Carib Beer Roundup
Round One of the 2007 Carib Beer Cricket Series kicked off today with Jamaica vs the Leeward Islands in St Kitts, Trinidad & Tobago hosted by Barbados, and the Windwards Islands at home against Guyana.
At close of play, the scores were as follows:
Leewards 291/4
Trinidad & Tobago 273 all out
Windwards 163-5
The Leeward Islands did well to reach 291 for 4, recovering from an early stutter when Jermaine Lawson claimed two quick wickets, including Shane Jeffers for a duck. Runako Morton made a solid 78, while Sylvester Joseph and Tonito Willett made 97* and 43*, respectively, in a responsible partnership that built on Morton's start. Joseph was granted an early reprieve when Chris Gayle dropped a simple chance at first slip early in his innings.
Trinidad and Tobago found themselves in real trouble early on as they lost 5 wickets for 55 runs, but Kieron Pollard of 20/20 fame led a blistering recovery, scoring 126 to see T&T eventually post 273 helped along by some power order heavy hitting by Mervyn Dillon. Dwayne Smith had figures of 4/54, and Pedro Collins took 4/55.
Rain delayed the start of the Windwards vs Guyana game, but once play started the Windward Islands lost batsmen regularly. The last reported score was 163 for 5 (Fletcher 40, Murray 38*, Devon Smith 34).