Coming off the 6-0 thrashing at the hands of Catalonia earlier this week, Jamaica has named a 20-man squad to take on Suriname and Mexico in the CONCACAF Nations League starting on June 4.

The squad sees the return of striker Shamar Nicholson, who has made himself available after his self-imposed hiatus from the national programme, as he attempted to bed in with Spartak Moscow in Russia. The oft-injured Leon Bailey has also been recalled after spending much of the recent Premier League season on the Aston Villa injury list.

The remainder of the squad includes Andre Blake, Damion Lowe, Richard King, Javain Brown, Devon Williams, Ravel Morrison, Tyreek Magee, Leon Bailey, Rolando Aarons, Amarii Bell, Jamoi Topey, Kaheem Parris, Junior Flemmings, Jamal Lowe, Amal Knight, Atapharoy Bygrave, Daniel Green, Oquassa Chong and Kenroy Campbell.

Notably absent is West Ham’s Michail Antonio, who was among Jamaica’s leading scorers in the shambolic World Cup qualifiers.

Following the June 4 encounter, the Reggae Boyz return to Jamaica a day later before tackling Suriname at the National Stadium on June 7 at 8pm. Jamaica returns to action on June 14 when they play Mexico at the National Stadium in Kingston.

The Leeward Islands Hurricanes were in command at stumps on day two of their West Indies Championship match against the Windward Islands Volcanoes at Port-of-Spain on Thursday.

At the close of play, the Leewards are 64-2 in their second innings, a lead of 224 with eight wickets in hand.

Colin Archibald scored an unbeaten 106 as the Leewards compiled a score of 333 all out from 95.5 overs. Archibald’s knock rescued the Leewards from an uncomfortable 179-9 while sharing in a 10^th-wicket stand of 154 with Daniel Doram, who scored a patient 43.

Left-arm medium pacer Preston McSween was the pick of the Windwards bowlers with 5-92 from 27.5 overs. Kenneth Dember took 2-77.

Needing 334 to overhaul the Leewards’ total, the Windwards only lasted 55 overs and were bowled out for 173 thanks to Rahkeem Cornwall, who took 5-61 in 22 overs of his off-breaks. He was supported by fast-medium pacer Jeremiah Louis who returned figures of 3-26 from 14 overs.

Only Kerron Cottoy offered any real resistance to the Leewards’ attack with an unbeaten on 73 when the innings closed.

Opener Devon Smith, 35, Alick Athanaze, 12, and Denis Smith, 11, were the only other batters in double figures.

With a commanding lead of 160, the Leewards extended that lead beyond 200 runs by the close with Montcin Hodge (24) and Kieran Powell (18), the batsmen dismissed.

Ross Powell (14) and Devon Thomas (3) will resume their innings on Friday, hoping to put the match beyond the reach of the Windward Islands.

McSween (1-7) and Josh Thomas (1-12) were the wicket takers.

Though pleased with her ‘workout' at the National Stadium in Kingston last Saturday, Derron Herah, coach and husband of Olympic champion, Elaine Thompson-Herah believes the next six weeks of preparation will be crucial.

 This is especially true if she is to realize her goal of winning her first World Championship title this summer.

The triple-gold medallist at last year’s Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, ran a smart 10.94s to win the 100m dash running into a headwind of -1.8m/s and then less than an hour later clocked a decent 22.55 to complete the double.

“Her performance is good,” her proud husband told Sportsmax.TV after the 100m final where had there been no headwind, Thompson-Herah’s time would have been 10.81.

“Today (Saturday) was mainly a training run; didn’t know she was going to run this fast. She was not necessarily pressing the gas, just basically the first 30 and trying to maintain and maintaining brought her 10.94, so we are right there. We just need to lighten up because we’re still heavy. So when the time is right we will lighten up and then go when we need to go.”

Lightening up, as Herah puts it, involves getting Thompson-Herah to approach her peak at the National Championships from June 23-26 but be at her best at the 2022 World Championships that begin in Eugene, Oregon on July 15, just over two weeks later.

He explained that with the two championships so close to each other, everything comes down to timing.

“The timing is very important. After the National Championships, we have two weeks before World Championships, so we almost have to peak in the championships and maintain that into the World Championships. We have to be very careful and very and very selective with races and how we approach races,” he said of Thompson-Herah’s preparation.

“What we are trying to do is getting her to peak for Oregon, not necessarily the trials. We will have to be in some kind of shape to indicate what we are going to do in Oregon so we have to be on that cycle now, six-seven weeks out, so by the time trials come around then we would have to be in similar shape as to what we would be in Oregon.”

The delicate nature of this phase is partly why they decided against flying to Birmingham, England last week for the Diamond League meeting after Thompson-Herah suffered some discomfort during training.

Herah explained.

“Even our decision to not go to Birmingham, we had everything in mind because we knew what the weather was going to be like and she was feeling some type of soreness. It’s not like we would go and then not run,” he said.

“We decided on the day not to go and as the week went along she started to feel a little better so I decided we would come out here today (Saturday) because we would have had a training session today anyway, so we got in two competitive runs but what we saw today was good enough.”

Thompson-Herah is down to compete at the Prefontaine Classic Diamond League meeting in Eugene, Oregon on Saturday, May 28. She lines up against some of the fastest women in the world including Dina Asher-Smith, World 60m champion, Mujinga Kambundji, Olympic gold medallist Briana Williams, Shericka Jackson, Marie Jose Ta Lou and Twanisha Terry.

The St Lucia Athletics Association has selected an 18-member squad to represent the island at the Friendship Games scheduled to get underway on Saturday, May 28, at the Stade Territorial Louis Achille, in Fort de France, Martinique.

Eleven islands are expected to participate at the Games including French Guiana, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Sint Maarten, Guadeloupe and Haiti as well as, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Kitts and Nevis, and host country Martinique.

The Boys U20 team comprises Kadeem Larcher, Cagini Pilgrim, Noel Tribune, Sirgio Mc. Kenzie, Ken Smith and Kenrick James while Mya Hippolyte, Sandrina Popo, Kayla Charles, Joy Edward and Hadassah Papius make up the U20 Girls.

Denzel Phillip, Levern Jn. Baptiste, and Milan Mitchell comprise the U17 Boys.

Naya Jules, Paige Anderson, Sierratina Hilaire and Kirsheema Ince make up the U20 Girls.

A Gerard Deulofeu hat-trick powered Catalonia to a 6-0 drubbing of the Reggae Boyz in Spain on Wednesday.

Tokyo Olympic 200m finalists Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce go head to head in the 200m at the Diamond League Meeting in Eugene, Oregon on Saturday in what promises to be an epic clash that will also feature World Indoor 60m champion Mujinga Kambudji.

Britany Anderson, Shian Salmon and Tajay Gayle emerged winners at the 2022 Duval County Challenge in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday night. At the meet, controversial American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson made her much-anticipated season debut.

West Indies bowling coach Roddy Estwick believes West Indies will miss middle order batsman Shimron Hetmyer during their upcoming tour of the Netherlands and India but hopes the player will make himself available for future tours.

The West Indies will take on the Netherlands in three ODIs on May 31, June 2 and 4. The team will then travel to Pakistan for three more ODIs on June 8, 10 and 12.

Estwick was speaking at a media conference late last week when he addressed the Hetmyer situation. Hetmyer recently withdrew from Rajasthan Royals in the IPL to travel back to Guyana for the birth of his first child.

Mere days later, he returned to the Royals which will play the Gujarat Titans on Tuesday, May 24 in the first IPL qualifier. However, the explosive Guyanese batsman has not made himself unavailable for the West Indies tours.

Estwick said the West Indies will miss his talents.

"If someone like Hetmyer's not playing, you're obviously going to miss his talent. He's having an outstanding season for Rajasthan Royals. He's doing very, very well. He's playing well,” Estwick said.

“He will be missed, but at the end of the day, he's not there. He's asked not to be selected for this tour so we have to get on without him and we hope that he will make himself available for future tours."

Notwithstanding Hetmyer’s absence, Estwick said he expects the West Indies to win the three ODI series against the Netherlands.

"Our expectation is to win all three ODIs [in the Netherlands] but it's not going to be easy," Estwick said. "Remember, a lot of the players won't have played in conditions like the ones we'll encounter in the Netherlands.

"It's about how quickly we adjust to conditions. We've only got a couple of days' practice before we go into the first ODI so it's all about adjusting and getting used to the conditions and then executing plans as well as possible."

Following an impressive season-best run over 400m at the second JAAA/SDF Jubilee Saturday night, Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Candice McLeod revealed that she has been working on a new race plan that she believes could make even faster than she was in 2021.

Inside the National Stadium in Kingston, the well-chiselled McLeod exploded at the 250m mark and pulled away from the field to win handsomely in 50.58. In her devastating wake were the Sprintec pair of Tiffany James and Ashley Williams, who ran 52.10 and 53.40 for second and third, respectively.

McLeod’s winning time was the third-fastest by a Jamaican woman behind Charokee Young (49.87) and Stacey-Ann Williams (50.21).

Surprisingly, she was pleased but not overly impressed with the performance.

 “I feel okay but I feel like I have a little more (to give). I feel like I was just working on what we have been working on in training,” she said following the victory.

The new race plan that she and coach Fitz Coleman has been putting together is intended to take her to the next level because despite running a massive personal best of 49.51 at the Olympics last summer, McLeod feels as if she needs to suffer to get the best out of her body.

“Honestly, even when I ran 49.5, I never felt like I gave it my all. I didn’t feel the leg pain, the headaches and whatever so I feel like I didn’t do enough,” she explained.

“I have always wanted to feel at my maximum regardless of what it feels like. I want to feel like I am dying so I felt like I needed to switch it up a bit to get that dying feeling. Today wasn’t bad, it still wasn’t there but it’s getting there.”

That plan has been coming together since the outdoor season began earlier this year when she opened with 51.78 at the MVP Velocity Fest meet in Kingston on April 2 before flying off to Bermuda where in extremely windy conditions on April 9, she clocked a solid 51.57. She was second in both races to the 2019 World Championship 400m bronze medallist Shericka Jackson.

The University of the West Indies accounting graduate followed up on April 23 with what was then a season-best 51.20 in Kingston.

However, just over a week ago, on May 13, the 25-year-old Olympic finalist ran her worst race of the season clocking 52.37 in a fifth place finish at the Doha Diamond League meeting. Despite the poor showing, McLeod said that race was important to her plans for this season even if things didn’t work out as planned.

“I needed Doha because after the 51.2 here, I needed to see if I could get it (the race plan) in play but, unfortunately, I didn’t do what I wanted to, so I came today even though it wasn’t part of the schedule to run,” she said while explaining what went wrong in Doha.

“It was the wind. It was bad execution by me too. Bad judgement of the wind and as for recovery, I am not too keen or known to recover well after travel but I am working on that. It takes time.”

She expressed confidence that most, if not everything, will fall into place by the time Jamaica’s National Championships roll around in late June when she believes a new lifetime best is probable as she heads into the World Championships in Oregon just over two weeks later.

“With practise comes improvement,” she said. “Everybody wants to be better than they were before so if I get that (below 49.51) then, wow. If I get 49.5, then wow again, but I am working towards just bettering myself,” said McLeod who is relishing the prospect of going up against the best that Jamaica has to offer, namely Young, Williams and defending national champion, Stephenie-Ann McPherson.

“I am very confident in my preparation, my conditioning and everything. I love competition. It’s all fun for me because I love what I do, so regardless, competition or not, I am here for it,” she said.

Jamaica’s basketball community is mourning the passing of Enid Sterling Angus, who died early Thursday morning in Florida at the age of 64.

Suffering from late-stage cancer, Sterling-Angus was on life support in a Forida hospital up until Wednesday evening when she was taken off and transitioned mere hours later leaving a massive void in Jamaica’s basketball fraternity.

For more than three decades, Sterling-Angus gave yeoman service to the sport was introduced to by chance but which she grew to love.

“I stumbled on the sport while in high school over 30 years ago. I was hanging around the stadium courts one afternoon after playing in a netball tournament there, and a friend who was a member of the Aqua Youth Swim Club invited me to join her at the Stadium pools,” she said during an interview in 2016.

“Later that evening we went back to the netball/basketball courts where the Aqua men’s team was playing in the Berger Paint league game, which is now called the National Basketball League (NBL), and I’ve been hooked ever since then.

“Ironically, I’m still not a swimmer; in fact, I’m still petrified of large pools of water. And even though I no longer reside in Jamaica, I still support the organization because I believe in their objective, which ultimately is to empower our youngsters by providing academic and athletic opportunities through scholarship.”

And support she did. She was a past vice president of overseas operations for the Jamaica Basketball Association and worked tirelessly behind the scenes providing support for Jamaica’s men’s and women’s teams.

AS a project manager for JABA, she handled logistics and planning for national teams and identified players for all national levels. She also funded national teams and youth-team initiatives and helped create scholarship opportunities for both male and female players including players like netball turned basketball player Marvadene ‘Bubbles’ Anderson, who once held the record of being the tallest teenager in the world.

Her death leaves a void within the fraternity, said JABA President Paulton Gordon.

“The Jamaica basketball community is indeed saddened by the passing of Enid Sterling Angus, a longstanding advocate and supporter of the development of basketball in Jamaica,” Gordon told Sportsmax.TV on Thursday.

“Enid was a passionate soul who loved the game and endeavoured to create platforms for our young people to access opportunities based on their God-given talent. She served as one of the overseas liaison between Jamaica basketball and key stakeholders at the FIBA and diaspora levels and was always integral in clarifying policy, rules and processes when our teams are involved in regional or international competitions.

“Enid will be sadly missed and the Jamaica basketball association uses this medium to express our deepest condolences to her immediate family and friends.”

Ajani Williams, who was JABA president between 2009 and 2014, said Enid’s impact on Jamaica’s basketball was iconic.

“Enid Angus is the definition of love of people through sport. She emptied herself in pursuit of advancing the lives of young Jamaican students and national team athletes, male and female, she squeezed every bit of the juice out of the orange for national progress through basketball,” he said.

“An African proverb says when an elder transitions a library goes with them and this is indicative of Enid’s passing. This is a big loss to basketball in Jamaica and, personally, without Enid by my side, many of the national team successes we achieved would not have happened- she is forever a teammate.”

Under Williams’ leadership, Jamaica were CARICOM Champions in 2009 and were the bronze medallists in 2011. The team won the bronze medal at the Centro Basketball Tournament in 2012, the first time Jamaica was achieving top-four, which meant they qualified for the FIBA Tournament of the Americas.

In 2013, at the FIBA Tournament of the Americas, Jamaica defeated the number nine ranked Brazil and the number-three ranked Argentina and just missed out on qualifying for the World Championships.

“The foundation of all of that was aided and supported by Enid,” Williams said.

In addition to her support of the JABA, Enid was a mentor to many Jamaican players like Kimani Ffriend, who played in the NBA and in Europe, winning the MVP title in the Serbian League in 2017. News of her passing was devastating.

“We lost a beautiful soul this morning. Enid, thank you for your warm spirit and beautiful heart,” he said in a post on social media.

“Never told me no. Always there to support me and encourage me during my toughest times. Many don’t know the sacrifices that you have made to help put Jamaica basketball on the map and the countless high school, college and pro players you have helped and identified along the way.”

Another former national representative Vashil Fernandez was in disbelief.

“Can’t believe this. Wow,” he posted while commenting on Ffriend’s post.

Meanwhile, former Women’s coach Oberon Pitterson-Nattie was saddened by the news.

“Sad to know she is no longer with it. She worked tirelessly for Jamaica basketball. May her beautiful soul rest in peace.”

Sterling Angus is survived by her three children, Martin, Terry and Donielle.

Demisha Roswell shocked everyone, herself included when she won the 100m hurdles at the Big 12 Outdoor Conference Championships at Fuller Field in Lubbock, Texas on Sunday. The Texas Tech senior edged her more heralded compatriot Ackera Nugent, the 2021 World U20 champion and a talented field, clocking 12.44, the second fastest time in the world this season and the fastest in the NCAA.

Only the 12.39 from Tokyo Olympic champion, Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, has been faster this year. Nugent’s time for second place, 12.45, is the third fastest time in the world in 2022.

The victory was a bit of a surprise for the 24-year-old Vere Technical and New Mexico Junior College alum, who went into the final having run 12.78 in her preliminary round heat. “No, I didn’t expect the time. I was more excited about the win, to be honest. I’m still in shock!”, she said.

From the gun, Roswell found herself matching strides with Nugent but was never intimidated and had no intention to yield as they raced towards the finish line.

“That’s the crazy part of the race because I told myself I want to win I have to win. I was like “Oh no,  you’re not getting away today,” she said laughing while admitting that she felt something special would happen.

“From the moment I wasn’t nervous I knew I was going to do something great. Ackera is an amazing competitor and the both of us know we got to show out and fight and that’s what I did because I wanted to win.”

Roswell credits her faith in her coaches and continuous hard work in improving her technique for getting her to this point where she is the fastest Jamaican sprint hurdler in the world this year, a significant achievement given her country’s stock in hurdling talent that includes Olympic medallist Megan Tapper, 2015 World Champion and national record holder Danielle Williams, World U20 record holder Brittany Anderson and, of course, Baylor's Nugent.

“The main factors are time, patience and faith,” she said. “Every day I have to keep improving because my hurdling is not perfect but thanks to my coaches for always trying with me to improve my hurdling.

“I don’t have the best hurdles technique because I wasn’t cut out for hurdling. I was just a 200m and a 100m runner when suddenly my coach from back home, John Mair, told me, ‘ Roswell, I think you should do hurdles. I said to him ‘Huh, me? I can’t do hurdles coach. He then said, ‘Listen, to me you’re going to do it so I went for it.”

She said when she moved to the United States to attend New Mexico Junior College, her coaches Keith Blackwill and Tabarie Henry helped her improve her technique even though it still wasn’t perfect. Still, it was good enough to win her the NJCAA Indoor 60mh title and 100mh Outdoor title in 2019 and the 60mh title in 2020.

At Texas Tech, the work to perfect her technique continues.

“Coach (Zach) Glavash got me here and Coach (Calvin) Robinson started work on me. My technique has gotten better from last year until now. I thank God for these coaches every day for working with me even though there is still room for improvement,” she said.

With the sweet taste of victory still lingering, Roswell has an eye on even bigger scalps this summer. She reveals that she plans to earn a spot on Jamaica’s team to the World Championships in Oregon this summer.

 “Most definitely that’s the aim, trying my best to make this national team,” she said.

“(I am) just looking to stay healthy and be ready because hurdling is unpredictable, anything can happen but I won’t be travelling across the ocean and not make the team. So on that day, the time will tell. I put everything in God's hands.”

Elaine Thompson-Herah has withdrawn from the Birmingham Diamond League meeting on Saturday. The Tokyo Olympics triple gold medallist cited her withdrawal as precautionary.

Former Trinidad and Tobago and Manchester United striker Dwight Yorke has signed a deal to coach Macarthur FC in Australia’s A-League. Yorke replaces Ante Milicic and will lead the Bulls for the next two seasons in what will be his first role as a senior coach.

“Having played in the augural A-League Men’s season I have continually followed the competition and am aware of both the footballing and fan demands in Australia,” said Yorke, who played for Sydney FC in the augural season of the A-League.

“I look forward to adding a positive contribution and improve the game at all levels. Of course, my primary focus will be with the Bulls, to deliver them success and a style of football that defined me as a player.”

Yorke, 50, enjoyed a successful career as a player. He won the treble – Premier League, FA Cup and  Champions League in his first season with Manchester United in 1999 when he scored 18 goals to be the leading scorer in the league.

He represented Trinidad and Tobago on 72 occasions scoring 19 goals.

Kemba Nelson took the 100/200m sprint double at the PAC 12 Conference Championships held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon on Sunday.

Julien Alfred, Demisha Roswell and Johnathan Jones pulled off impressive victories as the Big 12 Conference Championships concluded in Lubbock, Texas on Sunday.