Long awaited victory for Barbados

Barbados 228 and 194 for 7 (Hinds 40, Mohammed 4-43) beat Trinidad and Tobago (273 and 145) by three wickets
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Barbados completed their expected three-wicket victory over Trinidad and Tobago at Crab Hill to avenge a sequence of defeats in recent times against their old rivals, but Hendy Springer, their coach, feels his men can play better.

It took Ryan Hinds's team only 39 minutes to reach a target of 191 after resuming on 163 for 4, but they lost a few unnecessary wickets in the process before winning the first-round Carib Beer Series match by three wickets.

"It was a very good victory," Springer told NationSport. "A lot of our plans came together, but I still feel we could have played some more attention to small parts of the game. We should have fielded a lot better. We dropped some important catches that could have cost us the game."

Ryan Hinds and Dwayne Smith batted freely but both weren't around to hit the winning runs; Hinds was trapped lbw by Dave Mohammed, the left-arm chinaman, with one run required.

Smith, who won the Man-Of-The-Match award for his seven wickets and innings of 38 and 35, earlier holed out to deep midwicket before Kirk Edwards was bowled behind his back.

Barbados' victory, however, was set up the previous day when they dismissed Trinidad and Tobago for 144 in their second innings and erased most of the target.

Hinds, the Barbados captain, however, was not altogether happy with the way the team batted. "Many of us got starts, but they gave their wickets away softly."

Trinidad and Tobago, who beat Barbados twice last season en route to winning the Cup and the Challenge, were let down by their batsmen, especially in their second innings.

"Our batting was circumspect. In both innings, if you take away the individual brilliance of Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo, you will find that our batting lacked application," Daren Ganga, Trinidad and Tobago's captain, said. "That is an area of the game we have to try and improve on. We need to do some work. We need to do some soul searching. We've got to put it behind us."

Guyana 246 (Haniff 76*, Deonarine 56, Lewis 2-45) drew with Windward Islands 392
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Guyana's newly-appointed captain Narsingh Deonarine and Azeemul Haniff stroked vital fifties for Guyana to deny the Windward Islands first-innings points as their first-round Carib Beer match finished in a draw, both teams picking up four points each.

Set 393 in the rain-hit fixture at the Tanteen Recreation Ground, Guyana reached 246 for 5 when play ended at 5.30pm. While Deonarine made a responsible 56 and Haniff contributed an unbeaten 76 adding 88 for the fourth wicket. Windwards had declared at 392 for 8, 17 minutes after tea on the third day and the visitors crawled to the finish late on day four with Haniff and Mahendra Nagamootoo batting for 144 minutes in a 41-run partnership.

Deonarine hammered six fours and a six from 81 balls and along with Haniff, who faced 246 balls in his first game at this level since 2003.

Guyana began solidly from their overnight position of 35 for 1 and Krishna Arjune and Assad Fudadin carried the score to 66 with a confident 44-run partnership before Rawl Lewis, a Windward legpinner, forced Arjune to play an injudicious slog-sweep against the spin, skying a catch high to short cover.

Arjune faced 98 balls and hit a solitary boundary in his 36 before he wasted his good start in sunny conditions. Fudadin (19) was then caught and bowled in the next over bowled by left-arm spinner Denis George as the hosts struck twice with the score on 66.

Deonarine and Haniff joined forces and took their team to 83 before rain sent the players off the field 40 minutes before lunch.

Leeward Islands 396 and 225 (Banks 100, Morton 55, Taylor 4-37) drew with Jamaica 353 and 185 for 7 (W Hinds 50*, Tonge 2-35)
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Omari Banks struck his maiden first-class hundred to star for the Leeward Islands as they drew with Jamaica in their opening Carib Beer Series match at St Mary's Park.

Banks, the Man-Of-The-Match, hit exactly 100 in the Leewards' second innings score of 225 that set Jamaica a challenging 269 runs for victory in mid-afternoon.

Jamaica, who trailed by 43 runs in their first innings made an initial rush at the target but the effort collapsed and they finished on 185 for 7.

From an overnight 122 for 5, the Leeward Islands took the score to 147 before Darren Powell sent Morton, who struck four boundaries in his innings, back for 55, ending a valuable 93-run partnership.