Report

Spinners win it for Barbados, T&T

A round-up of the matches in the Regional Four Day Competition 2011-12

ESPNcricinfo staff
26-Mar-2012
Javon Searles returned with a match-haul of 11 for 83 in a low-scoring thriller where Barbados survived a second innings collapse to beat Windward Islands by 17 runs in Grenada. In a low-scoring match, which finished within two days, Searles' effort overshadowed another ten-wicket haul, by Windward Islands' Shane Shillingford who took 14 for 110 runs.
Requiring a moderate 145 to win, Windward Islands collapsed to 73 in their second innings which lasted a mere 17 overs. Searles, with five wickets, and Sulieman Benn with four, caused the damage right at the start as the top-three batsmen were removed without a run on the board. The rest followed soon as five batsmen failed to open their account. Windward Islands had earlier given themselves an opening in the match as Barbados had crumbled to 85 after Shillingford took eight wickets.
In the end, as both team struggled to bat, Kirk Edwards' 99 was the difference between the two teams, as the next-highest score in the match was 31. Barbados scored 192 in the first innings after which, bowlers from both teams controlled the game. Windward's collapse against Searles, who took 6 for 44, meant that they ended the innings 59 runs in deficit that proved more than enough for Barbados. With 12 points in the game, Barbados maintained their second position in the points-table.
Trinidad and Tobago recorded an easy nine-wicket win over Leeward Islands in St Kitts. In a season where top seven wicket-takers are all spinners, T&T's left-arm slow bowler, Kavesh Kantasingh picked up ten wickets in the match.
On the first morning, Leeward Islands chose to bat and were making comfortable progress having scored 66 for two wickets. But Kantasingh triggered a spectacular collapse as the next eight wickets went down with the addition of only 15 runs. In response, most T&T batsmen made small contributions to push the score to 172. Hayden Walsh, another offspinner, took four wickets in the innings.
Already 91 runs behind T&T, Leeward Islands needed the top order to apply themselves against the spinners. Austin Richards showed the way with his 44, but with other batsmen faltering again to Kantasingh, Leeward Islands could only manage 158, giving an easy 68-run target to T&T. Opener Justin Guillen scored a quick 38-ball 47 to finish the chase within ten overs, to eliminate any chance of a collapse.