The old adage that ‘runs on the board are runs on the board,’ proved true once again, as the Leewards Hurricanes wreaked havoc at the Windsor Park in Dominica.
The venue was just hosting its first match of significance, after Hurricane Maria devastated it in September 2017.
So, the venue definitely was in no position to take another hurricane at short notice.
However, as the Leewards Hurricanes seemed to have accepted the inevitable, that the Windwards Volcanoes was going to win the competitive encounter, which ended on Sunday 10th February, big Rahkeem Cornwall and Quinton Boatswain , had other ideas.
The Windwards needed just 241 runs to win the game. They were cruising at 222 for 5-needing just 19 runs to secure the win, with Sunil Ambris at the crease, on 100 and Ray Jordan looking comfortable on 19.
The fat lady had already cleared the Park wall and the Windwards team was already in celebratory mode.
But Cricket is a FUNNY OLD GAME!
Boatswain had Jordan caught by Devon Thomas, then Rahkeem Cornwall knocked over the next two batsmen for ducks and Boatswain promptly knocked over the next two for ducks as well.
One of them was the injured Kirk Edwards who did not bat in the first innings, but batted in the second, in the desperate bid by the home team, to win the game, with Ambris stranded on 102 not out.
The Dominica crowd was stunned.
The fat lady had disappeared!
Summarized scores: LEEWARDS HURRICANES 271/10 (99.5 Ov) & 199/10 (80.2 Ov)
vs
WINDWARDS VOLCANOES 230/9 (87.4 Ov) & 228/10 (63.4 Ov)
LEEWARDS HURRICANES WON BY 12 RUNS
Rahkeem Cornwall 5 for 79; Quinton Boatswain 3 for 5.
In other regional matches:
T&T RED FORCE 358/10 (97.0 Ov) & 247/6 (64.4 Ov)
vs
BARBADOS PRIDE 282/10 (96.5 Ov) & 326/6 (81.2 Ov)
BARBADOS PRIDE WON BY 4 WICKETS
JAMAICA SCORPIONS 358/10 (97.2 Ov) & 132/10 (48.1 Ov)
vs
GUYANA JAGUARS 321/10 (113.2 Ov) & 171/3 (43.0 Ov)
GUYANA JAGUARS WON BY 7 WICKETS