While remnants of their meek batting capitulations in the three-day format reared its head again, the Windward Islands held on for a 56-run victory over the Leeward Islands yesterday at the Demerara Cricket Club in the first round of the WICB limited-overs tournament.
Save for a 49-run opening stance between Windwards openers Jerlani Robinson (39) and Keon George (16), the team’s batsmen generally struggled to piece together partnerships as was the case with the Leewards. What was comparably different between the sides was that the Windwards’ team had more batsmen that contributed more useful scores on the sun-drenched, placid DCC pitch.
West Indies youth batsman Sunil Ambris, again got a start, but threw his wicket away at 36, Bronte Bess, batting at number nine, made a gritty 34 while Larry Edward and Ray Jordan, selected mostly for their bowling, chipped in with 20 runs apiece as their team tallied 202-9 from their 50 overs.
Right-arm spinner Triston Hanley was the chief wicket taker with 3-23 from his 10 overs while Larry Audain and pacer Nino Henry snared 2-32 (4) and 2-40 (9) respectively. When Windwards batted, they could only muster 146 from 38.1 overs.
Their burly skipper Rahkeem Cornwall held the innings together from total disaster with an aggressive 46, which included eight fours and a six, from 39 deliveries. The only other score of significance came from Hanley, batting at number seven, with an unbeaten 23.
Jordan, Terron Simon, Bess and Edward all picked up two wickets apiece.
The day started with Windwards winning the toss and taking first strike and what has become the norm the pacers operated for a short while before the spinners took over. As was the norm in the just concluded three-day tournament when the spinners were introduced the run rate slowed considerably and wickets fell at regular intervals until Bess and Jordan added 49 runs for the eighth wicket.
Meanwhile, Leeward Islands were in trouble early when they lost Wasim Mentos (9) and Akeem Saunders (0) when the score was only 23. Significantly, this decline continued despite the fight of Cornwall and Hanley, who shared in a 35-run sixth wicket partnership, the most fruitful of their innings.
When Edwards departed, caught by Preston Mc Sween, the proverbial cookie crumbled with no other batsman reaching 10.
Scoreboard
Windward Islands innings
J. Robinson lbw Cornwall 39
K. George c Archibald b Hanley 16
K. Hodge c wkp Parris b Hanley 12
D. Thomas b Hanley 4
S. Ambris b Henry 36
L. Edward b Henry 20
R. Jordan c Henry b Audain 20
T. Simon c Webbe b Mentos 0
B. Bess b Audain 34
P. Mc Sween not out 1
Extras: (b-3, lb-4, w-9, nb-4) 20
Total: (for 9 wkts from 50 overs) 202
FOW: 1-49, 2-75, 3-76, 4-83, 5-130, 6-139, 7-140, 8-189, 9-202
Bowling: N. Henry 9-1-40-3, C. Archibald 5-0-22-0, R. Cornwall 10-2-37-1, D. Dokam 10-0-33-0, T. Hanley 10-0-23-3, L. Audain 4-0-32-2, W. Mentos 2-0-11-1
Leeward Islands innings
D. Webbe c Jordon b Edwards 37
W. Mintos b Jordan 9
A. Saunders lbw 0
L. Audain lbw 5
R. Cornwall c Mc Sween b Edward 46
N.Henry c Ambris b Simon 0
T.Hanley not out 23
D.Dorman run out 4
C. Archibald c Thomas b Simon 0
D. Parris stp Ambris b Hodge 6
C. Archibal b Bess 0
Extras: (lb-7, w-8, nb-1) 16
Total: (all out in 38.1 overs) 146
FOW: 1-22, 2-23, 3-45, 4-80, 5-84, 6-119, 7-126, 8-128, 9- 144, 10-146
Bowling: R. Jordan 4-0-12-2, B. Bess 6.1-0-27-2, P. Mc Sween 4-0-24-0, S. Browne 2-0-13-0, T. Simon 10-0-26-2, L. Edward 10-0-37-2, K. Hodge 1-1-0-1
Toss: Windward Islands
