Busta third round low scoring for the most part

Critics of the policy of allowing Bangladesh 'A' to participate in the Busta Cup on the grounds that they would lower the standards of the competition received a fine reply when the touring side had Trinidad & Tobago on the mat for much of their third round tie at Tobago.

Although they had not fared too well in the previous two rounds, Bangladesh 'A' seemed to have picked themselves up. Put in to bat, they made 238 in the first innings, and at the time it looked as if they would repeat the pattern established in the previous two games. But their bowlers had other ideas, dismissing Trinidad & Tobago for 205 and gaining a slender first-innings lead of 33 runs.

Bangladesh's second-innings effort was marginally better than their first, but their total of 259 was enough to set their rivals a target of 293 in the fourth innings. The visitors even looked like winning the match when they dismissed three batsmen for 25 runs, but skipper Richard Smith hit an unbeaten 50 to guide his side to a draw. Bangladesh picked up six points from the drawn encounter, while Trinidad & Tobago picked up three.

At Jamaica, the hosts vanquished Busta champions Barbados by an innings and 39 runs to pick 12 points from the match. Bowling first, Jamaica dismissed Barbados for only 179, with Floyd Reifer offering lone resistance in making 91. Fast bowler Darren Powell was the main destroyer of the Bajans' innings, taking 5-28 off 11.3 overs.

Jamaica's batsmen then rubbed salt into the wound by scoring 351 in their own first innings. Ricardo Powell's 85 shone out in a solid middle-order performance. Leading by 172 runs, Jamaica had a decisive upper hand, but Barbados supporters must have been shocked at the way their side collapsed in the second innings for only 133. The highest individual score was 35, and the folding of the visitors gave Jamaica a vital 12 points from their third round.

The play was less lopsided in St Vincent, where Guyana took on Windward Islands. Winning the toss, Windwards opted to bat first, but opener Devon Smith was the only batsman to make the most of the advantage. Smith made 99 before becoming the ninth wicket to fall, and Windwards were dismissed for 203, most of the batsmen falling to legspinner Mahendra Nagamootoo (6-61).

Guyana's batting performance gave them the edge in the match. A string of double-figure scores in the middle order took Guyana's total to 288, a crucial lead of 85 runs. Nagamootoo then returned in the second innings to take 3-34 and spur along a Windwards collapse to 135 all out. The target of 51 must have seemed laughably small before the start of the fourth innings, but Fernix Thomas took 3-22 and five batsmen were back in the hut with 35 runs on the board. Ultimately, however, Guyana reached their target with five wickets to spare, although Windwards could easily have come up with a shock victory had they had a few more runs to play around with.

The final round three match at Nevis also turned out the most runs. Winning the toss, West Indies 'B' opted to bat first against Leeward Islands, but the batsmen lost their way in the first innings and were all dismissed for 219. Wicket-keeper Patrick Browne made 55 and topscored.

In their innings, Leewards reached a mammoth 476/4 before declaring. The stars of this run-fest were Sylvester Joseph and Keithroy Tittle. Building on a fine 66 from Stuart Williams, Joseph and Tittle added an unbeaten 239 runs for the fifth wicket. Joseph made an unbeaten 211, while Tittle scored 101.

West Indies 'B' replied spiritedly, making 302 in their second innings. Rather than any individual knocks, two fifties and two forties made up the bulk of this score. But even this effort was only sufficient to avoid an innings defeat and set Leewards a paltry target of 46 runs, which Williams almost single-handedly knocked off in just 10.4 overs.