Barbados: New Under-15 Cricket Champions (11 Sep 1998)

11 September 1998

New Under-15 Cricket Champions

by Philip Spooner

Roll out the red carpet for the new kings of Under-15 cricket.

Yesterday at the Wildey ground, it was all one-way traffic as Deighton Griffith romped to the BET Under-15 title with first innings lead over Foundation.

The seven-year-old school was the better team over the last two days, after the opening day's play was washed out, and were deserving winners, making 117 for two declared after their Christ Church neighbours fell for 113.

"It's a joy for me," coach Marven Alleyne said in an after-game interview, "... one of the happiest days in my life.

"This time around, the lads stuck to their task and did themselves and the school proud," he added.

For Deighton Griffith, it was sweet success in their first final; but for Foundation it was third time unlucky, having lost on first innings in 1995 and 1996.

Coach Dennis Osbourne expressed disappointment saying: "Deighton Griffith lifted their game from last week; but unfortunately, we could not keep up the momentum we had."

Captain Derick Bishop and left-hander Martin Nurse were the heroes, adding an unbroken 111 for the third wicket in two hours after they slipped to six for two in the fourth over.

Nurse, a 13-year-old with a liking for off-side strokes, was afforded the luxury of five chances in his 57 not-out off 98 balls. He entered when Hendy Blades was bowled by Ryan Morris, and immediately Nurse began to play his strokes.

Batting in a blue helmet, he smashed seven fours including some memorable square drives, much to the delight of the spectators.

"It's a wonderful feeling," Nurse said when asked about his breathtaking knock. "It was my first 50 in any cricket and I feel really great that it helped the team to the title."

He endured some early difficulty against the lively pace of Jamal Forde and the persistent Morris and came out unharmed to propel his team to victory.

Bishop, a two-time national Under-15 selectee, took the Player-Of-the-Match award for his patient unbeaten 44, along with three for 19 off 23 overs in the Foundation innings.

Mature and thoughtful, the slender Bishop applied himself in the early stages, taking an hour to get his first ten runs, before stepping up the tempo thumping five polished boundaries in a two-hour stay.

He had the honour of hitting the winning run, a majestic pull which cannoned into the square-leg boundary on the stroke of 5:30 p.m. with three overs remaining.

"I was never in doubt of getting the runs, never," said Bishop. "I kept talking to Martin and told him that we could do it. As the overs were running out, we had to pick up the pace and we did just that."

Earlier Foundation continued in the same slow vain which prevailed on Wednesday. Resuming on 70 for five, they crawled to 113 off 81.1 overs. There was only one boundary and 29 maiden overs were sent down in the 350 minutes of batting.

Bishop and leg-spinner Kenroy Williams (three for 30 off 30.1 overs) bowled well in tandem. Seamer Kenville Roach chipped in with two for 34. For the losers, only big left-hander Eric Batson with a topscore of 31 showed any purpose.

Source :: The Barbados Nation (https://www.nationnews.com/)