CAVE HILL, Barbados, CMC – Craig Kieswetter raced to his sixth first-class hundred, after England Lions collected first innings points from the Combined Campuses & Colleges in the WICB Regional first-class championship yesterday.
Kieswetter was undefeated on 102 and fellow opener Jimmy Adams was unbeaten on 56, as England Lions reached 168 without loss in their second innings – an overall lead of 213 – at the close on the third day of their fourth round match at the Three Ws Oval.
The South Africa-born Kieswetter has struck 10 boundaries from 115 balls in 154 minutes, and fellow left-hander Adams has struck just two fours from 122 balls, as the Lions chased quick runs in their bid to hunt for a victory on today’s final day.
CCC had been bowled out about 45 minutes before tea for 328, in reply to the Lions’ first innings total of 373.
Carlos Brathwaite top-scored with an unbeaten 81, and left-hander Raymon Reifer scored 70 to lead the CCC batting.
Left-arm spinner Danny Briggs was the pick of the Lions’ bowlers with four wickets for 74 runs from 33 overs, leg-spinner Adil Rashid took three for 114 off 43 overs, and fast-medium bowler Chris Woakes captured two for 60 off 25 overs.
Resuming on 176 for five, CCC lost Nkrumah Bonner early. He did not add to his overnight score of 13, and was lbw to Rashid.
Brathwaite and Reifer, two shocking omissions from the struggling Barbados national team, got things back on track with a stand of 43 for the seventh wicket.
Just when it appeared they would move into high gear, Reifer was run out. He spent 232 minutes at the crease, faced 155 balls, and struck five fours and two sixes.
The home team reached lunch on 260 for eight, when Kevin McClean was lbw to Briggs on the back-foot for 20 on the stroke of the interval.
After lunch, the Lions did not have to toil too long before Ryan Austin was caught at slip off Rashid for 13, leaving Brathwaite to wage a desperate battle with batting bunny Kavesh Kantasingh to get the CCC over the 300-run threshold.
Brathwaite, whose 3 ¼-hour innings contained eight fours and two sixes from 166 balls, took the task on his broad shoulders, and pummelled the Lions attack almost into submission, and cut into the home team’s deficit.
Briggs however, brought the fun to an end, when he had Kantasingh caught at short-leg for six.
CCC and the Lions, as well as three-time defending champions Jamaica all started the match with 24 points, but the home team had effectively risen to the top of the eight-team table ahead of the visitors, under the tie-breaker rules of the competition.
The Lions do not qualify for the semi-finals and the Final of the competition, so their place in the table does not really matter, but they would still want to finish at the top of the league to prove their superiority over regional opposition, and a victory would contribute greatly.
Scoreboard
ENGLAND LIONS 1st Innings 373
COMBINED CAMPUSES & COLLEGES 1st Innings
(overnight 176 for five)
*O. Phillips b Rashid 36
R. Currency b Briggs 9
K. Ottley b Briggs 15
+K. Corbin c wkpr Bairstow b Woakes 54
R. Reifer run out (Briggs) 70
S. Thomas c and b Woakes 2
N. Bonner lbw b Rashid 13
C. Brathwaite not out 81
K. McClean lbw b Briggs 20
R. Austin c *Hildreth b Rashid 13
K. Kantasingh c Taylor b Briggs 6
Extras (b6, lb2, nb1) 9
TOTAL (all out, 125 overs) 328
Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-56, 3-70, 4-127, 5-149, 6-180, 7-223, 8-260, 9-281
Bowling: Woakes 25-7-60-2; Harris 13-3-26-0; Chambers 11-3-46-0 (nb1); Briggs 33-10-74-4; Rashid 43-9-114-3
ENGLAND LIONS 2nd Innings
C. Kieswetter not out 102
J. Adams not out 56
Extras (lb3, w5, nb2) 10
TOTAL (without loss, 39 overs) 168
Bowling: McClean 5-0-27-0; Brathwaite 5-1-22-0 (w2); Kantasingh 15-2-45-0; Austin 5-0-26-0 (nb1); Bonner 3-0-24-0 (nb1); Reifer 6-0-21-0 (w3)
Position: England Lions lead by 213 runs with all second innings wickets standing
Umpires: G. Brathwaite, C. Duncan
Matchreferee: A. Griffith
Reserve umpire: Leslie Reifer Jr
