By Delvon Mc Ewan
The Windward Islands got past the ICC Americas by four wickets to win its first match of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Regional Under-19 limited overs competition yesterday at the Wale Community Development Centre ground.
The Windwards, who opted to take the field after winning the toss, restricted their opponents to 130 all out in 36.4 overs before reaching 132-6 from 24.2 overs.
An entertaining half century by Gildron Pope secured the win for his team early in the day. Pope’s cameo knock of 55 came off 33 deliveries and was graced with six sixes and three fours.
The powerful left-handed batsman, who opened the batting, dominated a 68-run, second-wicket partnership with Shaman Hooper, whose contribution was three runs.
His innings ended when he attempted to sweep at a full delivery from the accurate left-arm spin bowler Farhan Malik and was bowled. From 73-2 the Windwards lost four quick wickets, slipping to 93-6 as they struggled to reach three figures. However, Damon Edward (18 not out) joined forces with Kershashie Lewis (30 not out), who batted at number four and the pair took their team to victory. They severely attacked the bowling of off spinners Nikhil Dutta and Delray Rawlings, before winning the match without any more hiccups. Dutta and Rawlings were the chief wicket takers with two wickets each.
Earlier, the ICC Americas failed to impress with the bat for a fourth straight match. Aniket Joshi top scored for the Americas with 20 from 49 balls while Vibhav Altekhar, with whom Joshi shared a 38 runs partnership with, contributed 18. Aman Kapoor made 19.
Ryan John and Pope claimed three wickets each for the Windwards while Damon Hypolite collected two.