Former Wimbledon FC defender, Andy Clement, will serve as a physical trainer for the Jamaica national team ahead of its friendly international against the United States in Austria next Thursday.
Clement, who currently plies his trade with Mount Pleasant football club, will be forced to stand in after both the national team's regular trainers Lamar Morgan and Jason Henry did not make the tour. Henry was not able to travel with the team after reportedly not managing to secure a contract in time.
Clement was suited for the job as being an Englishman he does not need a Schengen visa to enter Europe. The team was originally expected to depart the island for the US this weekend, after completing a four-day training camp at the Horace Burrell Academy.
However, the JFF was forced to quickly alter plans after it was discovered that applications for travel to Austria had to be done in person at the current time. The delegation, as a result, hastily departed the island on Tuesday in order to meet a Wednesday morning appointment for Schengen visas at the Austrian Embassy, in the United States. The group was as a result without both a physical trainer and physiotherapist, important members of the support staff.
West Indies coach, Phil Simmons, insists the team is looking for improvement in every area ahead of the first Test against Sri Lanka, on Sunday, but particularly targeted once again achieving the elusive 400 runs first innings score.
In recent matches, the regional team has carved out some momentum, following up hard-fought Test series win over Bangladesh with a T20 and dominant ODI series win over Sri Lanka. Heading into the start of Sunday’s Test series, however, Simmons is far from satisfied.
“We need to improve in every area, we had a good series but there are lots of things we need to keep improving on,” Simmons told Windies cricket.
“We need to make sure we get 400 in the first innings, which is something that we are striving for every time we play. Then we have to bowl and bat even better than we did in Bangladesh,” he added.
The West Indies reached 400 first innings runs last month, in the series against Bangladesh, but reaching the total has proven to be the exception rather than the rule. Prior to that, the team got to the total against Sri Lanka in 2018.
The highest first innings total, in the last 10 years, was 590 against India in 2011, in total they have achieved the feat seven times. By comparison, Australia has achieved the feat 27 times within the same period.
Legendary West Indies batsman, Viv Richards, was hesitant to compare the talent of players currently available to the West Indies team, with those in his heyday, as he believes eras are simply too different.
Richards represented the West Indies for close to two decades, following his debut in 1974. For the majority of his career, the Windies were known as the world’s best cricket team, securing two World Cups during that time.
The Master Blaster, as he is otherwise known, played alongside some of the game’s greatest players, the likes of Clive Lloyd, Desmond Haynes, Gordon Greenidge, and bowlers Malcolm Marshal, Joel Garner, Collin Croft, and Michael Holding, to name a few, listed among his teammates. Recently, the team has fallen far from that type of dominance.
For some, the quality comparison between the talent that was available then regionally, and the current crop, is an open and shut case with overwhelming favourability for the former. For Richards, however, it isn’t that simple.
“It’s always tough for you to make comparisons of what took place yesterday to what’s happening today because I think the game would have moved on big time as well,” Richards told the Antigua Observer.
“There are a lot of things you would have had yesterday that (are) missing today and a lot of things you have today were missing yesterday, so, it’s a tough task for any individual to make comparisons,” he added.
One thing he insists that players can do from any era is to get the job done, regardless of the challenges.
“The best way I would look at that is the period of time we were asked to work because remember we are not all the same age at this particular time. So, considering the times in which we all played and what was put in front of us at that particular time, we got the job done and you may ask that of the individuals today to do the very same. I don’t think I can give a definite answer to which period was better, and whoever was making whatever comparison; but all these individuals, at the time they came, they did good,” he said.
The West Indies Legends were denied in their bid to reach the inaugural final of the Road Safety World Series (RSWS) T20 after losing by 12 runs to the India Legends.
India batting great Sachin Tendulkar led the way with 65, as the host team posted 218 for 3 after facing their 20 overs. Earlier, the match was lit up by a cameo from Virender Sehwag who made 35, while Yuvraj Singh cashed in with three sixes in his brisk 37 off 20.
In pursuit of the target, a 99-runs second wicket partnership between opener Dwayne Smith and Narsingh Deonarine got the Windies off to a strong start. While Batting icon Brian Lara’s 46 from 28 balls brought the Windies to within 24 runs of the target with two overs remaining.
However, a stifling spell from Indian seamers Vinjay Kumar and Irfan Pathan scuppered the regional team’s run chase. It was Kumar who accounted for the dangerous Lara in the 19th over and also removed bowler Tino Best at a crucial juncture. The West Indies finished on 206 for 6. Best claimed two wickets, including that of Tendulkar in the first innings. Kumar claimed two for the India Legends who will face Sri Lanka Legends in Friday’s final.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) incumbent, Ricky Skerritt, has dismissed threats from presidential candidate Anand Sanasie as part of a ‘hopeful’ strategy designed to disqualify him from seeking re-election.
Earlier this week, Sanasie admitted to beginning procedures to bring Skerritt before the CWI Ethics Committee. If the complaint is ignored at the regional level, the Guyana Cricket Board Secretary has not ruled out instructing his attorneys to bring the matter before the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Sanasie has accused Skerritt of improper conduct after alleging that a meeting between the latter, other board members of CWI, and Guyana Minister of Sports Charles Ramson Jr was not only illegitimately convened but that the decisions stemming from it, namely a quickly convened Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) election, were specifically designed to keep him off the ballot. Ramson Jr has flatly rejected the assertions.
In response, Skerritt painted Sanasie’s actions as more of a desperate ploy than anything else.
“He is creating an illusion that somehow I will be disqualified from the election,” Skerritt told Sports Grill.
“It is his dream and his hope that I will be disqualified from the election because it is the only chance they would ever have of winning,” he added.
The CWI presidential elections are set to take place this Sunday.
Half-centuries from Kyle Mayers and Roston Chase were the highlights of the second day of Cricket West Indies’ President’s XI vs Sri Lanka as the fixture ended in a predictable draw.
Left-hander Mayers made a typically stroke-filled 57 off just 66 balls as the President’s XI took a first-innings lead of 122. He used the match as ideal preparations for the first Sandals Test match, which starts on Sunday at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
They started the second day on 103-1 and made 294 in reply to Sri Lanka’s first innings 172. In the second innings, the visitors were 56-0 when the match was called off at 4:50 pm.
Mayers hit 11 fours, mainly fierce cuts, and powerful drives and added 76 for the fourth wicket with Shamarh Brooks, who made 19 before he was magnificently snapped up at slip by Lahiru Thirimanne off-spinner Danajaya De Silva (3-26).
Chase then came to the crease and showed his class. The tall right-hander was excellent against the spinner as he scored 52 off 81 balls with eight fours. He was especially fluent through the on-side before he was dismissed leg-before wicket to left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya (3-69). This knock capped a very good match for Chase, who also took 4-12 on the opening day with his off-spin.
In the final session, Sri Lanka’s openers Thirimanne (27 not out) and Dimuth Karunarathne (23 not out) batted out the final 13 overs.
Former Windies wicketkeeper, Deryck Murray, believes it is important for the team to cultivate the habit of winning and admits to being encouraged by the displays in recent weeks.
The West Indies followed up a gutsy away win over Bangladesh, with a hard-fought T20 series win over Sri Lanka, before putting on a dominant display in a One Day International (ODI) series against the same opponents.
While some may view the results with an air of skepticism, due to what they believe is inferior opposition, Murray was quick to point out that the team’s approach and attitude in recent encounters was just as important as the results and could augur well for the future.
“We are at a stage where West Indies cricket, let’s face facts, is at the bottom of the rung and we have taken the opportunity to beat teams on an equal footing with us or just above us,” Murray told the Mason and Guest radio show.
“What we saw in the One Days against Sri Lanka were people playing to their responsibilities within the team…we saw that in areas of the One Day game where people were called up to bowl at different times, people coming to bowl at the death, etc. People were moving out of their comfort zone and doing what the team needed,” he added.
“Between going from number 9 to number 1 there are going to be obstacles and hiccups along the way. We are not going to beat everybody as we go along but being able to win in tight situations is key, forget whether it was Bangladesh or Sri Lanka. In tight situations, we came out of it winning. Players are going to start believing they can win. So, when we face England, Australia, India, or New Zealand, it’s not going to be us trying to do something as a one-off but let’s get into a situation to give ourselves a chance to win. You are going to start winning more than you are losing.”
The West Indies will now turn their attention to securing victory over Sri Lanka in the two-match Test series, which begins on Sunday.
Shai Hope hit a brilliant unbeaten half-century to follow up Roston Chase’s four-wicket haul as Cricket West Indies’ President’s XI dominated Sri Lanka on Wednesday’s first day of a two-day tour match.
After bowling out the visitors for just 172 just after tea, the President’s XI reached the close on 103-1 with Hope unbeaten on a stroke-filled 60 off just 72 balls.
Hope was the embodiment of class as he played several stunning shots, the two best of which went for sixes. The first was a nonchalant flick over deep square leg and the second a slog sweep smacked with great authority, which cleared wide long-on by some distance. He has also hit ten fours so far. Left-hander Darren Bravo ended the day on a solid 30 not out off 69 balls and has so far put on 94 for the second wicket with Hope.
Chase had earlier picked up 4-12 as Sri Lanka collapsed from 137-5 to lose their last five wickets for 35 runs in quick time. Oshada Fernando top-scored with 47, Dinesh Chandimal struck 40 while Pathum Nissanka made 23.
From the outset, Sri Lanka were never allowed to settle, as fast bowler Anderson Phillip snatched 3-47 and seamer Kemar Roach, 2-41, to cause problems early in the innings. Roach removed both openers in successive overs. He got left-hander Lahiru Thirimanne to play around a full-length delivery and gained a leg-before decision in the day’s third over.
He then had captain Dimuth Karunaratne (2) caught at first slip by Kyle Mayers, after Chase at second slip parried the initial offering. There were also four catches for wicket-keeper Jahmar Hamilton, who demonstrated excellent glovework behind the stumps.
Legendary West Indies captain, Clive Lloyd, believes that the fighting spirit and professional display that led to a 2-0 series win, in Bangladesh, has spread to the rest of the team.
So far, the general consensus is that the regional team has, at times, been fairly impressive in the ongoing series against Sri Lanka. They battled to a 2-1 win in the T20 series, but then swept the visitors aside in a confident display during the One Day International series.
Lloyd believes some of that confidence stems from the performance of the Kraigg Brathwaite unit, which was understrength and underestimated heading to last month’s tour of Bangladesh but battled to a surprise 2-0 Test series win.
“I believe it is because of the way our players played in Bangladesh, that it trickled down. They put their head down and batted intelligently and won,” Lloyd told the Mason and Guest radio program.
“It galvanized those other guys to do the same. We had 274, 270-odd and we looked good. We batted well. (Things were tighter) in the T20s but we won out because we are getting that professional attitude back and that I think it is because of the guys winning in Bangladesh.”
The team will look to take the momentum into the two-match Test series, which will get underway on Sunday.
Several regular players will be missing from the Jamaica Reggae Boyz line-up when they face regional powerhouse the United States, in a friendly international, in Austria, next Thursday.
When the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) released a final 18-man squad on Tuesday, the likes of regular team captain and custodian Andre Blake, defender Damion Lowe, and Bayer Leverkusen winger Leon Bailey were a few missing from the line-up.
At present, some members of the national squad have been locked in tense negotiations with the JFF, and according to reports, have yet to sign contracts ensuring their availability to represent the national team.
The squad will in the meantime see the return of defender Adrian Mariappa (Bristol Rovers), Michael Hector (Fulham) with potential debuts for English-based talents Leon Moore, Ethan Pinnock (Brentford), and Watford striker Andre Gray. Also making a return to the squad will be former Manchester United youth player Ravel Morrison.
The United States have been in top form in recent friendly internationals, handing Trinidad and Tobago a 7-0 thrashing in their previous match Prior to that, they registered a 6-0 win over another CONCACAF team El Salvador and a 6-2 win over Panama.
The match will take place at the Stadion Wiener Neustadt at 12:00pm (Jamaica time).
Full squad
The Jamaica Anti-Doping Disciplinary (JADCO) has convened an Independent Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel to hold a disciplinary hearing for national bodybuilder Deidre Lewis.
A few weeks ago, revelations came to light that an athlete had returned an adverse analytical finding, but the details of the situation have been kept relatively close to the association.
According to the release, Lewis will face the disciplinary panel via a virtual hearing, on Thursday. The release also stated that the hearing, as is the protocol of JADCO, will be held in-camera.
Lewis, who competes in the Bikini Fitness Short Class category, won the national title last year, before competing in Aruba last August where she was second in the short class, finishing behind Febe Moreno of Mexico. Lewis was third overall in the Bikini Fitness category.
The local contingent of the Jamaica national football team was forced to hastily depart the island on Tuesday, hastily scrapping a camp that was to be held at the UWI/JFF/Captain Horace Burrell Centre over the next few weeks.
According to a release, the issue was caused by the fact the Austrian Embassy, in Washington, would not accept digital applications. As such all players and officials who wished to secure the relevant documentation for the trip were required to be present at the embassy by 9:00 am on Wednesday, March 17.
Originally, the 14-man all locally-based players were to take part in the camp at the academy before departing for Austria this weekend to meet up with the rest of the squad, which consists of overseas-based players. The JFF expressed disappointment with the unexpected turn of events.
“The JFF was indeed disappointed that an environment that would have allowed our players to once again begin to practice their craft could not be fully utilised at this time,” the organisation said via its release.
“The Federation sincerely thanks the Minister of Culture, Gender Entertainment and Sport, Hon. Olivia Grange, as well as officers at the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management and the Ministry of Health and Wellness for their extraordinary support in establishing protocols and procedures for the camp. We remain very grateful for the work done and the cooperative spirit that has developed on both sides,” it added.
“These protocols will still be utilised going forward as the national team prepares for the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup and the World Cup Qualifiers.”
The match against the USA is scheduled for the Stadion Wiener Neustadt, in Austria, next Thursday.
Legendary West Indies fast bowler turned pundit, Michael Holding, has revealed his powerful, impassioned plea for an end to institutionalised racism had just come ‘spilling’ out, following the death of American George Floyd.
Floyd’s death, at the hands of police officer Derek Chauvin last year, prompted global outcry and worldwide protests. In response to the incident, Holding gave powerful testimony about racial injustice, during Sky Cricket's coverage of England against West Indies in July 2020.
Holding won the Sports Journalists' Association (SJA) Award for Best Pundit in 2020 at the SJA Awards and Sky Sports won the Sports Network of the Year category. The Sports Pundit award is decided by an SJA Members' vote.
The West Indian revealed the speak has simply come from thoughts that have been buried deep in his consciousness for a number of years now.
"People don't understand what it is like to go through life and always thinking that people think less of you than what you think of yourself,” Holding said at the online awards ceremony.
"It can be a little bit tiring and when I got that opportunity it just came spilling out,” he added.
He, however, holds out hope that the process that could lead to lasting change has already begun.
"If you just look at the protests on the road and look at the faces of the people that were on the road. I saw a Swedish women's football team take a knee before a game, so it is going all over the world that people are recognising that things need to be done, and it's about time it did."
Reigning sprint double world record holder, Usain Bolt, insists he would not be perturbed if his world records were broken with the aid of advancing athletics shoe technology.
Recently, athletics sportswear giant Nike unveiled the controversial Nike Zoom Air Viperfly spikes. The shoe's advance design has a carbon fibre mechanism under the ball of the foot that acts like a springboard, which will generate more power in the sprinter's stride and hence lead to faster times. The technology is geared towards helping the athlete in the last 20 metres of the race.
This version of the shoe, which has been designed specifically with 100m sprinters in mind, as it stands, will not be produced for this summer’s 2020 Tokyo Olympics. This is due to the fact that the design currently falls afoul of the World Athletics regulations.
At some point, however, the introduction of such technology is bound to give athletes chasing the Jamaican’s marks a big advantage. Bolt insists, however, that he has always placed more emphasis on titles in any case and would not be fretting over the records.
“I’m not going to be worried. The fact that everyone will know why then it doesn’t bother me. As I’ve always said, I’m happy to be the fastest man in the world but it was always the gold medals that mattered to me because that is how you really prove yourself,” Bolt told CNN.
“There are so many people that can say I am a former World record holder, but they're not a lot that can say I won three Olympic gold medals (In one event), back-to-back,” he added.
“To me, that is why I pushed myself so hard to dominate because I know at any point in time anyone can break your world record. If you put so much emphasis on that, then what would you have left?”
Bolt’s world-leading marks of 9.58, in the 100m, and 19.19, in the 200m, have stood since 2009. The Jamaican retired from the sport in 2017.
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