A year of triumphs, thrills and disappointments for region

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):

Darren Sammy was elevated to the prized but perilous position of West Indies captain, while sprint superstar Usain Bolt had his pride dented with his first loss in two years, as 2010 failed to conjure up the fireworks of preceding years.

With the historic Beijing Olympics in 2008 and the histrionics of a tumultuous 2009 now distant memories, the year proved far more sedate, even though punctuated with moments of melodrama provided largely by the turbulence that has shrouded West Indies cricket.

No such upheaval was present, however, as the industrious 27-year-old Sammy became the 34th captain and the 10th in the last decade to lead the proud institution in Tests, after the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) unveiled him as its choice in November to succeed the embattled Jamaican Chris Gayle.

His ascent, however, was more fortuitous than planned, after the incumbent Gayle turned down a central retainer contract in favour of going freelance and the next option, vice-captain Dwayne Bravo, also did similarly.

With former captain Ramnaresh Sarwan and former vice-captain Denesh Ramdin overlooked by the board for retainer contracts, the WICB was left virtually without options and moved for the untested Sammy, who had played just eight Tests in three years.

His first assignment was a three-Test tour of Sri Lanka which finished in a nil-all stalemate after persistent monsoon rains wrecked the series, affording precious little play throughout and forcing the postponement of the subsequent one-day series.

Modest year for Bolt

Bolt, meanwhile, had a modest year by his high standards and especially against the backdrop of the last two years where he sprung to international prominence with mind-boggling performances.

With no major international competition scheduled, he launched his season in stunning fashion in May, streaking to 19.56 seconds in the 200 metres at the Jamaica International Invitational before his home crowd in Kingston.

He then breezed through an assortment of meets, winning his first 100 metres of the year in May at the Colorful Daegu Pre-Championships Meeting in South Korea in 9.86 seconds before capturing the 200 metres in 19.76 seconds later that month, in his IAAF Diamond League debut in Shanghai.

An Achilles tendon injury slowed his progress, forcing him out of action for the month of June but he announced his return to fitness with an easy 9.82 seconds stroll to victory at the Diamond League meet in Lausanne in early July.

Nothing prepared the world for what happened next, however. Competing at the DN Galan meet in Stockholm the following month, Bolt produced an uncharacteristically lacklustre performance to lose to American Tyson Gay, his second defeat in two years.

The shock defeat was followed a week later by the announcement that Bolt was bringing a premature end to his season, advised by doctors to rest after suffering a back injury.

April's CARIFTA Games in the Cayman Islands served to confirm the emergence of two new stars to follow in Bolt's footsteps, as Grenadian quarter-miler Kirani James and Trinidadian hurdler Jehue Gordon dominated the Caribbean's premier junior track and field meet.

The 17-year-old James, a University of Alabama freshman, was unchallenged as he stormed to victory in the 400 metres in a time of 45.02 seconds to set a new record. He returned to win the 200 metres in 20.76 seconds to complete the double but disappointingly missed out on the World Junior record of 19.93 set by Bolt six years ago.

Not to be left out, Gordon sealed his piece of history by sweeping the men's hurdles events in record times to claim the Austin Sealy Trophy for the Most Outstanding athlete.

With a surprise fourth place in the distance hurdles at the 2009 World Championships under his belt, Gordon blazed to 49.76 to take the 400 metres event before also snatching the 110m event in 13.41 to break World champion Ryan Brathwaite's three-year-old mark.

Jamaica on top

As has become the norm, Jamaica topped the medal standings with 72, including 37 gold, while Trinidad and Tobago were a distant second with 40 medals and The Bahamas third with 29.

The 13th World Junior Championships in July brought more success for both James and Gordon as they also made headlines at the showpiece in Moncton, Canada.

Entering the 400m final as the heavy favourite, James duly captured the event but clocked a disappointing 45.89 seconds, prompting him to declare: "I don't care about championships, I just care about running fast!"

There were no such frustration for Gordon who captured the 400 metres, lowering his CARIFTA time to 49.30 seconds, though he remained outside the national record of 48.26 seconds set at the World Championships in Berlin in 2009.

Jamaican Dexter Lee was not to be left out of the Caribbean success as he successfully defended his 100 metres title, winning in 10.21 seconds to hand the region its fourth gold medal of the games.

Bahamian Shaunae Miller produced an upset in the women's 400m when she shocked heavy favourite Nigerian Margaret Etim into second, to claim gold.

Exciting Jamaican sprinter Odean Skeen made his mark at the inaugural Youth Olympics in Singapore in August, racing to victory in the men's 100 metres in a personal-best time of 10.42 seconds, to follow up his Under-17 sprint double at the CARIFTA Games.

There was only one other medal for the English-speaking Caribbean, however, with Tynia Gaither of The Bahamas claiming silver in the women's 200 metres.

Haiti, devastated by a massive earthquake in January, regrouped admirably to claim silver in the football phase of the Olympiad, reaching the final where they were beaten 5-0 by Bolivia.

The build-up to the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, was riddled with controversy and it took a last-minute flurry of activity on the part of organisers to ensure the event was staged in October as planned.

Security, construction and health issues plagued the event and cast doubt over its success, but when the curtain was raised, it was rolled out almost without a hitch.

Jamaican Lerone Clarke was the surprise 100 metres champion, clocking 10.12 seconds to win the marquee title as British sprinter Mark Lewis-Francis finished second.

The Caribbean completed a sweep of the prized sprint titles when Vincentian Natasha Mayers clinched gold in the women's equivalent in bizarre and chaotic circumstances.

She had finished third in the final but was elevated to second after winner Sally Pearson of Australia was disqualified, and when new winner Nigerian Oludamola Osayomi was also tossed out for a positive drug test, Mayers was again elevated, this time to the top of the podium.

Her success represented the St Vincent and the Grenadines' first medal at a Commonwealth Games.

There were also gold medals for Bahamian Donald Thomas in the high jump and for Jamaican Trecia-Kaye Smith in the triple jump, while Jamaica's Sunshine Girls missed out on a medal in netball after they were soundly whipped in the bronze medal game.

The Central American and Caribbean Games in Puerto Rico in July were not as eventful as powerhouses Jamaica finished on top the medal tally, even though they noticeably failed to win any of the coveted sprint titles.

Cricket was never out of the headlines, however, and, as usual, it surrounded the dismal fortunes of the West Indies side. Their ill-fated form continued on their one-day tour Down Under in February as they were thrashed 4-0 by Australia in the five-match one-day series.

Gibson as coach

Barbadian Ottis Gibson, the former West Indies fast bowler, was then appointed coach of the side in February after leaving his role as England bowling coach, and took over from interim coach David Williams in time for Zimbabwe's limited-overs tour of the Caribbean.

However, Gibson's tenure started in humiliation when the Windies lost the lone Twenty20 International at Queen's Park Oval in Port-of-Spain by 26 runs before being handed a two-run defeat in the opening ODI of the five-match series.

That West Indies recovered to win the series 4-1 failed to overshadow their frailties and the fact that they struggled in almost every game against a side without Test status.

The World Twenty20 Champion-ship in April raised the hopes of Caribbean fans temporarily, after the Windies won both their matches in Group D to cruise into the Super Eight, second round.

Normal service was quickly resumed, however, as West Indies lost to Sri Lanka, upset India before being hammered by Australia to make their exit from the tournament on home turf, as England won their first global cricket trophy for 35 years by trouncing Australia in the final at Kensington Oval.

There was no respite for the hosts, though, and South Africa promptly handed them an emphatic 5-0 whitewash in the limited-overs series following, before delivering an equally sobering 2-0 drubbing in the subsequent three-Test series.

While their male counterparts floundered, West Indies women continued to make their mark, powering their way into the semi-finals of May's World Twenty20 Championship before bowing out.

They beat South Africa in their opening game before stunning world one-day champions England in their second to reach the final four, despite losing their third group match to Australia.

Their campaign was highlighted by a breathtaking century from 19-year-old Barbadian Deandra Dottin, whose unbeaten 112 from 45 balls against South Africa made history as the fastest in either men's or women's cricket, as the right-hander reached three figures in just 38 balls.

Australia played unbeaten to reach the final where they whipped New Zealand to make up for the disappointment of their male counterparts.

Outstanding women

At the ICC Women's Challenge in South Africa for teams ranked between fifth and 10th place, West Indies performed outstandingly to win the Twenty20 title and also finish second in the one-day competition.

The tournament was marked by the heavy scoring of 19-year-old Jamaican opener Stafanie Taylor, who smashed 147, 72, 68 not out and 20 in the one-day phase. Her form saw her rocket up the ICC batting rankings to number four.

Under Sarwan's captaincy, Guyana won the inaugural Caribbean Twenty20 Championship, beating Barbados in a thrilling final in Trinidad and Tobago, to qualify for the cash-rich Airtel Champions League in South Africa.

The joy of their victory was soured, however, by the controversy which followed as the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), the WICB and the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) bickered over how prize money from the Champions League would be spent, deviating attention from the pitch to the boardroom.

Without warning, the GCB obtained an ex parte injunction in the Guyana High Court, preventing WIPA, its president Dinanath Ramnarine and West Indies Player management Company Limited from acting on behalf of the players, in relation to the Champions League.

The injunction halted the confusion and cleared the way for Guyana to participate in the tournament but they failed to make any impression, losing every game to be eliminated without so much as a whimper.

They opened with a 15-run loss to South Australia's Redbacks, followed up with a nine-wicket defeat to Highveld Lions, suffered a 31-run trouncing by Mumbai Indians before being slammed by Royal Challengers Bangalore by nine wickets in their final encounter, to return home with nothing to show for their efforts.

In December, there was more bad news for Guyana cricket as long-serving Cricket Board president and WICB director Chetram Singh announced he would not be standing for re-election when his term ended in January, 2011.

Singh had been troubled by ill health and had presided over an increasingly fractured executive suffering from internal wrangling.

Fireworks continued off the pitch in September as the WICB made the bold but controversial move of axing batting star Ramnaresh Sarwan and wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin from their new central retainer contracts list.

The WICB criticised Sarwan for his "extremely indifferent attitude and sporadic approach towards fitness" and said Ramdin had been overlooked because of "less than favourable" performances.

To make matters worse, Gayle, along with his deputy Bravo and limited overs all-rounder Kieron Pollard, all turned down retainer contract offers, backing themselves to survive on the lucrative T20 circuit.

Their withdrawal, and the axing of Sarwan and Ramdin, sparked a firestorm of discussion, as WIPA waded into the debate over the WICB's actions.

Despite the hoopla, West Indies made their trip to Sri Lanka without either player, but Gayle, now relieved of the captaincy, pummelled a remarkable 333 in the first Test at Galle, becoming only the fourth batsman in history to score a triple century twice in his career.

WICB One-Day Champs

In November, Barbados and Leeward Islands shared the WICB One-Day Championship staged in Jamaica, after the final at Sabina Park finished in a thrilling tie.

It capped off a year of missed chances for the Barbadians, who were the losing finalists in the CT20 and narrowly missed out on the four-day title when they finished three points behind eventual champions Jamaica, who claimed their third successive championship in February.

Windward Islands, who finished joint last with Guyana in the four-day competition, found redemption through their youth as they captured July's league phase of the TCL West Indies Under-19 Championship in St Lucia for the first time in a decade, while Trinidad and Tobago won the badly rain affected one-day segment in August.

This success for Trinidad followed on from their triumph in the Under-15 Championship in April at home, when they defeated the previously unbeaten Guyana in the final round to lift the title.

Trinidad and Tobago's women were not to be left out, winning the WICB 50-Over League in St Vincent for the second straight year after beating the hosts by three wickets in the final at Arnos Vale later that month.

If there was some joy for the twin-island republic in cricket, football presented only nightmares as the senior team produced a stunning failure in the Digicel Caribbean Cup Finals in Martinique.

They cruised through their qualification group stage at home without dropping a game but after entering the eight-team finals as one of the favourites, they capitulated spectacularly with losses to Cuba and Grenada in November to miss out on the semi-finals.

Their disappointment meant no place for them in the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup and led to calls for coach Russell Latapy's sacking. His job was still hanging by a thread when the year ticked over.

T&T's troubles had started long before, however, when they went down 3-1 to Jamaica's Reggae Boyz at home in August before drawing nil-all with Belize and losing 3-0 to Panama. They also lost the return fixture against Jamaica 1-0.

Unfazed by T&T's troubles, the Reggae Boyz successfully defended their DCC title when they beat Guadeloupe in an exciting penalty shoot-out in the December final, after scores were locked 1-1 following full time and extra time.

Jamaica's success saw them jump 24 spots to 58th in the FIFA rankings and to the top of the Caribbean Football Union, while T&T's slumping form saw them dip to 89th in the world rankings and third in CFU behind Cuba.

In the boardroom, football mogul Jack Warner tightened his already vice-like grip on regional football when he was nominated unopposed for his eighth successive term as president of the Caribbean Football Union.

The powerful FIFA vice-president and CONCACAF boss has been in charge of the CFU since the organisation's inception 18 years ago.

There was double delight for the Trinidadians at the Caribbean Volleyball Championships in Suriname, as they impressively swept both the men's and women's titles at the biennial tournament in August.

St Kitts and Nevis, meanwhile, carved out a triumph of their own in July when they won the women's Eastern Caribbean Senior tournament by beating Dominica in the final, while St Lucia captured the men's Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association Champion-ships held in the British Virgin Islands in September.

English-speaking Caribbean teams did not fare well at the men's Centrobasket tournament in Puerto Rico, failing to reach the semi-finals as the hosts beat the Dominican Republic in the final in July. Trinidad won just one of four preliminary games while Jamaica won two, to bow out the competition early.

St Vincent snatched the Windward Islands Basketball Championship when the tournament was staged after an 11-year break, nipping defending champions Grenada, Dominica, and St Lucia for top honours.

Unbeaten T&T

Also in July, Trinidad and Tobago played unbeaten to win the American Federation of Netball Associations qualifying tournament to book their place at the 2011 World Championships in Singapore.

Barbados, United States and St Lucia all won three and lost two matches to finish on a similar number of points, but the Barbadians clinched the second qualifying spot by virtue of goal average.

In horse racing, ace Barbadian jockey Patrick Husbands kept his name among the best in North America when he finished 11th overall on the earnings list with US$9.1 million at Woodbine racetrack in Canada.

There was some disappointment for the 36-year-old, however, as he missed out on his fourth successive riding title when he finished second to Eurico Rosa Da Silva in the Woodbine jockeys' championship.

However, Husbands made no mistake before his home crowd in the English-speaking Caribbean's premier horse race, the Sandy Lane Gold Cup, when he piloted millionaire Canadian businessman Eugene Melnyk's seven-year-old gelding Sterwins to a stirring come-from-behind victory.

Trinidad and Tobago's Richard Dos Ramos and his counterpart Anthony Stephen also landed big races, both coming in legs of Canada's prestigious Triple Crown.

In July, Stephen won the CAN$500,000 Prince of Wales Stakes with Golden Moka at Fort Erie, with Dos Ramos capturing the $500,000 Breeders' Stakes the next month at Woodbine with the long-shot Miami Deco.

On the golf links, Trinidad and Tobago's Stephen Ames endured one of his worst seasons on the PGA Tour in recent years, failing to win a single tournament and having a sixth-place finish at March's Transitions Championship as his best performance.

Injury compounded his misery in October as an ailing back forced a premature end to his season, and he had plunged to an unfamiliar low of 118th in the year-ending Official World Golf Rankings.