India A up the ante

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has re-scheduled the outstanding fixture between West Indies "B" and India "A" in the Carib Beer 2003 Cricket Series, as well as the semifinals and final.

The first-round match between West Indies "B" and India "A", which was postponed because of the visitors' late arrival in the Caribbean, will now be played at Kensington Oval, starting on Friday.

"The WICB did not feel it was fair for India `A' to forfeit the points for missing the first-round match and, now that they have a chance to make it in to the semifinals for the Carib Beer International Challenge Trophy, we had to shift our dates around," said Michael Hall, the chief cricket development officer of the WICB.

The staging of the West Indies "B" v India "A" fixture means that the semifinals and final of the Carib Beer International Challenge will be delayed by one week.

They semifinals will now start on March 28 and the final on April 4.

At Sabina Park, Jamaica: India "A" stepped up their bid for a semifinal place when they squeezed a two-wicket win over Jamaica in a crucial seventh-round Carib Beer Series 2003 Cricket Series match yesterday.

The tourists, spearheaded by a decisive unbroken 50-run ninth-wicket stand between Lakshmipathy Balaji and Avishkar Salvi, successfully chased a testing 284-run target to win at 285 for eight shortly after lunch.

"It's a great victory, it was really a nail-biting one," said coach Ashok Malhotra.

At Albion Community Development Centre, Guyana: Guyana had an impressive 73-run victory over the Windward Islands to secure second place.

Set 267 for victory after Guyana declared their second innings on 161 for five at lunch, the Windwards were routed for 193 with 12.1 of the 15 mandatory overs remaining.

Apart from Darren Sammy, who hit a fine 53, and skipper Rawl Lewis (45), the Windwards batting folded to the Guyana attack, with leg-spinner Mahendra Nagamootoo, finishing with three for 58 and fast bowler Esuan Crandon three for 59.