Unbeaten Barbados clinch U15 title with win over Guyana

Defending champions Barbados romped to their fifth consecutive win to claim their second successive Rising Stars Under-15 title in dominant fashion here on Wednesday.

Playing at the Coolidge Cricket Ground, Barbados defeated Guyana by 50 runs to end the competition with five wins from their five matches and defend the title.

It was the second straight year that Barbados played unbeaten in the tournament, having won four matches last year with the other contest ending being rained out.

Needing to avoid defeat against Guyana, who entered the final round with a 3-1 record, Barbados posted 209 for eight from their 50 overs.

Their efforts were led by Seth Smith who top scored with 47 off 75 balls, while captain Justin Parris made a counterattacking 38 from 40 balls.

Barbados found themselves in a spot of bother at 70 for four when medium pacer Reyaz Latif dismissed Parris, but Smith and Rajeev Parsooram came together to add 61 runs for the fifth wicket to pull their side out of trouble.

And when Parsooram lost his wicket to left-arm pacer Brandon Henry for 21, Smith added a further 39 runs with Yuvraj Persaud, who made 19, to help Barbados recover to 172 for five.

Guyana’s bowlers did well to stem the flow of runs in the closing overs, with Barbados only mustering 33 runs from the final seven overs.

Latif was the pick of the bowlers finishing with 3-31, Henry took 2-24 and Usain Fredericks 2-53.

Guyana’s run chase hit early stumbling blocks when they lost Justin Dowlin, Lomar Seecharan and Shahid Ramzam to slump to 35 for three.

Things went from bad to worse when medium pacers Asher Branford and Joshua Thompson accounted for Arif Bacchus and captain Richard Ramdehol respectively, as Guyana slipped into further trouble at 55 for five.

However, Henry struck an even half century to lead a lower order fightback for Guyana that helped them to 156 for seven and gave them a chance of a come-from-behind victory.

But when medium pacer Parsooram snared Henry’s crucial wicket after he faced 88 balls, Guyana quickly capitulated to lose their last three wickets for three runs.

Branford led the way with 3-19, while Parsooram, Parris and Joshua Thompson each took two wickets.

At the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium: Jamaica ended the competition on a winning note by thrashing the Windward Islands by 10 wickets in a lopsided contest.

After electing to bat first, the Windward Islands were skittled out for just 86 in a woeful batting display that saw six batsmen dismissed for ducks.

In fact, none of the top three batsmen troubled the scores, as the Windward Islands found themselves 11 for three.

Only Jamie Wickham, who scored 42 from 68 balls, put up any resistance as medium pacer Andrew Lloyd took four late wickets to run through the lower order.

Lloyd finished with 4-25, while there were also wickets for Eckoney Robinson (2-16), Wayne Plummer (2-18) and Raheim Livingston (2-22).

Jamaica then wasted little time in reaching their target, racing to 87 without loss in only 12.2 overs, with Luwain Pryce (32 not out) and Rajae McGeachy, who scored 30 not out, leading the charge.

At the Antigua Recreation Ground: Trinidad and Tobago ensured the Leeward Islands would finish their campaign winless by trouncing them by six wickets.

The Leeward Islands produced yet another lacklustre batting effort to be dismissed for 92 in 25.4 overs after being sent in to bat.

Jathan Edward top scored with 19, but the Leeward Islands lost their last five wickets for nine runs, with three of their last four batsmen failing to get off the mark.

Sanjiv Bachu (3-12), Jayden Sadaphal (3-28) and Giovanni McKnight (3-29) were the main destroyers.

That total was never going to be enough and despite losing four wickets, T&T coasted to 93 for four in 16.4 overs.

The writing was on the wall when openers Jordan Julien (36) and captain Kaiden Pollard (21) put on 55 runs for the first wicket.

Treon Daniel and Aedan Williams grabbed two wickets apiece, but Samuel Stewart hit an unbeaten 18 to lead his team to victory. (CMC)