NEWLOOK BARBADOS PRIDE didn’t look or play like a team hoping to repeat as champions in their final Group “A” Regional Super50 cricket match against Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) Marooners at Kensington Oval on Saturday night.
Already assured a semi-final place, Barbados Pride failed to defend a modest total of 196 for nine as CCC Marooners easily knocked off the runs, reaching 197 for four in 43.3 overs to win by six wickets, with 39 balls to spare.
CCC Marooners’ batting effort was led by captain Kyle Corbin, who ended his run-drought by scoring his first halfcentury of the tournament on his way to 66 off 80 balls with nine fours and a six.
After Corbin departed, right-handed batsman Yannick Ottley, who had taken two wickets for 24 runs in eight overs with his left-arm spin, made a maiden List A halfcentury to steer CCC to their second victory in their eight matches.
Tough match
Ottley, who finished on 54 not out off 88 balls with six fours, and fellow Trinidadian Vikash Mohan, who made 26 added 55 for the fourth wicket while Jameel Stuart hit four boundaries in making 17 not out.
It surely wasn’t the type of preparation Barbados Pride would’ve been hoping for ahead of Wednesday’s semi-final against either English county Kent or Jamaica at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua.
Without nine of their original players on West Indies senior and “A” team duties, Barbados Pride are virtually playing a second-string side.
The defending champions have been further weakened by a finger injury which has ruled out experienced spinner Sulieman Benn for the rest of the tournament.
Alexandra 17-year-old schoolboy Joshua Bishop not only replaced Benn in the squad but was selected in the starting 11 for his first match, along with all-rounder Kenroy Williams.
After winning the toss and batting on a slow pitch, Barbados Pride struggled to score freely against CCC’s varied attack.
Test batsman Roston Chase top-scored with 48 as he hit five fours off 68 balls while pushing his aggregate to a tournament-high 433 runs while Williams made 32 off 52 balls.
Barbados Pride started shakily, losing captain Kraigg Brathwaite and Jonathan Carter cheaply to fast bowler Jermaine Levy, who bowled impressively, finishing with three for 28 in his ten overs.
The struggles of Brathwaite, who is yet to make a half-century in the tournament, continued when he tamely clipped a catch to a short mid-on to depart for ten off 27 balls.
Carter followed for two, hooking Levy straight to Mohan at long leg at 28 for two while opener Omar Phillips hit a couple of boundaries and a six in moving to 24 off 47 balls.
After Phillips gifted his hand by hitting a full toss from leg-spinner Keron Cottoy straight to Yannick Ottley inside the long-on boundary, Shamar Springer went for six, edging pacer Ojay Shields to wicketkeeper Carlos Maynard.
Chase and Williams added 44 for the fifthwicket but the former fell at 123 for five in the 33rd over, top-edging a sweep off left-arm spinner Yannick Ottley to be caught by Mohan at short backward leg.
Williams and wicketkeeper Tevyn Walcott added 34 for the sixth wicket before both departed within a run of each other.
Williams essayed a big drive at Levy and was bowled for 32 off 52 balls while Walcott was run out for 16 by a direct throw from back point by Cottoy.
Thereafter, Dominic Drakes struggled for 11 off 27 balls while Walsh, with a couple of improvised shots finished on 21 not out off 24 balls as he pushed the total towards the 200-mark.
In reply, Corbin got CCC off to a brisk start. He pulled Drakes over square-leg for six in an eventual sixth over as Kjorn Ottley also punched the bowler through extra cover for four.
Drakes rebounded having Kjorn Ottley’s caught by Brathwaite at slip but Corbin cover drove and swung Holder for boundaries in the next over as the Marooners raced to 62 for one off ten overs.
Newcomer Bishop went for 11 runs in his first over as Corbin took a liking to him but Brathwaite kept faith in the teenager, who trapped Orianne Williams leg before wicket for 15. Bishop, who played eight matches for the West Indies Under-19 team in last year’s tournament, when he grabbed 12 wickets, also accounted for Mohan in similar fashion to beBarbados Pride’s most successful bowler.
Leg-spinner Walsh was the other wicket-taker, removing the dangerous Corbin, who was stumped by Walcott as he came down the pitch and missed.
Strangely, Brathwaite, while making a number of bowling changes and even using Carter and Springer to bowl medium pace, never brought Chase into the attack to bowl his off breaks.
Source: Ezra Stuart – Daily Nation
