BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE Keeth Arthurton Nagico Windsor University T20 Tournament bowled off to an epic start yesterday (May 16) with two of the top teams involved in a classic opener at the Conaree Cricket Ground.
Following a brief opening ceremony, the Newtown Cricket Club took on the Molineaux/Cayon Cricket Club in the first game of the tournament.
In front of a large crowd, Molineaux/Cayon’s captain Jacques Taylor won the toss and opted to have first knock against the Steve Liburd-led Newtown.
After a slow start to their innings, the Molineaux\Cayon Club got some impetus to their innings from captain Taylor, who blasted 44 not out to power his team to 153-3 from the 20 alloted overs. He was ably supported by the experienced Leon Clarke, who blasted 32 from just 16 balls to help his side reach the defendable total.
In response, the Newtown got off to a rocky start due to a brilliant opening spell by Clarke, who restricting them to 25 for 3. However, a 50-run partnership between captain Liburd and the young but experienced Jeremiah Louis rebuilt the innings before Louis lost his wicket.
Liburd was then joined by the experienced Elsroy Powell, who played a good supporting role to his captain, and powered the team through the final 10 overs from which they needed to score more than 10 runs an over.
In the final over, Newtown required 12 runs and Taylor took the responsibility of bowling it.
The first ball was smashed by Liburd to deep square leg where it seemed to be sailing over the ropes, but hitting into the wind meant that the fielder at that point also had a chance to dismiss the batsman. He however dropped the catch, but Liburd was eventually run out while trying to steal a second run.
Newtown then needed 11 runs from five balls when Jason Saddler came to the crease.
Saddler then got a single to put Powell back on strike.
With 10 runs to get from four balls, Powell danced down the wicket and hit the ball straight back over Taylor’s head for six to send the Newtown fans into raptures and dropping the heads of the Molineaux/Cayon players and their supporters.
Needing four runs from three balls, Taylor tried bowling a quicker one that beat both the batsman and the wicketkeeper and rolled into the boundary, giving Newtown a classical win.
After the game, Taylor indicated that he thought 153 runs were a challenging total, but credited some lapses in the field for his team’s downfall.
Liburd also agreed that the total was a good score on the surface but hailed his team’s batting performance. He was also named Man of the Match for his 73-run contribution.
The tournament will continue today with Len Harris Cricket Academy taking on Sandy Point from 10: a.m. and Haynes Smith battling against Young Guns at 2:00 p.m.
