Hillaby Turner’s Hall claim first ever Herman Griffith cricket title

All Natarie Lavine does is win.

The athletic 10-year-old produced an impressive all-round effort to propel Hillaby Turner’s Hall to a dominant nine-wicket victory over West Terrace Primary to win the Herman Griffith Cricket Competition for the first time in the school’s history.

Playing at the historic Empire Ground on Tuesday, Lavine along with his captain Jaheim Springer both snared three wickets to help rout West Terrace for 85 in 17.4 overs, with Issiah Marshall and Tashane Watts grabbing two wickets apiece.

Lavine then cracked an unbeaten 19 at the top of the order, as Hillaby Turner’s Hall comfortably chased their target, finishing on 86-1 off just 15.5 overs.

So dominant was Lavine, the top run scorer in the competition with 236 runs, he was also named the Player-of-the-Match and Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

The original 10:30 a.m. start time was delayed by almost an hour due to a wet pitch and outfield, but once it got underway at exactly 11:25 a.m., Hillaby Turner’s Hall dominated proceedings.

Bowling with pace and hostility, the left-arm Springer struck twice in the day’s third over, first clean bowling Treshae Rogers for two and then trapping opposing captain Roni Watson lbw for a duck, to leave West Terrace 10-2.

He then yorked Neymar Forde in his next over to put West Terrace in deeper trouble at 18-3.

Jehzario Adamson-Forde and Anahri Hinds then seemed to be rebuilding the innings during a 22-run fourth wicket partnership, but Marshall removed Adamson Forde (11) and Zayden Haynes-Pearce (0) in successive deliveries, as West Terrace slumped to 40-5.

Lavine then joined in on the action, first getting rid of Hinds for the top score of 17, before returning to clean up the tail by dismissing Anthony Carrington and Alex Jones-Ifill to wrap up the innings.

Hillaby Turner’s Hall then made light work of their target with Lavine and fellow opener Jaxavi Hinds putting on 58 runs without any alarms.

Hinds lost his wicket when he slapped Neymar Forde into the hands of Anahri Hinds at cover, but there was no other success for West Terrace, as Watts scored an unbeaten 10 to guide his side to victory.

West Terrace didn’t do themselves any favours either, sending down a whopping 51 extras to hasten their demise.

Physical education teacher at Hillaby Turner’s Hall, Dexter Gill told Barbados TODAY he was blown away by his team’s performance.

“They were marvelous, they were excellent. The boys kept the ball on the stumps today and in batting they showed extremely great discipline and they stayed out there for the entire match,” an overjoyed Gill said.

He said their capture of the title was the fitting end to an outstanding sporting year for the St Thomas-based primary school.

“They did well in the six-a-side cricket tournament to win it and we also had some success with Natarie Lavine who came first in the Trevor Straughn Cross Country Championships and Issiah Marshall placed second.

“I credit the team’s success to hard work, talented youngsters and an excellent team. All of the youngsters need guidance and I also give thanks to all of the parents who lent their support and those who placed their children in clubs,” he added.

Physical education teacher at West Terrace, Rodrick Harmon was gracious in defeat.

He admitted, though, that his boys simply did not turn up to the party today.

“Congratulations to Hillaby because they showed up and they played a hell of a game. But as I said yesterday, once my team that I’ve watched all season turns up today I had no worries.

“I’m saying today that they didn’t show up. They didn’t show up either with the bat or the ball, but as you know that’s how sports goes. So I hope that we can learn some lessons from that because the team is a young team, so hopefully next year we come back and we right the wrongs,” Harmon told Barbados TODAY.

randybennett@barbadostoday.bb