As the West Indies Championship head into round two, several young players took centre stage and announced their arrival during the first round.
The Guyana Harpy Eagles was the only team to register a win, beating Barbados Pride by 183 runs while Jamaica Scorpions held on for a draw against Leeward Islands Hurricanes and Windward Islands Volcanoes battled Trinidad and Tobago Red Force to a draw.
For Volcanoes, former West Indies youth captain, Kimani Melius registered his maiden first-class ton. The St. Lucian opener scored the highest score by a St. Lucian, 192 from 270 balls in the second innings, hitting 18 fours and three sixes.
Like the 22-year-old Melius, Matthew Nandu also scored his first century, however, this was his debut match for the Harpy Eagles and he set the game up for Guyana with a responsible 126 from 331 balls in his team’s first innings. In what can only be described as a responsible knock by the 19-year-old, he stroked 14 boundaries along the way.
Apart from the two century makers, 11 players managed to score 50 runs or more with three of them scoring successive half-centuries. Tion Webster did the job for Red Force following up on his 63-ball 58 in the first innings with 79 from 86 balls in the second innings.
Sunil Ambris also complemented Melius with 55 runs in both innings coming from 50 and 57 balls respectively.
The other batsman to score double fifties was Abhijai Mansingh who made a 209-ball 62 for Scorpions and 56 from 176 balls in the second innings. Mansingh also proved useful with the ball, taking 2-30 and 3-47.
Rahkeem Cornwall also had an exceptional outing with both bat and ball, taking five-wicket hauls in each innings and scoring a vital 85 in Hurricanes’ second innings. Cornwall took 5-54 in the first innings and 5-42 in the second. Apart from Cornwall, Eagles’ Nial Smith and Volcanoes’ Ryan John were the only other bowlers to take five-wicket hauls.
Notable mention with the bat include Volcanoes’ Tevyn Walcott (87 not out) and Kaveem Hodge (80), Red Forces’ Amir Jangoo (86) and Jason Mohammed (79 not out), Scorpions’ Larry Lugg (79) and Hurricanes’ Jerimiah Louis (78 not out).
With the ball, Veerasammy Permaul took six wickets, including 4-53 and went past 500 first-class wickets for Guyana. Other bowlers to take four wicket hauls include Jamie Merchant (Scorpions), Brian Charles (Red Force) and Terrence Hinds (Red Force).
