West Indies Domestic: Neck-and-neck

Like a champion sprinter, Barbados made all the early running in the opening stages of the Busta Cup semifinal against the Leeward Islands yesterday.

Like a genuine distance runner, the Leewards, however, refused to be outpaced and would claim to be on even keel at the quartermark.

Defending champs Barbados, prevailing under overcast conditions on winning the toss, were fast out of the blocks, reducing the Leewards to 53 for four and later 129 for eight.

No one will know if the hosts ran out of steam or if the Leewards suddenly found a burst of energy, but for the next two hours the visitors fought back gallantly.

'Our overall performance was a little disappointing,' Barbados coach William Bourne later admitted.

'We were a little out of sorts in the afternoon and we missed a good opportunity to go through the lower order. It's been something that has been happening often this season.'

The Leewards' eventual total was not an imposing one, but considering that Barbados' average score per innings during the preliminaries was a modest 204, Ridley Jacobs' men would have been encouraged.

And it showed in the 23 overs they delivered when Barbados managed less than a run an over in the face of impressive bowling from Curtly Ambrose and his promising trainee, Kerry Jeremy, who combined to remove Philo Wallace and Sherwin Campbell.

The more than 3 000 spectators at Kensington Oval were disappointed when the Barbados captain miscued a hook off Ambrose's sixth ball and skied a catch to square-leg where Carl Tuckett initially appeared to have been bothered by the sun.

No. 3 bat Adrian Griffith endured a torrid time against Ambrose, who rattled him with blows to the chest and helmet.

Both Griffith and Campbell have been short of runs since returning from New Zealand and just when it seemed they had settled in, Campbell, unable to push completely forward, was lbw to the 20-year-old Jeremy.

It now sets the stage for an intriguing Day 2.

'Our priority is to get first innings lead,' Bourne said. 'Hopefully we will be able to get in and possibly try and bat on. We know what we have to do.'

The Leewards owed their initial fightback to Runako Morton and Warrington Phillip, the pair ensuring that the last two wickets produced 61 runs.

Fresh from a maiden first-class hundred in the last match against Jamaica, the 21-year-old Morton completed his third half-century against Barbados this season.

His 60 off 121 balls in 2-1/2 hours was an innings of measured self-restrain and selective aggression and was even better than his knocks of 54 and 70 not out in the second-round preliminary match at the same venue a month ago.

By the time he was ninth out, bowled trying to force Bryan through the offside, there were some who were nominating him as a middle-order candidate for the West Indies team to face Zimbabwe next month.

The Leewards desperately needed his innings after the pace of Ian Bradshaw and Hendy Bryan, the varied off-spin of Ryan Hurley, the safe hands of wicket-keeper Courtney Browne and irresponsible batting marked the play before tea.

Bradshaw, replacing an injured Pedro Collins, removed openers Alex Adams and Wilden Cornwall before lunch when there was also a wicket apiece for Bryan and Dayne Maynard. Hurley took care of the experienced Dave Joseph and stand-in captain Jacobs soon after the break.

Adams was the first of two catches to Browne, the Anguillan snapped up in front of first slip in Bradshaw's second over.

Browne also showed good work to haul in the over-aggressive Dave Joseph over his head and slightly to his right.

When Joseph launched into another of his big drives, he gave the impression that he did not remember that Cornwall had been the victim of a similarly indiscreet shot in the previous over, the first of a new spell from Bradshaw.

The Leewards went to lunch at 73 for four, but on resumption the ever-improving Hurley struck in his first two overs with the dismissals of Keith Arthurton to a bat-pad catch at silly-point and Jacobs, lbw on the back foot.

That made it 92 for six, but Morton stuck around.