BASSETERRE, St Kitts, CMC – Chadwick Walton said he was delighted with his second List A hundred especially since it came against an international side.
The Jamaica and West Indies batsman plundered a career-best 121 off 109 balls at Warner Park as the UWI Vice-Chancellor’s XI slumped to 117-run defeat to England in a tour match here Saturday.
“I would say this one is really special. It’s coming off the back of my first List A hundred and getting one against an international side in England, I must say I’m really pleased,” said the 31-year-old.
“I just went out there and decided I was going to try and maximize the overs and I guess it paid off.”
Only 11 days go, Walton hit his maiden List A hundred – 117 against Trinidad and Tobago Red Force – in the semi-final of the Regional Super50 at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua.
He finished the tournament with 350 runs at an average of 35 as Jamaica Scorpions reached the final before losing to eventual champions Barbados Pride.
Walton, who last represented West Indies in the Twenty20 series against Pakistan in United Arab Emirates last September, said the innings had been also about assessing his development.
“I thought it was a good opportunity to gauge myself and see where I am in cricket and I think I took that opportunity,” he pointed out. “I have some work to be done so I will move from here and see what will happen next.”
The Vice-Chancellor’s XI bowlers were punished severely as England piled up 379 for eight off their 50 overs, with captain Eoin Morgan (95), Jason Roy (79), Joe Root (71) and Ben Stokes (61) all getting half-centuries.
In reply, the hosts were making a fist of it at 161 for three in the 26th over before the innings collapsed around skipper Walton.
He said despite the defeat, he gave the side high marks for how they had acquitted themselves.
“I would give them a plus seeing it is a very inexperienced team, a very young team. It goes to show that there are persons inside the University who has talent and can play this cricket,” he noted.
‘Coming up against an international team with limited experience it was expected they (England) should dominate but I wouldn’t say they really, really dominated the fellows. There were glimmers in the game that I could take positives from.”
