Kaieteur News
PAGE 28
Friday June 02, 2017
Windies looking to dominate minnows Basseterre, St Kitts, CMC – West Indies will be seeking to impose their superiority on minnows Afghanistan and rekindle their winning touch, when they meet the Asian side in the first of three Twenty20 Internationals here tonight. The reigning champions in the format have looked anything but over the last 10 months with six defeats in their last seven matches but the Afghanistan assignment presents the opportunity for the Caribbean side to turn their fortunes around. West Indies boast a strong squad for the series with some of the world’s leading T20 specialists in batsmen Kieron Pollard, Lendl Simmons and Marlon Samuels, along with spinners Sunil Narine and Samuel Badree all involved. Captain Carlos Brathwaite said here yesterday even though they were not taking the Afghans for granted, they were confident of imposing themselves on the series. ”We need to get back on the winning track. We pride ourselves in our T20 cricket and as usual we want to go out there and give the fans a spectacle, playing that Caribbean way, playing that
Windies T20 Captain Carlos Brathwaite goes through a fielding drill at Warner Park. (WICB Media) exciting way to get fans off their seat,” the all-rounder said. ” W e a r e n o t underestimating Afghanistan, they were actually the only team to beat us in the recent World Cup triumph so we’re not underestimating them. ”We are focussing on ourselves, we want to get back to the winning ways we are capable of and individually a lot of guys have stuff to prove in West Indies colours and I’m sure everyone is ready and raring
to go.” Since their triumph at the T20 World Cup in India last year April, the Windies have declined steadily. In fact, they were swept 3-0 by Pakistan last September in the United Arab Emirates and were beaten again by Pakistan, 3-1 in a four-match series in the Caribbean two months ago. The problem in both series lay squarely at the feet of the Windies batting. In the UAE, they never mustered above 115 batting first and
Scotiabank CONCACAF League Draw Determines Opening Matchups for the Inaugural Season Miami - CONCACAF conducted Wednesday night the draw for the 2017 Scotiabank CONCACAF League — the inaugural edition of the competition — at the Hilton Miami Airport Hotel. The Scotiabank CONCACAF League features 16 top club teams from Central America and the Caribbean. It will be played in a directelimination, knockoutround format, with homeand-away rounds set to begin in early August. We d n e s d a y ’s d r a w, which sorted the qualified sides into eight parings for the first round of the competition, was opened with remarks from Pedro Chaluja, a CONCACAF Council Member and Panamanian Football Federation President. The draw was conducted by CONCACAF General Secretary Phillipe Moggio with the assistance of retired CONCACAF stars Alvaro Saborio (Costa Rica) and
Omar Daley (Jamaica). The Round of 16 pairing for the 2017 Scotiabank CONCACAF League are as follows: Matchup #1: San Juan Jabloteh (TRI) v Santos de Guapiles FC (CRC) Matchup #2: CD Honduras Progreso (HON) v Chorrillo FC ( P A N ) Matchup #3: CD Arabe Unido (PAN) v Central FC ( T R I ) Matchup #4: Real Esteli FC (NCA) v CD Aguila ( S L V ) Matchup #5: LD Alajuelense (CRC) v CD Olimpia (HON) Matchup #6: Alianza FC (SLV) v Platense FC ( H O N ) Matchup #7: CD Plaza Amador (PAN) v Portmore United FC (JAM) Matchup #8: Belmopan Bandits (BLZ) v CD Walter Ferretti (NCA) For the Round of 16, the clubs that were drawn from Pot 1 (listed first) will play away first, and then will host
the return matches. The winners of the matchups numbers 1, 3, 5 and 7, will host the return leg of the quarterfinals. For the semifinals, clubs will be ranked per their performance (points earned, goal differential and goals scored) in the Round of 16 and the quarterfinals, using the competitions tiebreaking procedure. The highest-ranked club in each semifinal matchup will host the 2nd leg matches. The same tiebreaking procedure will be applied to determine who will host the second leg final. The Scotiabank CONCACAF League includes top club teams from the Central America and Caribbean regions. For the 2017 Scotiabank CONCACAF League, Panama and Honduras each enjoy an additional berth to the tournament, filling the two spots allocated for G uatemala clubs (not eligible to participate (Continued on page 25)
144 chasing while in the Caribbean, they stumbled to totals of 111 and 124 batting first. They successfully chased 137 in the third T20I but failed to overhaul 132 in the second game, and Brathwaite said they were aware of where they had gone wrong against the Pakistanis. “We definitely spoke about our batting – batting in partnerships. I don’t think we did that well enough in the Pakistan series,” the 28year-old pointed out. ”The one game we did put up a good batting performance we came up trumps so that’s something we’ve definitely spoken about.
”With regards to the bowling, I think we ticked all our boxes in the Pakistan series. However, we think we can improve on our fielding and we pride ourselves as an energetic fielding team, making stops and turning half-chances into chances and breaking crucial partnerships. ”That’s something we want to improve on going into this series and I know once we play our best cricket, fans will be happy and eventually, if we play our best cricket we should also win and the aim of the series is to come out on top.” Several members of the squad are coming off stints in the Indian Premier League, including Pollard and Simmons who were members of eventual champions Mumbai Indians. Both players were among the runs with Pollard gathering nearly 400 and Simmons getting two halfcenturies. Brathwaite, who made limited appearances for Delhi Daredevils, said he was hopeful the Trinidadian duo could bring their winning touch to the Windies side. ”We also have two guys who just experienced winning a competition … in Lendl Simmons and Kieron Pollard so we’re banking on their recent triumphs as well to bring some sort of extra motivating factor to the
team,” he said. ”They always say winning is a habit and they’ve gotten accustomed to winning as they just won the IPL and we want to get back on the winning path as well. We all have things to play for and we all have motivating factors but hopefully those two can use their recent triumphs as an extra motivating factor to spur on the team to what we want to be a successful series win.” Afghanistan, coached by Phil Simmons who was axed as West Indies head coach last September, have been impressive in their recent outings going unbeaten in their last 11 T20 Internationals. The match is set for Warner Park at 7:30 pm. WEST INDIES – Carlos Brathwaite (captain), Samuel Badree, Ronsford Beaton, Evin Lewis, Jason Mohammed, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Rovman Powell, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Jerome Taylor, Chadwick Walton, Kesrick Williams. AFGHANISTAN – Asghar Stanikzai (captain), Noor Ali Zadran, Javid Ahmadi, Usman Ghani, Mohammad Nabi, Samiullah Shenwari, Najeeb Zadran, Gulbaddin Naib, Rashid Khan Arman, Shafiqullah Shafaq, Shapoor Zadran, Amira Hamza Hotak, Farid Malik, Dawlat Zadran, Karim Janat.
National U-15 team departs for Soualiga tournament Sixteen (16) members of the National U-15 team and the Technicla staff departed Guyana yesterday for St. Martin to participate in the ‘SOUALIGA’ Tournament, which runs from June 1 to 5 . The team consists of two goalkeepers, five defenders, five midfielders and four forwards from the following GFF-Scotiabank Academy Training Centres (ATC) – East Coast (4); East Bank (1); Georgetown (5); Rupununi (3); Bartica (1); Berbice (1) and one player from Region 1. Technical Director, Ian Greenwood, said while the tournament in St. Martin will serve as preparation for the U-15 CONCACAF tournament in August 2017, the long-term goal is to enable the development of the players for the senior men’s national team in five years’ time. Additionally, it will serve as part of the development st
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process for coaches: “Engaging in consistent international tournaments and fixtures are vital as we look to instill the National Playing Philosophy into the players as part of their longterm player development. Tournaments such as these are also being used as development tools for our coaches too as we look to implement the GFF National Coaching Philosophy.” Following their creditable performance in the previous international fixture in French Guiana in December 2016, Greenwood is looking for an improvement on the team’s performances and tactical understanding of the game: “The U15s know that with the launch of the ATC’s, we are consistently looking to improve and develop the playing squad on a national basis so they will need to be positive, express themselves
and wear the badge with pride at all times.” The squad, which was drawn from 25 players who were encamped from the 28th – 31st May in New Amsterdam, is headed by Bryan Joseph and will play its first game against Haiti today. The SOUALIGA Tournament will feature 10 territories including Anguilla, Barbados, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Haiti, Martinique, St. Thomas and Tortola. Team: Goalkeepers Shawn Adonis, Oswin Fredericks. Defenders Joshua Braithwaite, Wayne Da Silva, Jermaine Padmore, K e v i n R e d d y, M a r c u s Wilson. Midfielders - Okifi Patoir, Orville Daniels, Tyrel Khan, Jermaine Garrett, Ravon Bayley. Forwards O m a r i G l a s g o w, K e n Salvador, Troni Semple, Ronaldo Rodrigues.