Grenada beat Anguilla to enter quarter-finals
Andre Fletcher's 70 helped Grenada post 177 for 6, the highest score of the season, which was enough for them to scrape past Anguilla by a 16-run margin
Cricinfo staff
04-Feb-2008
Andre Fletcher's 70 helped Grenada post 177 for 6, the highest score of the season, which was enough for them to scrape past Anguilla by a 16-run margin to move into the quarter-finals of the Stanford 20/20 in Coolidge.
Anguilla's chase was off to an inauspicious start when they lost openers Lyndel Richardson (18) and Chesney Hughes (8) for the addition of 33 runs. However, Montcin Hodge, who remained unbeaten on a 39-ball 75 that included seven sixes, and Omari Banks, who made 44 runs with a couple of sixes and a four, added 93 runs in 10 overs to briefly threaten Grenada.
The duo went on the attack at the half-way mark. With the required run-rate having gone past 10 an over, they blasted 58 runs between the 10th and 14th over, but were kept down to only 35 runs in the next six overs. By the time Banks was run out in the 16th over, the target had gone beyond the reach of Hodge, who ensured Anguilla went out with a bang by taking 18 runs off the last over.
Earlier, Man-of-the-Match Fletcher, in partnership with Heron Campbell (27), gave Grenada an aggressive start, striking two consecutive sixes in the fifth over off left-arm spinner Hughes. The duo's 82-run stand came in only 7.3 overs, after which Fletcher brought up his half-century by glancing a Hodge delivery to the fine leg boundary. Fletcher, who was troubled by cramps, scored 20 more runs before holing out to long-off.
Shridath Rey, the 17-year-old left-arm spinner, brought down the run-rate with some tight bowling, conceding only ten runs in his first three overs. But he finished with figures of 1 for 28 as 19 runs were taken in his final over, with Clyde Telesford (who scored 21) blasting two consecutive sixes in the 17th over. Grenada looked set for a massive score, but their middle order added only 22 runs in the last three overs without the help of any boundaries. In the end, their total proved to be sufficient.