The Barbados Pride recorded their second win in as many games in this season’s CG United Super50 Cup with a tense three-wicket win over the Leeward Islands Hurricanes at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain on Friday.
The Leeward batted first after winning the toss, posting a respectable 284-5 from their 50 overs in the middle.
Opener Justin Greaves continued his excellent form to start this year’s competition with a 131-ball 112 including nine fours, following up his 111* in the team’s opener against the West Indies Academy at the same ground on Tuesday.
West Indies Test opener Mikyle Louis supported Greaves well with 55 while Chesney Hughes made 52 off 48 balls including six fours and a pair of sixes.
All-rounder Kofi James also chipped in with a quick 17-ball 34 including a trio of sixes.
Jomel Warrican was the pick of the Barbados bowling with 4-43 from his 10 overs.
The Pride then recovered from being 168-6 in the 33rd over to successfully chase down a tough total, reaching 285-7 with two balls to spare.
Kevin Wickham and captain Kyle Mayers were the main contributors for last year’s semi-finalists.
Wickham batted beautifully on his way to a maiden List A century, 118 off just 103 balls including 11 fours and three sixes while Mayers made 58 off 72 balls including two fours and four sixes in support.
Wickham was the last man to fall, going off the last ball of the penultimate over with the score on 277, meaning the Pride needed eight to win.
The last over, bowled by Hurricanes captain Rakheem Cornwall, saw a single, dot then a single before Dominic Drakes hit the fourth ball of the over for six over long on to seal the win.
Oshane Thomas took 2-35 off six overs for the Hurricanes while Jeremiah Louis also took two wickets while conceding 57 in eight overs.
Full Scores:
Leeward Islands Hurricanes 284-5 off 50 overs (Justin Greaves 112, Mikyle Louis 55, Chesney Hughes 52, Kofi James 34*, Jomel Warrican 4-43)
Barbados Pride 285-7 off 49.4 overs (Kevin Wickham 118, Kyle Mayers 58, Zachary McCaskie 28, Oshane Thomas 2-35, Jeremiah Louis 2-57).
Both teams will next be in action on Sunday, November 3. The Pride will battle the Harpy Eagles at QPO while the Hurricanes will face the Red Force at the BLCA.
Brent Sam scored deep into second half stoppage time to rescue a 1-1 draw for Defence Force against fellow Trinidad and Tobago side Port of Spain in Group A action on Thursday, at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
With the result, Port of Spain complete their campaign with one point, while Defence Force remain in third place in the group with five points.
The draw for Defence Force also means that Jamaican club and Group A leaders Cavalier FC have qualified for the semifinals.
There was no shortage of chances in the first half for either side, as they went back-and-forth in an exciting and wide-open affair.
Port of Spain looked set for an opener in the fifth with captain Duane Muckette bearing down on goal, but his effort was parried wide by Defence Force goalkeeper Christopher Biggette.
Defence Force looked to wrestle control away from Port of Spain in the second half and if not for a reaction save from Port of Spain goalkeeper Jadel Poon-Lewis, Nathaniel Garcia would have had the first goal of the match right before the hour mark.
But Port of Spain would muster the first goal in the 77th, when Michel Poon-Angeron stripped a Defence Force player of possession, played a quick one-two combination with Muckette and then finished into net for a 1-0 lead.
Defence Force pushed hard for a late 1-1 equalizer and hit paydirt in the 90+3 on a well-placed strike from Sam off a pass from Reon Moore to earn Defence Force a share of the spoils.
Though welcoming the 2-1 win which puts his team in a handy position heading into a break, Cavalier’s Technical Director Rudolph Speid was far from satisfied with his team’s overall execution in a lukewarm Concacaf Caribbean Cup against AC Port of Spain at Sabina Park on Thursday.
In fact, Speid believes the time off augurs well for the Jamaican outfit currently going through a rebuilding phase, as they intend to use it to good effect to improve certain aspects of their game.
While Jalmaro Calvin (8th) and Christopher Ainsworth (60th) got the goals for Cavalier, Port of Spain seemed the more dominant team at one point, but for their faulty shooting and some good glove work by Vino Barclett in goal for Cavalier at times.
However, the Trinidad and Tobago team ended with some consolation, courtesy of captain Duane Muckette’s 71st-minute strike.
With the win, Cavalier, who drew their opening contest 1-1 with another Trinidad and Tobago outfit Defence Force, assumed pole position in Group A on four points. Defence Force, who defeated Golden Lion of Martinique 1-0 on Wednesday, also moved to four points, but are second with an inferior goal difference.
Dominican Republic representative Moca FC are third on three points, with Golden Lion and Port of Spain, still without a point.
Speid agreed as much that his players lacked fitness and their drop in performance at certain points in the game, could have proved costly.
“It’s a new team and we’re trying to rebuild, but it’s three points and we were able to get them. This is our second game of the season, so you have to give and take. We’re not pleased, but we have another match on (September 19th) and we’ll put in some work to that end,” Speid said in a post-game press conference.
“We were doing some things wrong, but then in the second half, we kind of fixed it, but it’s a long road. We’re happy for the break so we’ll move on and get better as we progress,” he added.
After Calvin fired home from a Ronaldo Robinson assist, Cavalier, instead of pressing home the early ascendancy, opted to sit back and absorb consistent pressure, forcing their St Lucian goalkeeper Barclett to do more than he would have hoped.
In the 15th minute, Port of Spain’s midfielder John Paul Rochford was allowed space and time on the ball to get a right-footed shot off from a distance which was parried by Barclett diving full stretch to his left.
Cavalier again rode their luck in the 26th minute when defender Jeovanni Laing was dispossessed deep inside their quarters, paving the way for Che Benny to test his accuracy with a clever effort that kissed the crossbar on its way out.
Port of Spain again went close to pulling level on the stroke of the half-time interval, but Barclett again came up big with reflex save to deny Tyrone Charles, who twirled his way around two defenders to make space for the right-footed shot.
Things were a bit more balanced on the resumption, as Cavalier again showed life on the attacking front and caused a few problems for their Trinidadian counterparts.
But it wasn’t until the hour-mark that they extended the lead from a well-worked counterattacking play. It was orchestrated by Calvin, who picked out an unmarked Ainsworth at the top of the 18-yard box and the young player, sporting the number 11 jersey, maintained his composure to put a left-footed effort beyond Marvin Phillip in goal for Port of Spain.
Down, but not out, Port of Spain fought on bravely and pulled one back through Muckette, who expertly headed past the well-advanced Barclett, who was left in no-man’s land.
Port of Spain’s Head Coach Walter Noriega also rued his team’s sub-par display.
“It’s a disappointing result. I think the boys didn’t execute in the attacking play because we dominated possession, but possession doesn’t win you games. We’ll work on the finishing part and the execution,” he shared.
For their next assignments, Cavalier will play host to Moca on Tuesday, September 19, while Port of Spain will host Golden Lion a day prior.
West Indies Under-19s will now compete in the 11th place playoff at the ICC Men’s Under-19 Cricket World Cup after an embarrassing 83 run loss to UAE Under-19s in their Plate semi-final in Port of Spain today.
UAE won the toss and elected to bat first, reaching 224-9 off their 50 overs thanks to half-centuries from Aayan Khan (93) and Shival Bawa (51).
Shiva Sankar led the way for the Windies bowlers with 3-31 off nine overs while Nathan Edward and Matthew Nandu took two wickets each.
Jash Giyanani and Dhruv Parashar then combined to take seven wickets between them to restrict the West Indians to a modest 142 all out in reply.
Nathan Edward (51), Kevin Wickham (22), and Isai Thorne (17) were the only batsmen to score double figures against Giyanani’s 3-21 off 10 overs and Parashar’s 4-30 off nine.
The West Indies will now play the loser of the Plate semi-final between Ireland and Zimbabwe in the 11th place playoff while UAE will play the winner in the ninth-place playoff.
In Group C, Zimbabwe U-19s achieved the biggest margin of victory so far in the tournament, a massive 228 run win over Papua New Guinea U-19s in Port of Spain.
After Zimbabwe won the toss and batted first, captain Emmanuel Bawa scored one of two centuries on the day, an even 100 off 95 balls to help Zimbabwe post a formidable 321-9 off their 50 overs.
Papua New Guinea were no match for the Zimbabwean bowlers, being skittled out for 93 in 35 overs.
Victor Chirwa was the pick of the Zimbabwean bowlers with 2-11 from seven overs while Brian Bennett (2-20 from 6 overs) and Ngenyasha Zvinoera (2-25 from 6 overs) also had good spells.
In the lone Group A match on Saturday, UAE U-19s beat Canada U-19s by 49 runs in a competitive game in Basseterre.
UAE U-19s won the toss and batted first, making 284-7 off their 50 overs thanks to half-centuries from Punya Mehra (71) and Ali Naseer (73).
Gurnek Singh took 2-38 off seven overs for Canada U-19s.
A well-played 96 from captain Mihir Patel wasn’t enough for Canada U-19s to successfully chase their target, eventually finishing 235 all out off 46.4 overs.
Anoop Chima (46) and Kairav Sharma (43) also got runs for Canada U-19s against 2-32 from eight overs from Nilansh Keswani.
Adhitya Shetty, Jash Giyanani and Alishan Sharafu also got two wickets each for UAE U-19s.
In the first of two Group B matches on Saturday, Ireland U-19s Joshua Cox was the day’s second centurion as his 111 not out helped them secure a 39-run win over Uganda U-19s in Georgetown.
Uganda U-19s won the toss and elected to field first, a decision that proved costly in the end as Ireland were able to get a score of 236-9 off their 50 overs with Cox getting the most support from Phillipus le Roux who made 32.
Juma Miyaji, captain Pascal Muringi, Joseph Baguma and Matthew Musinguzi all took two wickets each for the Ugandans.
Murungi then top scored with 63 and Miyaji also contributed 38 but it wasn’t enough as Ireland restricted them to 197 all out off 48.1 overs to seal the win.
Matthew Humphreys was the pick of the Irish bowlers with 4-25 off his 10 overs.
India U-19s secured a 45-run win over South Africa U-19s in Georgetown in the other Group B clash.
South Africa U-19s won the toss and elected to field first, a decision which looked like the right one as they were able to pick up early wickets thanks to good bowling by left-arm pacer Aphiwe Mnyanda.
India got on the right track, however, and used innings from captain Yash Dhull (82), Kaushal Tambe (35) and Shaik Rasheed (31) to recover to 232 all out in 46.5 overs.
Matthew Boast led the South African bowlers with 3-40 off nine overs while Mnyanda took 2-29 from five.
A stroke-filled 65 from Dewald Brevis and a solid 36 from captain George Van Heerden proved to be insufficient as South Africa lost wickets in quick succession before eventually being bowled out for 187 in 45.4 overs.
Vicky Ostval was the chief destroyer for the Indians with a brilliant 5-28 off his 10 overs while Raj Bawa supported him with 4-47 from 6.4 overs.
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