Australia, England & Invitational XI register wins in the 4th round

Feb 08, 2023 Sports

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Big Man Cricket O60s Caribbean Cup Tourney in Association with Blue Waters &Barbados Tourism Marketing INC 

Kaieteur News – The BMC Caribbean Cup resumed on Monday with excellent Barbados weather at all the 3 venues – Four Square Oval, Wanderers CC & the BNOC Sports Club. This round, England and the Invitational XI had quite an easy day at the park registering comprehensive victories in their encounters whilst Australia and West Indies had to sweat it out in their thrilling encounter at the BNOC ground.

MATCH 1 at BNOC Sports Club – In the Australia v West Indies encounter at the BNOC ground, the Aussies registered their 4th successive victory winning by 3 wickets. The trend of teams winning the toss and electing to bat was overturned by most of the teams who seemed to prefer chasing in this round. Aussies won the toss and inserted West Indies to take first strike on a sticky wicket against some very disciplined bowling. West Indies lost wickets at regular intervals and could only muster 144 for 9 off their 45 overs.

Richard Sieuchan batting at number 7 was the top scorer with 35 with 2 boundaries and had put on a very valuable 57 run partnership with Zamin Amin for the 7th wicket when they joined forces with WI precariously placed at 75 for 6. These two got together after Wilbur Bruce was unfortunately run out at the non-striker end backing up after a Sieuchan straight drive was intercepted by the bowler who barely managed to get his fingers on the drive.

Bruce who is the father of Dwayne Smith was batting very responsibly and had scored 26 with 2 boundaries.

Zamin Amin contributed 27 with 2 sweetly timed boundaries. Jefferson Gibbons was the only other batsman to get into double figures- 12 with a maximum. Man of the Match for the Aussies Peter O’Reilly was the pick of the Aussies bowlers with 3 for 19 very ably supported by Mike Riley 3 for 29 and Syd D’Mello 2 for 22.

Australia began their innings very shakily also as the Windies bowled very tightly to have them at 32 for 2 after the first 15 overs water break. Peter O’Reilly contributed a very valuable 25 without a boundary but ran very well within the wickets. Glen Richards top scored with 31 and a solitary boundary. Peter Miller scored an undefeated 25 to take the Aussies home with 3 boundaries. Earlier captain Eric Higgins also made 18 with a boundary. Motara was again the pick of the West Indies bowlers with 2 for 24.

MATCH 2 at the WANDERERS CC- In the England vs ROW encounter, the ROW won the toss and lost wickets at regular intervals and only had their highest partnership of 39 between Peter Moses and Andre Manders for the 6th wicket. The English bowlers put a tight lid on the free scoring ROW batsmen and they could only muster 151 for 8 off their allotted 45 overs. Chris Deardon had 3 for 20; Phil Deakin 2 for 11 and Jim Phillips 2 for 20.

The Englishmen in their turn at the crease batted with supreme confidence and had their first century opening partnership of the tournament. They lost their first wicket at 117 when captain Richard Merriman went for a well-played 77 laced with 12 boundaries. Matin Watkin then joined Kevin Grant and took them almost close to victory before he was also bowled by Rex Bennett for 20 with 3 boundaries. Kevin Grant soldiered on for 49 without a boundary to take his team home, winning by 8 wickets in 33.1 overs.

MATCH 3 at the Four-Square Oval-Pickwick CC – This match resulted in somewhat of an upset victory by the Invitational XI vs the supposedly mighty USA team. The Invitational XI won the toss and elected to bowl after overnight rain caused a delay in the start and the match was reduced to 38 overs per side.

Much was expected from this USA team, but they have flattered to deceive. They had a fairly strong start from their top order to be 72 for 2 in the 21st over but then slumped to 115 for 7 in the 33rd over. They eventually reached 142 for 8 off their allotted 38 overs. Opener Ravi Suri top scored with 34 with 4 boundaries with other useful contributions coming from Kumar Patel 22, Michael griffin 13, Syed Naqvi 12 and Barlingay 12. Extras contributed a healthy 26 runs. Wicketkeeper Fazil Jahoor had 3 smart stumpings in the innings. Captain Janak Patel had 3 for 30 and Mihir Gandhi had 3 for 28.

In their turn at the crease, the Invitational XI lost their first wicket at 31 and their captain Janak at 56 after he had made 18. But Bajan Glenfield Griffith with a responsible 30 and Winston Herbert, who made an undefeated 44 with a boundary and 2 maximums, took them home after they lost Griffith at 97. Dave Ramdan was there at the end making 16 with a solitary boundary to win by 7 wickets and more than 5 overs to spare.

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• Association, Big Man Cricket, Jefferson Gibbons, Richard Sieuchan, Zamin Amin

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