Miscalculation ... Leewards in Red Stripe Final on appeal (19 October 1998)

19 October 1998

Miscalculation ... Leewards in Red Stripe Final on appeal

Rick Eyre in CricInfo365

Trinidad and Tobago were the winner's of Saturday's Red Stripe Bowl semi-final against Leeward Islands after being declared in front on run-rate after a rain-affected match.

Or so they thought. The Leeward Islands management felt otherwise, and a specially convened meeting chaired by JCA (Jamaica Cricket Association) president Jackie Hendriks on Sunday morning.

After the Leewards made 172 for 9 from 41 overs in a reduced innings, Trinidad scored 137 for 5 from 31.3 overs when rain and bad light ended the game at 5pm. Match referee Hugh Perry announced that Trinidad were the winners amid strong protests from Leeward Islands manager Carlisle Powell, who said that Perry had used the wrong formula to decide the winner.

After hearing of the protest, Hendriks arranged a meeting for 11.30am Sunday including team managers Ranji Nanan (Trinidad and Tobago) and Powell, with umpires Eddie Nicholls and Thomas Nelson, standby umpire Basil Morgan, JCA secretary Roy Paul and assistant secretary Brian Breese. Perry was unavailable as he already travelled home. Hendricks contacted Perry who advised that, on re-checking the rules, he had made a mistake.

Perry had judged that, in accordance with the playing conditions, the Trinidad target would have been 136 off 32 overs. However a further clause addresses "a situation where the team batting first had to bat lesser number of overs, and the team batting second would have to bat even lesser number of overs". On that basis it was calculated then that the winning target - at the point at which the game ended - for Trinidad would have been 148.

On this basis, the match was awarded to the Leeward Islands by ten runs. They face Guyana in the final at the Kaiser Sports Club today. Hendriks said that the decision was still subject to variation by the WICB, although this appeared unlikely given the short time before the final was due to be played.

Source :: CricInfo365