Busta Cup first round defies odds

Defending champions Barbados started their campaign to retain the title in fine style when they beat Guyana by 162 runs in the opening round of the tournament. Put in to bat, Barbados scored 304, propelled largely by captain and opener Phillo Wallace's 99 and KJ Wilkinson's 92. The run of nineties continued in Guyana's innings when Andre Percival made 96 in a total of 231.

Although the home side, in their second innings, did not see any big scores, consistent performances all down the order saw them rack up 328/8 declared, setting Guyana a mammoth target of 402. It only remained to be seen whether Guyana would draw the match or lose it; Barbados forced the second option on them, with Ryan Austin taking 5-68 in Guyana's collapse to 239. Ian Bradshaw was named Man of the Match for his haul of seven wickets.

At Port of Spain, a Lara-less Trinidad & Tobago drew with minnows Leeward Islands, the former picking up six points from the match and the latter three. Put in to bat, the hosts made 354 in their first essay, with Lincoln Roberts hitting a fine 117 and forming the mainstay of his innings. In reply, Leeward Islands scored 301, Runako Morton scoring 104 of those runs.

Although Trinidad & Tobago were quick to score 267 and then set Leewards a target of 321, they did not allow themselves enough time to bowl the visitors out. They also did not contend with Stuart Williams, who made an unbeaten 113 at the top of the order, holding his team together to see them through to 178/2 in 49 overs. Williams, by virtue of scoring 86 in the first innings as well, was named Man of the Match for his fine batting.

A match that evoked much interest was the West Indies 'B' vs Bangladesh 'A' tie at St Kitts. The hype lived up to its name, with the home side finally triumphed by 59 runs. Batting first, they could only register 195 runs as some incisive Bangladeshi bowling scythed through the middle order. And when Bangladesh then made 278 in their own first innings, the odds seemed to favour the visitors decisively.

But West Indies 'B' fared better in their second essay, making 261. Set a target of 179, Bangladesh were expected to win easily, but they instead collapsed in the familiar manner of their senior team. No batsman could make more than 30, and the visitors were bowled out for 119 in 58 overs. This is only the second time that a non-regional team has been included in the Busta competition, but the interest generated by the move seems to indicate that it is a good one.

The final first-round match at Grenada saw Windward Islands pick six points from a drawn match with Jamaica. Batting first after winning the toss, Jamaica scored 178; their opponents then batted solidly to pile up 356. Junior Murray made 105, while opener DS Smith hit 84.

Jamaica did not do much better in their second innings, making 174/5 in the 97 overs that they played out. Windward Islands, who were pushing for an innings victory, struggled to break through some resolute blocking from Mario Ventura (55*) and Robert Samuels (40), and the match was accordingly drawn.