Sri Lanka reached 113-1 at the end of a rain-shortened opening day of the second Test against the West Indies at Galle on Monday.

Odean Smith’s 11-ball 32 proved instrumental to the Deccan Gladiators’ 19-run victory over Northern Warriors in the Abu Dhabi T10 League on Sunday.

England’s Roses took a 1-0 lead in their three-Test series against Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls after they rallied to win 55-45 before a packed Copper Box Arena in London on Sunday.

Jamaica started well, outscoring their opponents 11-10 and 26-25 at the end of the first quarter and half-time, respectively. Jamaica’s lead was largely down to outstanding performances from Kadie-Ann Dehaney and Shamera Sterling, who caused England’s shooters significant challenges in the first half.

England’s defensive players turned the tables against Jamaica after the interval Eboni Usoro-Brown kept Jhaniele Fowler quiet and forced multiple changes in Jamaica's attack-end as the home side took control of the game to outscore Jamaica 16-9 in the third quarter and 14-10 in the fourth to pull off a commanding victory.

Fowler scored 40 of 41 attempts for the Sunshine Girls, who also got five goals from Shanice Beckford.

Jo Harten scored 30 of 39 and Eleanor Cardwell 20 of 22 for the Roses.

England had lost four of their last five games against Jamaica.

The second and third Tests will be played on December 4 and 5 at the Motor Point Arena

Chris Gayle followed up his unbeaten 52 for Team Abu Dhabi late last week with a 16-ball 30 as Team Abu Dhabi scored a seven-wicket victory over bottom-placed Chennai Braves in the Abu Dhabi T10 league on Sunday.

Five student-athletes on Friday received cheques ranging from J$50,000 to J$60,000 under Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce’s Pocket Rocket Foundation scholarship programme that rewards beneficiaries based on outstanding academic performance whilst competing and representing their respective schools in any sporting discipline.

Chris Gayle smashed 52 runs from just 23 balls but Team Abu Dhabi lost by 10 runs to Bangla Tigers in the Abu Dhabi T10 league on Friday.

Northern Warriors crashed to yet another defeat in the Abu Dhabi T10 on Thursday, losing by eight wickets to Dwayne Bravo’s Delhi Bulls by eight wickets with a ball to spare, despite a blistering half-century from their captain, Rovman Powell.

Cricket West Indies is hoping to give Chris Gayle a proper send-off at Sabina Park when it hosts Ireland for a white-ball series in January next year.

Sri Lanka completed a comprehensive 187-run victory over the West Indies at Galle on Thursday despite defiant half-centuries from Nkrumah Bonner and Joshua da Silva.

The West Indies will be praying for a lot more rain come Thursday as they stare defeat squarely in the face after slumping to 52-6 in their second innings still needing 296 runs for what would be an improbable, if not impossible victory.

After rain delayed the start of the fourth day of the Test, the West Indies resuming from their overnight score of 224-9, were eventually bowled out for 230 when Praveen Jayawickrama trapped Shannon Gabriel lbw for 2 leaving Joshua Da Silva not out on 15.

Jayawickrama finished with figures of 4-40 from 19.5 overs to be the best of Sri Lanka’s bowlers.

Leading by 156 on first innings, Sri Lanka led by Captain Dimuth Karunaratne’s 83 and Angelo Matthews unbeaten 69, raced to 191-4 in 40.5 overs, setting West Indies a target of 348.

The pair put on 123 for the third-wicket that effectively batted the West Indies out of the match.

Rahkeem Cornwall took 2-60 while Jomel Warrican finished with 2-42.

Batting a second time the West Indies batsmen were bamboozled by the Sri Lankan spinners crumbling to 18-5 by midway the 12^th over.

Ramesh Mendis did most of the damage taking 4-17. He was supported by Lasith Embuldeniya, who took 2-18.

They did meet some late resistance, though, as Da Silva and Nkrumah Bonner, the only batsmen to reach double figures, have so far but on 38 for the seventh wicket. The former is not out in 15 while Bonner is on 18. They will be hoping to bat throughout Thursday’s final day with hopeful eyes on the clouds above.

A quick-fire half-century from Rovman Powell was not enough to prevent Northern Warriors from being defeated by the Bangla Tigers in the Abu Dhabi T10 on Monday.

Batting first, the 2018 champions made 126-4 from their 10 overs spurred by Powell’s 63 from 27 balls. The Jamaican all-allrounder smashed four fours and six sixes that propelled Warriors from 42-3 at the end of four overs.

Powell and Samit Patel added 80 in the last six overs before he got out off the penultimate ball of the innings. Patel remained unbeaten on 21 from 13 balls.

Needing 125 for victory, the Tigers scored 10 runs from the opening over but then lost Andre Fletcher for one at the start of the second over.

Willy Jacks replaced Fletcher and set about the bowling. He and Hazratullah Zazai added 23 for the second wicket before the latter was dismissed for 17.

However, before Jacks got going, he was losing wickets at the other end as Faf du Plessis (1), Karim Janar (16) and Johnson Charles (1) all went cheaply to see the Tigers slip to 58-5.

With 23 balls left Tigers needed 67 for victory and Jacks and Benny Howell delivered. Jacks hit eight fours and three sixes while Howell smashed four fours and a six in the 11 balls he faced to power their team to victory with five balls to spare.

Samit Patel gave up 19 runs in seven balls to finish with 1-19 while Rayad Emrit took 1-31 from his two overs. Chris Jordan was the most expensive of the bowlers, his one over going for 21 runs.

West Indies were in a world of trouble at the end of day two of the first Test against Sri Lanka at Galle on Monday. Chasing a target of 386, the West Indies slumped to 113-6 at stumps still 273 runs behind on a day that promised much but instead descended into disaster.

When City Commissioner Alexandra Davis received a request for the city to host an auction and fundraiser for Jamaican Olympian Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in October, she jumped at the opportunity.

An unbeaten century by Dimuth Karunaratne and half-centuries from Pathum Nissanka and Dhananjaya de Silva put Sri Lanka in a position of strength at 267-3 at stumps of the opening day of the first Test against the West Indies in Galle on Sunday.

Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce was the toast of South Florida at the Miramar Cultural Centre in South Florida on Tuesday night at a red-carpet event that also served as an auction and fundraiser for her Pocket Rocket Foundation.

At the event dubbed ‘An Evening with an Olympian’, the four-time Olympian raised thousands of US dollars auctioning a pair of her running spikes, competition gear, a wig, a painting of mother and son by Mark Cameron and a weekend stay at the Altamont West Hotel.

However, the high-points of the evening were the presentation of a Lifetime Achievement Award to the four-time 100m World Champion by Consul General Oliver Mair, the keys to the city of Miramar and Broward County as well as having Alexandra Davis, a City Commissioner for Miramar, declare November 16, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Day.

Consul General Mair told Sportsmax.TV that it was an evening when everything went according to plan and that Fraser-Pryce made it worth the while for all who turned out. She engaged the guests in conversation and took pictures with all who had requested.

“We have many icons that have made Jamaica proud; Marcus Garvey, Bob Marley, Miss Lou, Usain Bolt, Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is among the most decorated athletes of all time and she has done in a most respectable and humble manner,” said Consul General Mair, who presented Fraser-Pryce with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

“Her focus is always looking to empower others. Even in her book ‘The Promise’ she seeks to empower young people. Her foundation was also set up to support others.

“She has been doing this since 2008 in the sport, a woman who has put Jamaica on the world map following in the footsteps of Merlene Ottey and Veronica Campbell-Brown.”

For her part, Fraser-Pryce said she was thankful for the turnout and support she received for her foundation.

“Thank you to those in attendance especially the individuals that supported the auction,” she said in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

“I cannot forget those persons that donated despite not being able to attend. As more is poured into me, the more I will continue to pour out to others. This is how we create lasting change for generations to come.”

Since 2008, when she became the first Jamaican woman to win an Olympic 100m title, Fraser-Pryce has gone on to create a legacy as arguably the greatest female sprinter in history. She won Olympic 100m titles in Beijing in 2008 and again in London in 2012 and is one of only four women to do the same – Wyoma Tyus (1964, ’68), Gail Devers (1992, ’96) and Elaine Thompson-Herah (2016, ’21).

Along the way, Fraser-Pryce also won four 100m World titles (2009, 2013, 2017 and 2019) as well as a 200m title in 2013.

This past summer, Fraser-Pryce added to her already rich legacy when she won a silver medal in the 100m at the Tokyo Olympics, becoming the only woman to win medals in the Olympic 100m for four consecutive Games.

She added a third Olympic gold medal to her trophy case as a member of Jamaica’s 4x100m relay team that won in a national record 41.02, the third-fastest time ever.

Her work off the track has also been extraordinary. Through the Pocket Rocket Foundation, she has provided scholarships to scores of student-athletes enabling them to complete their high school education and to pursue tertiary education.

She has also hosted an annual Christmas treat for the children of Waterhouse where for the past few years she has also staged a six-a-side football competition aimed at maintaining peace within the under-served community.

Meanwhile, Consul General Mair said he was thankful to Jamaican-born elected officials in South Florida for their support of the event notwithstanding the short notice they had, explaining that they have always been supportive of similar ventures that are beneficial to the Diaspora.