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.
England advanced to the final of the ICC Men’s Under-19 Cricket World Cup with a nail-biting 15-run win over Afghanistan in their Super League semi-final at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Grounds in Antigua today.
In the rain-affected 47-overs per side encounter, England set a score of 231-6 off their 47 overs.
George Bell with 56 not out off 67 balls and Alex Horton with 53 not out off 36 balls were the main contributors for the English.
Opener George Thomas also got a half-century for England, 50 off 69 balls.
Naveed Zadran and Noor Ahmad took two wickets each for Afghanistan.
Afghanistan looked comfortable for the majority of their chase, reaching 94-2 in the 24th over before a flurry of wickets put them in a spot of bother.
The Asian outfit continued to battle and found themselves needing 18 off two overs with four wickets in hand before England leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed took three wickets in the penultimate and 46th over to pretty much end all hopes for the Afghans.
Eventually, Afghanistan ended 215-9 off their 47 overs.
Allah Noor with 60 and Mohammad Ishaq with 43 were the top scorers for Afghanistan against Ahmed’s 4-41 off six overs.
England will now face the winners of tomorrow’s second semi-final between Australia and India in the final to be played on February 5th.
West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell took three wickets to help Minister Group Dhaka defeat Comilla Victorians in the Bangladesh Premier League today in Chattogram.
After Comilla won the toss and elected to field first, a half-century from Dhaka captain Mahmudullah, as well as 46 from Tamim Iqbal, helped Minister Group Dhaka put up a score of 181-6 off their 20 overs.
Russell contributed 11 off seven balls late in the innings.
In Comilla Victorians chase, Mahudul Hasan Joy (46) and captain Imrul Kayes (28) tried to make a fight of it. However, Russell’s 3-17, from 2.3 overs, alongside two wickets each from Qais Ahmed and Ebadot Hossain meant that the Victorians would be bowled out for just 131, losing the match by 50 runs.
Comilla Victorians and Minister Group Dhaka are now second and third in the table, respectively, with six points each.
West Indies Under-19s secured an eight-wicket win over Zimbabwe Under-19s to finish 11th in the ICC Men’s Under-19 Cricket World Cup on Monday.
In the match played at the Diego Martin Sports Complex in Trinidad and Tobago, Zimbabwe Under-19s won the toss and elected to bat first.
This proved to be a good decision as they batted well to amass 256-4 off their 50 overs thanks to half-centuries from David Bennett who made 77 not out off 105 balls and Brian Bennett, who made 62 off 84 balls. Connor Mitchell provided the Zimbabweans with an important late innings push with 42 not out off 26 balls.
Johann Layne took 2-44 off seven overs for the West Indies.
A pair of stunning innings from Kevin Wickham and Teddy Bishop ensured the West Indies chased their target without much trouble.
Wickham scored a well-played 104 off 116 balls with 17 fours.
The 18-year-old Barbadian, who was originally one of the reserves for the squad, got his third score of 50 or more in four matches in the tournament after getting 56 against Sri Lanka and 61 against Papua New Guinea.
Bishop got the second hundred of the innings and third for the West Indies in the tournament with a brilliant 112 not out off 121 balls with 11 fours and one six.
Rivaldo Clarke got 28 not out and was at the crease with Bishop when the young Windies eventually got to 262-2 off 49.2 overs to seal the win.
Wickham, with 243 runs in four innings including one hundred and two fifties, was the West Indies leading runs scorer while pace bowler Shiva Sankar was the team’s leading wicket-taker with nine scalps in six matches.
West Indies Women secured a nine-run super over win over South Africa Women in the second ODI at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg Monday.
The tourists lead the four-match series 1-0 after the first ODI ended in a no result.
On Monday, the match was reduced to 41 overs per side after a rain delay.
After winning the toss and electing to field, West Indies women had a solid outing with the ball to restrict the hosts to 160 all out in 40.4 overs.
South African captain Sune Luus top-scored with 46 while openers Laura Volvaardt and Tazmin Brits got 25 each.
All five bowlers used by the West Indies got two wickets each with Hayley Matthews being the most economical with 2-21 from 7.4 overs.
In a chase that should have been simple, the West Indies made it complicated by losing wickets in bunches.
Deandra Dottin followed up her magnificent 150 not out in the first ODI with a top-score of 37 while Chadean Nation contributed 35.
Chinelle Henry (26) and captain Stafanie Taylor (21) were the other key contributors with the bat.
The Windies had a chance to win the match before the super over when Nation and Shakera Selman were at the crease in the 37th over needing just three runs to win.
Nation was then dismissed leaving Selman and new batter Karishma Ramharack needing three runs to win.
Ramharack and Selman each then got singles to leave just one run to win before Selman was trapped in front by pacer Shabnim Ismail for 11 to leave the Windies 160 all out from 37.4 overs.
Ayabonga Khaka was the pick of the South African bowlers with an excellent 5-26 from her eight overs while captain Luus supported well with 2-15 from seven overs.
West Indies batted first in the super over with Dottin and Matthews striding to the crease to face Ismail.
Some clean hitting from the pair meant the West Indies produced an intimidating 25 off their super over, leaving the hosts needing 26 to win.
Matthews then bowled the super over for the tourists and restricted the South African pair of Chloe Tryon and Tazmin Brits to 17 to secure a 9-run win and a 1-0 series lead.
The third ODI will take place on Thursday.
It was a special Sunday night at the Kensington Oval in Barbados as the West Indies defeated England by 17 runs in the fifth T20 International to win the Betway series 3-2.
Former West Indies Test and ODI captain Jason Holder was the hero of the day with four wickets in four balls in the final over as the West Indies defended their score of 179-4.
Not surprisingly, Holder was chuffed.
“What a real night last night. I just want to thank each and every fan that came to the stadium yesterday. It was a wonderful feeling seeing everyone back in the stands cheering," he while speaking with the media Monday morning. "Special thank you also to the supporters who travelled all the way from England to support their team. I think both teams played a really good series and it’s good to see the way it ended.”
Holder, who was voted Man-of-the-Series after an excellent return of 15 wickets in five matches, was pleased with the attitude of the team that saw them bounce back from a disappointing 2-1 ODI series defeat to Ireland earlier in January.
“I think it’s been great. After the start we had against Ireland in Jamaica and everybody was really down and deflated, to see the way we bounced back against England, it just shows the character in the dressing room. I think we really pulled together and it’s the first time in a long time it’s felt that close in the dressing room. It’s a great feeling,” he said.
“Hopefully we can continue this and build something special. I think this group has to be the group now, with such young and talented players, to become even closer and get better. I think if we do that, the future of West Indies cricket would be in good hands.”
The West Indies next assignment will be a white-ball tour of India where they will play three ODIs and three T20Is beginning on February 6.
“I think this series is a big series. India, for me, is the best all-round cricket team in the world and they’ve proven that over the last couple of years so to go in their backyard and beat them is not going to be an easy feat but it’s not impossible,” Holder said.
England secured a 34-run win over the West Indies in the fourth Betway T20 International at the Kensington Oval today to tie the five-match series 2-2.
West Indies captain Kieron Pollard won the toss and chose to field, and the home side had early success when Jason Holder removed the man who got 73 for England in the last match, Tom Banton, for just four to leave the visitors 8-1.
Jason Roy and James Vince then put on 85 for the second wicket before Roy was dismissed in the 12th over for 52 off 42 balls.
Vince was next to go for 34 in the 13th over to leave the tourists 97-3.
A 65-run fourth-wicket partnership between stand-in captain Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone then carried the English to 162-4 before Livingstone was dismissed in the 19th over for 16.
Ali produced some brilliant late innings hitting before he was eventually dismissed for 63 off just 28 balls in the last over.
England’s innings eventually ended on 193-6 after their 20 overs.
Jason Holder finished with 3-44 from his four overs for the Windies.
In the chase, openers Brandon King and Kyle Mayers got off to a fast start reaching 64 before Mayers was dismissed in the eighth over for a well-played 40 off 23 balls.
King then fell in the 10th over for 26 to leave the West Indies 69-2.
After 10 overs, the West Indies were 76-2 needing 118 more to win from 60 balls with Nicholas Pooran and Rovman Powell at the crease on four and five, respectively.
Powell was unable to replicate his heroics from the third T20I after being dismissed for five by Adil Rashid in the 11th over.
After two massive sixes, Pooran was the next to go for 22 in the 14th over to leave the West Indies 97-4, needing 97 more runs to win off 39 balls.
Some brilliant hitting from Jason Holder meant that after 16 overs, the West Indies were 133-4, needing 61 off 24 balls to win with Holder on 29 and captain Kieron Pollard on 3.
Holder then went for 36 in the 18th over to leave the Windies 144-5 needing 50 from 16 balls to win.
The target eventually proved to be too much for the West Indies who ended on 159-5 off their 20 overs.
Ali followed up his 63 with 2-28 off four overs to cap off an excellent all-round performance, while Reece Topley continued his good form with the ball in the series with 1-21 off his four overs.
The series decider will take place tomorrow.
Kingston College secured their second trophy of this schoolboy football season by defeating Garvey Maceo 2-0 to secure the Olivier Shield at STETHS today.
One week after beating Jamaica College on penalties to lift the Manning Cup, the North Street-based school stood opposite daCosta Cup champions Garvey Maceo, who dominated Manning’s 5-0 to lift the title last week.
KC’s first goal came from a set-piece after Louis Watson headed home a corner from captain Jemone Barclay in the 44th minute.
The Manning Cup champions then doubled their lead in the 54th minute when Barclay slotted home a close-range left-footed finish.
This is KC’s first Olivier Shield since 1986 and their seventh overall.
The Jamaican duo of Britany Anderson, Christopher Taylor were crowned winners as many of track and field’s elites from all over the globe converged, at the Armory New Balance Track and Field Centre in New York, to take part in the 114th edition of the Millrose Games.
In fact, it was a Caribbean 1-2 in the Women’s 60m Hurdles with Anderson running a personal best 7.91 to win ahead of Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas who ran 7.95 for second. Tonea Marshall of the USA was third in 7.99.
Former Calabar standout and Olympic 400m finalist Taylor ran 46.38 to win the Men’s 400m ahead of the USA’s Vernon Norwood in 46.45 and American 800m record holder Donovan Brazier in 46.55.
2020 Olympic 110m Hurdles bronze medallist Devon Allen won the Men’s 60m Hurdles, adding to his wins in the 2018 and 2019 Millrose Games, in a world-leading 7.53 ahead of Daniel Roberts who ran 7.56 for second while Shane Brathwaite from Barbados was third in 7.67.
Aleia Hobbs of the USA won the Women’s 60m with 7.11 ahead of teammate Mikiah Briscoe who ran 7.15. 16-year-old American Shawnti Jackson ran a US high-school record 7.18 for third while Jamaica’s Briana Williams was fourth in 7.22.
2019 100m World Champion Christian Coleman made a winning return to the track, after a 2-year suspension, with a time of 6.49 to win the Men’s 60m.
Trayvon Bromell finished second in 6.50 while Ronnie Baker was third in 6.54.
Jamaica’s former Olympic and World champion in the 110m Hurdles, Omar McLeod, was sixth in 6.70.
Jamaica’s Tovea Jenkins and Roniesha McGregor were third and fourth in the Women’s 400m in 54.14 and 54.24, respectively.
The event was won by Wadeline Jonathas of the USA in 52.51.
Jamaica’s Olympic 800m finalist Natoya Goule was second in the Women’s 800m 2:02.14 behind the USA’s Ajee Wilson who ran 2:01.38 for victory.
West Indies Under-19s will now compete in the 11th place playoff at the ICC Men’s Under-19 Cricket World Cup after an embarrassing 83 run loss to UAE Under-19s in their Plate semi-final in Port of Spain today.
UAE won the toss and elected to bat first, reaching 224-9 off their 50 overs thanks to half-centuries from Aayan Khan (93) and Shival Bawa (51).
Shiva Sankar led the way for the Windies bowlers with 3-31 off nine overs while Nathan Edward and Matthew Nandu took two wickets each.
Jash Giyanani and Dhruv Parashar then combined to take seven wickets between them to restrict the West Indians to a modest 142 all out in reply.
Nathan Edward (51), Kevin Wickham (22), and Isai Thorne (17) were the only batsmen to score double figures against Giyanani’s 3-21 off 10 overs and Parashar’s 4-30 off nine.
The West Indies will now play the loser of the Plate semi-final between Ireland and Zimbabwe in the 11th place playoff while UAE will play the winner in the ninth-place playoff.
The First Women’s ODI between the West Indies and South Africa at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg ended in a no result today.
South Africa won the toss and put the West Indies in to bat and at the time of the first rain delay, West Indies women were 234-3 from 45.3 overs.
Deandra Dottin was not out on a mammoth 150 off 158 balls, with 18 fours and four sixes, and Shemaine Campbelle was the other not-out batter with 7.
Earlier, Hayley Matthews made 51 from 63 balls.
Dottin’s 150 is her third ODI hundred and the second-highest individual score by a West Indian, in Women’s ODIs, after Stafanie Taylor’s 171 off 137 balls against Sri Lanka Women in Mumbai in 2013.
Due to lack of time, the West Indies innings was declared at the same score meaning South Africa had a target of 204 off 29 overs based on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method.
The South Africans got to 87-5 off 17.4 overs before the skies opened up once again and caused the match to be abandoned before 20 overs could be completed.
Tazmin Brits got 32 off 37 balls to top score for the South Africans.
The second ODI takes place on Monday.
Sherfane Rutherford’s Peshawar Zalmi secured a five-wicket win over the Quetta Gladiators in their first game of the 2022 Pakistan Super League (PSL) in Karachi today.
Zalmi won the toss and elected to field first but were left to regret that decision when Quetta openers Ahsan Ali and Will Smeed put on a massive 155-run partnership for the first wicket before Ali was dismissed for 73 in the 16th over.
Smeed, a 20-year-old Englishman, was eventually dismissed for 97, in the final over, to see the Gladiators finish with a formidable 190-4 off their 20 overs.
Smeed’s 97 came off 62 balls with 11 fours and four sixes.
Pakistani Usman Qadir was the best bowler for Zalmi with 2-20 off his four overs.
Openers Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Yasir Khan put on 43 for the first wicket before Khan was dismissed in the fourth over for 30 off 12 balls.
Kohler-Cadmore was next to go for 22 to leave the Zalmi 62-2.
Jamaica Tallawahs batsman Haider Ali also contributed 19 before the chase was spearheaded by Hussain Talat and captain Shoaib Malik with scores of 52 off 29 balls and 48 not out off 32 balls, respectively.
Rutherford also contributed 10 runs off nine balls to put them on the brink of victory, being dismissed in the final over with three runs to win.
Malik then hit the winning runs to close the innings on 191-5.
Mohammed Nawaz took 3-44 from four overs for the Gladiators.
The 2022 PSL started yesterday with the Multan Sultans beating the Karachi Kings by seven wickets.
West Indies women’s captain Stafanie Taylor will take no further part in the first ODI between the West Indies Women and South Africa at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg after sustaining a sharp blow to the arm at the non-striker’s end.
Taylor was forced to retire hurt after scoring 12 off 17 balls.
According to the management, "Out of an abundance of caution, she will be rested for the remainder of the match unless needed in the field."
Hayley Matthews replaced Taylor and made 51, featuring in a partnership of 153 runs with Deandra Dottin who is 150 not out as the West Indies reached 234-3 off 45.3 overs when rain interrupted play.
The West Indies are in a position to knock off the number one ranked T20 International team in the world, England, with a win in the fourth T20I of their five-match series on Saturday.
After a 20-run victory on Wednesday, the Caribbean side now leads the series 2-1 with the chance to take an unassailable 3-1 lead on Saturday.
West Indies head coach Phil Simmons says that even with a series win in sight, he is focused on how the team is playing.
“Saturday, if we win the game we’ll win the series so yes, I’d be happy, but I’m happier now with the way that the players are taking on board how we want to play going forward,” Simmons said in a press conference today.
With the ICCT20 World Cup a few months away, the emphasis for the former Ireland and Afghanistan head coach is for the two-time champions to have a much-improved performance from the disaster of the 2021 ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup in the UAE where they won only one of their five group matches and crashed out of the tournament.
“Winning as a whole is a great thing for any team so it’s something that we’re happy with, but for me, at this point in time, it’s about building back the team because at the end of the day, October is another T20 World Cup and, especially with our performances in the last one, we want to get back up to where we normally are. I’m looking at the quality of the cricket we’re playing and how we’re improving rather than just a series win,” Simmons said.
The former West Indies player also commented on Rovman Powell’s brilliant maiden T20 hundred.
“I think it was a brilliant innings from the start. The way he assessed the situation at the beginning is something that we’ve been talking about as a group and I’ve been looking forward to someone doing that in a match and he did that. We’re moving in the right direction,” Simmons added.
West Indies all-rounder, Rovman Powell, stole the show with a maiden T20 hundred in the team’s 20-run win over England in the third of their five-match Betway Series at Kensington Oval in Barbados on Wednesday.
Powell smashed a belligerent 107 off 53 balls, including five fours and 10 sixes, to help the home side amass a total of 224-5 off their 20 overs. In the field, Powell took two catches to help the Windies restrict the English to 204-9 and secure a 2-1 lead in the series but it was with his batting that he spoke loudest.
“It means a lot. The last six or seven months have been tough, not getting a lot of runs so it was good for me to get an opportunity tonight and I took it. I hope it’s a breakthrough international performance. It’s just for me now to go back to the drawing board, think about the stuff that I did right and hopefully I can replicate it come Saturday,” Powell said after the game.
Many fans and pundits were left bemused when Powell strode to the crease at number four ahead of Darren Bravo, who batted at that position in the second game, but Powell said that the move was tactical and that he was told of the possibility the night before by captain Kieron Pollard.
“It was to split up the two left-handers. We didn’t want Pooran and Bravo at the crease at the same time, so I was the right-hander that slotted between them. Last night (Tuesday) he told me it's a possibility that I would bat four so I started to think back to some of my good innings and started to come up with a game plan. I think that plan served me well today. When I walked out to bat, I was confident because for the last five months I’ve been working hard and stroking the ball well so that confidence transferred into the game,” he said.
That confidence also comes from a fantastic stint Powell had at the Abu Dhabi T10 League in late 2021 for the Northern Warriors where he scored 305 runs in nine innings at an average of 33.88 with 15 fours and a mammoth 27 sixes.
“I think I’m in very good form. I told the guys I’m sure that I’m one of the best in the world at the moment when it comes to hitting the ball and it started from the T10. When I went there, I just tried to express myself and catch back the eyes of the selectors and now everything is coming to fruition,” he added. West Indies fans are hoping that that form will carry over into the fourth T20I which takes place on Saturday.
One of the key things that fans of West Indies cricket over the last few years have wanted from the regional team is consistency.
There are periods where the team is clicking at all levels, as evidenced by a dominant 4-1 T20I series win over Australia in July 2021 but there are also periods where the team just can’t seem to buy a win.
The Caribbean side are currently locked 1-1 in a five-match T20I series with England and Jason Holder, in a press conference today, pleaded for the team to strive for consistency.
“We’ve just got to keep challenging ourselves to play a complete game. If we can be a lot more clinical and consistent, we can make our lives a whole lot easier. The challenge for each and every individual is to seek consistency. I think consistency is something that we’ve been talking about for years and it’s just time we start heading in the right direction and progressing. I just want to see progression and development, consistently,” he said.
The former West Indies Test and ODI skipper, who has so far taken figures of 4-7 and 2-25, in the first two games of the series, also said that with a relatively young squad, he has to take on a leadership role even without the captaincy.
“I just try to give anything to the team that I think will benefit us. We have a relatively inexperienced group so I just try to help out as much as I can and give what advice I can give. I don’t think it’s a situation where I have to give too much information because that becomes clouded for individuals, so I keep it as simple as possible. Anything I pick up I pass it on to the captain and then obviously to individual players but I think my role is just to help guide and nurture the young talent that we have,” Holder added.
There are three games remaining in the series, but Holder wants the team to take a game-by-game approach rather than looking to the future too soon.
“I’m just focused on what’s ahead tomorrow. Tomorrow is our next encounter so there’s no point in looking at the last three matches before we get to the one tomorrow,” he said.
In the second T20I the regional team’s fielding left a lot to be desired and Holder echoed the same sentiments.
“I don’t think we were good enough in the field in the last encounter and that probably hurt us in the end,” Holder added.
The West Indies can, hopefully, have a better day in the field tomorrow when they take on England in the third T20I at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.
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