Barbados were crowned winners of the West Indies Rising Stars Championship when they defeated the Leeward Islands in the final round of matches at the Grenada National Stadium on Friday. The Bajans won the 15-over-per-side match by 16 runs to top the table with 18.4 points. They played unbeaten throughout the tournament.
Barbados batted first and made 73-0 off 15 overs with solid knocks of 31 from Shem Sargeant and 29 from Kemar Dixon. In reply, the Leewards ended on 57-8 with the top score of 22 from Tanez Francis, which came off 26 balls.
Scoreboards here: https://www.windiescricket.com/livescores/
Speaking after the match, Coach Rohan Nurse said he was pleased with the teamwork which led to the side’s triumph.
“We are very happy with the way the team played throughout the entire tournament. Over the past two years, we didn’t have any competitive cricket at this level, due to the pandemic. During that time they (players) worked really hard to maintain their skills, and we had a very good build-up leading up to the tournament. It was the first time for all of them at the regional level, but they were able to adapt, and they did very well to come out and win. We are very proud.”
In the day’s second match Jamaica batted well to defeat the Windward Islands by four wickets. The Jamaicans scored 97-6 with 33 off 26 balls from Savio Jones the best score. Earlier Windwards made 96-5 with Joden Charles (32) and Leon Alexander (24 not out) batting well.
In the third match of the day, Guyana got the better of Trinidad & Tobago by 24 runs. Batting first, the Guyanese were boosted by 26 off 24 balls from Navin Boodwah as they made 96-5 off the 15 overs. In reply, T&T reached 72-5 when the innings came to a close.