Winwards roll over

Windwards (120 & 89) lost to Barbados (190 & 25-0) by 10 wickets.

Roseau - It was swift. It was clinical. It was achieved with little fuss.

Some thought it predictable; others were surprised.

Barbados completed an emphatic victory over the Windward Islands mid-way into Day 3 yesterday after once again cruelly exposing the hosts' susceptibility to spin bowling.

Another embarrassing collapse unfolded at the beautiful Botanic Gardens with first innings destroyer Dave Marshall gaining support from Ryan Hurley.

The Windwards came through the opening session for the loss of only two wickets. They had just erased their first innings deficit of 70 and there might have been some hope of putting up a genuine challenge with six wickets intact.

But before anyone's lunch-time meal could digest, they witnessed yet another inept batting display in which the last six wickets fell for 19 runs.

All the drama unfolded in a mere 47 minutes after the break, with leg-spinner Marshall and offspinner Hurley each snaring three scalps.

The post-lunch demise came as a surprise to Barbados captain Philo Wallace, but not to manager Tony Howard.

"It's traditional for the Windwards (to collapse). They don't fight very well in the second innings," he said.

"It may have something to do with the way they play their domestic cricket. I think it's a twoday format and it's been my impression that once it goes after the first two days that they tend to have a little trouble."

Wallace, who was at the non-striker's end when Sherwin Campbell ended the match with a pulled six off Nixon McLean at exactly 2 p.m., said Barbados' first win of the tournament was well deserved.

The victory was their eighth successive triumph against the Windwards since 1994. It carried them to 32 points ahead of their final round preliminary match against Trinidad and Tobago and it should pave the way for a place in the semifinals.

The Windwards' only show of defiance came before lunch by way of young left-hander Reymond McLean and the experienced Roy Marshall.

They spent an hour-and-a-quarter together after Devon Smith and the vital Junior Murray were out in quick succession, the former bowled by a googly from Marshall and the latter smartly snapped up at second slip by Campbell off a fine outswinger from Hendy Bryan.

Campbell's catch was one of three that sure-handed Barbados held close to the wicket and there was also a grease-like stumping by Courtney Browne that accounted for Roy Marshall.

Marshall and the 24-year-old McLean added 46 for the fifth wicket, but were out in successive overs after lunch.

McLean, unconvincing for most of his innings of 22, was held at gully by Adrian Griffith off Hurley, while Roy Marshall was lured into a drive by his namesake, Dave, missed and Browne did the rest behind the stumps.

Roy Marshall topscored with 27 that included the only four of the innings and a straight six off Dayne Maynard.

Once he was out, Dave Marshall and Hurley ran through the remainder of the batting. Hurley finished with three for 15 and Marshall, who bowled from the southern end for the entire day, took four for 33 to complete a match haul of 11 for 82.

It was the best match analysis by a Barbadian against the Windwards, beating the performance of ten for 124 by the late Malcolm Marshall in 1986.

"It is my best performance in any competition," Marshall admitted. "I knew my country needed points so I just went out there and put my best foot forward."