Famlouth, Jamaica – Windward Islands pulled off a massive victory by five wickets under the Duckworth/Lewis Method to stun home town favourites Jamaica in their opening Group A match of the WICB Regional 50 Over Tournament on Thursday.
 
Playing on slow pitch at the Trelawny Multi-Purpose Complex, the Windwards bowlers were excellent and limited the Jamaicans to 223-5 off their 50 overs.
 
Jamaica’s eventual score was mainly due to some superb hitting from an injured Chris Gayle, who made 58 from 38 balls, with the help of a runner after he injured his ankle in the day’s first over.
 
In reply, the Windward openers Devon Smith and Johnson Charles were coasting along at 65-0 at the end of the 15th over when a heavy shower forced the players off the field. They were then set a revised target of 113 off 25 overs.
 
They reached 85-5 off 20 overs when another shower came and forced the umpires to end the match. Under the D/L Method the Windwards needed to be 75-5 at that stage, so they were declared winners and the result left the Jamaicans shell shocked.
 
Smith ended on 42 not out off 58 balls to make sure his team did not lose their way. After the first break they lost four wickets for five runs in the space of three overs. Charles was leg-before to leg-spinner Odean Brown for 20; Darren Sammy was caught behind by Carlton Baugh off Nikita Miller; next ball Craig Emmanuel was smartly stumped by Baugh; and in the following over Donwell Hector was also snapped up by Baugh off Brown.
 
The other wicket to fall was Andre Fletcher, who was brilliantly run out by a rocket throw from Marlon Samuels on the third man boundary off what turned out to be the final ball of the match. Fletcher turned for a third run but failed to beat the pinpoint accurate return from 70 metres. Miller ended with 2-8 from his four overs while Brown grabbed 3-10 from his three overs.
 
After the match Sammy said he was thrilled with the result. “This is a great result for us as a team. Before a ball was bowled we were confident of doing well. We bowled well early in the day and them we got a great start from Smith and Charles. Even though we had a few minor problems with the bat near the end of the innings, we proved good enough to win.”