News Releases

UWI’s star cricketers selected for Tri Nation ODI Series

For Release Upon Receipt - June 1, 2016

UWI


The University of the West Indies congratulates Barbadian cricketers, Jason Holder, Carlos Brathwaite and Jonathan Carter on being selected to join the West Indies cricket team for the upcoming 2016 Tri Nation One-Day International (ODI) Series. All three were recently named among the 14-man squad, who will play in the tournament beginning 3 June, 2016.

Jonathan Carter, the left-handed batsman, who also bowls right-arm medium pace, plays for the Sagicor UWI Blackbirds Elite Cricket Team out of The UWI’s Cave Hill Campus’ Academy of Sports programme. He has been playing for the Blackbirds for the past seven years. In 2007, he was selected to play for Barbados in a List-A match against West Indies Under-19s and then made his ODI debut for the West Indies Men’s team against South Africa in 2015. The young Windies skipper, Jason Holder has been described by personalities such as Viv Richards, Brian Lara and Tony Cozier as “remarkably level-headed and mature”.  At age 23, he was appointed West Indies' ODI captain in 2014, and within one year was given charge of the Test team as well. His captaincy shone in the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup, where the West Indies won three out of seven matches. Carlos Brathwaite made headlines in the 2016 ICC World Twenty20, hitting four successive sixes in the last over of the final to clinch the West Indies victory.

Holder, a past student, Brathwaite, a current student in the Certificate in Management and Administration of Sport programme, and Carter, a UWI cricketer, all advanced their cricketing careers at The UWI Cave Hill Campus. Jason Holder was selected for the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) team in 2012 to play in the then Caribbean T20 competition and also represented CCC in the Regional Four-Day tournament. Later that year he was called up for the West Indies against Bangladesh. Likewise, Carlos Brathwaite made his first class debut as a member of the CCC team in the 2011 Regional Four-Day Competition against Trinidad and Tobago. Out of the CCC programme, he was later selected to represent the West Indies team in the One-Day International and T20 series against Bangladesh. Brathwaite also captained The UWI Cave Hill Blackbirds Elite Cricket Team in 2014. Last month, Jason Holder and Carlos Brathwaite were among the regional sports personalities honoured by The UWI Vice-Chancellor, Sir Hilary Beckles at his Inaugural Sportswoman and Sportsman of the Year Awards held at The UWI St. Augustine Campus in Trinidad and Tobago. 

During a recent interview Holder said “An athlete never forgets the moments that helped to transform their career. For me, one such moment was when I made my regional cricket debut for the Combined Campuses and Colleges. Coach Floyd Reifer and motivational leader Professor Hilary Beckles brought me into the University's Academy and gave me a mandate to represent University cricket. They brought Sir Curtly Ambrose to prepare myself and Carlos Brathwaite for the regional encounter. Thanks to them, we both did well. I am now the captain of the West Indies test team and the ODI team of West Indies Cricket. It all happened very quickly. UWI cricket therefore occupies a special place in my heart. Cave Hill Campus, UWI, “maximum respect”.”

Team mate, Brathwaite added, “I am here because I am not just a West Indies cricketer, I am a cricketer who represented The University of the West Indies and I learnt the art of captaincy because I was a captain of The University of the West Indies. UWI not only nurtured me at a critical moment in my skills development but provided me with a way of thinking that has helped to focus my talent. Like President Obama when he spoke at the Mona Campus last year, I want to say “big up UWI” and I thank you.”

Commenting on his ascension to the Windies team, Carter said “Representing the West Indies team gives me great pleasure. It is one of my greatest achievements in life. For me, being a UWI cricketer coming out of a well-structured programme, I was able to improve as a young cricketer and showcase my talents. UWI provides a great opportunity for any youngster aspiring to become a West Indies cricketer, to develop and improve. Just look at myself, Jason Holder and Carlos Brathwaite, we were all part of the UWI system. Carlos and I were UWI Blackbirds and we came to UWI, we took off, and here we are now. I am proud to say that I am a Blackbird and I represent all Blackbird cricketers when I go on that field to play for the West Indies. So this is an achievement not just for me but for the UWI cricket programme.”

The 2016 Tri Nation One-Day International Series will feature West Indies, South Africa and Australia and begins at the Guyana National Stadium from 3-7 June, then moves to Warner Park, St Kitts from 11-15 June and concludes at Kensington Oval, Barbados from 19-26 June.

The UWI extends congratulations to Holder, Brathwaite and Carter on yet another career highlight, and best wishes to the entire Windies team for the upcoming series.

 

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Related Stories:

Faculty of Sports coming to UWI

The Inaugural UWI Vice-Chancellor’s Sportswoman and Sportsman of the Year Awards

 

About The UWI:

Since its inception in 1948, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged, regional University with well over 40,000 students. Today, UWI is the largest, most longstanding higher education provider in the Commonwealth Caribbean, with four campuses in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Open Campus. The UWI has faculty and students from more than 40 countries and collaborative links with 160 universities globally; it offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science and Technology and Social Sciences. UWI’s seven priority focal areas are linked closely to the priorities identified by CARICOM and take into account such over-arching areas of concern to the region as environmental issues, health and wellness, gender equity and the critical importance of innovation. Website: http://www.uwi.edu/

(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)

 

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