Hope not giving up test dream

CMC – Shai Hope said he has not given up on the dream of forging a successful Test career, despite having not played the longest format in nearly 17 months.

Already 29, the stylish right-hander has continued to struggle in Tests, averaging 25 from 38 matches with only or what format it is, is to score runs. I’ll try to learn from my experiences.

“It’s about not dwelling too much on the past and learning quickly from the experiences you’ve been through.”

The peak of Hope’s Test career came at Headingley

England’s Natasha Miles cheaply for five with the score on six in the fourth over but Taylor held the innings together, posting 35 for the second wicket with Sterre Kalis (19) and a further 33 for the third wicket with Mary-Anne Musonda (18).

Taylor, who struck a half-century earlier this week, counted four fours before perishing in the 13th over and it was then left to Aliya Riaz (19 not out) and Sutthiruang (12 not out) to see the innings out in a 25run, unbroken sixth wicket stand. two hundreds – both coming in the second Test at Headingley six years ago.

In reply, Sapphires lost both openers Sibona Jimmy (4) and Gaby Lewis (1) in the third over with 12 runs on the board and wickets continued to tumble, leaving the innings without hope of a recovery.

His last four innings – in a two-Test series against Sri Lanka in Galle – yielded a disappointing 53 runs.

“It hasn’t been going the way I’d like in the longer format,” said Hope, who has scored heavily in One-Day Internationals with an average of 50 despite his Test misery.

“But any opportunity I get to play Test cricket for the West Indies again, I’m keen to grasp with both hands and turn things around in my Test career.

“The aim is for me, regardless of where I’m playing where he produced knocks of 147 and 118 not out to steer West Indies to an astonishing final day victory over England, the visitors chasing down a difficult 322.

Hope’s feat represented the first time in over 100 years of first class cricket at Headingley that a batsman has scored hundreds in both innings of a game.

“I had no idea about the record. I wasn’t thinking about anything other than getting us over the line,” Hope said.

“Anything you do like that is special, and it’s something I will live happily with.

“But I don’t concentrate on records and statistics as much as some people may think. As long as I’m winning, that’s all that matters.

“I’d rather have a sub-par personal record and win more matches.”

Hope, recently appointed ODI captain, recently returned to Leeds for a threematch County stint with Yorkshire, where former West Indies head coach Ottis Gibson now serves in the top role.

In his first outing last week, he carved out a typical fluent 83 in the second innings but found himself on the losing end as Leicestershire chased down 389 on the final day.

“The thing about the game of cricket is that anyone can win on any given day or week,” Hope said.

“It’s just about making sure the team learns from the mistakes made. There were a lot of positives we, and I, could take from that game.

“Hopefully, we can crack on in this game [against Gloucestershire] if we get on and move into the season as well.

“It was a tough start against Leicestershire, but there are a lot of good signs.”

Yorkshire’s hopes of a quick turnaround against Gloucestershire in the Division Two fixture have been scuppered, with the first two days of the four-day match rained off.

UCI-sanctioned T&T Easter International cycling grand prix… Guyana’s veteran James ‘Joelyn’ Joseph secures gold

By Joe Chapman

Guyana’s United Statesbased James ‘Joelyn’ Joseph, a former Caribbean cycling champion, returned to familiar hunting ground of his heydays in Trinidad, securing gold medals at the Trinidad and Tobago Cycling Federation’s Easter International Grand Prix last week - end.

The veteran snagged gold in the Masters 60-69 years old of the International Cycling Union (UCI)-sanctioned event.

On the opening night Friday at Skinner Park, San Fernando, the Linden-born veteran, with an entry ‘unattached club’ status, won his first event in the Masters 60-69 category 3-lap race from

Wayne Samuel of Hummingbird Club and Cyril Fook of Valkyries Club respectively.

On Saturday also at Skinner Park, Joseph copped the 4-lap race from Wayne Samuel (Hummingbird International) with the third position taken by Joel Browne of Arima Wheelers; Marlin Wharwood of the Hummingbird In- ternational Club finished fourth.

The Easter Grand Prix ended on Sunday, when the action was shifted to the National Cycling Centre in Balmain, Couva, Trinidad.

The 65-year-old Joseph, who, in his prime, specialized in track cy - cling match sprinting, was 9th overall in match sprints in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Russia and competed same in the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.

It must be recalled that in October 2017, the veteran Joseph, riding in the 60-64 age cate - gory, set the 200m Flying Start world record of 11.42 seconds at the International Cycling Union (UCI) World Masters Championship in California, USA, erasing the previous record of 11.73 set by Victor Copeland.

The COTECC Trinity Cup U-14 final in T&T

By Sean Devers

Brandon Bridgewater of Curacao defeated Guyana’s Nathan De Nobrega 7/6, 6/2 in the COTECC Trinity Cup U-14 final held at the National Racket Centre in Tacarigua, Trinidad on Thursday evening.

De Nobrega led 5/3 40-0 in the first set and seemed poised to take the set, but Brandon had other plans. He crawled his way back in the set with grit and consistency. With Nathan visibly exhausted and demonstrating some form of discomfort in his left leg, Brandon capitalised on that, along with the momentum from the first set to close out the match.

Nathan qualified for the final after defeating Trinidadian Nirav Dougdeen 6/4,6/3. DeNobrega broke his opponent's service game early in the first set to go up 2/0, but lost his service game immediately after. They traded breaks throughout that set charges being involved in this tournament and looked ahead to his trip to Barbados. until Nathan finally held his nerves and closed it out 6/4.

Nirav started strong by breaking Nathan's opening service game and again in the third game to move ahead 3/0, but the fight that Nathan has would not allow him to let that set just slip by. He settled and rallied to win six consecutive games to take the set and the match to qualify for last evening final.

Rebel’s Tennis Club head coach, Andre Erskine, spoke of the benefits of his young

“The players gained lots of experience over the last three weeks. The tournaments here were of a very high standard and attracted players from the USA, Australia Canada, Curacao, St. Lucia, Barbados, El Salvador, and Peru, among other countries.

As the U-14 players head to Barbados, we expect a greater fight and ultimately take home the winner's trophy,” said Erskine.

The Barbados tournament is scheduled to commence today and the Guyanese contingent was booked to arrive in ‘Bim’ last Evening.