Trinidadian pacer Anderson Phillip took two wickets in his debut for County Championship outfit Lancashire but it wasn’t enough to prevent them from going down by an innings and 63 runs to Durham in their Division 1 encounter from September 9-12 at the Riverside Ground in Chester-Le-Street.

Durham, after winning the toss and electing to field first, restricted Lancashire to 228 all out in 94.3 overs.

Matty Hurst led the way with 90 while Josh Bohannon made 49 against 5-44 off 25 overs from medium pacer Ben Raine and 3-58 off 26 overs from Matthew Potts, who recently represented England in their Test series against Sri Lanka.

Durham then put themselves in a dominant position with the bat, putting the Lancashire bowlers to the sword on the way to a mammoth 573-9 in 135.3 overs before declaring with a lead of 345 runs.

South Africa Test batsman David Bedingham led the way with a career best first class score of 279 off 359 balls including 27 fours and a six.

Netherlands all-rounder Colin Ackerman provided excellent support for Bedingham with 186 off 312 balls including 17 fours.

Spinner Luke Wells took 4-69 off 13.3 overs while Phillip took 2-101 off his 21 overs.

A career best spell from Matthew Potts then steered Durham to an innings win.

The medium pacer ran through the Lancashire batting on the way to figures of 9-68 from his 24.2 overs.

Similar to the first innings, Matty Hurst and Josh Bohannon led the way with the bat for Lancashire with 67 and 56, respectively.

Anderson Phillip showed fight with a 68-ball 41 batting at number 10.

Jonathan Grant High took the early lead in Zone B of the 2024 ISSA Manning Cup thanks to a 9-0 hammering of Gaynstead High at the Papine High School field on Monday.

The 1999 Walker Cup champions lead defending Manning Cup title holders Mona High by two goals on goal difference after the first round of matches in Zone B.

In the other Zone B game on Monday, three-time Manning Cup champions Charlie Smith defeated Tarrant High 4-0 at Jacisera Park.

In Zone C, 16-time winners Kingston College had a disappointing start to their season with a 2-2 draw against Penwood High at Maverley Field.

Campion College took the early lead in Zone C thanks to a 4-0 win over Cumberland High at Cumberland while Jose Marti scored a big win of their own, 5-2 over Meadowbrook at Meadowbrook, to slot in at second on goal difference.

Tivoli Gardens High took the early lead in Zone D thanks to a 4-1 win over Denham Town High at Tivoli.

10-time Manning Cup winners Wolmer’s Boys also opened their season with a win, 3-1 over St. Jago High at St. Jago.

St. Mary’s College and Edith Dalton James High played out a 1-1 draw in the day’s other Zone D encounter.

Jamaica’s Ackeem Blake and the Dominican Republic’s Alexander Ogando both secured wins at the Gala dei Castelli, a two-day World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meet in Bellinzola, Switzerland from September 8-9.

Blake, a bronze medallist at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow earlier this season, continued his fine form lately with 9.96 to win the men’s 100m ahead of South Africa’s Akani Simbine (10.04) and Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme (10.11).

Ogando, a 200m finalist at the Paris Olympics last month, won the event in Switzerland comfortably in 20.19 ahead of Canada’s Aaron Brown (20.49) and Switzerland’s William Reis (20.55).

Both Blake and Ogando will be in action at the Wanda Diamond League final from September 13-14 in Brussels.

On the women’s side, Puerto Rican Olympic medallist Jasmine Camacho-Quinn took top spot in the women’s 100m hurdles in 12.52, just ahead of American Grace Stark (12.54). Switzerland’s Ditaji Kambundji ran 12.82 in third.

Camacho-Quinn will also be in action in Brussels.

Kane Watson and Keeara Whyte emerged as the respective Men’s and Women’s open singles champions at the 2024 Jamaica Table Tennis Association (JTTA) National Senior and Junior Championships held from September 6-8 at the National Indoor Sports Center in Kingston.

Watson returned from retirement to claim his sixth national title by a score of 4-3 in a seven-game thriller over 2023 champion Mark Phillips.

Watson won the first three sets 11-7, 11-3 and 11-8 before Phillips rallied to win the next three sets 11-6, 11-5 and 11-9, setting up a decisive seventh set.

It was a close contest throughout but Watson held his nerve to emerge victorious by a score of 11 points to nine.

In the women’s singles final, Keara Whyte got the better of defending champion Tsenaye Lewis in a 4-0 straight-sets win.

Whyte won the first set comfortable 11-4 before two hard fought sets (11-9, 11-9) in the second and third.

The fourth set proved to be the most competitive with Lewis fighting to prolong proceedings but Whyte eventually prevailed 12-10 to secure the title.

Watson and singles semi-finalist Paulton Madden combined to win the men’s doubles title while sisters Tsenaye and Gianna Lewis took the women’s double crown.

As far as the juniors are concerned, the following were the respective age-group winners: Kaylor Dyer (U-9 and U-11 Girls), Shacoil Bird (U-9 Boys), Malone Bird (U-11 Boys), Kira Scott (U-13 and U-15 Girls), Ajani Spencer (U-13 Boys), Gmarco Smith (U-15 Boys), Keeara Whyte (U-19 Girls), Azizi Johnson (U-19 Boys).

Andrea Wadsworth and Phillip Drummond won the women’s and men’s Over-40 singles titles.

Kingston took the title as the top women’s parish team while St. Andrew took the men’s crown.

Olympic 100m champion Julien Alfred will only be doing the 100m at the Wanda Diamond League final in Brussels, Belgium from September 13-14.

The 23-year-old St. Lucian, who also took 200m silver at the Paris Olympics last month, confirmed her participation in the marquee event after her run at the Zurich Diamond League on September 6.

There, in her first race since her history-making performance in Paris, Alfred produced a time of 10.88 to finish second to American Sha’Carri Richardson in a rematch of the final in Paris where Alfred took gold in a personal best and St. Lucian record 10.72.

“It felt good. Right now, I’m just really having fun and trying to finish strong,” Alfred told Citius Mag after her race in Zurich, noting that she hasn’t really got a chance to relax since Paris.

“I did for a few days but I really haven’t had a chance to take it all in yet,” she said.

The 2023 Bowerman Award winner described her training since the Olympics as “up and down,” noting that she’s still just fine tuning and working on other things.

As it relates to her final race of the season in Brussels, Alfred says she has no particular goal in mind.

“Nothing in particular, really. Just finishing strong. That’s all I care about,” she said.

Finally, Alfred still hasn’t got a chance to go back to St. Lucia since the Olympics, instead heading to her home base in Texas to finish out the season.

“Just celebrating with my country” was Alfred’s response when asked what she’s looking forward to when she returns home for the first time as an Olympic champion.

Defending champions Clarendon College opened their ISSA DaCosta Cup campaign with a tense 2-1 win over Denbigh High at the Catherine Hall Stadium in Montego Bay, Jamaica on Saturday.

Clarendon College took an early lead in the fourth minute when Justin Hayles latched on to a through ball to finish across Denbigh goalkeeper Kevin Pryce into the bottom corner.

They went two ahead when Terron Williams scored directly from a corner kick in the 22^nd minute.

Denbigh were the more attacking team to start the second 45 minutes and were handed a lifeline when Tayo Cross converted a late spot kick won by substitute Rahjaun Cassanova.

In the end, however, Clarendon College held their nerve to ensure that they got the three points to kick off the defense of their title.

Clarendon College will next take on Lennon High on September 14 while Denbigh will face Claude McKay a day earlier.

Mona High School started the defense of their first ever ISSA Manning Cup title with a dominant 7-0 thrashing of opponents Waterford High at Catherine Hall Stadium in Montego Bay, St. James on Saturday.

Man of the match Carlton Brown scored a pair of goals in the 17^th and 37^th minutes, the first being a brilliant right-footed strike from long range that evaded Waterford goalkeeper Jaheim Daley.

In between those two strikes, Savi-K Morton made it 2-0 in the 31^st minute through a well-placed left-footed shot from just inside the 18-yard box.

Captain Robino Gordon made it 4-0 ten minutes later with a close-range finish, a score that would hold until the end of the first half.

Just a minute into the second 45 minutes, Alex Suazo made it 5-0 with the second long-range strike of the day.

The scoring was completed by Kshaine Gordon (67’) and Denzel McKenzie (70’).

“It’s really important to get off to a good start and we have more to come,” Brown said in a post-match interview.

Mona assistant coach Kyle Butler believes his team could have done even better but was happy with the win nonetheless.

“Definitely a statement win. The foundation is there but we’re still in second gear. We still have a lot that we can improve on. We could have won 10-0 easily but as I said the foundation is there and we want to build on that,” he said.

Waterford High coach Kevin Reid expressed disappointment at his team’s performance.

“It’s a disappointing start for us. Experience got the better of us today. Nevertheless, I believe they learned something to day and I believe the best team won. We just have to get back in training and put in some more work and, hopefully, we will have a better second game,” he said.

Mona will next take on Jonathan Grant on September 12 while Waterford will tackle Charlie Smith on the same day.

Jamaican shot putter Rajindra Campbell made more history at the Ivan Ivancic Memorial in Zagreb on Saturday.

The 28-year-old, who became the first Jamaican to medal in a throws event at the Olympic Games with his bronze medal in Paris, established a new national record of 22.31m to finish third at Saturday’s meet behind American Olympic and World champion and world record holder Ryan Crouser who threw a meet record 22.93m to win and Payton Otterdahl who threw 22.46m in second.

Campbell opened his competition with 21.05m before going down to 20.61m in the second round.

He then signaled his intent for a big throw with 21.56m in round three before unleashing his national record-breaking throw in round four.

He fouled his next two attempts which didn’t matter as no one else was able to eclipse his mark.

Campbell broke his own previous national record 22.22m done in Madrid last year.

Jamaican World under-20 400m record holder Roshawn Clarke is pleased after securing his first win on the Diamond League circuit in Zurich on Thursday.

The former Camperdown High star produced a fast 47.49 to take the win ahead of Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba (47.58) and Estonia’s Rasmus Magi (48.02).

Thursday was Clarke’s fourth Diamond League appearance. He made his debut on the circuit at last year’s edition of the Zurich Diamond League on August 31, 2023.

“It means a lot because I came out here trying to get myself into the Diamond League final so I was trying to rack up as much points as possible and I came out with the win,” he said in a post-race interview with Citius Mag.

“I’m very pleased with my first Diamond League win and it came in Zurich. What better place?”

The 20-year-old was a finalist at the Olympic Games in Paris but unfortunately failed to finish after clipping the eighth then smashing into the ninth hurdle while in a battle with Brazil’s Alison Dos Santos for the bronze medal.

Clarke spoke about using that disappointment as motivation to finish out the season on a strong note.

“Strong-minded. I had disappointment in Paris and that has kept me pushing to make myself even better,” he said.

“I want to come back stronger. I did not finish in the final at the Olympics so I use that as motivation to keep my season going,” he added.

Speaking of finishing out the season strong, Clarke’s winning time on Thursday is the second fastest time of his young career, bettered only by his national record and world junior record 47.34 which he ran in the semi-finals at the World Championships in Budapest last year.

Running a time that fast at this stage of the season on the back of that disappointment in Paris is a sign of Clarke’s mental fortitude that should see him being a medal threat in the event for a long time.

Clarke’s mind will now shift to the Diamond League final in Brussels from September 13 to 14.

“My goal is to go out there, run my race, run as best as possible and try to come out with a personal best in my last race for the season,” he said.

Olympic finalists Roshawn Clarke and Shiann Salmon both produced their best performances of the season in winning efforts at the Zurich Diamond League on Friday.

Clarke, who was a DNF in the Olympic final in Paris last month, ran a season’s best 47.49 to win in a stacked men’s 400m hurdles ahead of Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba (47.58) and Estonia’s Rasmus Magi (48.02).

Salmon, sixth place in the final in Paris, dipped below 53 seconds for the first time in her career with an excellent personal best 52.97 to win ahead of Olympic silver medallist Anna Cockrell (53.17) and Shamier Little (54.07).

Also, among the winners on Friday was Olympic silver medallist Wayne Pinnock who produced a best jump of 8.17m to take top spot over rival and Olympic and World champion Miltiadis Tentoglu (8.02m) and Simon Ehammer (7.98m).

Two-time World Champion and Olympic bronze medallist Anderson Peters threw 85.72m to take the win in the men’s javelin ahead of Germany’s Julian Weber (85.33m) and Japan’s Roderick Genki Dean (82.69m).

In a much-anticipated Olympic final rematch in the women’s 100m, American Sha’Carri Richardson (10.84) this time secured victory over St. Lucian Olympic champion Julien Alfred (10.88) and British 2019 World 200m champion Dina Asher-Smith (10.89).

Puerto Rican Olympic bronze medallist Jasmine Camacho-Quinn ran 12.36 to win the women's 100m hurdles ahead of Cyrena Samba-Mayela (12.40) and Olympic champion Masai Russell (12.47).

2021 Olympic champion Hansle Parchment ran a season’s best 13.18 for fourth in the men’s 110m hurdles won by Olympic champion Grant Holloway in 12.99. Sasha Zhoya took second in a personal best 13.10 while Freddie Crittenden ran 13.15 in third.

Alexander Ogando of the Dominican Republic ran a respectable 19.87 for fifth in the men’s 200m. Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo took the win in a fast 19.55, just ahead of American Kenny Bednarek (19.57). Erriyon Knighton ran 19.79 in third while Fred Kerley ran 19.81 in fourth.

The next stop on the Diamond League circuit will be the Diamond League Final in Brussels on September 13 and 14.

Head coach of the Jamaica Men’s National Football Team, commonly referred to as the “Reggae Boyz,” Steve McClaren, spoke glowingly of his squad’s energy and enthusiasm ahead of their 2024-25 CONCACAF Nations League opener against Cuba at the National Stadium in Kingston on Friday.

McClaren, who was most recently part of Manchester United as a first team coach, was hired by Jamaica in July to replace Heimir Hallgrimsson, who has since taken up the role as manager of the Republic of Ireland.

The 63-year-old former Newcastle United and FC Twente coach will open his stint as manager of a Reggae Boyz unit who finished third in last season’s Nations League under Hallgrimsson, their best ever finish in the competition.

“Looking forward to it,” McClaren said in a pre-match press conference on Thursday.

“It’s been a long build-up since I first came over to Jamaica,” he added.

One thing that McClaren spoke glowingly of about his players is the energy and spirit he’s seen amongst the group ahead of Friday’s game, an important factor in any winning unit.

“It was nice to get into camp, meet the players, get on the grass and lose my voice from shouting too much. It’s been great. From the first day the players came in, it’s been great energy and spirit amongst them. They’ve shown that on the training field and we need to transfer what we’ve done this week onto the field tomorrow to get a result against Cuba,” he said.

Ahead of his first game in charge of the Reggae Boyz at home, McClaren, despite his 23 years of managerial experience, is feeling the nerves as is customary with anyone starting a new job in any profession.

“Always. I like that. It means you’re ready for the game. That’s what football is all about, doesn’t matter what level. When you play, you don’t quite know what’s going to happen. It’s football,” he said.

“We can control the controllable which we’ve tried to do. We just have to keep things simple. I’m going to concentrate tomorrow on the performance. If we get the performance from the players, normally you get the win,” he added.

When questioned about the style of coaching fans can expect to see from him going forward, apart from jokingly saying a “winning” coach, McClaren emphasized a focus on the basics and building on what has been done over the last two years.

“I’m quite a flexible, adaptable coach. I like the fundamentals. I like the basics. I like people knowing and doing their jobs, working hard, having a good attitude and being hard to beat. I think that’s the platform of all performances,” he said.

“If you’re easy to beat, too stretched and can’t defend, you don’t win football matches. That is what the team have developed over the last two years and I like that. It gives us a platform. We need to build from that platform now,” he added.

From September 6 to September 8, Jamaica’s top table tennis players will descend upon the National Indoor Sports Center in Kingston for the 2024 Jamaica Table Tennis Association (JTTA) National Senior and Junior Table Tennis Championships.

In what promises to be an unforgettable weekend of table tennis excitement, players will be competing in categories ranging from Under-9 Girls and Boys all the way up to the Men’s and Women’s Open categories.

“This will be the largest participation in over 20 years,” according to JTTA President Ingrid Graham.

She also noted that this will be the largest number of participants ever in both the Men’s Open and Under-19 sections.

These championships will also see Jamaican citizens overseas coming to the island to compete for the top spot in their respective categories.

“We have over 10 Jamaican citizens living in London, Canada and the USA coming over to participate,” Graham said.

Sponsors for the championships include OSIL, Western Sports, Graham International Consulting, SDF, JOA, Insport, Virginia Deer, Mother’s, Altamont Court Hotel, Auto Channel, Jamaica Post and GEWO Jamaica.

Doors open at 9:00 am Jamaica Time each day.

For the first time since the 2022 season, Deandra Dottin will be a part of Australia’s Women’s Big Bash League after being selected by the Melbourne Renegades in the player draft on Sunday.

The Renegades will be the fourth WBBL franchise Dottin has represented in her career after previous stints with the Perth Scorchers, Brisbane Heat and Adelaide Strikers.

Dottin, who was recently selected in the West Indies squad for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup set for October 3-20 in the UAE, will be reunited with Windies teammate Hayley Matthews with the Melbourne-based franchise.

Matthews will be looking to rebound from a tough 2023 season with the bat for the Renegades by her standards where she scored 255 runs in 14 innings at an average of 19.61 with no fifties and a highest score of 46.

She was better with the ball, taking 14 wickets at an average of 27.64.

The 2024 WBBL will run from October 26 to November 30.

The Renegades will play their first game against the Sydney Sixers on October 27 at the Adelaide Oval.

West Indians Shai Hope and Sherfane Rutherford were among a number of players selected by various franchises in the player draft for the 2024-25 edition of Australia’s premier T20 showcase, the Big Bash League, on Sunday.

Hope, picked in the BBL draft for the first time, will represent the Hobart Hurricanes.

He was their pick in the platinum category, with the influence of head coach Ricky Ponting, who was Hope’s coach at the Delhi Capitals in the 2024 IPL.

Rutherford, who will also be experiencing the Big Bash for the first time, was selected by the Sydney Thunder in the silver category.

All-rounder Fabian Allen was snapped up in the silver category by the Adelaide Strikers while Akeal Hosein, who took 15 wickets in 10 games for the Melbourne Renegades last season, will be representing the Sydney Sixers this time around as one of their pre-draft signings.

Barbados-born England all-rounder Jacob Bethell is also set for his first BBL stint after being selected by the Melbourne Renegades.

The 2024-25 Big Bash League will run from December 15 to January 26.

Saturday’s final day of the 2024 World Athletics Under-20 Championships was a productive one for Jamaica in the 4x100m relay as both the female and male quartets claimed gold medals.

The women combined to run a season’s best 43.39 to win gold ahead of Switzerland (44.06) and Canada (44.60).

200m bronze medallist Shanoya Douglas ran the first leg before handing off to Alliah Baker. Baker ran a solid leg before handing off to Briana Campbell who then gave the baton to individual 100m champion Alana Reid who then brought it home.

The men’s race was as exciting as they come with Deandre Daley producing a brilliant anchor leg to secure gold for Jamaica in 39.18 ahead of Great Britain (39.20) and Thailand (39.39).

Jamaica were on the back foot early after the opening leg from Jace Witter before the second and third legs from Gary Card and Nyrone Wade, respectively, meant that Daley got the baton in fourth and in striking distance of the top three.

Similar to what he did at the 2023 Carifta Games in Nassau, Daley then produced an excellent anchor leg comeback to secure the gold for Jamaica.

Elsewhere, Jamaica’s Shaiquan Dunn threw 59.79m for seventh in the final of the men’s discus. The USA’s Bryce Ruland took gold with a personal best 62.59m ahead of The Netherlands’ Jarno Van Daalen (62.22m) and Finland’s Mico Lampinen (62.20).

The USVI’s Michelle Smith narrowly missed out on a medal in the women’s 400m hurdles final, finishing fourth in 57.21. France’s Meta Tumba took gold in a national under-20 record 55.59. Poland’s Wiktoria Gadajska ran a national under-20 record 56.87 in second while South Africa’s Hannah Van Niekerk was third in a personal best 56.98.