PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – A spectacular Derone Davis hat-trick triggered yet another humiliating Barbados batting meltdown as Combined Campuses and Colleges hauled themselves off the bottom of the Caribbean Twenty20 standings with a sensational win here Friday night.
In an extraordinary start to Barbados’ pursuit of a measly 112 for victory, the left-arm spinner claimed his victims off the first three balls of the innings to leave Barbados in disarray and set up a 12-run victory at Queen’s Park Oval.
The 20-year-old finished with remarkable figures of four wickets for five runs from four overs in a Man-of-the-Match display as Barbados failed to recover from a terminal position of 12 for five and meandered to 99 for nine from their 20 overs in the end.
Kyle Mayers resisted with 34 and Ashley Nurse chipped in with an unbeaten 21 down the order to give Barbados a glimmer of hope but the early damage proved too much to overcome.
CCC owed the world of debt to veteran campaigner Floyd Reifer who had earlier top scored with 37 to help push the students to 111 for eight after they opted to bat first.
They were floundering at 25 for four in the eighth over following a lethal opening burst from pacer Tino Best (4-18) until Reifer arrived to take control of matters and steer them past the 100-run mark.
The result condemned Barbados to a second straight loss following their demise at the hands of Guyana on Thursday night, when they also collapsed while chasing a paltry total.
In contrast, the victory was a welcome boost for a CCC team that has lost its previous three matches, and gave them some momentum heading into the final preliminary round contests in St Lucia next week.