West Indies B Surge To Three Wins At Canada Summerfest T20

By Ravi Madholall in Toronto
West Indies B claimed three consecutive victories at the inaugural Cricket Canada Summerfest T20 tournament after wrapping up the third and final match on Monday with a resounding six-wicket win against Toronto Bears at Maple Leaf ground in King City.

Middle-order batsman Jamal Hamilton cracked an unbeaten 59 to propel the tourists to 129-4 in the 11th over replying to Toronto Bears’ modest 124-7 from the 20-overs.

The right-handed wicketkeeper/batsman Hamilton, who plays first-class cricket for Leeward Islands, hit four sixes and five fours from 28 balls.

West Indies B, who started off their campaign with a comprehensive five-wicket triumph over Canada senior side at the same venue on Saturday, won the toss and invited Toronto Bears to bat first.

They lost their opener Kamil Khan without scoring while soon after Jeron Maniram followed for 9. Inform opening batsman Rodrigo Thomas batted well until he was bowled for 28.

Skipper Royston Crandon once again showed great consistency by spanking four mighty sixes and three fours in his top-score of 47 while Teshwon Castro supported with 17 towards the end.

West Indies B bowlers delivered with confidence and accuracy throughout the 20-overs. Kyle Myers, Jomel Warrican and Justin Greaves all picked up two wickets each from their four-over spell on a responsive pitch.

Earlier in the day, Canada A defeated Toronto Bears by 13 runs. Abrassh Khan led the way for the A combination with a belligerent 94 which counted five sixes and ten fours from just 52 balls.

The young right-handed batting talent got support from Ravinderpal Singh who scored 29 and 25 from Harsh Thaker as pacer Jason Padmore collected three wickets for 30 runs from four overs and former Guyana under-19 skipper Eugene LaFleur snapped up two for 40 from four expensive overs.

When Toronto Bears batted, Crandon hit a cameo 63 which was laced with five sixes and four fours. Pooran chipped in with 27 while Thomas and LaFleur made 24 and 20 respectively.

Spinner Sukhdeep Brar made a good impression with the ball for Canada A by bagging three wickets for 19 runs in his four overs.

On Saturday, West Indies B kept Canada A to 127-4 at the expiration of the 20-overs while the Caribbean Boys replied with 128-1 off 14.3 overs.

On Sunday, they held their nerves over the senior Canadian side to win by five wickets. Canada made 146 all out off 20-overs while West Indies B reached the target in the penultimate over but only losing five wickets in the process.

West Indies B will continue their tour of Canada with two 50-over matches against the Canada Senior team on Wednesday, September 5 and then on Friday, September 7 at the same facility. West Indies B already pocketed Cds$5, 000 and a trophy for winning the T20 four-team competition.