Bradley Jacks

Bradley Jacks

Bradley Jacks is a budding journalist and an avid sports fan. His love of research and sports has led him to SportsMax.tv, a place where those passions work hand in hand to allow him to produce content.

For more than two decades, Chris Gayle entertained cricket fans around the world with his phenomenal big-hitting ability.

His hitting prowess has made him widely regarded as the greatest T20 batsman ever, with his numbers dwarfing his closest competitors.

Since 2020, however, the “Universe Boss” has shifted his focus from cricket to another passion of his: music.

Gayle says his desire to pursue a career in music began during the COVID-19 pandemic when UK based artist, Stylo G, approached him to record a remix to his song titled “Too Hot.”

“When I listened back to it I was pleased with the outcome and that’s how it all started,” Gayle told SportsMax.tv.

From there, I recorded more songs until I started my own label named Triple Century Records and built my own recording studio in my house,” he added.

Fast forward to 2023 and Gayle’s album titled ‘Tropical House Cruises to Jamaica-The Asian Edition’ has entered the 2024 Grammy’s under the Reggae Album of the Year category.

“My entire music career has been surreal and being chosen as the headliner and face of the album was a great feeling. Being in the Grammy race for best Reggae Album is exciting because it’s a dream of mine to win a Grammy,” Gayle said.

The album features a number of musical giants such as Lauryn Hill, Morgan Heritage, Capleton and Sizzla to name a few.

The project, as the name suggests, was marketed mainly to Asia, specifically India, which Gayle describes as his second home. The 44-year-old had a phenomenal career in the Indian Premier League (IPL), first representing the Kolkata Knight Riders before donning the colors of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and finally the Punjab Kings. He was inducted into the RCB hall of fame earlier this year.

“India is my second home and cricket is the national sport there. I have many great cricket memories there and I am loved by the Indian people. I have two songs with Indian artists that did really well there with Emiway Bantai and Arko,” he said.

“So, with India being such a huge market and with my popularity there, we decided to merge sports and music fans and market the music there,” Gayle added.

The Jamaican has not limited his sights to just music, however, as he also mentioned a desire to one day be on the big screen in Bollywood.

“I recently came in an Ad campaign for the Cricket World Cup with a major Bollywood actor for Zomato which is a food delivery giant in India. So, I hope to have more roles with Bollywood actors and even act in a Bollywood film soon as well as have my music featured in Bollywood soundtracks,” Gayle said.

Defending champions Jamaica College closed the gap between themselves and Group B leaders Tivoli High to one point thanks to a 7-0 win over Spanish Town High in the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup on Thursday.

Kingston Technical made things even more interesting in the group with a 3-1 win over the leaders to also move within a point of top spot, trailing JC by 12 on goal difference.

The day’s other group game saw Cumberland beat Meadowbrook 4-0 for their first win of the season.

Elsewhere, Jonathan Grant hammered Greater Portmore 8-0 to move to second in Group C with 17 points, two points behind leaders Haile Selassie and two ahead of third placed Eltham.

“Unbelievable” was the word used by Charlton Athletic midfielder Karoy Anderson to describe his maiden Reggae Boyz call-up for the upcoming CONCACAF Nations League fixtures against Grenada and Haiti.

The 19-year-old London-born midfielder, in an interview with JFF Live on YouTube, described the experience of finding out he’d been called up to the squad.

“It’s something I can’t really describe honestly. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and now that I’m here, it’s unbelievable,” Anderson said.

“At first, I couldn’t really believe it because I knew I was in the provisional squad but when I got the news I was just shocked. I was staring for a long time trying to take it all in and I told my mom and she started crying,” he added.

Anderson qualifies to play for the Reggae Boyz through his mother who was born in Clarendon and his grandmother who was born in Trelawny.

“I’m very busy,” was Anderson’s response to what fans can expect from his play style.

“I get around a lot and I like going forward and defending so I just try to do everything,” he said.

Anderson’s club teammate Michael Hector will also make a return to the Reggae Boyz set up after a two-year absence and he says the defender has been instrumental to his development as a player.

“It’s good because when I made the step up I knew he played for Jamaica and that was something that I looked to do so, being able to play with him, also with his experience in club football, is good. He’s a good person to look up to as well,” Anderson said.

Finally, the midfielder had nothing but good things to say about his experience with the squad, so far, as well as their chances in the upcoming games.

“Everyone’s nice. It’s a good energy around so I’m looking forward to getting involved with the games,” he said.

“When you look at the squad we have, we know we’ve got enough quality to win these games so I just want to come in and add to that and see what areas I can help in,” Anderson added.

Jamaica will first take on Grenada on Thursday before facing Haiti on Sunday.

They currently lead their CONCACAF Nations League A group with four points.

The Jamaica Defence Force successfully defended their Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) All Island Limited Overs (AILO) 50 Overs Tournament title with a narrow five-run win over Melbourne Cricket Club via the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method in the final played at Sabina Park on Saturday.

Melbourne, who entered Saturday’s final unbeaten, batted first and posted 245-9 from their 50 overs thanks to a 109-ball 99 from Jamaica Scorpions batsman Andre McCarthy and 47 from all-rounder Shalome Parnell.

National pacer Gordon Bryan took 4-29 from his 10 overs for the soldiers. Rather than chasing 246 for victory, JDF’s slow over-rate meant 15 penalty runs were added to Melbourne’s total, meaning they would need 261 to retain their title.

JDF’s reply got off to the worst possible start with the wickets of Tevin Gilzene (6), Marlon Saunders (14) and Oneil Weir (0) to be struggling at 34-3 in the eight over.

The ship was steadied, however, by a 104-run fourth wicket partnership between Deethmar Anderson and captain Kevin Daley.

Anderson made a top-score of 77 while Daley added 44.

Even when both their wickets fell, JDF were able to keep ahead of the DLS par score, eventually reaching 235-8 off 40 overs, five runs ahead of the par score when the umpires determined the light was no longer suitable for play.

Leg-spinner Matthew Comerie took 3-41 from six overs while Parnell ended with 2-44 from eight for Melbourne.

 

The Charlton Athletic pair Karoy Anderson and Michael Hector have both been included in the Reggae Boyz squad for their upcoming CONCACAF Nations League away fixtures against Grenada and Haiti set for October 12 and 15, respectively.

The squad was announced during a press conference at the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) headquarters on Friday.

Anderson, a 19-year-old London-born midfielder, got his first call-up while Hector, 31, has earned 35 caps for the Reggae Boyz with his last appearance coming in 2021.

Midfielder Kasey Palmer and defender Amari’i Bell are both missing from the last squad due to injuries while Dujuan Richards, Ethan Pinnock and Coniah Boyce-Clarke also miss out.

Jamaica’s last game against Grenada was a 5-1 Friendly win in 2018. Their last tussle with Haiti saw them erase a 0-2 deficit to pull out a 2-2 draw at the National Stadium last month.

The Reggae Boyz are currently at the top of Group B of League A of the Nations League with four points. The top two teams from that group will advance to the quarterfinals and this will mean the teams are one step closer to qualifying for the Copa America.

Finishing at the top of the group would put the Reggae Boyz up against either Canada or Costa Rica in the quarterfinals in November while finishing second will mean a tie against the USA or Mexico.

The full squad is as follows:

Goalkeepers: Andre Blake, Kemar Foster, Jahmali Waite

Defenders: Javain Brown, Tayvon Gray, Di’Shon Bernard, Michael Hector, Greg Leigh, Adrian Mariappa, Damion Lowe, Dexter Lembikisa

Midfielders: Bobby Decordova Reid, Daniel Johnson, Joel Latibeaudiere, Kevon Lambert, Karoy Anderson, Demario Phillips

Forwards: Michail Antonio, Leon Bailey, Demarai Gray, Shamar Nicholson, Romario Williams, Renaldo Cephas

Hayley Matthews continued her spectacular form this year with a brilliant knock to help her West Indies Women pull off a world record run chase against world champions, Australia, to tie up their three-match T20I series at the North Sydney Oval on Monday.

Matthews smashed a 64-ball 132 including 20 fours and five sixes to help the West Indies successfully chase their target of 213.

In a post-match interview, the all-rounder said this win will give her team a much-needed confidence boost ahead of the third and final T20I on Thursday.

“A win like this at a time like this definitely means a whole lot to the team. Obviously, we’ve come down here with a lot of young girls in a learning, growing squad and to get a win like this against the best team in the world the way that we were able to do it is really going to boost our confidence and give us a lot of belief within the team,” Matthews said.

The Barbadian shared in a spectacular 174-run second wicket partnership with former captain Stafanie Taylor who made 59 off 41 balls including 11 fours. Matthews heaped praise on the Jamaican for helping take the pressure off her at the crease.

“I think when we needed 100 runs from about 50 balls, we looked at each other in the middle and said we could really get this if we keep going with the momentum. Kudos to the way she batted as well, getting boundaries on a regular basis and taking a lot of pressure off me so I’m really happy to have shared that partnership with a legend like her,” she said.

Matthews, so far, has made 213 runs in two innings in the series after her unbeaten 99 in the first T20I. She was asked what has made her so productive this year.

“Just working hard. I’ve played a lot of T20 and franchise cricket around the world and I’ve had the opportunity, at such a young age, to learn a lot about my game and the biggest thing for me has been my understanding and my technical work has been working really well,” she said.

Matthews also insisted that there is no pressure on her side ahead of the decisive third T20I.

“When we came to Australia we had nothing to lose at all. After the first game, what we did individually was look within ourselves and saw what we could’ve done better. That’s exactly what we’re going to do ahead of the next game. Yes, we won but we have so many areas we can improve in and so much learning that could take place as well,” she said.

The third T20I begins at 3:05 am Jamaica time and can be seen live on SportsMax.

Former Captain Stafanie Taylor says the West Indies Women will need to emphasize spending time in the middle to have any chance of competing with Australia when the pair lock horns in three T20Is and three ODIs beginning on Sunday at North Sydney Oval.

The team is coming off a pair of home series wins against Ireland in July (2-0 in the ODIs and 3-0 in the T20Is) and will look to take that momentum into Australia.

A big reason for those series wins was the team’s batting. The first ODI saw the hosts bat the full 50 overs to post their second highest ODI score ever, 297-6, before successfully defending it.

The third ODI also saw an impressive performance with the bat, losing only four wickets and needing only 41.3 overs to chase down 203.

The T20s were no different with the West Indians securing a pair of eight wicket wins as well as a tense two wicket victory.

From an individual standpoint, after a rough few years due to a persistent back injury, Taylor enjoyed a welcome return to form during the ODI series.

She made scores of 55 and 79* in her two innings and is looking to continue that form against the current World Champions.

“I’ve been feeling really good for some time. The injury would’ve definitely slowed me down a little bit but it’s nice that I’ve been working hard to get my body back up and it’s been really good,” she said in a press conference ahead of Sunday’s series opener.

“For me, it’s trying to get myself back to the top and spending some time at the crease is going to be crucial because I find that once I’m able to do that, I know runs will come. I just have to believe in myself,” she added.

Just like in the Ireland series, the team will be a good mixture of youth and experience with some players who took part in the most recent ICC Under-19 Women’s World Cup as well as the CWI Regional Under-19 Women’s Tournament.

The 32-year-old complimented the youngsters before emphasizing that it is up to veterans like herself to help them achieve their full potential.

“I think we have a good crop of young players coming through. We’ve seen them in the Under-19 World Cup and it’s been really good so far where we have our Under-19 tournament that recently concluded in Trinidad and a lot of those U19s have been integrating with the senior team. You saw that in the recently concluded Ireland series,” Taylor said.

“Having them in the system, it’s for us to try an impart that knowledge that we have onto them and this series is going to be crucial for them but also it’s a learning experience and you don’t want to burden them too much,” she added.

As the most experienced member of the team, Taylor also provided insight relating to conversations she has had with the younger players in the team or players who haven’t yet played in Australia.

“Well I haven’t played here in a long time to be fair but, from what I’ve known is that Australian wickets tend to be a bit bouncy. It might be worth playing a bit late especially with the pace of the fast bowlers. I’ve played a few times at North Sydney and it’s a good wicket. I think the wickets here are going to be really good for batting. Spending time at the crease will be crucial if we want to score runs,” Taylor said.

This series will also be the first opportunity for new head coach Shane Deitz to take charge of the regional side.

In his own introductory press conference a few weeks ago, Deitz proclaimed that he wanted to bring a new attacking brand of cricket to the West Indies Women.

Taylor says that discussion hasn’t taken place quite yet.

“We’ve only had one practice session so far. We haven’t really had a meeting to discuss how we’re going to play or what it’s going to look like for this series. The first game is Sunday and we just had a meeting to welcome everyone and had a light practice session just to have a feel of things,” she said.

 

In June next year, the West Indies, along with the USA, will host their third senior men’s ICC tournament when the cricket world descends upon our region for the ninth edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

The West Indies previously hosted the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in 2007 as well as the second edition of the T20 World Cup two years later.

Last week, Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad & Tobago were announced as the seven Caribbean countries that will host matches along with New York, Texas and Florida in the USA.

CEO of Cricket West Indies, Johnny Grave, described the confirmation of the region as hosts as a “big landmark” in a CWI interview last week and is looking forward to inviting the rest of the world to the Caribbean.

“It’s a big landmark for us at Cricket West Indies (CWI) and the ICC because, having this confirmation now that seven of our host countries have made successful bids to host matches means that a lot of the work and detailed planning that we need to do in order to make the most of this huge opportunity to host out third men’s ICC tournament in the West Indies, and this time in partnership with our friends at USA cricket, can start,” he said.

He also went into what are the next steps in preparing for next year’s festivities.

“The next big step is to get the match schedule agreed with the ICC. We’ve got the ten hist venues. The next stage is to work through the detailed match schedule. This is the first World Cup ever to have 20 teams so it’s a big tournament to organize and there’s a small window from early June to the 30th of June when the final will take place to get all the matches in. We’ve got group stages after the warm-up games. We’ve then got the super eights stage then semi-finals and final so, once that schedule is agreed, then it’s all systems go in terms of tickets being on sale around December to coincide with us welcoming England to the region,” Grave said.

“It’s really important that we get the match schedules announced so that we can invite the world to come to the Caribbean next year,” he added.

Grave also expressed gratitude to the various Governments who put forward successful bids to host matches.

“We’re enormously grateful for the continued support we get from the Governments of the West Indies,” he said.

“All of them that put forward bids have been successful in securing matches which is great news. We’re really looking forward to some of the improvements that those Governments have put forward in their proposals to us and the ICC in terms of ensuring that they are ready for what is the pinnacle of the men’s game currently. It’s a huge opportunity for the region to use the platform of hundreds of millions of fans watching our beautiful countries and our iconic venues and we want everyone in the world to come to the Caribbean and experience what we have to offer,” he added.

While encouraging people from all over the world to make the trip, Grave also urged local fans to come out and support the regional side in their bid for a third World T20 title.

“Absolutely. We’ve seen that unique kind of atmosphere when we hosted the 2018 Women’s World T20 with big crowds in St. Lucia and Antigua when the West Indies played and I’m sure when the West Indies play next June there’ll be big crowds at all the venues,” he said.

“We want every host country to show what a welcoming and exciting place this is to watch and play cricket and it’s really important that the fans come out in their masses. The school children will be invited as part of our community engagement program so that we can show what kind of an atmosphere it is to the world,” Grave added.

 

 

 

 

Jamaican 800m specialist Natoya Goule-Toppin rebounded from a disappointing outing at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest where she failed to reach the final by establishing a new national 800m record at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon on Sunday.

Goule-Toppin finished third in the race behind American superstar Athing Mu, who rebounded from a bronze medal at the World Championships with an American Record 1:54.97 to win, and British World Championship silver medallist Keely Hodgkinson who ran a British Record 1:55.19 in second.

Goule-Toppin’s time in third was 1:55.96, bettering her own previous national record 1:56.15 set back in 2018.

Despite not taking the win on Sunday, the 32-year-old was delighted to end her season with that performance.

“I wanted the win because I know I have the ability to do it but I’m really happy with the third especially the national record,” Goule-Toppin said.

“I’ve been longing to run 1:55 and today was the day. The last one was the best one. It’s the last race of the season and I’m going home happy,” she added.

Goule-Toppin had been flirting with a sub 1:56 time for a number of years and she says the presence of competitors like Mu, Hodgkinson and World Champion Mary Moraa, who finished fourth, pushed her to this time.

“I kept saying once I stay with them I know I’ll run fast as well so when I saw 1:54, I knew I ran something fast but I didn’t know what it was. I was congratulating the girls then I looked back, saw my name and started rejoicing,” she said.

The 2018 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist also gave credit to the man above for her exploits on Sunday.

“I was patient and I prayed a lot. I said God, let your will be done and just help me to go out there and be strong and smart,” she said.

“All day I was talking to myself. It sounds crazy but I kept saying run through the line. Before I went out, my coach said the same thing,” she added.

 

“Grateful” was the dominant term used by Jamaican Shericka Jackson after bringing her phenomenal 2023 season to an end at the Diamond League Final at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene on Saturday and Sunday.

The 29-year-old entered the meet as the reigning Diamond trophy winner in the 200m and was aiming to defend that title as well as claim her maiden trophy in the 100m.

She did the latter on Friday, running 10.70 for victory. Saturday saw the two-time World Champion claim her second straight trophy in the 200m, running a meet record 21.57, her fourth straight time below 22 seconds, for a comfortable win.

Jackson mentioned after the 200m that winning both trophies has been among her goals for the past two seasons.

“Last year I wrote on my goals that I want two Diamond League trophies and I didn’t get them. I wrote that again this year and now I’ve got it and I’m grateful. It’s the end of the season, I’m healthy and I’ve run some fast times so I’m definitely grateful,” she said.

Another of Jackson’s goals this season was to break Florence Griffith-Joyner’s long-standing world record of 21.34 set in 1988.

Despite not getting it done, Jackson was pleased with her work in 2023.

“I’m feeling good. I said it in a previous interview that If I don’t get it I’m okay but if I do get it it’s a plus. I didn’t get it this year and I’m okay and happy. I’m still grateful for being healthy and I was so consistent. I only ran 21.4 once last season and to be able to run three this year, I’m feeling good,” she said.

Her consistency was indeed the most impressive part of her season in both the 100m and 200m.

In 14 100m races this season, Jackson ran faster than 10.8 six times including her personal best of 10.65 done to defend her Jamaican 100m title in July. Jackson also ran 10.72 for silver at the World Championships in Budapest.

In the half-lap event, Jackson ran 11 races with seven seeing her dip below 22 seconds.

In the last month alone, Jackson has run the 2nd, 4th and 8th fastest times in history with her 21.41 at the World Championships in Budapest, 21.48 at the Brussels Diamond League and 21.57 on Sunday. Jackson also owns the 3rd and 6th fastest times ever.

When asked about her thoughts about the upcoming Olympic year, Jackson said she just wants to enjoy her time off.

“Honestly, I haven’t put any thought into the Olympics yet. I just take it one season at a time. I’m healthy right now and I have probably six weeks break so I want to just enjoy that,” she said.

“I’ve been so focused on doing well this season and now I want to focus on having my break and then I’ll go back to the drawing board,” she added.

Finally, Jackson described the 200m at the Budapest World Championships as the high point of her season.

“The 200m at the World Championships was really the high point of my season. I knew I was in pretty good shape but I didn’t know I was going to run that fast,” she said.

 

 

 

 

Kingston College moved to fourth place in Zone A after clipping Calabar 1-0 for their first win of the season in the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup.

Zone leaders Hydel were leading Camperdown 5-1 at halftime before the rest of the game was called off due to lightning. Charlie Smith, who are second in the Zone, also had their game against Penwood called off at halftime with a 3-0 lead.

In Zone D, STATHS got their second win in as many games with a 4-0 win over Clan Carthy.

In Zone F St. George’s College secured a 2-1 win over Campion College while Waterford beat Ardenne 3-0.

A Zone G clash between St. Jago and Wolmer’s Boys was also called off at halftime due to lightning with St. Jago leading 2-0.

 

Shanieka Ricketts was once again in personal best shape but it wasn’t enough to prevent Venezuelan World and Olympic Champion and world record holder, Yulimar Rojas, from claiming a third straight Diamond League trophy at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene on Saturday.

Ricketts produced an excellent series with distances of 14.69m, 14.79m and 14.69m in the first, second and fourth rounds before going out to 15.00m in her fifth-round effort. The 2019 World Championship silver medallist then produced a personal best 15.03m in the sixth and final round.

Rojas had fouls in her first two attempts before going out to 14.53m in her third round. After another foul in the fourth round, the superstar produced a world leading and meet record 15.35m in the fifth to secure victory.

Jamaica’s Kimberly Williams produced her best series of the season in third. Her best distance of 14.61m was her best jump since 2021. Her full series was as follows: 14.37m, 14.50m, 14.61m, 14.31m, 14.56m and 14.45m.

Kirani James produced his best performance of the season to claim his second straight Diamond League 400m title at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene on Saturday.

The 2011 World and 2012 Olympic Champion's winning time was 44.30, .14 ahead of American World Championship bronze medallist Quincy Hall in second. Another American, Vernon Norwood, ran 44.61 for third. Jamaica’s Rusheen McDonald was fifth in 45.10.

This was the fourth Diamond League title for the 31-year-old who also previously won in 2011, 2015 and 2022.

 

World Championship bronze medallist Rai Benjamin finally got an elusive win over World and Olympic Champion Karsten Warholm to claim his maiden Diamond League 400m hurdles title at the Diamond League final at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene on Saturday.

Benjamin, who finished second to Warholm at the 2019 and 2022 World Championships as well as the 2021 Olympics, turned the tables on the Norwegian with a world leading, meet record and diamond league record 46.39 for victory.

Warholm was second in a spectacular 46.53 while Kyron McMaster, who finished second at the World Championships in Budapest last month ahead of Benjamin and behind Warholm, ran 47.31 for third. McMaster also got a win over Warholm at the Zurich Diamond League.

“Calypso cricket” is what head coach of the West Indies Women’s team, Shane Deitz, wants his team to play going forward.

The Australian 47-year-old, who was appointed in July this year, believes that the West Indies will have to play a more attacking brand of cricket to compete with the best teams in the world.

“The brand of cricket I want us to play is definitely the traditional West Indian ‘calypso’ brand of attacking, taking it to the opposition and getting on the front foot. It’s the way I’ve always coached cricket around the world and that’s not going to change here,” Deitz said in a press conference on Tuesday.

“It’s a style of play that I think is effective so the players will definitely be getting the message that we’re here to win and we’re going to win by playing attacking, free-flowing cricket,” he added.

The former Vanuatu and Netherlands Women head coach believes the implementation of this new philosophy will take time, but will be worth it in the end.

“It may take a little bit of time to really adjust to or a few skillset upgrades in players but we’ll work towards that so they’ve got the ability to play that style of cricket and I think that’s the most successful brand of cricket around the world,” he said.

“Australia play it at the moment in women’s cricket and are consistently getting over 300 in ODIs and 160 to 180 in T20Is so we’re definitely going to follow that method and play that style of cricket and play the Caribbean way,” added Deitz.

Deitz will get his first opportunity to see the team in a competitive outing when they embark on a tour of Australia for three ODIs and three T20Is from September 30-October 14.

He says this will be a great opportunity to see some of the players first-hand against some world-class opposition.

“I’ve only been here for the WCPL to see them live so I think this tour to Australia will be a great opportunity for me to see the players first-hand against the world’s best and a team that has dominated women’s cricket around the world,” he said.

“This is a great test for us and a way for me to see the reality of where we’re at, what we need to work on and what areas we need to improve so we can formulate a long-term plan to work on players to get them up to that world class, elite level and challenge Australia, England and India who have been challenging for World Cups,” Deitz added.

As for the nucleus of his team going forward, Deitz pointed to current skipper Hayley Matthews, former captain Stafanie Taylor and all-rounder, Chinelle Henry.

“Obviously we’ve got a few players who are near the top of the world rankings with Hayley (Matthews) and Stafanie (Taylor). (Chinelle) Henry is also showing signs of being an elite level cricketer,” he said.

 

 

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