Port-of-Spain, Trinidad – Steven Jacobs had a major say in the outcome of Thursday night’s Caribbean T20 contest, bowling Guyana to a big win over Barbados in a low-scoring affair. The highly-spirited off-spinner had the impressive figures of 4-1-13-2, as the 2010 champions held the Bajans to their lowest T20 score of 66 to defend the 108 they made earlier in the night.
After letting the ball do the talking, Jacobs spoke of how he used “inside knowledge” of the Barbadian players to his advantage. The 24-year-old is a student at Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) in Barbados and spent part of last year playing in the local club competition there.
“One of the weaknesses of the Bajans is batting spin. The skipper tried to exploit that weakness tonight. Playing in Barbados helped a lot. I’m going to school in Barbados and playing for UWI so I get a chance to look at the batsmen in local cricket. That was a major thing for me and I also shared the knowledge with my team-mates. It worked out well tonight,” Jacobs said after he received the Man-of-the-Match trophy.
The match-winning figures were his best in T20 cricket and took Guyana to eight points from two matches. The defeat left Barbados on eight points from three matches. The table leaders are Trinidad and Tobago on nine points from three matches.
Jacobs noted that there is great belief in the camp after such a hard-fought comeback.
“Guyana is a never-say-die team. We will always put in 100 percent. Having 108 runs on the board we knew that there was still pressure there on Barbados. The ball was spinning and we knew that one of the strengths in our team is our spinning department. We executed really well tonight,” the former West Indies Under-19 vice captain added.
“This was one of my nights. I don’t have a secret to the way I perform. I just come out and stick to the basics of bowling in Twenty20 cricket – which is to be accurate and make life very difficult for the batsmen.”
The Caribbean T20 enters Day 6 at Queen’s Park Oval on Friday. Barbados will be back in action when they face Combined Campuses and Colleges at 8 pm (7 pm Jamaica Time). Before that Jamaica meet Leeward Islands at 4 pm (3 pm Jamaica Time).
FULL TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
(AT QUEEN’S PARK OVAL, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad)
Sunday, January 6
Trinidad & Tobago vs Jamaica – Match abandoned due to rain
Monday, January 7
Barbados beat Leeward Islands by 9 wickets
Guyana beat Combined Campuses & Colleges by 2 wickets
Tuesday, January 8
Barbados beat Jamaica by 5 wickets
T&T beat CCC by 7 wickets
Wednesday, January 9
Jamaica beat Windward Islands by 12 runs
T&T beat Leeward Islands by 95 runs
Thursday, January 10
Windwards beat CCC by 42 runs
Guyana beat Barbados by 42 runs
Friday, January 11
Leeward Islands vs Jamaica – 4 p.m.
Combined Campuses & Colleges vs Barbados – 8 p.m.
Saturday, January 12
Windward Islands vs Leeward Islands – 4 p.m.
Trinidad & Tobago vs Guyana – 8 p.m.
(AT BEAUSEJOUR CRICKET GROUND, Gros Islet, St. Lucia)
Tuesday, January 15
Guyana vs Jamaica – 4 p.m.
Windward Islands vs Trinidad & Tobago – 8 p.m.
Wednesday, January 16
Combined Campuses & Colleges vs Leeward Islands – 4 p.m.
Barbados vs Trinidad & Tobago – 8 p.m.
Thursday, January 17
Leeward Islands vs Guyana – 4 p.m.
Windward Islands vs Barbados – 8 p.m.
Friday, January 18
Combined Campuses & Colleges vs Jamaica – 4 p.m.
Windward Islands vs Guyana – 8 p.m.
Saturday, January 19
Play-off: 2nd Place vs 3rd Place – 8 p.m.
Sunday, January 20
Grand Final: 1st Place vs Winner of Play-off – 8 p.m.
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