TWO-TIMEWORLD T20 champions, West Indies, will have top representation in the inaugural season of Major League Cricket (MLC) in the United States of America. The T2O tournament, which will include six teams - Los Angeles Knight Riders, MI NewYork, San Francisco Unicorns, Seattle Orcas, Texas Super Kings andWashington Freedom - will see the tournament bowl off on July 13 and run through to July 30, with matches to be played at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas. The tournament will be played in a single round-robin format with 15 league matches played among the six franchises before a four-match playoff phase begins. Trinidad and Tobago and West Indies off spinner, Akeal Hosein, who has played 34 matches in the format for the regional side, taking 26 wickets at an average of 30.77, will turn out for the Washington Freedom. Los Angeles Knight Riders will have the talented pair of Jamaican Andre Russell and another Trinidadian in Sunil Narine in their ranks. Russell brings a wealth of experience, having won the World T20 trophy on two occasions with the West Indies along with being named Indian Premier League (IPL) player of the series in 2015 and was Caribbean Premier League winner in 2013 with the Jamaica Tallawahs. Narine, who recently became the third bowler behind the pair of Dwayne Bravo and Rashid Khan to capture 500 T20 wickets following his dismissal of Colin Ingram during the English County T20 Blast competition back in June, also brings much experience to the side owned by the Knight Riders Group. FormerWest Indies captains Kieron Pollard and Nicholas Pooran will turn out for the MI New York franchise. The hard-hitting Pollard against Sri Lanka in 2021 became the third batsman to hit six sixes in an over, while Pooran has played in 75 matches for the West Indies, scoring well over a thousand runs at an average of 25.18, inclusive of nine half-centuries, with a top score of 74 not out. The Texas Super Kings will include Trinidadian all-rounder Dwayne Bravo in the squad. To date, Bravo has taken the second most wickets in the Indian Premier League (183) behind leader Yuzvendra Chahal’s mark of 187, while in the Caribbean Premier League, Bravo leads the charts with 124 wickets ahead of teammate Sunil Narine with 101. Jamaica to face Guatemala after surprising Gold Cup final group games Andre Russell pulled off a brilliant run out with a direct hit. FILE Sunil Narine AP JULY 6 - AUGUST 2, 2023 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com HARRISON, NEW JERSEY (CMC): JAMAICA’S REGGAE Boyz will face Guatemala in the quarterfinals of the Gold Cup after results went sideways for Guadeloupe in their final Group D game on Tuesday. FRENCH CARIBBEAN sides Martinique and Guadeloupe suffered defeats in must-win encounters at the Red Bull Arena to miss out on the next round of games. Guadeloupe, who entered their contest against Guatemala unbeaten, finished third in Group D, while their opponents topped the group with Canada, who won for the first time with a 4-2 thrashing of Cuba, ending second. The result was particularly heartbreaking for Guadeloupe after they led twice in the contest. Andreaw Gravillon gave them the lead in the 27th minute before Guatemala’s RubioMéndez equalised for the eventual group winners six minutes before halftime. Guadeloupe would lead against through Ange Plumain’s 63rd-minute strike but could not hold on. Méndez struck a crucial blow, finishing off a flowing move in the 70th to level the scores at 2-2 before Carlos Mejía drove an 18-yard volley through the grasp of the diving Davy Rouyard to complete his side’s comeback six minutes later. Martinique, on the other hand, were thrashed 6-4 by Costa Rica, leaving them third in Group C behind their opponents and leaders Panama, who drew 2-2 with El Salvador in Houston. JAMAICA’S COMBINED martial arts team marked its return to the International Sports Karate Association (ISKA) United States Open at the weekend by reaping 37 medals, including four senior gold, topped by Richard Stone’s ESPN-televised Night of Champions victory over the United States’ Sheldon Spencer on Saturday. Before the COVID-19 pandemic halted Jamaica’s participation at the world’s biggest martial arts tournament, the island dominated the event in 2019 by winning 54 medals – 19 gold, 15 silver and 20 bronze. Returning to the tournament venue at the Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, Florida, Jamaica’s 33 athletes and 20 officials represented seven martial arts schools, whose junior fighters had won selection by way of a national fight-off. Participating among 4,000 fighters from all over the world, Jamaica were represented by Shi Tai Kickboxing, Red Dragon Taekwon-Do Centre, Jamaica Taekwondo Academy, Ultimate Taekwon-do Group of Schools, Ellis School of Martial Arts and Jamaica Taekwon-Do Centre. Nicholas Dusard led the way with two gold medals, first lifting Friday’s light heavyweight black belt division title, defeating the USA’s Tyler Scott. Daniel White of Jamaica Taekwon-Do Association won Jamaica’s second gold on Friday, taking the 18-34 advance clash sparring division to lift the spirits of the junior fighters. Dusard added his second gold of the tournament on Saturday, defeating Germany in the final. Nicholai Reid bettered his silver-medal performance on Friday by defeating Jamie Lindtner of Germany for the middleweight black belt world title on Saturday. Jamaica put icing on the cake when Richard Stone defeated the USA’s Scott in the match of the night on the ESPN Night of Champions Special for the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) World Championship bout. WEST INDIES PLAYERS TO GIVE US’ MAJOR LEAGUE CRICKET A DOSE OF STAR POWER DUSARD GETS DOUBLE GOLD AT ISKA US OPEN
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTUzNTI=