2 months ago
20
Western Bureau:
UNBEATEN WESTMORELAND booked their place in the finals of the 2024 edition of the Kingston Wharves (KW) Under-15 cricket championship yesterday when they defeated their Melbourne CC counterparts by four wickets in a low-scoring semifinal showdown on their home turf at Paradise, on the outskirts of the parish capital Savanna-la-Mar.
After taking a good look at the pitch, Melbourne CC’s captain Alexander Elliott, who won the toss, elected to bat. However, his batsmen found the conditions very difficult to handle and were skittled out for a measly 28 runs in the 20.5 overs they batted.
On a day the batsmen will want to forget in a hurry, the top scorers for Melbourne CC were Zachary Taylor and Neo Xavier, who both scored five. The next best batsman was Ashawaney Burrell, who contributed four. Three batsmen went without scoring as the Westmoreland bowlers found the conditions much to their liking.
Jemar Morgan was the pick of the bowlers for Westmoreland, bagging three wickets for four runs off his six overs, which included three maidens. Skipper Ryan Lyttleton was also quite good, picking up three for seven off five overs, which included one maiden. Nicholas Green supported them well with two for seven off his six overs, which also included a maiden.
In their turn at bat, Westmoreland also struggled with Melbourne CC deciding to make a fight of the game. However, after struggling to 15 for three and looking quite wobbly, Lyttleton a competent all-rounder, struck two sixes in top-scoring with 12 to push his side over the line at 30 for six.
Bowling for Melbourne CC, Elliott was quite good, snaring three for seven. He got solid support from Zachary Taylor, who picked up three for eight.
Skipper Eliott was extremely disappointed in the poor batting display by the Melbourne CC team, which he believes would have won the game easily had his batsman showed what they were capable of.
“I feel we could have done better. If we had scored more runs, I think we would have won this game comfortably,” said Elliott.
“I think we did very bad in terms of our batting. We were bowling at our best and we were getting wickets so I feel that if we had bowled first, we would have gotten the win. I just wish there was more effort from the team.”
Winning captain Lyttleton, who said he would have bowled if he had won the toss, was also disappointed in his team’s batting but was extremely pleased with the bowling.
“I believe we bowled very well to get them out for such a small total. I believe we should have won the game easier, but we are happy to be in the final, and we are looking forward to a better batting performance,” said Lyttleton.
Grantley Reid, coach of the Westmoreland team, while pleased with the win, was also disappointed with the difficulty negotiating the small total.
“… All is well that ends well. It is an experience that will only help the team. You realise that you are going to have a bad game at some point in time and so the players will use this to assess themselves, knowing that cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties,” said Reid.
In the day’s other semi-final, played at Jacks River, Kensington put in a dominant performance, getting by St Mary with a nine-wicket win.
St Mary had scored 74 all out, with Abraham Waugh, three for six from 7.4 overs, and Zachary Buchanan, three for nine from 10 overs helping their destruction.
Andrew Lloyd chipped in with two for 22 from 11 overs.
In response, Kensington, despite a small wobble when Rhys Williams was run out for 10, eased to victory with Waugh, 24 not out, and Buchanan, 28 not out, steering the ship.
English (US) ·