Leewards crumble to Jamaica spin duo

The spin tandem of captain Nikita Miller and Damion Jacobs was too hot to handle for the Leeward Islands batting order to handle in a nine-wicket win for Jamaica at Queen's Park Oval on Friday. Leewards won the toss and elected to bat which drew no complaints from Miller, who stated at the toss he would have definitely bowled first had the coin fell his way.

Miller backed up his words by teaming with Jacobs to wreck the Leewards lineup. The Jamaica captain started the slide by drawing opener Austin Richards out of his crease for an ill-fated slog only to be stumped before the legspin of Jacobs created a bigger hole in the middle order. Jacobs had Devon Thomas caught behind attempting a cut and in his next over pinned Steve Liburd in front after the batsman misjudged the line of a full delivery.

Jahmar Hamilton top-edged a sweep to square leg off Miller in the 18th and three balls later Jacobs capped the slide by tempting Rahkeem Cornwall into a failed attempt to clear mid off. Leewards had gone from 43 for 1 to 56 for 6. From there, medium pacer Dave Bernard took care of the tail by clattering the stumps three times on his way to 3 for 10 off 5.1 overs as Leewards were bowled out for 115 in 40.1 overs.

John Campbell and Nkrumah Bonner reached 40 for 0 in the 13 overs Jamaica batted before lunch was taken but struggled to regain momentum after the break in play. Campbell eventually was removed by Cornwall for 26 after a mistimed sweep popped up to the wicketkeeper.

Bonner teamed with Lambert to take Jamaica the rest of the way in an unbroken 62-run stand. Bonner ended the 31st over on 48 with the scores level and Lambert generously batted out a maiden in the 32nd to ensure Bonner had an opportunity to bring up his half-century and finish the match in the same shot, which finally happened with a slog to square leg three balls into the 33rd over.

In a match reduced to 21 overs at Shaw Park in Scarborough, Trinidad & Tobago clinched a five-wicket win over West Indies U-19.

More than 80% of West Indies U-19's runs came in the 79-run opening partnership between captain Shimron Hetmyer and Tagenarine Chanderpaul after the junior side was sent in to bat. Hetmyer made 50 and Chanderpaul 31, the only two players to reach double-figures. Ravi Rampaul claimed 3 for 11 in four overs while Sunil Narine claimed 2 for 13 in five to hold West Indies U-19 to 97 for 7.

Evin Lewis and Nicholas Sookdeosingh scored 38 and 35 respectively in reply to lead the T & T chase. Shamar Springer took 3 for 24 in his five overs for West Indies U-19 but T & T coasted to victory with five overs to spare.