Cayman Islands: Joint champions in Divisions One and Two

The Cayman Islands has crowned two league joint champions. In Division 1, defending champions Byrite Sports Club made a late drive and caught front runners Prison Sports Club in the last league fixture.

Byrite scored 210-9 in 45 overs with Shaheed Mohammed getting a brilliant 114, Chris Wight 25 and David Wight 21. A.Hewitt had outstanding figures for Prison of 6-27.

Prison had a great start with Steve Gordon 67 and Alister Carter 28 but could not maintain the scoring rate and lost wickets regularly. Best bowling for Byrite was Chris Wight 3-20.

League Table

Club   P W L NR PTS
Byrite S.C.  8 6 2 0  18
Prison S.C.  8 6 2 0  18
Police S.C.  8  3 4 1   9
Environ. All Stars 8 2 5 1   7
Greenies 1  8 1 5 2   5

Deloitte & Touche and Greenies (2) were joint champions in Division 2. D&T maintained their high level of play throughout the season and only the weather prevented them from sitting at the top alone.

Greenies (2) surpassed all expectations winning more matches this year than ever before.

Club   P W L NR PTS
Deloitte & Touche 8 6 0 2 20
Greenies Too  8 6 0 2 20
Health Services  8 4 4 0 12
Cayman Brac  8 3 3 2 11
West Bay  8 3 6 0        9
Cable & Wireless 8 3 6 0        9
Hadsphaltic  8 3 6 0        9
Schools   8 2 5 0        7
Paramount Carpets 8 2 5 0        7

Primary schools (under 11) league and knockout competitions are completed with George Town Primary school winning both competitions.

School   P W L NR PTS
George Town  7 6 1 0 12
Savannah  7 4 2 1 9
Red Bay   7 4 3 0 8
St.Ignatius  7 4 3 0 8
Bodden Town  7 3 4 0 6
St. Ignatius  7 3 4 0 6
Cayman Prep  7 3 4 0 6
Truth for Youth  7 0 6 1 1

Two Caymanians Andy Myles and Chris Wight took the W.I.C.B. senior coaching course and were successful. The course was held in Trinidad from May 31-June 4.

Cayman Under 15 team is preparing to visit Bermuda from July 26 to August 5 for 5 matches.

West Bay retained the Division 2 Knockout trophy by defeating Deloitte & Touche in a truly exciting match on Sunday at the Smith Road Oval.

It was a match of intense feelings all the way as the Smith Road Oval took on a carnival atmosphere with thrills galore. West Bay scored 205-6 and in turn Deloitte & Touche got 181. West Bay won by 24 runs.

West Bay, captained by the veteran campaigner Jimmy Powell, won the toss and took first turn to bat. They immediately ran into trouble as they lost their first wicket with only three runs on the board.

It was an uphill struggle, as Deloitte & Touche marshalled by captain Ken Hall, applied the pressure making runs hard to get. Excellent batting from Iswar Sookoonsingh (79 n.o.), Noor Mohammed (46) and Hubert Francis (27) contributed in West Bay getting a respectable 205-6 at the end of 40 overs.

Best bowling for Deloitte & Touche came from "new spin find" Courtney Young (3 for 35) and V. Allen (1 for 29).

Then the fire works began as Deloitte & Touche, after losing an early wicket, went on the attack. Jimmy Powell bowled one over for 17 runs and had to remove himself. The runs flowed easily with Horace Dailey (66) and Joey Hamilton (31) dispatching every thing thrown their way to the boundary. It was batting at its best. Fours and sixes all around! The Mexican Wave began with players and spectators alike guessing the time for a D&T win.

Yes, the beers were being chilled and ready. After 14 overs, Deloitte & Touche were 100 for the loss of only one wicket. This seemed like an easy victory for the boys in blue. Jimmy Powell had other ideas.

The master of strategy introduced his spin bowlers which immediately brought results. Wicket after wicket began falling. It was a steady march to the pavilion as N.Mohammed (3-19), A.Dawes (3-23) and I.Sookoonsingh (3-26) mesmerised the Deloitte & Touche batsmen to the effect that D&T lost their last eight wickets for 58 runs.

What a turn around! Fittingly, Jimmy Powell took a diving catch to end the match. Talk about taking defeat out of the jaws of victory. Maybe someday, Jimmy will tell us how he does it. Congratulations West Bay!

The action in the Knockout competition moves to Division I for this coming weekend. On Sunday at the Jimmy Powell Oval, Prison plays Environmental All Stars and at the Smith Road Oval Byrite takes on Police.