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GUYANA CHRONICLE Friday, August 11, 2017
We’re down, but not out - Lady Jags coach
… Guyana to play Cuba in final Group D match on Sunday By Rawle Toney
THEY fell 5-1 to Barbados in their opening game of the CONCACAF Women’s U-17 Caribbean Qualifier tournament on Wednesday, but head coach Akilah Castello said Guyana might be down, but certainly not out of the competition. “We were not too worried about the end result of the game, because our players would have shown some amount of fight, given the challenges they were faced with coming forward to these games,” Castello said while speaking to the Media after her team’s defeat. Despite getting the first goal of the game – a beautiful free-kick by Tiandi
Smith – Guyana succumbed to the ‘Bajans’ who got a double from captain Tia
Briggs-Thompson, while Tiana Sealy and Caitlin Padmore each had a strike. Smith’s
Guyana’s National U-17 Women’s team (Samuel Maughn photos)
own goal added to the tally for the visitors. “For these girls, it was the first time being exposed to such a major game so they were nervous,” Castello said, stating that the players were selected from the Guyana Football Federation’s (GFF) Academy Training Centres (ATCs). “Well, the coaching staff, we tried our best to give them an idea of what the atmosphere would have been like. We also told them about the additional coaches in the stands, but, like I said, this is the first major competition for these girls, most of them never played under floodlights before, so we did our best to help them along the way,” Castello said. Guyana will play Cuba on Sunday at 17:00hrs in their
final game of championship, but Castello pointed out, for her coaching staff, while winning and moving ahead is something they would want, their primary focus is development. “For us, we’re looking at it as a form of development. They have to learn to play in a formation in a competitive environment. They did try their best to execute. We were not so worried because we basically lost the game (to Barbados) on free-kicks and possession-wise I think it was balanced, so we’re not too worried,” the Lady Jags coach noted. In the Caribbean Zone, 19 Caribbean Football Union (CFU)-member national teams have entered the qualifying competition, consisting of two
stages. Apart from Haiti, who received a bye as hosts of the final round, the remaining 18 teams entered the first round and were divided into three groups of four teams and two groups of three teams. The winners of each group advance to the final round to join Haiti, where they are divided into two groups of three teams, with the top three teams qualifying for the final tournament as the CFU representatives. Trinidad and Tobago, Puerto Rico, Saint Lucia, Guyana, and St Vincent and the Grenadines were automatically seeded in Groups A–E respectively, as hosts of each first round group, while the remaining 14 teams were seeded based on the results of the previous two editions of the qualifying competition.
Sangakkara steers Tallawahs to second CPL win PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – Reigning Caribbean Premier League champions Jamaica Tallawahs won their second on the trot when they beat Trinbago Knight Riders by four wickets here Wednesday night. Chasing 148 at Queen’s Park Oval, Tallawahs got home with four balls remaining to notch their second win in four days, following their opening loss to Barbados Tridents in Florida last weekend. Tallawahs were guided by Sri Lankan star and captain Kumar Sangakkara who top-scored with 47 while opening partner Lendl Simmons struck 38. Champion off-spinner Sunil Narine (2-21) and seamer Kevon Cooper (2-25) grabbed two wickets apiece. New Zealander Colin Munro had earlier top-scored with 41 as TKR, sent in, were dismissed for 147 with a ball to spare. Left-hander Darren Bravo punched 33 while opener Narine
blasted 23, but seamers Odean Smith (3-20) and Kesrick Williams (2-36) snatched three wickets apiece to retard TKR’s progress.
Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara
In fact, the hosts were cruising at 109 for two in the 10th over before suffering a dramatic collapse, losing their last eight wickets for a mere 38 runs. Narine had given the innings an energetic start, smacking a pair of fours and sixes in an 11-ball cameo, adding 33 for the first wicket with New Zealander Brendon McCullum (16). When Narine perished in the fifth over caught at mid-wicket
by Simmons off Man-of-theMatch Williams, Munro and Bravo put TKR on top with a 57-run third-wicket stand. Munro struck five fours and two sixes off 25 balls while Bravo also faced 25 deliveries and counted two fours and two sixes. Once Munro holed out in the deep at the end of the 10th, however, the innings slumped into terminal decline. Tallawahs’ run chase was given an immediate boost when Sangakkara and Simmons put on 61 off 33 balls for the first wicket. While the left-handed Sangakkara was measured in his 41ball knock which included seven fours, Simmons played with abandon, carving out four fours and three sixes off just 18 balls. Simmons was one of three wickets to fall for 32 runs in the space of 30 balls when he was bowled by Pakistan leg-spinner Shadab Khan in the sixth over but Tallawahs kept their focus to get home in the final over.
New PCB chairman eyes international tours NEWLY elected Pakistan cricket chief Najam Sethi vowed on Wednesday to bring international competition back to the terror-hit country after years of isolation.
Newly elected chairman of (PCB) Najam Sethi
Sethi made the promise after being elected chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for a three-year term. The new chief, whose first term as chairman in 2013 was marred by court wrangling,
said bringing international cricket back to Pakistan would be a challenging but worthwhile goal. “We need to show patience because it is related to the security situation in the country,” Sethi told media. Barring a limited-over series against Zimbabwe in 2015, Pakistan has not hosted foreign squads since a militant attack targeted the visiting Sri Lankan team in 2009. Sethi said he hoped the planned World XI tour next month would pave the way for future competition in the country. “We hope to bring a World XI for a three-match Twenty20 series and the next
two-three months will bring more good news,” said Sethi. The cricket boss said he will also attend an Asian Cricket Council meeting in Colombo tomorrow where he hopes to persuade Sri Lanka to send their team to Pakistan. “We have invited Sri Lanka to play a few matches after their series with us and I will try to get a reply on that invitation,” said Sethi. Pakistan are due to play a two-Test, three one-day and two Twenty20 match series with Sri Lanka in September-October, which will likely be held in the United Arab Emirates - Pakistan’s neutral venue for their home series since 2009.