Barbados, T&T, Leeward Islands begin Rising Stars 50 overs in winning fashion

ST JOHN’S, Antigua (CMC):

Defending champions Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and the Leeward Islands began this year’s Rising Stars Men’s Under-19 50-over Championship with victories on Saturday.

While Barbados and the Leeward Islands romped to comfortable wins over the Windward Islands and Jamaica, respectively, T&T were made to fight before getting over Guyana.

At Coolidge Cricket Ground: Half centuries from opener Tanez Francis and captain Matthew Miller carried Leeward Islands to a comprehensive 120-run win over Jamaica.

Francis topscored with 82 off 98 balls, inclusive of 11 boundaries, while Miller hit 72 off 78 balls, with four fours and three sixes, to propel their side to a formidable 275 for seven in their 50 overs after electing to bat first.

Jamaica never mounted a serious challenge to the total in their run chase and were eventually dismissed for 155 in 35.5 overs.

The Leeward Islands were given a solid start, with Francis and Amoree Jones posting a 68-run opening stand.

When Alixandre Elliot struck to claim the wicket of Jones for 20, the Leeward Islands wobbled briefly to find themselves 80 for three.

Francis and his skipper came to their side’s rescue during a 106-run partnership that put them in the ascendancy at 186 for three in the 38th over.

Jamaica fought back by dismissing both batters in quick succession to reduce their opponents to 209 for five, but Lawshorn Bergan and Rondre Daniel both scored 28 runs to anchor the innings and get the Leeward Islands to their eventual total.

Geovanni Grey mopped up the tail to claim 4-44, while Elliot took 3-40.

Jamaica never recovered from a horrible start that saw them lose their top four batsmen with only 58 runs on the board.

Ryan Lyttleton, who scored an unbeaten 59 off 69 balls and Demarco Scott, who made 15, tried to revive the innings in a 44-run partnership for the fifth wicket.

However, once Scott was run out, Jamaica lost five wickets for 27 runs to collapse to 129 for nine to effectively end the contest.

For Jamaica, Jathan Edward took 3-37, Miller returned to snare 2-12, and Kunal Tilokani finished with 2-33.

At Liberta Sports Club: Trinidad and Tobago overcame a woeful batting performance to register an impressive 24-run victory over Guyana.

After being sent in, T&T could only muster 167 in 40.3 overs, thanks mainly to a fighting half century by Christian Lall.

Daron Dhanraj, Amrit Pittiman and Daniel Holder then grabbed three wickets apiece to bowl out Guyana for 143 in 34.3 overs.

T&T actually got off to a decent start with the bat, with Christiano Ramanan scoring 33 and Tariq Richards 31, to propel their side to 73 for two in the 17th over.

However, Romario Ramdehol and Dhanesh Persaud shared four wickets between them to spark a middle order collapse that saw T&T crumble to 94 for six.

They were saved by a 62-run partnership between Lall and Renaldo Fournillier, who scored 19, which carried them to 156 for six.

At Bethesda Sports Ground: Barbados produced a record-breaking batting performance on their way to thrashing the Windward Islands by 119 runs.

Jordan Graham, Kemar Dixon and Gadson Bowens all scored half centuries, while R’Jai Gittens smashed 49 off just 16 balls, to see the defending champions post a mammoth 392 for nine in their 50 overs, the highest-ever total in the tournament’s history.

The Windward Islands did make a contest of their chase, but lost wickets at key intervals to eventually finish on 273 for seven in 50 overs.