FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Bridgetown, 10 March 2017

#CPL17

Hero CPL 2017 launches with eye-catching

Tridents call on Pakistan’s Wahab Riaz; Lendl Simmons makes Tallawahs move;

Samuels joins the Stars; Walton becomes an Amazon Warrior;

Tournament bows for Afghanistan duo; Australia’s Cutting makes the Patriots cut;

ClickHERE to download Audio & Video interviews with Samuel Badree, Dwayne Bravo, Daren Sammy, Kumar Sangakkara, Dwayne Smith & Sohail Tanvir. Credit: CPL

ClickHERE to access Photography (and follow the instructions below). Credit: CPL/Sportsfile

The fifth instalment of the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) launched in spectacular fashion in Barbados on Friday morning as the Player Draft concluded with some eye-catching movement across all six franchises.

The great Sir Garfield Sobers joined the assembled guests, dignitaries, sponsors and international media to help launch the biggest party in sport.

This year each squad’s Player budget is $750,000 (USD). In addition to an unlimited group of retained players, once more there is a guaranteed roster spot for a Young West Indies emerging player as well as a representative from the ICC Americas, which ties in with one of the Hero CPL’s mandates of providing opportunities for young players across the Caribbean and north America.

Though each team was permitted to retain the core of their squad this year, it still allowed for some eye-catching transfers.

Amongst some of the notable acquisitions are that of Australian all-rounder Ben Cutting who has been recruited by St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots, while West Indies ICC World T20 winner Marlon Samuels has joined the St. Lucia Stars. Samuels was not the only high profile Caribbean capture, with the Jamaica Tallawahs signing up batsman Lendl Simmons. Chadwick Walton has made the move, meanwhile, to Guyana Amazon Warriors and looks set to be a strong addition to their batting line-up.

For the first time ever, there will be an Afghanistan presence in the Hero CPL, with Mohammad Nabi (St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots) and Rashid Khan (Guyana Amazon Warriors) being snapped up. Barbados Tridents have also supplemented their bowling attack with the signing of Pakistan’s Wahab Riaz.

In addition to the high-profile acquisition of New Zealand batsman Kane Williamson, coupled with the return of Dwayne Smith following his transfer from Guyana Amazon Warriors, the Tridents have retained Pakistan’s Shaoib Malik and South African all-rounder Wayne Parnell as they bid to win the coveted title they last won in 2014. Kieron Pollard will lead an exciting team which includes wicket-keeper/batsman Nicholas Pooran, who impressed following his comeback from a long injury lay-off joined the likes of Ravi Rampaul and emerging West Indies player Shamar Springer for the forthcoming campaign.

Guyana Amazon Warriors have been one of the most consistent sides since the tournament’s inception in 2013 and that is reflected in the retention of a number of stalwarts including Black Caps opener Martin Guptill, in-form Australian batsman Chris Lynn and Pakistan’s towering left-armer Sohail Tanvir who was one of the most consistent performers in 2016 with bat and ball. In addition, the squad will include West Indies duo Rayad Emrit and Jason Mohammed, as well as exciting batsman Shimron Hetmyer who led the West Indies to the Under-19 ICC Cricket World Cup title last year.

It will be a case of opportunity knocking for reigning champions, the Jamaica Tallawahs, who will be aiming for their third Hero CPL title. Rovman Powell was a standout player last year and the exuberance of youth will be balanced by a spine of a hat-trick of Asian talent in Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara, Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan and Pakistan’s Imad Wasim who have all been retained. USA international bowler Timroy Allen has also been retained as the ICC Americas representative.

St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots completed one of the most eye-catching transfers in the close season by acquiring the services of two-time champion Chris Gayle, and the powerful left-hander will join ‘marquee’ overseas signing Proteas all-rounder Chris Morris and his international colleague Tabraiz Shamsi in the Patriots squad. A string of local Caribbean talent will include influential leg-spinner Samuel Badree, Jonathan Carter, Kieran Powell and promising fast bowler Alzarri Joseph for what will be ICC World T20 winning coach Phil Simmons’ first season in charge of the ambitious Patriots. Carlos Brathwaite has been retained as a West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) ‘Free’ Player, who are players either contracted to the WICB, or, likely to be selected by the WICB for international duty.

St. Lucia Stars will once again be led by charismatic leader Daren Sammy and they will welcome back South African batsman David Miller and Australian all-rounder Shane Watson to the fold. Recently re-named and under new ownership, the Stars will also welcome Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga for a squad brimming with quality. Local favourite Johnson Charles was a strong performer at the top of the order last year and he will line up once more alongside the likes of Andre Fletcher, Shane Shillingford and Jerome Taylor.

2015 champions Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) have opted to retain all but three of last year’s squad and will once more by led by Dwayne ‘DJ’ Bravo. TKR will look to the guile of Sunil Narine while Darren Bravo will firm up a batting line-up which includes ‘marquee’ player Brendon McCullum, who will be joined again by fellow Black Cap Colin Munro. South Africa’s Hashim Amla also returns to the panel who will be coached by Australian Simon Katich.

2017 HERO CPL SQUADS:

BARBADOS TRIDENTS: Kieron Pollard, Kane Williamson*, Shoaib Malik, Dwayne Smith, Nicholas Pooran, Wayne Parnell, Ravi Rampaul, Wahab Riaz, Raymond Reifer, Christopher Barnwell, Imran Khan, Damian Jacobs, Akeal Hosein, Ryan Wiggins, Tino Best, Shamar Springer (Young W.I.), Akeem Dolton (ICC Americas)

GUYANA AMAZON WARRIORS: Sohail Tanvir, Martin Guptill*, Chadwick Walton, Chris Lynn, Rayad Emrit, Rashid Khan, Jason Mohammed,Steven Taylor, Veerasammy Permaul, Roshan Primus, Gajanand Singh, Assad Fudadin, Keon Joseph, Steven Jacobs, Steven Ketwaroo, Shimron Hetmeyer (Young W.I.), Muhammad Ali Khan (ICC Americas)

JAMAICA TALLAWAHS: Lendl Simmons, Kumar Sangakkara*, Shakib Al Hasan, Imad Wasim, Muhammad Sami, Rovman Powell, Gidron Pope, Kesrick Williams, Garey Mathurin, Jon-Russ Jaggesar, Krishmar Santokie, Jonathan Foo, Kennar Lewis, Andre McCarthy, Odean Smith, O’Shane Thomas (Young W.I.), Timroy Allen (ICC Americas)

1. KITTS & NEVIS PATRIOTS: Chris Gayle, Chris Morris*, Ben Cutting, Mohammad Nabi, Evin Lewis, Samuel Badree, Jonathan Carter, Tabraiz Shamsi, Brandon King, Devon Thomas, Sheldon Cotterell, Kieran Powell, Fabian Allen, Shamarh Brooks, Jeremiah Louis, Alzarri Joseph (Young W.I.), Nikhil Dutta (ICC Americas), Carlos Brathwaite (WICB ‘Free’)
2. LUCIA STARS: David Miller, Lasith Malinga*, Shane Watson, Daren Sammy, Johnson Charles, Andre Fletcher, Jerome Taylor, Marlon Samuels, Kamran Akmal, Rakheem Cornwall, Kyle Mayers, Shane Shillingford, Eddie Leie, Keddy Lesporis, Sunil Ambris,  Obed McCoy (Young W.I.), Timal Patel (ICC Americas)

TRINBAGO KNIGHT RIDERS: Dwayne Bravo, Brendon McCullum*, Sunil Narine, Hashim Amla, Darren Bravo, Denesh Ramdin, Colin Munro, Shadab Khan, Khary Pierre, Ronsford Beaton, Javon Searles, Nikita Miller, William Perkins, Kevon Cooper, Brad Hogg, Anderson Phillip (Young W.I.), Hamza Tariq (ICC Americas)

*Denotes ‘marquee’ player

ROLL OF HONOUR: Jamaica Tallawahs (2013), Barbados Tridents (2014), Trinbago Knight Riders (formerly Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel, 2015), Jamaica Tallawahs (2016)

Attention Sports Editors / Cricket Correspondents:

Media can access the latest Audio interviews on the day from the Hero CPL’s Official Audioboom Channel HERE.

Click HERE to download Video interviews. Credit: CPL

To access Photography from the 2017 Hero CPL Player Draft in Barbados please use the following login:

 

Website: http://www.sportsfile.com/private/
Scroll under ‘Hero Caribbean Premier League Press’ and then ‘All Private Images’

Username: CPLPress

Password: cplpress2016

Credit: CPL/Sportsfile

ABOUT THE HERO CARIBBEAN PREMIER LEAGUE:

The HERO Caribbean Premier League (CPL) is a franchise-based T20 format cricket tournament that combines two of the most compelling aspects of Caribbean life – dramatic cricket and a vibrant Carnival atmosphere. Over 149 million fans watched the 2016 season, combining broadcast and digital viewership, to make it one of the fastest growing leagues in world cricket. Jamaica Tallawahs are the current Hero CPL champions and the other competing teams are Barbados Tridents, Guyana Amazon Warriors, St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots, St. Lucia Stars and Trinbago Knight Riders.

-ENDS-

For further information please contact:

Peter Breen
Head of PR and Communications
Caribbean Premier League
Mobile: +1-758-7287500 (Caribbean)
Mobile: +353-85-7205752 (Ireland)
Skype: pbreen67

Wray and Nephew launched its 2017 Contender Boxing Series with the first of three fights in the Road to Contender Series at Colonel Cove in Morant Bay, St Thomas, on Wednesday night.

The free night outdoor first fight prelude to the April 5 official opening of the seventh Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum Contender Series left quite a large and appreciative crowd worked up for some more of the “Lick ‘im Shrimpy, Lick im” after-dark fiesta.

This was not surprising. The programme was its hot and seemingly spicy self with the regular two amateur fights to open the boxing segment, and the main bout over six rounds. Added to this was a live variety stage show with giveaway packages similar in content as that offered by the promoter on fight nights at the Chinese Benevolent Association in Kingston.

And, as is the pattern at the CBA, the programme opened with two amateur bouts in the welterweight and heavyweight categories.

The welterweight bout between Raheem Pitter of Boys’ Town and Kirk-Fitzpatrick Heron opened the card over three rounds. However, after two rounds the fight was all over as Heron was declared the winner after the fight was stopped, as Pitter looked out on his feet after series of unanswered attacks.

The second fight was a more competitive affair between Brian Sinclair and Jermaine Richards, the latter eventually using his long reach to leave the ring with a split decision.

The feature bout between two veteran fighters Anthony Osbourne from the GC Foster Gym and Patrick Miller from the Job Walters Gym over six rounds ended in victory for Miller. Even so, it was any less exciting or competitive than would have been expected in the opening rounds of the Contender Series. They were on a mission. That in mind, both fighters went hammer and thong at each other in search of the major share of the $100,000.

Neither fighter could be faulted on the score of inactivity during the rounds and when the end came each fighter thought that he had done enough to be declared the winner. But both could not be right. Miller, who entered the ring with six wins and a four-loss record, emerged the winner by a split decision.

Meanwhile, the Road to Contender resumes tonight at Sland Village in Ocho Rios, St Ann, beginning at 7:00pm.

Source: Jamaica Observer

A new campaign to honour and celebrate the work of Jamaica’s community organisations, under the banner ‘Face of Change’, has received the endorsement of the governor general’s ‘I Believe’ initiative.

‘I Believe’ is one arm of the governor general’s Programme for Excellence, established to build hope and strengthen youth endeavours across the island. Governor General Sir Patrick Allen sees Face of Change, a Digicel Foundation project, as a right fit for his community empowerment outreach initiative.

“The Face of Change initiative will motivate and inspire those community groups that have been actively delivering critical services to the needy and most vulnerable across the island,” said Jean Lowrie-Chin, chair of the Digicel Foundation.

REWARDING VOLUNTARISM

“Face of Change will encourage and reward the spirit of voluntarism and human compassion. For the majority of these organisations, funding is not easily available, yet they remain resilient in their efforts and steadfast in their determination to make a difference in their communities,” Lowrie-Chin added.

In 2011 the service-oriented programme for youth, the I Believe Initiative, was launched by Allen to motivate and inspire young people to believe in themselves to achieve their God-given potential and also to give service to their country. Its mantra is, ‘There is nothing wrong with Jamaica that cannot be fixed by what is right with Jamaica.’ Its projects and activities are centred on three areas of emphasis: family, youth and education.

The Digicel Foundation, which won the Council of Voluntary Social Services (CVSS), non-profit organisation award for outstanding volunteerism, has selected 21 finalists who will receive training and publicity to enhance their work and boost opportunities for partnership with other corporate and public entities.

The public is invited to visit the competition page at www.faceofchange.causewrx.com to vote for their favourite entry. The voting period runs from February 20 to March 17 with the first-place winner receiving $300,000; second place, $200,000; third place, $100,000; and social media favourite, $50,000.

Source: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20170310/digicel-presents-face-change

Food For the Poor Jamaica, with the help of Douglas Orane, former chairman and chief executive officer of GraceKennedy Group, will tomorrow construct a two-bedroom house for 64-year-old Castie Anderson, who has been sleeping on the sidewalk of the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) for more than 20 years.

The house is to be constructed in Woodbourne district in Yallahs, St Thomas.

During a visit to KPH by a team from Food For the Poor, they were informed that Anderson had been sleeping on cardboard boxes for approximately 20 years.

According to a release from Food For the Poor, Anderson said she was living in Stony Hill, St Andrew, with family members but left because she felt she was being exploited.

Anderson reportedly gave birth to four children, three of whom were taken by their father and the fourth was placed in a foster home, the release said.

One of Anderson’s children, Celine Collins-Bryan, was reportedly unaware of her mother’s whereabouts or standard of living until September 2013, based on information she got from her stepmother.

Collins-Bryan is now willing to take care of her mother, the release stated, but he does not have the proper accommodation to do so. She applied to Food For the Poor Jamaica for a house, and her request was granted.

Source: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/A-house-for-Castie_91819

Saffrey Brown, general manager of JN Foundation (left); Gillian Hyde (second left), general manager of JN Small Business Loans (JNSBL), and Thelma Yong (right), deputy general manager, JNSBL, share a photo with the JN Foundation’s Pitch for Purpose Competition winners Fabian Jackson and Carlye Gabbidon of Deaf Can Coffee. A social enterprise, Deaf Can Coffee was among five social enterprises vying for a development award valued at $1million. With plans to use the funds to assist with the financing of the operation and social mission of Deaf Can Coffee, the enterprise, which specialises in coffee brews and employs and trains deaf barristers, was also awarded the People’s Pitch Award, which was determined by online votes leading up to the competition. Organised by the JN Foundation’s Social Enterprise Boost Initiative, in collaboration with Digicel Foundation, sponsors of the development and pitch awards, the inaugural Pitch for Purpose Competition also had the support of JNSBL, which awarded the second-place winner, Randy McLaren of Bresheh, with a business development support award to access coaching to strengthen his business plan and strategy and financing options.

Source: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20170309/deaf-can-coffee-wins-jn-foundation-award

Little Ochie’s Richard Rowe jerking corn at their booth at the Rainforest Seafood Festival last Wednesday.

WESTERN BUREAU:

The days of discriminating against the lionfish are over, as fishermen embrace the meaty mammal, instead of throwing them away.

Last Wednesday, at the start of Lent and the staging of the third Rainforest Seafood Festival, the lionfish was as sought after as any snapper, Jack, salmon or grouper.

Steamed, grilled, fried, escoveitched or roasted, fish was the most dominant seafood on show.

The Lion Fish prepared by the Montego Bay Marine Park was a favourite among patrons.- Janet Silvera.

“The lionfish is a cross between grouper and butterfish. It is very fleshy, absorbs seasoning exceptionally well, and because they are scavengers, they eat only live food, such other fish and lobster,” Montego Bay’s Marine Park’s Hugh Shim tells Food.

With the sensitisation in the market, the lionfish is now being sold at $500 per pound.

As stewards of creating an environment that will serve this and the next generation, Shim said he was heartened that the fish, which is known as a predator, had found acceptance with Jamaican fish lovers.

The Marine Park booth was part educational, part restaurant, while next door the Little Ochie eatery received the most attention because of its delicious garlic lobster, tasty jerked corn and sweet escoveitched fish and festival.

In photo: Fried fish at the Little Ochi booth.-Janet Silvera.

The entire team seem to have been moved from Alligator Pond in St Elizabeth to the Catherine Hall Entertainment Complex venue, as Little Ochie did not have hands to feed the hundreds whom flocked their booth.

“Their reputation precedes them, that’s why we waited in a line to be served Little Ochie’s food,” said patron Petrina Rowe.

A few chains from Little Ochie, another iconic St Elizabeth spot – Middle Quarters Shrimp – was creating waves with their peppered, garlic and curried shrimp.

Their shrimp fritter was a hit with the crowd, and they, too, didn’t have enough hands to serve the number of persons that converged on their booth.

In photo: Little Ochie’s Richard Rowe jerking corn at their booth at the Rainforest Seafood Festival last Wednesday. -Janet Silvera.

At the Rainforest Seafood booth, fish burgers, lobster and salmon pasta, and the seafood soup had patrons going back for more. The fish burger was particularly very popular with children.

Aiming to raise $10 million this year for the Cornwall Regional Hospital, approximately 8,000 persons attended the seafood festival, which operates under the ‘We Care’ umbrella.

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com

Source: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/food/20170309/rainforest-seafood-festival-fish-and-more

Anthony Osbourne (right) in a bout with Rikardo Smith in a past season of the Wray and Nephew Contender Series.

Contender boxing fans outside of the Corporate Area, will get a chance to see some live action tonight, when journeyman Anthony Osbourne and aggressive Patrick Miller trade punches at Colonel’s Cove in Morant Bay, over six rounds, starting at 7 p.m.

This will be the first of three roadshows that are being put on this year by the promoters of the Wray and Nephew Contender 2017 series, as a prelude to the start of the main competition on April 5.

The other roadshows will be at Island Village on Friday and Breds Sports Park in Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth, March 17.

GOOD PERFORMANCES

Osbourne and Miller have both participated in the Contender series and have vowed to give good performances tonight, with the hope that they could perhaps make it into the main competition.

Osbourne, 40, has been a professional since 1998, and has had over 50 fights. His record shows 11 victories 40 losses, and one draw, but he will tell you that many of those losses should have been recorded as victories. He is known to be an excellent defensive fighter and this has led to many of his defeats, as he does not score enough punches to impress the judges.

Miller, who is also 40, said that he will be “coming to fight” and that he is “ready for action.”

He has only 10 fights, for a 6-4 record, although he has been in boxing for a long time.

“I am just not able to get more fights so as to improve my record” he lamented, but declared that he had worked hard over the past several weeks, and would be “taking it to Osbourne. I am going for a big win.”

There will be three amateur bouts as curtain-raisers to the main event.

Source: http://jamaica-star.com/article/sports/20170308/contender-series-takes-it-road