KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Neither the West Indies High Performance Centre nor Leeward Islands may have complained, when Jamaica’s recent dodgy weather forced a no-decision yesterday in their bizarre WICB Regional One-day match.
The HPC, chasing a Duckworth-Lewis Method revised target of 173 for victory from their allocation of 42 overs, were wobbling on 21 for two from 7.4 overs, when the weather forced the players to retreat to the dressing rooms in the Group-B match at Kensington Park.
The players never returned to the field, after umpires Vivian Johnson and Joel Wilson ruled that the outfield was unfit for play.
The result meant both sides walked away with two points, a fitting end to a match, which was almost scuppered, when the two umpires deemed the pitch unfit for play.
Both sides still harbour a chance of reaching the semi-finals, so their final group matches will be vital. The HPC face Barbados on the Jamaica north-coast at the Trelawny Multi-Purpose Stadium tomorrow, at the same time that Leewards meet Guyana at Sabina Park.
Resolute knocks of 37 from opener Javia Liburd and left-hander Chesney Hughes, as well as a late flurry of 27 from 16 balls from Justin Athanaze limped Leewards to 168 all out in a revised allocation of 42 overs.
Hometown boy Nkrumah Bonner was the most successful HPC bowler with three wickets for 21 runs from five overs, and Jason Holder took two for 41 from nine overs.
But the two sides almost had an early day, when Johnson and Wilson felt the pitch was playing so unevenly, they chose to suspend play for close to two hours to allow the ground authority to fix the problem.
Leewards were 10 without loss from seven overs, when the players walked away, and they never seemed to have settled once they returned.
Apart from a stand of 55 between Liburd and Hughes, there was little substance and little stability from the rest of their batting, and they plunged from the relative comfort of 104 for two to lose their last eight wickets for 64 inside the last 12 overs.
Their new-ball pair of Lionel Baker and Gavin Tonge had just started to make things interesting, when the rain interrupted.
Baker trapped opener Rajindra Chandrika lbw for three, and Tonge had Devon Thomas, one of the Leewards’ own, caught for seven.