‘Insufficient preparation’ had been the excuse from the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) for Jamaica’s ongoing absence from the regional U19 Women’s Competition. In September of 2018, however, the JCA undertook a female program for said age group, for which, Analise Johnson was a participant. Two weeks prior to the start of the tournament in April 2019, the proud Marcus Garvey Technical High School shared the news that their very own had been selected as a member of the squad to Trinidad and Tobago for the competition.
On the 29th of July, I set off for the parish of St. Ann (Jamaica), with the intention of speaking with a 13-year-old cricketer. Instead, I came into contact with an inspiration and a mature mind: Analise Johnson -accompanied by her grandmother–oozed confidence. On a day that reminded us it was truly summer in Jamaica, Marcus Garvey Technical played host to our conversation.
The Jamaica Tallawahs have announced a temporary replacement for USA player Xavier Marshall who will be unavailable until 14 September due to international commitments. Marshall was drafted as the Tallawahs' ICC Americas player, but draft rules allow for him to be replaced by a Caribbean or overseas player.
Marshall will be replaced by Jamaican batsman, Kennar Lewis who played nine times for the Tallawahs last season. His standout performance last year was his Man of the Match winning 49 against the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots at Sabina Park.
Lewis will be joining a star-studded Tallawahs squad which will feature fellow Jamaicans Chris Gayle and Andre Russell. The team get their campaign underway against the Trinbago Knight Riders on Friday 6 September at Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad. Their home matches will take place between 12 and 19 September with all five of those games taken place at Sabina Park in Kingston.
Jason Holder was the biggest winner at the West Indies Players' Association/Cricket West Indies annual awards night held on August 19 in Antigua, scooping up the Player of the Year as well as the Test Player of the Year awards. Shai Hope was named the ODI Player of the Year for a second successive time while seam-bowling allrounder Keemo Paul was recognised as the T20 Player of the Year.
Allrounder Deandra Dottin also won big, securing the women's T20 and ODI Player of the Year awards. Meanwhile, 22-year-old tearaway Oshane Thomas was named the Emerging Player of the Year. Performances between April 2018 and March 2019 were taken into consideration.
In February this year, Holder became the first West Indies player to become the top-ranked Test allrounder since Sir Garry Sobers in 1974 and claimed 778 rating points, the highest by any West Indies bowler since Courtney Walsh in 2001.
West Indies skipper, Jason Holder, is still the number-one Test all-rounder in the world even as his side is set to take on the might of India on Thursday.
Holder became the leading all-rounder in the five-day game last January after scoring an incredible double hundred against England before going on to take two wickets in a game the West Indies would win by 381 runs.
Among West Indies pacers, Holder is the highest ranked at eight, with Kemar Roach second at 11th.
The Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) is continuing its support of aspiring young cricketers. Having signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of the West Indies (UWI) to support their efforts to give their students the best possible sporting opportunities, CPL will be inviting five cricketers who have excelled during the 2019 UWI Faculty of Sport (FoS) World Universities T20 Competition to join CPL franchises for their pre-tournament training camps.
The teams which took part in this inaugural event were Combined Colleges and Campuses (CCC) the 2019 CWI Super50 champions, Tertiary Sports Association of Trinidad & Tobago (TSATT), University of the West Indies (UWI), USA Combined Universities (USA), Oxford MCCU (UK).
