Florida guard Scottie Lewis (23) shoots against Kentucky forward Nick Richards (4) during the fi rst half of an
NCAA college basketball game Saturday, March 7, 2020, in Gainesville, Fla. Associated Press/Alan Youngblood, fi le
Caribbean L 30 ife, Nov. 27-Dec. 3, 2020
of the West Indies team at the 20th
Annual Frank Worrell Memorial Lecture
hosted by the University of the
West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill Campus,
Barbados.
He noted that Sir Frank transformed
the regional team into a competitive
unit and may not be pleased
with the results of West Indies cricket
over the past 20 years.
The CWI president also said the
regular changes in the West Indies
squads may have led to a decline in
performances.
Since 2000, there have been 15
changes made at the head coaching
position of the men’s team and several
coaching positions within the West
Indies Women’s team over the past
seven changes, Skerritt noted.
The longest-serving West Indies
men’s coach over the last 20 years
was Ottis Gibson, who held the position
from 2010 to 2014.
He said these changes have cost
West Indies millions.
Skerritt, who has been CWI president
since March 2019, said the CWI
spent “a quarter billion US dollars on
our players, coaches and full-time
staff during the past 20 years.”
He said the figure does not include
“the cost of travel, sustenance and
housing our many coaches, players
and administration support people
By Azad Ali
Cricket West Indies CWI) President,
Ricky Skerritt has made a call
for all to put petty cricket politics and
insularity to bed in order to drive the
growth of West Indies cricket.
Skerritt was at the time speaking
at the Sir Frank Worrell Memorial
Virtual Lecture organized by the West
Indies (UWI) Cave Hill campus, Barbados
recently.
In giving an account of West Indies
cricket over the past 20 years, the CWI
president said that it is a situation now
where the West Indian community
needs to think big and differently.
He said great things can be achieved
when the West Indian cricket community
strives to think big and differently,
to collaborate and innovate together,
and put insularity and petty cricket
politics to bed.
Cricket, he said, still has a golden
chance to drive transformative
growth and secure its sustainable
long-term future in the West Indian
culture for several more decades to
come.
“West Indians are resilient people.
Sir Frank Worrell showed us how to
face up to adversity and in honor of
his memory, let us pledge tonight to
continue to rally around the West
Indies,” he said.
in international competitions. FIFA
may also benefit from development programs,
courses and training provided
by FIFA and/or Concacaf. Moreover,
FIFA member associations may again
enter into sporting contact with the
TTFA and/or its teams,” the release
stated.
The Bureau of the FIFA Council, led
by FIFA President Gianni Infantino,
issued a suspension order on the TTFA
on Sept. 24 “due to grave violations of
the FIFA statutes.”
According to FIFIA, “the suspension
was prompted by the former leadership
of the TTFA (led by Williams Wallace)
lodging a claim before the (T&T High
Court) in order to contest the decision
of the FIFA Council to appoint a
normalization committee for the TTFA
(which) was in direct breach of article
59 of the Statutes, which expressly prohibits
recourse to ordinary courts rules
unless specifically provided for in the
FIFA regulations,’ the release added.
FIFA’s media release also sstated,
“The members of the TTFA normalization
committee, which was installed
by a decision of the Bureau of the FIFA
Council on March 17, 2020, will proceed
with their duties.”
Wallace and his TTFA executive were
removed by FIFA and replaced by the
normalization committee, headed by
Robert Hadad for mounting debts, estimated
at TT$50 million.
Wallace challenged FIFA’s decision at
the local court, instead of the Court of
Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
“Another Jamaican, Samardo Samuels,
was a free agent in 2010 when he
was picked up by the Cleveland Cavaliers
after he went undrafted after leaving
the University of Louisville after
just two years,” the newspaper stated.
Though born in New York, Stewart
was raised in a typically strong Jamaican
culture. His father left Jamaica
in 1970 for Florida where he cut
cane then moved on the construction
industry in New York.
NBA described Stewart as an imposing
6-foot-9 center with an intimidating
250-pound frame, wide shoulders,
and a massive 7-foot-4 wingspan, and
quoted him saying, ““you got a person
like my father who works jackhammers
and beats his body up, and all I
have to do is go out on the court and
play my hardest, play my heart out and
make shots and give my team energy.
That’s not hard to do at all. I can do
that forever. That’s something I will
never lose is my work ethic and my
chip on my shoulder and my energy.”
Richards was a standout since playing
for Jamaica College on the island.
In 2013 he left and played at St. Mary’s
High School in New York before transferring
to The Patrick School in Hillside,
New Jersey a year later, then on
to the Kentucky Wildcats.
NBA stated, “has elite size at 7-foot-
0.5 with a strong 247-pound frame and
a 7-foot-5 wingspan to go along with
good explosiveness and mobility.”
Reflecting on his years in Kentucky
he told the NBA, “It took me time to
develop over the past three years. I’ve
had the best time of my life. Meeting
incredible people, having the best
coaching staff in the world training
me to be the player I am right now
and to be a better player for times to
come.”
Continued from Page 29
FIFA President Gianni Infantino. REUTERS/
Leonhard Foeger, fi le
Continued from Page 29
Continued from Page 29
TWO JAMAICANS IN NBA DRAFT
FIFA lifts suspension on TTFA
WI abilities
Petty cricket
politics