Barbados were crowned winners of the
West Indies Rising Stars Championship
when they defeated Leeward Islands in
the August 26 final round of matches at the
Grenada National Stadium. 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
topscore of 22 from Tanez Francis, which
came off 26 balls.
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. In 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 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