Set up by half-centuries from Pearson Best and Saheed Mohammed, and five wickets from Kenute Tulloch, the Cayman Islands romped to an easy 57-run victory in their Stanford Twenty/20 Cup match against the Bahamas on Tuesday under the lights at the Stanford Cricket Ground.
Barbados-born Best, who was named Man-of-the-Match, hit the top score of 74 and Guyana-born Mohammed was un-defeated on 64, as the Cayman Islands posted a challenging 175 for four from their allocation of 20 overs after being put in to bat under the lights.
Jamaica-born Tulloch then bagged five wickets for 21 runs from his allotment of four overs to be the most successful Cayman Islands bowler, as the Bahamas were restricted to 118 for nine in 20 overs.
Llewellyn Armstrong, the Bahamian captain, hit the top score of 40 not out from 48 balls to bring some respectability to his side’s reply, after they collapsed to 22 for five after five overs.
Dismissal
Tulloch struck with the fourth ball of the innings, when he had opener Dannavan Morrison adjudged lbw for one. Tulloch also had a hand in the dismissal of Sri Lanka-born Narendra Ekanayake, who reportedly played alongside Sri Lanka wicketkeeper/batsman Kumar Sangakkara at Trinity College in the central Sri Lankan city of Kandy.
Looking to steal a single, Ekanayake failed to get a response from his partner Garcia Blair, and Tulloch fielded his drive to mid-on then hurled the ball to the keeper to complete the dismissal.
Tulloch then removed Blair caught at deep fine leg for a duck, Dwight Weakley lbw for 11, and Whitcliff Atkinson bowled for a duck to put the skids on the Bahamians. Oneil Levy came to the wicket and added 41 for the fifth wicket with Armstrong, who also put on 29 with Mario Ford for the sixth wicket, but there was to be no comeback story for the Bahamians.
Earlier, the Caymans found themselves under the squeeze early, when Garfield Arm-strong, the Bahamian captain’s brother, removed openers Ainsley Hall caught at mid-on for two and Steve Gordon, the Caymanian captain, caught at square leg for 18.
The Caymans were 29 for two, but Best and Mohammed bided their time well and emerged from a circumspect start to bludgeon their way to a 144-run, second-wicket stand. There were strokes of all descriptions from the two Caymanian batsmen and no bowler was spared their wrath, with Best striking nine fours and three six from 39 balls, and Mohammed nine boundaries from 48 balls. Best was caught at extra cover with two balls remaining in the Caymanian innings driving lazily at a loose delivery outside the off-stump, and next ball, Franklin Hinds was caught at wide long-on for a first-ball duck to be the final Bahamian success. The Stanford Twenty20 Cup, the brainchild of Antigua-based American billionaire financier and developer Allen Stanford, features 19 Caribbean countries all vying for a top prize of US$1 million in a single elimination tournament.
Source: Jamaica Gleaner
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