Uncategorized

A stunning late comeback from Japan saw four-time winners Germany fall to a shock defeat in their opening World Cup game in Qatar on Wednesday.

Goals from substitutes Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano in the last 15 minutes gave Japan a stunning 2-1 upset over four-times champions Germany.

The Germans had dominated the contest at the Khalifa International Stadium and taken the lead with a 33rd-minute penalty from Ilkay Guendogan after Japan goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda had fouled wing-back David Raum.

Germany dominated a frenetic match for large spells but failed to capitalize on their pressure – before Japan caused the Khalifa International Stadium to erupt into a mix of mixed celebration and surprise.

The second goal never came, however, and Japan’s raids into the German half became more and more frequent, culminating in Doan’s equalizer and a brilliant finish from Asano squeezed eight minutes later.

There was a collective pause in the arena as the ball rolled down from the roof of the net before supporters realized it had gone in.

Manchester City’s Ilkay Gundogan had given Germany the lead from the penalty spot in the first half, before Japan substitute Ritsu Doan equalized in the 75th minute.

The equalizer came after a string of stunning saves at each end – Japan’s Shuichi Gonda pulling off a double stop to deny Serge Gnabry and Jonas Hofmann, before Germany’s Manuel Neuer got his fingertips to Junya Ito’s effort.

Germany, who finished bottom of their group in Russia in 2018, had missed several chances to extend their lead when the score was 1-0.

They face stiff opposition in Group E with 2010 winners Spain to come on Sunday, then a final group game against Costa Rica.

Before kick-off, Germany’s players put their hands over their mouths during a team photo and in the stands, a German government minister, Nancy Faeser, wore the OneLove armband.

It comes after news the German football federation is investigating whether it is legal for Fifa to threaten players with sanctions for wearing the OneLove armband in Qatar.

The Germany team later tweeted that human rights was “non-negotiable” and “we stand by our position”.

Jamaica Scorpions are champions of the 2022 CG Insurance Super50 after a three-wicket victory over Trinidad and Tobago Red Force in the final at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium in Antigua on Saturday.

Accordingly, Red Force captain Pooran said ineffective batting was the reason for the three-wicket loss against the new champions Jamaica Scorpions in the final.

The Red Force, who scored 312 in the semi-final against Barbados last Wednesday, could only manage 217 for all out in 47 overs on Saturday at the same venue.

“Today wasn’t our day with the bat and in the end there, we saw we were 50 runs short. We didn’t assess properly. The batsmen fought but we kept losing wickets at crucial times and every time we got a partnership we lost wickets.”

“We saw Yannic Cariah there in the end, he and Akeal (Hosein) putting on a partnership but we kept finding ways to get out which obviously hurt us in the end.”

The Red Force was successful at the beginning of the Scorpions innings, but then Chadwick Walton scored 80 runs in 94 balls and Andre McCarthy scored 55 runs in 89 balls to build a partnership of 126 runs for the second wicket and took the Scorpions to the path of victory.

But despite seamer Terence Hinds (2-31) and left-arm spinner Khari Pierre (2-42) coming through the middle to drag the Reds back into the game, the small target worked against them.

“The guys obviously fought. Two hundred and eighteen is obviously difficult on that track to defend and I think the guys fought extremely hard – all the bowlers.”

“I’m really proud of the guys. They stuck in there but again, we batted poorly, and obviously, we paid the price. There’s not much we could’ve done differently [with the ball]. If a couple decisions had gone our way early, maybe.”

“We tried to get early wickets but it just didn’t happen for us. We got Brandon (King) early but I thought Walton and McCarthy played well. They didn’t give us a chance early and we lost the game there.”

 

Pooran was the top run-scorer for Trinidad and Tobago in the Regional Super 50 Cup and the second-highest run-scorer in the entire tournament. He finished with 342 runs at an average of 114.00, with Kjorn Otley (297) and Darren Bravo (240) also finishing in the top three run-scorers.

Also, Gabriel took 15 wickets, Yannick Cariah took 12 wickets and Akeal Hosein took 10 wickets. Pooran further said:

“I thought we brought our A-game in the semi-final … but in the final, we definitely didn’t show up. We didn’t show up with the bat. It’s unfortunate and again we paid the price.”

“In saying that, the guys played well throughout the tournament. We deserve to be in the final but someone has to win and someone has to lose in a final and unfortunately we’re the ones that lost.”

Powell’s Scorpions qualified for the final with a three-wicket win over the Guyana Harpy Eagles in Thursday’s semi-final at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.

Harpy Eagles scored 318/7 in 50 overs, while Scorpions scored 322/7 in 48.1 overs. Powell scored an unbeaten 105 off 92 balls, including 7 fours and 3 sixes. Accordingly, the final will be played between the Red Force and the Scorpions at the Sir Vivian Richard Stadium, Antigua on Saturday at 2 pm.

Trinidad and Tobago Red Force coach David Furlong shared his thoughts ahead of the CG United Super 50 Cup Final clash with the Jamaican Scorpions. There he believes that the wicket will be in favor of the batsmen in the final.

Describing the mood in the camp, Furlong said, “The fellas are in good spirits. We just had a nice practice session.”

“Later on today (Friday) we will go through the Jamaica batting line-up. We are just waiting on some information from the analyst…and see how best we could plan and prepare for their batters. The semi-final wickets over here have been very batsman-friendly, so bowlers just have to be consistent, stick with the plan that we go out with.”

Also he is satisfied with the effort of the Red Force batsmen throughout the tournament.

On Wednesday, in the semi-final, Pooran hit 5 fours and 8 sixes in his innings of 111 off 82 balls to guide the Red Force to a competitive 312/6 in 50 overs against Barbados Pride at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium. Opener Amir Jangoo scored 81 off 114 balls while senior Darren Bravo scored 54 off 65 balls.

“The batting has been good, and as I said, the wicket here is batsmen-friendly, so we hope that the batsmen can be consistent and maintain their form.”

Speaking on WESN TV’s Face of Sports last week, TTCB (Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board) chairman Azim Bassarath, who is also a CWI director, said it was doubtful that the regional first-class competition would be limited to one round again next year due to CWI’s limited finances.

He also did not support having separate coaches for the West Indies white-ball and red-ball cricket teams, he said.

“We are very concerned about the finances of Cricket West Indies and we don’t have the resources at this time to hire two coaches and two sets of back-room staff.”

“I think we have to focus on one coach and one set of people assisting that coach. Again, funding is an important factor in CWI and that is the reason why we cannot even have two rounds of four-day cricket for 2023.”

“So, I doubt we will be able to get funding from anywhere to sustain that two-coaches scenario in Cricket West Indies. It is something I will not support but we can look at one coach and one set of back-room staff because that is what we can afford at this time.”

Also, regarding the T20 World Cup, Bassarath is of the opinion that the team was well prepared for the tournament, but the West Indies team had two bad days (Scotland,irlend).

“I think what happened is that we had two bad days. We lost and we accept the fact we should not have lost to those teams. I think we had two bad days in Australia hence the reason we had to return home.”

After the defeat in the World Twenty20, head coach Phil Simmons announced that he would step down as head coach after the upcoming tour of Australia. However, Bassarath stated that Simmons should continue as a coach with West Indies.

“I don’t agree with the people who are saying he (Simmons) should have gone earlier. I think Phil would have done his part to take West Indies cricket further. We didn’t get all the results we wanted under Phil but I think he was an excellent coach.”

“Also, when you look at Phil Simmons in the dugout, you would have seen the passion and the hurt where we were not doing well. You would have seen the love he had for WI cricket. I think Phil would have done an excellent job, but I think he made the necessary sacrifice that was necessary at the time.”

“Not all the time you will get the results you want from the hard work you put out but I applaud Phil for taking the decision that he took. He took responsibility for what transpired in the World Cup and he must be applauded for that.”

And while the coach would have shown a passion for the job, he said you are not seeing the same from the present-day crop of players.

“We have been saying it that we are not seeing the passion from the present-day crop of players. Not all of them but of course, that is one of the most important ingredients in merely wanting to represent West Indies and wanting to do well for yourself and the Caribbean people.”

“If we don’t have the passion, we are not going to out there and give 100 percent. You may feel as a player you are giving 100 percent but really and truly you not giving 100 percent because you don’t give off the passion and you don’t show the passion.”

“And the cause of that maybe is because we don’t employ into the young players the history of West Indies cricket where we came from and of course what our past great players would have done for cricket for the Caribbean people.”

Last Saturday CWI announced that West Indies head coach Phil Simmons will resign from his position after the upcoming tour of Australia.

The main reason for that was the West Indies team’s elimination from the first round of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup held in Australia, as well as the failure of the West Indies team to perform well in the last few tournaments.

In this regard, Simmons said that the West Indies fans had to watch the Twenty20 World Cup this year without the West Indies and apologized profusely to the fans and followers for that.

Cricket West Indies (CWI) CEO Johnny Grave, in contact with Sportsmax on Monday, confirmed that the CWI has accepted Simmons’ resignation and that Simmons’ final assignment will be the two-match Test series in Australia that ends on December 12.

Grave stated that director Jimmy Adams spoke to Simmons as well as Test captain Craig Brathwaite to see if Simmons still had the desire, appetite, and strength to lead the team in the Test series after the T20 World Cup defeat. Accordingly, Kraigg Brathwaite has given his support behind coach Phil Simmons in the two-Test series to be held against Australia.

“Director of cricket Jimmy Adams spoke to Phil about his motivation, energy, and appetite to go and do that final assignment and Jimmy also spoke to our Test captain Kraigg Brathwaite, who gave his endorsement of Phil staying on and I believe that will give the team the best possible chances of success in Australia,”

“It has been a very difficult week I think for West Indian cricket fans. He (Simmons) spoke to the president (Ricky Skerritt) I believe Saturday morning and sent me a formal resignation letter on Saturday afternoon. He was hurting and was extremely emotional in terms of his sheer disappointment of what had transpired.”

The West Indies Test team is in a very good position, having won both the completed series against mighty England and Bangladesh. But opener John Campbell is currently serving a four-year ban, there will be a change in the opening pair. Commenting on the challenge against Australia, Grave said,

“I think there will be a lot of soul-searching in the next two weeks. The focus now can be on the Test series. We are coming off Test series victories over England and Bangladesh so hopefully, the change in format and the short break of two weeks will give everyone time to reflect and refresh and go forward with the challenge which is probably the hardest Test match challenge you can get in a Test series against Australia in their own backyard.”

Asked whether any thought had been given to Simmons’ replacement, Grave said CWI would be sensible and strategic in our review and approach and try and keep, difficult as it is, the emotions out of it. CEO Johnny Grave stated that the search for a new coach is currently being reviewed. However, he further stated that he has no idea what the final result will be.

“I think we were always going to conduct a review, and the outcome of that review would be followed and implemented. Obviously, Phil did resign very quickly in the aftermath. I don’t know what the outcome would have been of the review or what decisions would have been made. All I know is that Phil has resigned and it has been accepted.”

However, he noted that Simmons’ contract was due to come to an end in March, and “he always knew that it was going to be dependent on results”. “We’re in the results business,”

“We have options. We have seen other teams split the coaching role between white-ball and red-ball teams and I think we have to look at all options and make the best possible decisions.”

He spoke about West Indies’ defeat against Scotland and Ireland in the first round of the Twenty20 World Cup and said that he would conduct a review of the World Cup and plan the way forward properly.

“I think what we’ve tried to do is to be sensible and strategic in our approach and try to keep emotions out of it, as difficult as that may be because everyone is hurting from the bitter disappointment of those two defeats (against Scotland and Ireland). I think that we will conduct a review of that World Cup and use the period to properly plan and strategize the way forward and look at all the options that are available to us.”

The CEO also explained about the ODI World Cup next year and the qualification of the West Indies team.

“We have another World Cup this time next year, we hope. We may or may not automatically qualify for that. But, conceivably, we could find ourselves in the qualification zone and therefore having to go in mid-June for the World Cup qualifiers which we had to do in 2019 for the last 50-over World Cup.”

“It is important we conduct a thorough review of the World Cup, the preparations and the performances of that most recent disappointment, and think very hard about what we need to take the team forward.”

Grave concluded by talking about upcoming ICC events.

“There is a lot of cricket to be played in the World Test Championship and across multiple ICC events where we’re going to have a men’s event every year in the white-ball format, including a home World Cup in T20 cricket in June of 2024, and we will need to make some very good decisions about how we prepare and plan for that because everyone will expect us to, and we need to do significantly better.”

John Campbell, the West Indies opener, was charged with doping violations in late April. According to the West Indies Players’ Association, Jamaica’s Anti-Doping Commission has held a preliminary hearing since the allegations against Campbell.

However, Campbell’s anti-doping hearing was adjourned until Tuesday, August 2, despite an inquest (trial) scheduled for July 19. The West Indies Players’ Association said in a brief statement that the matter had been adjourned, without saying whether any evidence had been heard on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Kent Gammon.

Jamaica’s anti-doping agency alleged that the left-hander breached WADA’s whereabouts rule, which requires a player to be suspended three months in advance and spend an hour each day from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. When they are available for out-of-competition testing.

He was accused of refusing to provide a sample to JADCO doping control officials, who also held a disciplinary hearing to determine whether he refused to provide a test sample to representatives of the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO).

A player can be considered to be in violation of the anti-doping rules for “skipping, refusing or failing to submit a sample” and can be banned from cricket for up to four years if found guilty.

Accordingly, the 29-year-old Jamaican batsman John Campbell was banned for four years on Friday by a three-member independent panel after it was proved that he missed, refused, or failed to submit the sample collection by JADCO on April 20, 2022.

According to the 18-page decision, Campbell’s ban will resume until early May this year. Up until the game, it was unclear whether Campbell intended to appeal the ban.

On the evidence presented, the panel did not find that the athlete’s anti-doping violation was not intentional. According to sections of the reports:

“The panel is persuaded to a comfortable degree of satisfaction that the athlete committed an anti-doping rule violation, namely breach of JADCO rule 2.3.”

“In the circumstances of this case, the athlete is ineligible for a period of four years, as per JADCO Rule 10.3.1, and the time will be counted from the date of the athlete’s notification of the anti-doping rule violation that is from the 10th of May 2022.”

Earlier, chief selector Desmond Haynes spoke about opener John Campbell at a press conference. There he said that John will be played very well against Bangladesh with the captain.

“You can see that he is very determined. He wants to do well. The way he and Kraigg bat together, they tend to bounce off of each other.”

Batted well with Brathwaite in the concluded Bangladesh Test series. Together they formed 44, one, 100, and 13 good partnerships and Haynes said he will give the team a good start that it hasn’t had in years.

“We’ve given John a run, and we’re hoping he will continue. He looks the part to me. One or two against Bangladesh were a little bit unfortunate… but apart from that, he has given us some good starts, something we weren’t getting years ago.”

The University of the West is set to confer an Honorary Doctorate of Laws (LLD) on retired Sir Richie Richardson for his contribution to the game of cricket. The former player said that he was surprised to receive such a thing, but accepted it as an honor.

Sir Richie Richardson shared his views on the matter while on The Good Morning Jojo radio show. He said that the University of the West Indies is important to the entire Caribbean region and was grateful to be honored in this way.

“The University of the West Indies is a very important institution to us as a Caribbean people and it’s ranked as one of the best universities in the region so for them to see the need to bestow such an honor on me, then I am deeply touched, honored and I am very grateful.”

He further said that he did not expect such a thing at all.

“I was surprised to be honest because I never really expected it but when I realized that it was going to happen I was very excited and deeply honored.”

The former opener led West Indies from 1991-1996 and He scored 5,949 runs in 86 Tests with 16 centuries and 27 fifties. Also, Sir Richardson, who has played 224 one-day internationals, has scored 6,248 runs, which included 5 centuries and 44 fifties.

One of the few West Indies players to be knighted, Richardson also serves as an ICC match referee. The UWI Awards will be held between October 8 and November 5, and in addition to Richardson, several people from various fields including culture, law, business, and science will be honored.