Leewards crush Windwards by 70 runs

Nov 20, 2008 Sports

– Advance to President’s Cup semis behind top team T&T

By Sean Devers
Leeward Islands took a bonus point in their 70-run victory against Windwards Islands at Uitvlugt yesterday in their final preliminary round President’s Cup regional One-Day cricket game to advance to this weekend’s Day/Night semi-finals at the Guyana National Stadium as the number two ranked team in the final four behind Trinidad and Tobago.

Led by 37 from Austin Richards, 36 from Runako Morton and 35 from Devon Thomas, Leewards were all out in 48.4 overs for 172 before dismissing the Windwards for 102 in 43.1 overs to take the maximum six points from the encounter to top the points table with 16 points.

They however finished as the number two team in the semi-finals because T&T who also ended with 16 points have a better net run rate than the Islanders.

T&T who took a bonus point in their win against CCC on Wednesday will face Jamaica in the first semi-final on Friday while the Leewards battle Barbados in Saturday’s semi-final.

Watched by a fair size crowd at Uitvlugt, the Leewards elected to bat first in sunny conditions on a track which provided plenty of bounce and turn for the spinners and lost West Indies under-19 opener Keiron Powell (1) to Test player Daren Sammy in the day’s first over.

Richards, who hit six fours in his run-a-ball 37 and his Skipper Morton, who hit four fours and a six in his responsible 36 from 74 balls, put together 53 for the second wicket to revive the position for the Leewards.

After Richards was removed by left-arm spinner Denis George at 59-2, three wickets tumbled in the space of seven runs as the Leewards slipped to 67-5 on a track which made stroke play against the spinners a tedious task.

Off-spinner Liam Sebastian got rid of Omari Banks (0) and Orlando Peters (1) in quick succession while George who equaled the record set by Harold Joseph in 1981 for the most economical bowling figures in a regional one-day match, bowled the dangerous Morton at 93-6 as he tried to pull an arm ball and was bowled.

The Grenadian George, who captured three wickets, was almost unplayable in his 10 overs which cost just seven runs and bowled in tandem with Sebastian who took 3-45 from 10 overs to keep the shackles on the batsmen.

Like they did in their victory against Barbados when they recovered from 66-6 and 115-8 to reach 172, the Leewards’ lower order again produced under pressure as Justin Athanaze (28) and Thomas, who played in last year’s under-19 World Cup in Malaysia, joined forces in a fighting 59-run eight wicket stand as their team, hunting a place in their first final since they lost to the Windwards in the 2000 final, recovered to reach 158 before Athanaze lofted Sebastian to long-off with five overs left in the innings.

Left-arm spinner Alston Bobb (2-8) then claimed the wickets of Thomas, who hit a solitary boundary in his 91-ball 28 and Chad Hampson (6) to wrap up the innings with eight balls to spare.

The Windwards began their reply disastrously when their leading batsman Devon Smith (2) edged pacer Gavin Tonge to the keeper with just five runs on the board.

The Antiguan Tonge who was again very impressive, took a tumbling catch off of his own bowling to send Miles Bascombe (1) packing after he had fended a lifter which exploded from just short of a good length to leave the Windwards wobbling on 6-2.

Tonge soon had Johnson Charles (20) caught behind at 31-3 and when Sammy (13) lofted Banks to mid-on at 51-4, the Windwards, who won the last of their two titles in 2000 and who had no chance of qualifying for the ‘final four’ were in a deep hole.

Leg-spinner Anthony Martin sent back Sebastian (5) and Lewis (1) in the space of two runs to leave the score on 62-7 and although Bobb offered some fight in his 30 from 74 balls, the Windwards slipped to another defeat at this level with 41 balls remaining in their innings.

Tonge finished with 4-34, Martin 3-25 and Banks 2-13 and were well backed up by impressive work behind the stumps from Thomas who was adjudged the Man-of-the-Match.

The following teams have qualified for the President’s Cup
Regional Cricket Semi-finals
1. Trinidad & Tobago 16 Points (nrr 1.53033)
2. Leewards Island 16 Points (nrr 1.433310)
3. Barbados 13 Points (nnr 0.427083)
4. Jamaica 12 points (nnr 0.967192)
The First Semi-final – Trinidad & Tobago vs Jamaica (Friday)
Umpires – G. Grieves & C. Mack (V. Bullen)
The Second Semi Final – Leeward vs Barbados (Saturday)
Umpires – N. Malcolm & C Duncan (T. Birbal)
Match starts at the 1:30 pm at the National Stadium. (Day/night)
* (nrr – net run rate)