A first ball strike of the timber by Charles YELLOW MAN Hendrickson served to get the Nevis Masters’ team buzzing, as they faced off against arch rivals St.Kitts in the proverbial ‘battle of the narrows,’ in the grand finals of 2013 edition of the Leeward islands Masters’ Cricket tournament. To make it even better, the wicket was the coveted wicket of the renowned Luther SHOTGUN Kelly.
The action was held at the Conaree Cricket grounds in St.Kitts on Sunday 19th May.
Nevis won the toss and Nevis’ captain and former West Indies all rounder, Carl Tuckett, immediately decided to send in the opposition. He reasoned that his team had chased well during the tournament and backed them to do it again on the big day. Opposing skipper Junie Mitchum indicated that had he won the toss, he would have batted anyway.
Hendrickson was to find the lumber yard two more times before his spell was completed. He bowled Colin Saddler as he completely missed an attempted pull and then got the prized scalp of the top batsman of the tournament, Junie Mitchum. As he dragged on an attempted cut shot.
St.Kitts was in dire straits at 33 for 4 but the combination of Don DANGO Farrell; Gary Rogers and Alphonso Hendrickson, served to help them to a competitive, if not comfortable total of 110 for 8 in their allotted 20 overs.
Nevis in response, started equally disastrously, when Merlin Liburd joined Luther Kelly in the golden duck club, caught at the wicket, first ball delivered by Stewart Rawlins. The wickets of Junior DUNCAN Mills and Audie Liburd followed in short order and Nevis was soon on the back foot, on a dicey 16 for 3 and the St.Kitts team was cock-a-hoop.
The former West Indies opening batsman, Stuart Clayton Williams was then joined by the former West Indies middle order batsman, Keith Lloyd Thomas Arthurton and they teamed up in an unbroken stand of 95 to take the Nevis team safely across the line to secure the coveted trophy for the fourth time and the first time since 2009.
They too had their slices of luck but Arthurton thrilled the sizeable crowd with his exquisite off drives and an inside out loft over extra cover which landed flush on the wall, was extra special. Williams for his part also played some exquisite drives but a chip down the track to the medium pace of Alphonso Hendrickson and a graceful loft over long off for a maximum, was definitely one of the top shots for the day.
The crowd was thoroughly entertained as some of the region’s top cricketers rolled back the years on the big day.
Summarized scores: St.Kitts 110 for 8 in 20 overs: Don Farrelll 29; Alphonso Hendrickson 19*; Gary Rogers 15
Charles Hendrickson 3 for 14 from 4 overs; Merlin Liburd 2 for 4 from 1 over; Gerard Charles 1 for 16; frank Monzac 1 for 24
Nevis 111 for 3 in 18 overs: Keith Arthurton 54*; Stuart Williams 33*
Leroy Leader 2 for 15; Stewart Rawlins 1 for 13
Nevis winning by 7 wickets