ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – Leeward Islands broke a sequence of three matches without a win over against Combined Campuses & Colleges in the Regional 4-Day Tournament with a 72-run, come-from-behind victory on Tuesday.
Hayden Walsh Jr had 4 for 81.
Spin bowling all-rounder Hayden Walsh Jr, an attendee of the Sagicor West Indies High Performance Centre in the last year, grabbed 4-81 from 15 overs to trigger a CCC batting collapse, as they chased 262 for victory on the final day of their first round match at Warner Park in St. Kitts.
Gavin Tonge supported with 3-44 from 13 overs to flatten the top-order and leg-spinner Anthony Martin completed the demolition with a miserly 2-17 from 19 overs, as the Leewards ensured a full house of victories in the opening week of the Tournament.
The highlight of the match was the first hundred of the new term from Leewards wicketkeeper/batsman Jahmar Hamilton.
A graduate of the Sagicor WIHPC, he collected his second first-class hundred of 119 in the second innings to bring the home team back into the match and give them the inspiration to fight for a victory that has become quite rare.
It was the Leewards’ first victory over the CCC since they crushed them by 10 wickets four years ago at the Beausejour Cricket Ground in St. Lucia.
Jamaica continued their dominance of Guyana, when they started the Tournament with a resounding seven-wicket victory on home soil at Sabina Park.
Jahmar Hamilton scored 119.
The Jamaicans defied a seven-wicket, match performance from West Indies left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul to coast to victory before tea on the final day on Monday.
It was the home team’s seventh straight victory over the visitors and 12th in 21 matches since 2000 – a period during which the Guyanese have only been able to snare one victory eight years ago at Chedwin Park in the Jamaican district of Innswood.
Windward Islands were the first to the finish line, when they completed a confident nine-wicket victory inside three days over reigning champions Barbados on Sunday under the lights at Beausejour.
It was their third win in their last seven matches against the Barbadians and was set up by impressive fast bowling from Nelon Pascal and long-standing left-arm medium-fast bowler Kenroy Peters.
Pascal ended with match figures of 8-103 and Peters grabbed 7-45 in a contest ending before tea on the third day with Kraigg Brathwaite’s side demolished for 90 in their second innings – the third time in the last four matches between the two sides that Barbados had been dismissed for a total of less than 100.
The West Indies Cricket Board has also advised that the number of day/night matches to be contested in the Tournament has now been reduced from nine to six.
The third round contest between CCC and Barbados at the Three Ws Oval in Barbados, the sixth round match between Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica at Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain, and the last round fixture between Leewards and the Barbadians at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua are all now scheduled to be day-time games, starting daily from 10 in the morning.
