get her side over the line at the last.

Alick Athanaze played a vital innings of 92 to help the West Indies secure a hard-fought draw against South Africa in the rain-affected first Test at Queen's Park Oval on Sunday. Chasing an imposing target of 298 runs for victory, the West Indies were in early trouble but managed to salvage the match thanks to Athanaze's resilience and key contributions from his teammates.

South Africa, resuming their second innings at 30 without loss, quickly raced to 173 for 3 in just 29 overs before declaring, setting the West Indies a challenging target. Tony de Zorzi and Aiden Markram gave the visitors a solid start, scoring 45 and 38, respectively, before Tristan Stubbs injected urgency into the innings with a blistering 68 off 50 balls. His dismissal by Kemar Roach in the 29th over prompted South African captain Temba Bavuma to declare, leaving himself unbeaten on 15.

The West Indies' chase got off to a disastrous start, losing captain Kraigg Brathwaite for a duck in the first over. Mikyle Louis followed for nine, leaving the hosts reeling at 18 for 2. However, Alick Athanaze and Kaecy Carty began the process of rebuilding, putting together a valuable 46-run partnership before Carty was dismissed for 31 by Maharaj.

Athanaze continued to anchor the innings, forging another crucial stand of 63 runs with Kavem Hodge, who was also dismissed by Maharaj for 29. Athanaze's innings was a masterclass in patience and shot selection, as he found another steady partner in Jason Holder. The duo added 65 runs for the fourth wicket, with Athanaze inching closer to a well-deserved century.

Hodge made 29

Unfortunately, he fell just eight runs short of his maiden Test century, sweeping Maharaj to fine leg where he was caught. His innings, however, ensured that the West Indies could stave off defeat, with Jason Holder remaining unbeaten on 31 and Joshua da Silva not out on two when Bavuma decided to end proceedings, declaring the match a draw.

Maharaj was the pick of the South African bowlers once again, adding another four-wicket haul to his match tally, finishing with figures of 4 for 88 in the West Indies' second innings. His performance followed an equally impressive first-innings effort of 4 for 76.

Speaking after the match, West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite expressed satisfaction with his team's batting display in the second innings. "I'm happy with our batting group. The guys were quite positive, and I'm so proud of the batting unit. We believed we could get those runs, and although it wasn't going to be easy, the fight and resilience shown were commendable," Brathwaite said.

He continued, "The pitch here in the Caribbean can be a bit slower, so it's about adjusting when to go slow and when to accelerate. Alick showed us that today with his approach. His plan was to sweep, and even though he got out to a sweep, he stuck to it and nearly got his century. Hodge was also good in England, and it's about continuing to build on these performances."

The first Test ended in a draw, but it was a match that saw both teams show their strengths. The West Indies will take confidence from their batting performance as they prepare for the second Test, knowing that they have the ability to challenge South Africa in the upcoming encounters.

The second Test gets underway at Providence in Guyana on August 15.

 

 

 

Day 8 of Track and Field at the 2024 Paris Olympics was a day of mixed emotions for Caribbean athletes, highlighted by a standout performance from Jamaica's women in the 4x100m relay. As the morning session unfolded, the Jamaican quartet delivered a strong run to secure their place in the finals, a beacon of hope on an otherwise challenging day for the region.

The Jamaican team, comprised of Alana Reid, Kemba Nelson, Shashalee Forbes, and Tia Clayton finished third in their heat with a season-best time of 42.35 seconds, which placed them sixth overall and earned them a coveted spot in the finals.

In stark contrast, Trinidad and Tobago’s women’s relay team faced disappointment. Despite their best efforts, they finished eighth in their heat with a time of 43.99 seconds, which was not enough to advance to the finals. The team, consisting of Akilah Lewis, Sole Frederick, Sanaa Frederick, and Leah Bertrand, gave it their all but ultimately fell short.

The men’s 4x100m relay saw similar heartbreak for Jamaica. The team, made up of Ackeem Blake, Jelani Walker, Jehlani Gordon, and Kishane Thompson, ran a season-best time of 38.45 seconds but finished fourth in their heat and 11th overall, failing to make it to the finals. It was a bitter pill to swallow as they had high hopes for a strong finish.

Elsewhere, the Caribbean faced tough outcomes in other events.

In the women's shot put, Jamaica's Danniel Thomas-Dodd and Lloydricia Cameron, along with Trinidad & Tobago's Portious Warren, did not advance past the qualification round. Thomas-Dodd threw 18.12m, Cameron achieved a season-best of 18.02m, and Warren managed 17.22m. Their efforts were valiant but fell short of the 19.15m qualification standard, ending their Olympic journeys in this event.

The women's 100m hurdles also saw Caribbean athletes falling short. Emelia Chatfield of Haiti and Denisha Cartwright of the Bahamas competed fiercely but did not make it past the repechage round. Chatfield finished sixth in her heat with a time of 13.24 seconds, while Cartwright was seventh, clocking 13.45 seconds. Despite their strong performances, they were unable to advance to the semifinals.

In the men's 800m, St Vincent and the Grenadines' Handal Roban, Jamaica’s Navasky Anderson, and Dominica’s Dennick Luke all faced similar fates in the repechage round. Roban finished fourth with a time of 1:45.80, Anderson fifth in his heat with 1:46.01, and Luke set a national record of 1:46.81 but finished sixth in his heat. None of these times were sufficient to move on to the semifinals, marking the end of their Olympic campaigns in this event.

The Guyana Harpy Eagles got their third win in four games in the CG Insurance Super50 Cup with a 61-run win over the Windward Islands Volcanoes at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad & Tobago on Monday.

After winning the toss and choosing to bat first, the Harpy Eagles were restricted to just 190 all out off 43 overs.

Openers Anthony Bramble (60) and Tagenarine Chanderpaul (30) put on a partnership of 93 before they were both dismissed in the 18^th over. The only other batsmen to reach double figures were Shimron Hetmyer with 37 and Kevin Sinclair with 36 as Justin Greaves took 4-39 from eight overs for the Volcanoes.

Gudakesh Motie and Sherfane Rutherford then combined for six wickets to help restrict the Windwards to 129 all out in 38 overs.

Sunil Ambris (43) and Kavem Hodge (38) did the bulk of the scoring for the Windwards against Motie’s 3-31 off nine overs and Rutherford’s 3-25 off eight overs.

Guyana have now overtaken the Trinidad & Tobago Red Force at the top of Group A with 12 points from four games while the Windwards remain third on eight, two points behind T&T.

The fixtures for the 2022 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and the inaugural Women’s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL) have been confirmed. The tournament will visit St Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago and culminate in the final in Guyana.

The opening day of the tournament will see the Trinbago Knight Riders Women take on the Barbados Royals women before the current Men’s champions, St Kitts & Nevis Patriots, begin their title defence against the Jamaica Tallawahs.

The women’s CPL will feature four matches in the inaugural 2022 season in addition to the seven women’s games at the SKYEXCH 6IXTY which takes place immediately before Hero CPL.  This is 11 matches in total, representing a big step forward in the scheduling of women’s franchise cricket in the region, with plans to grow this in subsequent years.

“It is very exciting to be able to confirm the fixtures for this season with this announcement being all the more special with the WCPL taking place for the first time in 2022,” said CPL CEO Pete Russell. “We can’t wait to be back travelling around the Caribbean and we are looking forward to welcoming our wonderful fans to stadiums across the region.”

2022 CPL schedule below:

 Wednesday 31 August, 3 pm

Trinbago Knight Riders Women vs Barbados Royals Women

 

Wednesday 31 August, 7 pm

St Kitts & Nevis Patriots Men vs Jamaica Tallawahs Men

 

Thursday 1 September, 10 am

Saint Lucia Kings Men vs Trinbago Knight Riders Men

 

Thursday 1 September, 3 pm

Guyana Amazon Warriors Women vs Trinbago Knight Riders Women

 

Thursday 1 September, 7 pm

St Kitts & Nevis Patriots Men vs Barbados Royals Men

 

Saturday 3 September, 10 am

Jamaica Tallawahs Men vs Guyana Amazon Warriors Men

 

Saturday 3 September, 3 pm

Barbados Royals Women vs Guyana Amazon Warriors Women

 

Saturday 3 September, 7 pm

St Kitts & Nevis Patriots Men vs Trinbago Knight Riders Men

 

Sunday 4 September, 10 am

Barbados Royals Men vs Saint Lucia Kings Men

 

Sunday 4 September, 2:30 pm

 

WOMEN’S FINAL 

 

Sunday 4 September, 7 pm

St Kitts & Nevis Patriots Men vs Guyana Amazon Warriors Men

 

Saint Lucia

Wednesday 7 September, 10 am

Barbados Royals Men vs Trinbago Knight Riders Men

 

Wednesday 7 September, 7 pm

St Lucia Kings Men vs Jamaica Tallawahs Men

 

Thursday  8 September, 10 am

Guyana Amazon Warriors Men vs St Kitts & Nevis Patriots Men

 

Thursday  8 September, 7 pm

Saint Lucia Kings Men vs Barbados Royals Men

 

Saturday 10 September, 10 am

Jamaica Tallawahs Men vs Trinbago Knight Riders Men

 

Saturday 10 September, 7 pm

Saint Lucia Kings Men vs Guyana Amazon Warriors Men

 

Sunday 11 September, 10 am

Jamaica Tallawahs Men vs Barbados Royals Men

 

Sunday 11 September, 7 pm

Saint Lucia Kings Men vs St Kitts & Nevis Patriots Men

 

Trinidad

Tuesday 13 September, 7 pm

Trinbago Knight Riders Men vs Barbados Royals Men

 

Wednesday 14 September 10 am

Jamaica Tallawahs Men vs St Kitts & Nevis Patriots Men

 

Wednesday 14 September, 7 pm

Trinbago Knight Riders Men vs Guyana Amazon Warriors Men

 

Thursday 15 September, 10 am

Barbados Royals Men vs Jamaica Tallawahs Men

 

Saturday 17  September, 10 am

St Kitts & Nevis Patriots Men vs Saint Lucia Kings Men

 

Saturday 17  September, 7 pm

Trinbago Knight Riders Men vs Jamaica Tallawahs Men

 

Sunday 18 September, 10 am

Barbados Royals Men vs Guyana Amazon Warriors Men

 

Sunday 18 September, 7 pm

Trinbago Knight Riders Men vs Saint Lucia Kings Men

 

Guyana

Wednesday 21 September, 10 am

Barbados Royals Men vs St Kitts & Nevis Patriots Men

 

Wednesday 21 September, 7 pm

Guyana Amazon Warriors Men vs Jamaica Tallawahs Men

 

Thursday 22 September, 10 am

Trinbago Knight Riders Men vs St Kitts & Nevis Patriots Men

 

Thursday 22 September, 7 pm

Guyana Amazon Warriors Men vs Saint Lucia Kings Men

 

Saturday 24 September, 7 pm

Guyana Amazon Warriors Men vs Trinbago Knight Riders Men

 

Sunday 25 September, 10 am

 

Jamaica Tallawahs Men vs Saint Lucia Kings Men

 

Sunday 25 September, 7 pm

Guyana Amazon Warriors Men vs Barbados Royals Men

 

Tuesday 27 September, 10 am

Qualifier 1 -  1st place finisher vs 2nd place finisher

 

Tuesday 27 September, 7 pm

Eliminator – 3rd place finisher vs 4th place finisher

 

Wednesday 28 September, 7 pm

Qualifier 2 – Winner of Eliminator vs Loser of Qualifier 1

 

Friday 30 September, 7 pm

Final – Winner of Qualifier 1 vs Winner of Qualifier 2

 

 

 

Noted racing administrator and commentator Chris Armond has died after an extended battle with illness.

Armond, who was 67, was one of regional horse racing’s premier executives and served the sport in various capacities for some 40 years before retiring in 2020.

Armond, who followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather as a racing administrator, first shot to prominence as a commentator in the late 1970s.  Rated as one of the best in the business he was awarded the Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ) Golden Microphone award in 1984.

Armond went on to have a commentary stint in Detroit, Michigan before heading into administration.  During his time as an administrator, Armond served as Director of Racing at Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited (SVREL), in his home country Jamaica, Executive Officer of the Arima Race Club in Trinidad, and a chief executive at the Barbados Turf club for eight years.  Armond was celebrated for longstanding service at a ceremony, at Jamaica’s Caymanas Park in December 2020.

Cricket West Indies (CWI) should appoint Guyanese batsman Shimron Hetmyer as the new white-ball captain after the disappointing run of Kieron Pollard at the ICC T20 World Cup and, generally, for the men in Maroon.

This assertion has come from former CWI President Dave Cameron who believes that the current CWI leadership is not looking at the precedent of players’ leadership records when selecting captains.

“We felt as an organization that Hetmyer would be a future leader for West Indies. The way he conducted himself when we won the 2016 Under-19 World Cup and coming through the ranks,” Cameron said while speaking as a guest on Line & Length on SPORTSMAX.

“Hetmyer is a very confident young man, very aggressive and talented, we felt he could be someone who could lead us and be a future captain of the West Indies.”

Cameron spoke as part of a review of the leadership roles in the team and CWI managerial structure after the side won one in five matches and finished near the bottom of the table with captain Pollard once again contributing very little with the bat.

After 23 matches in four T20 World Cups, Pollard has scored 254 runs at a poor average of 14.11. Since he was appointed West Indies T20I captain in September 2019, Pollard has played 31 matches, winning 10, losing 16 with five no-results.

During the T20 World Cup, Hetmyer topped the batting with 127 runs averaging 31.75. Only two others managed over 100 runs – Evin Lewis (105, avg 21.00) and vice-captain Nicholas Pooran (103, avg: 20.60) - as the defending champions bowed out.

“I am disappointed but not surprised, we tried a different method a few years ago and we started to have results. This administration has decided that they wanted to go back to what has been tried and failed… so the results were always there,” Cameron said.

“We won two games at the 2019 World Cup and now we won one at this event. Everybody has a different strategy and different leadership styles. You require different types of leadership and management depending on where you are in your cycle.

“In 2013 when we took over, West Indies Cricket was at a serious crossroad with our players and finances and we had to make some different decisions then.

“In my mind Cricket West Indies needs professional leadership. It’s not just West Indies cricket, I think cricket as a game is not growing as it should because we focus on the game itself rather than opportunities within the sport to expand it so that so many more people can participate. That is where I was, and I think this is where we need to be heading. So, in my mind, however you want to structure CWI, you need to take it out of this parochial structure and give it the opportunity to really perform as a company.”

 

 

There were no surprises at the National Indoor Sports Centre on Wednesday night when Jamaica demolished Trinidad and Tobago 73-22 to complete a sweep of the Margaret Beckford Sunshine Series.

Cricket great Sunil Gavaskar believes having Sunil Narine batting in the Kolkata Knight Riders’ middle order is a complete waste of time as the team needs quality batsmen in their line-up to be able to reverse their fortunes in the IPL this season.

KKR are currently eighth in the IPL standings after just two wins from their seven matches to date, a position that Gavaskar believes comes down to one thing.

"To be honest, they don’t have too many classy batsmen. I don’t know how many in the dugout they can look to and say, ‘Look… why don’t you come in and bat up the order.’ Because if you have a look at their batting, apart from Shubman Gill and Morgan himself, there is no class," Gavaskar said on Cricket Connected.

"There is Andre Russell down at five or six and Dinesh Karthik,” Gavaskar continued.

“I would look at promoting Karthik up the order, because for simple reasons. There is Rahul Tripathi up. Sunil Narine at 4 or 5 whatever is a waste of space. It doesn’t make any sense having him there. If you want to have Sunil Narine, have him at the top of the order where he can throw his bat around, and maybe if he connects a few, that’s fine.

“KKR’s problem is that they haven’t got anybody at three, four, five who can play an impact innings."

 

Damion Thomas and Sparkle McKnight were winners on Saturday’s final day of the 93^rd Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays held at the Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas.