Tickets at the gate:
Monday & Tuesday: $25
Wednesday & Thursday: $30
Friday & Saturday: $40
The former head of the National Development Foundation, who recently announced his intentions to run later this year, also explained that these individuals are expected to share similar ideals, as it relates to making the JCA into a top-notch sporting organisation.
“My intentions are to bring together persons who share a similar set of goals as it relates to what needs to be done to make the JCA more efficient and responsive to the needs of local cricket development,” Heaven told The Gleaner.
“These individuals will span several sectors within society, including the business community, academia, young professionals and women.
He added: “It will be all-inclusive and holistic approach with the aim being to grow the sport to a level where it can begin the long road of recovery of being the sport of choice of most Jamaicans,” he added.
Up against ‘Muddy’ Wright
The current head of the JCA’s Finance and Audit Committee, Heaven is set to go up against incumbent president Lyndel ‘Muddy’ Wright who was elected into office two years ago.
diretors support
It is understood that a number of the JCA board of directors and executive members are not pleased with the leadership of Wright and are lining up to throw their support behind Heavens.
This includes JCA second vice-president, Dr Donovan Bennett, who along with former West Indies fast bowler Courtney Walsh are reportedly being considered for vice-presidential posts.
It is also understood that former West Indies players and JCA directors Wavell Hinds and Darren Powell, as well as Jamaica Money Market Brokers director Wayne Sutherland have thrown their support behind Heaven.
“The hope is to grow cricket at all levels,” said Heavens.
“From school cricket to community cricket to club cricket, there needs to be better policies and programmes and these are areas which we plan to address.”
The JCA’s next annual general meeting and election of officers is set for either October or November this year.
Walsh, the conceptualiser of the event, which is now in its seventh year, said the coaches overseeing the young participants focused on key areas of the game.
Today (yesterday) is more like a talent search. We are looking at the kids… it’s the first time we are seeing them, so we are making an assessment. We are going to have a summer camp later this year, so we are trying to see who we can have.
“We are looking at batting, bowling, fielding and the hand-eye coordination. We get a chance to see what they are good at. Some might be able to bat, but can’t bowl that well, and so forth,” the former West Indies captain told the Jamaica Observer.
He suggested that at that tender age it is most important the players develop a love for the sport.
“It’s been running now for seven years and we are just trying to encourage the kids to play this wonderful game of cricket. (For) some of them it is the first they are playing with the leather ball, so we also have to take that into consideration. We are not really coaching specifics today (yesterday), but we are still giving them a few tips here and there,” the fast bowling legend said.
Walsh expressed pleasure at the level of participation, but added that a concerted effort has been made to ensure the camps are not over-subscribed.
“The turnout has been tremendous, but the last couple of seasons we have tried to stick to the numbers that we ask for so that it doesn’t become unmanageable for the coaches. We are looking for quality over quantity,” he said.
In the early phases of yesterday’s session, Walsh was assisted by former West Indies left-handed opener Robert Samuels, as well as Wayne Cuff, Wayne Morgan and Ray Stewart.
— Sanjay Myers
Well, that is precisely what happened yesterday when Trinidad & Tobago pulled off a tense three-wicket semi-final win at Sabina Park in Kingston to halt Jamaica’s distinguished and historic run in regional four-day cricket.
Aided by moments of sloppy fielding by the Jamaicans — including two straightforward dropped chances— the visitors resumed from their overnight 54-2 and anxiously scrambled to 179-7 on the fourth and final day’s play.
The loss killed the Jamaicans’ dream of extending the regional record to an incredible sixth consecutive four-day title and abruptly ended their match win-streak — spanning three seasons — at number 15.
Jamaica had won their six previous matches this season — all ending inside three days.
Scores: Jamaica 246 (80.5 overs) & 102 (43.5 overs); Trinidad & Tobago 170 (70.4 overs) & 179-7 (65.2 overs).
Trinidad, who last won the first-class title in the 2005-06 season, will oppose Barbados in next week’s championship showpiece.
The 24-year-old pace bowler Marlon Richards, who wrecked the Jamaican top-order in both innings to mastermind the comeback victory, was predictably named Man-of-the-Match for his 8-67 in the game.
Jamaica captain Tamar Lambert, reeling from the missed opportunities and the absolutely horrendous batting display that saw his team muster only 102 in the second innings, said he was “disappointed”, while conceding that Trinidad “played the better cricket” over the four days.
Denesh Ramdin, the T&T skipper, said “there were some nervous moments” to get the remaining 125 runs yesterday, but praised his young team for piecing together important partnerships on a pitch that he felt “held up well for four days”.
All-rounders Imran Khan and Rayad Emrit, who struck unbeaten knocks of 50 and 25, respectively, had a solidly-built unbroken partnership of 49 for the eighth wicket to seal the memorable win.
The 20-year-old wicketkeeper/batsman Stephen Katwaroo (32) also played a crucial part, combining with Khan for a 57-run seventh-wicket stand that rescued T&T from a perilous 73-6.
Jamaica’s medium pacer David Bernard, who bowled outstandingly to both the left and right-handed batsmen, fought a virtual one-man battle with the Trinidadians yesterday, capturing the first six wickets of the innings and finished with figures of 6-39 off 17 overs and two balls.
It was the 31-year-old’s sixth five-wicket haul in first-class cricket.
Left-arm orthodox slow bowler Nikita Miller was also used extensively and he took 1-31 off 18 overs. He equalled a chart-topping 52 wickets in the tournament — the same as Windward Islands off-spinner Shane Shillingford.
After the batsmen failed to effectively build on the significant first innings lead of 76, it was the bowlers, who for the umpteenth time, were expected to burden the brunt of the rescue mission yesterday.
And Bernard, who had two wickets on day three, answered the call, while picking up four more victims for 13 runs in his morning spell of eight overs.
He added left-hander Yannic Cariah (6) to his account when the young batsman edged the first delivery bowled yesterday and was caught by wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh.
Debutant left-hander Akeal Hosein (0) followed to the same combination in the very same over as he succumbed to an expertly slanted delivery across his body with the score at 54-4.
Bernard, nicknamed ‘Scorcher’, threatened to put Trinidad’s run chase up in smoke when he trapped Jason Mohammed (7) leg before wicket at 59-5.
It was 73-6 when Bernard’s beautifully executed delivery tailed in towards Ramdin in the air and moved even further into the right-hander to slide between bat and pad and emphatically rock back the middle stump.
The small spattering of fans at the venue was in high spirits at that point, but Khan and Katwaroo held the innings firmly together with a stubborn display.
The left-hander carved out a brilliant unbeaten 98 off 106 balls with six fours, to help lift Kent to a respectable 239 for eight after they were sent in at Edgbaston.
He shepherded the innings, putting on 85 for the second wicket with Robert Key (44) and 41 for the sixth wicket with Adam Ball (28).
Veteran seamer Darren Maddy grabbed two for 27.
In reply, Warwickshire got a top score of 65 from opener Varun Chopra and a cameo even 50 from Jeetan Patel. However, with two needed off the last ball of the game, Patel was run out by Ball in a dramatic finish to the contest.
Nash has been in a good run of form this season, scoring 294 runs from six innings in the County Championship at an average of nearly 59.
Holding has long been known for his preference for the longer forms of the game, having been brought up and enjoyed success in both Tests and One-Day Internationals.
The Jamaican was part of Clive Lloyd’s all-conquering West Indies side of the 1970s and 1980s and took 249 Test wickets in 60 matches as well as a further 142 from 102 ODIs, and he secured an ICC Cricket World Cup winner’s medal in 1979.
Looking forward to the inaugural CPL, which will be staged across the Caribbean in July and August, Holding — now a respected broadcaster on the game — said he was happy to back the new project because of its commitment to help identify and develop locally produced young players.
“The CPL is looking at a development programme which they will start rolling out in January 2014, I understand,” he said. “They will have about 60 young cricketers, 10 from each of the six franchise regions, whom they will put on contract and create programmes to improve their cricket. That is what I am interested in,” he said.
“It is not easy to start with Twenty20 cricket and go into Test cricket and David Warner (of Australia) is the only person who has come even close, but if we can develop some young cricketers in the Caribbean, even if a lot of them are tempted to play Twenty20 cricket, then maybe we can still find one or two who are quite happy and even capable of playing Test cricket too,” said Jamaican Holding.
With each of the six franchises based in Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, St Lucia and Trinidad & Tobago required to have 11 out of their 15 players qualified to play for the West Indies and with four of those needed to be under the age of 23, there is plenty of incentive for those franchises to unearth local talent.
And, as Holding observed, the introduction of the CPL, will also be a means of attracting young people in the region to play cricket as their sport of choice.
“I think cricket has lost a lot of young people in the Caribbean who are thinking ‘why bother with cricket because unless you are playing for the West Indies then there is nothing there for you,’” he said.
Holding also sees the value of the region’s best young players getting the chance to mix with some of the game’s greats, with six overseas icon players — Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, Ross Taylor, Mohammad Hafeez, Herschelle Gibbs and Muttiah Muralitharan — already confirmed starters.
Six top West Indies stars have also been confirmed as franchise players — Dwayne Bravo, Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Darren Sammy and Marlon Samuels.
“If the youngsters rub shoulders with those guys they will certainly learn a lot about cricket, not just Twenty20 cricket, but cricket in general,” Holding noted.
“Youngsters will love to be able to be with those guys, be in the same squad with them, going to team meetings and listening to those people they will be playing with.”
Holding said if the CPL gets arrangements right then it could play a significant role in continuing the revival of West Indies cricket that has seen Sammy’s side win six Tests in a row and secure the ICC World Twenty20 title in Sri Lanka last October, the side’s first global trophy in eight years.
“If cricket becomes accessible again, if the structures are put in place around the islands and with the CPL coming in and giving youngsters the chance to get some money in their pockets by playing the game they love, (then) more people will want to play the game,” he said.
The player draft, which is set to take place on May 24, will determine who will be playing where among the six franchises that are soon to be announced.
The make-up of the CPL Cricket Committee has also been confirmed with former Jamaica Prime Minister PJ Patterson chairing it alongside Zorol Barthley, Ian Bishop, Lance Gibbs, Conde Riley, Walter Scott and Charles Wilkin.
Trinidad Express article.
PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD – Adrian Barath has been recalled to the Trinidad and Tobago senior cricket team for the final of the regional four-day competition bowling off on Thursday at Kensington Oval, Barbados. Barath replaces Kjorn Ottley in the squad that will travel to Barbados early tomorrow morning and chairman of selectors Dudnath Ramkessoon said the move was made to put some experience back at the top of the batting order.
The right-handed opening batsman, Barath, was dropped from the T&T line-up ahead of the four-day semi-final against Jamaica when the selectors made some bold changes which saw all-rounder Akeal Hosein and teenage opening batsman Jeremy Solozano
making their first class debuts.
T&T went on to win the match and secure their place in the final and although the selectors were reluctant to change what turned out to be a winning combination, they were willing to give Barath a second chance. “We wanted to put some experience back in the top three,” Ramkessoon said of the only change to the squad.
“They (the T&T squad) are just coming from a big victory and we did not want to make too many changes to the team going into a final.” He also noted that Kavesh Kantasingh, Yannick Ottley and Darren Bravo were still unavailable.
“It will be a very hard game playing Barbados in Barbados. We know that there is a good rivalry between the two teams and we know they (Barbados) will come at us very hard so we felt that we needed some more experience at the top and we are hoping that
he (Barath) will want to show that he belongs in the team and step up his performances to prove that he deserves a place in the squad,” Ramkessoon added.“He had some time to reflect (after being axed) and that could work in his favour. His talent and his ability were never in doubt and this will be a good time for him to prove that he belongs.”
Asked about Jason Mohammed keeping his place in the side after scores of zero, seven, zero, zero, seven and three in his previous six first class innings since making 138 against the Combined Campuses and Colleges, Ramkessoon said: “He recently had some bad scores and we feel that he is long overdue. He has the experience and we wanted to give him another chance because we did not want to change up the side too much heading into a final.”
T&T squad:
Denesh Ramdin (captain)
Jeremy Solozano
Lendl Simmons
Adrian Barath
Steven Katwaroo
Jason Mohammed
Akeal Hosein
Imran Khan
Rayad Emrit
Amit Jaggernauth
Yannic Carriah
Shannon Gabriel
Marlon Richards
David Williams (coach), Omar Khan (manager)
