England takes ODI series
Andrew Flintoff took a hat-trick as England achieved their first one-day series victory in the West Indies by winning the deciding game by 26 runs. In a match reduced to 29 overs per side Kevin Pietersen (48) and Ravi Bopara (44) shared 80 from 14 overs and Paul Collingwood hit an unbeaten 35. Chasing 173, the home side lost Chris Gayle for a third ball duck but Dwayne Bravo shared 55 with Kieron Pollard.
Both fell in two balls and Flintoff soon settled it, finishing with 5-19.
It was a jubilant finale to a long winter for England, which threatened to go without a victory following Test and one-day series defeats in India and a 1-0 reverse in the Test series here. Flintoff’s dramatic hat-trick is the first by an England player in overseas one-day internationals.
There was a four-hour delay because of the wet outfield but the match was all set to begin as a 33-over contest. England started badly, losing skipper Andrew Strauss to the first ball of the second over as Ravi Rampaul made an immediate impact in his first one-day international for over a year. Pietersen struck imperious drives through the covers for four off successive Fidel Edwards deliveries as 35 came from the six overs of the compulsory powerplay.
The fifty stand was recorded from as many balls, Pietersen thumping a Rampaul slower ball straight down the ground for six and Bopara also clearing the ropes with a pull off Darren Sammy. Sammy, the first St Lucian to play for the West Indies, dived forward but it flicked up off his wrists and appeared to bounce on the ground then be trapped under him as he lay on the turf and claimed the catch.
Four wickets fell for 24 in five and a half overs, Bopara’s enterprising innings ending when he top-edged a flick to leg. Collingwood recorded the 50 stand from 45 balls in the final over with a deft glance for four but the big moment came in the first over of the Windies innings.The England all-rounder claimed 2-7 from his opening three-over spell, first dismissing Ramnaresh Sarwan, whose fluent 23 ended when he backed away to one that bounced just that touch more and got a thin edge through to keeper Prior.
By: Guardian
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The fate of Soca Warriors coach, Colombian Francisco Maturana and his technical staff which includes assistant coach/player Russell Latapy, is to be the main topic of discussion at a T&T Football Federation (TTFF) emergency technical meeting on April 9. The meeting is expected to take place at Concacaf’s Port-of-Spain office and will be chaired by T&TFF special advisor and Concacaf president, Jack Warner.
GEORGETOWN–England won the first one-dayer after a calamitous misreading of the rain regulations by the West Indies coach. Australian John Dyson waved his batsmen in when they were offered the light with 27 needed from 22 balls. But Stuart Broad’s vital wicket had made all the difference, and England’s total of 270-7 gave them a one-run win under Duckworth-Lewis rules.
Pint-sized T&T opening batsman Adrian Barath fashioned a spectacular hundred against the Leeward Islands, to enhance the Carnival celebrations which took place at the University of the West Indies in St Augustine. On the opening day of the crucial sixth round fixture of the West Indies Cricket Board Four-day Tournament, the 19-year-old Barath struck a magnificent unbeaten 163 to guide the title-chasing T&T to a position of strength on 280 for four at the close of an extended day’s play.
It’s been 21 years since a young woman with a lilting voice called Drupatee Ramgooni almost stole the Road March crown with the fast-paced chutney named Mr Bissessar. The tune, later known as Roll Up The Tassa, not only placed second in the 1988 Road March competition, it also ushered in a new genre —chutney soca—which soon eclipsed its parent art form in popularity and universal appeal.
National Flour Mills (NFM) basketballers old as they are, put on a dominating display when they defeated Marabella Raptors 84-49 to book their place in the Big-Four semifinals of the Stag Super 10 Basketball League on Monday night. Both teams went into the match on the penultimate night of preliminary round competition needing a win to advance to the play-offs. From the jump-ball Flour Mills connected on its two opening baskets as never trailed there after. They led the first half 47-27 and Raptors, the reigning South Zone champion Team, were playing catch-up the rest of the way.
Back on track! T&T duly completed a 176-run victory over the Windward Islands on the fourth and final day of the WICB Regional First Class match, at Guaracara Park in Pointe-a-Pierre. Scores: T&T 310 and 243 for 5 declared, Windwards 181 and 206. The defeat prompted the resignation of Windwards skipper, Rawle Lewis who said, he thinks the team needs new blood to take it forward. Lewis said he would however continue with the team as just a player, if selected.
A late afternoon burst of three wickets by medium pacer Richard Kelly gave T&T an opportunity to push for first innings points, despite rain which wrecked the penultimate day’s play. Kelly stole the spotlight late in the afternoon in the West Indies Cricket Board Four-day match against Jamaica, yesterday at the Queen’s Park Oval.
T&T cricketers led by a defiant half-century from skipper Daren Ganga, crawled to 145 for four on a rain-affected opening day’s play against Jamaica, in the second round of the West Indies Cricket Board Four-Day competition, yesterday, at the Queen’s Park Oval. There were two interruptions in the day’s play during which 24 overs were lost. When umpires Khemraj Barrasingha and Goland Greaves offered light to the batsmen in semi-darkness at 5.45 pm, left-handers Darren Bravo was not out on 15 and Sherwin Ganga unbeaten on four. Team bowler Dave Bernard Jr was the main wicket-taker for Jamaicans with two for 38 from 16 overs. There was a wicket a piece for pacer Andre Russell (1-20) and leg-spinner Odean Brown (1-29).
Trinidad & Tobago failed in their bid for victory, when Dale Richards hit his third first-class hundred to help Barbados earn a draw in the WICB regional four-day competition yesterday. T&T set Barbados 278 for victory, and Richards made 113 to carry the hosts to 197 for four in their second innings before the two teams decided it was pointless to continue with five overs remaining on the fourth and final day of the first round match at the Police Sports Club. Richards reached his landmark when he drove off-spin bowler Sherwin Ganga through cover for a single, but he, as well as left-handers Ryan Hinds and Jonathan Carter were dismissed in the final hour-and-a-half before the hosts gave up the chase. Half-centuries from Adrian Barath and Lendl Simmons had lifted T&T to 212 for three in their second innings before the visitors declared about half-hour before lunch.
Trinidad & Tobago’s slow bowlers helped put their side in a favourable position after Darren Bravo narrowly missed a maiden first-class hundred in the WICB regional four-day match competition yesterday. Sherwin Ganga collected two wickets, while Dave Mohammed and Amit Jaggernauth each made a single strike, as Barbados, replying to Trinidad & Tobago’s first innings total of 264, reached 108 for four at the close on the second day of their first round match at the Police Sports Club. Opener Dale Richards was unbeaten on 60 and newcomer Rohan Nurse was not out on one at the close.
She was eulogised as an angel, a true Caribbean woman and most of all a gift from God. These tributes brought tears to the hundreds who gathered at St Benedict’s Roman Catholic Church, La Romaine, to bid farewell to boxing queen Jizelle Salandy. There was only standing room. Her manager Buxo Potts said, “She was a true angel, a true gift from God and a true Caribbean woman. “She was the most decorated fighter of all times, male or female…To me, she was the greatest fighter in the world,” he said.”“She wanted to do so much things with so little time. It is amazing to believe she could have accomplished so much in such a short space of time with so many hurdles.
There was not an empty pew inside the St Benedict’s Roman Catholic Church, La Romaine, yesterday as mourners turned out in their hundreds to bid farewell to the late boxing star Jizelle Salandy. Additional chairs had to be brought in and a tent was erected outside the building, but they were not enough. After the service, a sombre Olympic double silver medallist and accident survivor Richard Thompson stood over the casket bearing Salandy’s body decked in boxing gear in the national colours. Inside the church, a few moments before, singer Natasha Babwah ensured there were no dry eyes when she sang Wind Beneath My Wings.
Potts said that plans were afoot for Salandy to fight six times during the year, in addition to her making a television appearance. She was expected to defend her eight world titles against top American Mary Jo Saunders in T&T in mid-2009 (the deal was closed on Saturday) and have a title defence later in the year in Madison Square Garden, thus becoming the first female boxer in the world to fight on HBO.
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