TAROUBA, Trinidad, CMC – Joshua DaSilva struck a maiden hundred in only his third List A appearance as West Indies Emerging Players produced a polished all-round performance to stun Windward Islands Volcanoes by 107 runs in the Regional Super50 Cup here Monday.
The 21-year-old right-hander gathered an unbeaten 103 off 124 deliveries as Emerging Players, opting to bat first at the Brian Lara Stadium, piled up 261 for three off their 50 overs.
Left-hander Gidron Pope hit exactly 50, Roland Cato carved out a pulsating unbeaten 49 off just 29 balls while Justin Greaves chipped in with a valuable 46.
Fast bowler Keon Harding then snatched four for 45 and new-ball partner Kevin Sinclair, three for19, to wreck the Volcanoes innings and send it tumbling to 154 all out off 38 overs.
Shane Shillingford, batting at number nine, resisted with an unbeaten 41 while number eight Kerron Cottoy got 33, but Kavem Hodge with 28 was the only specialist batsman to pass 10.
The victory, their second in three matches, put Emerging Players in a three-way tie on eight points in Group B but they lie third behind hosts Trinidad and Tobago Red Force and Guyana Jaguars on net run rate.
Volcanoes, meanwhile, are rock bottom without a win in two outings, following their opening defeat to Red Force.
DaSilva took centre stage over the first 50 overs, hitting eight fours and two fours as he inspired a series of partnerships to put his side in the ascendancy.
He lost opening partner Kimani Melius in the third over for 10 with as many runs on the board but put on 89 with Pope for the second wicket and a further 96 for the third wicket with Greaves.
Pope faced 70 balls and struck seven fours and a six while Greaves counted five fours in a 63-ball innings.
When Greaves was bowled by medium pacer Bhaskar Yadram in the 44th over, Cato arrived to inflict more misery on Volcanoes smashing a four and five sixes in an unbroken fourth stand with DaSilva worth 66.
DaSilva eventually reached three figures in the penultimate over with a single to deep point off fast bowler Sherman Lewis.
Emerging Players then maintained their dominance through Harding and Sinclair who combined to wipe out Volcanoes’ top order to reduce the innings to 45 for six in the 11th over.
Hodge and Cottoy put on 26 for the seventh wicket before Cottoy and Shillingford added a further 51 for the eighth, but Harding returned to claim the last two wickets and give Emerging Players an emphatic win.
