Monday, FEBRUARY 3, 2014
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CCC humiliate Leeward Islands T
he dark clouds and rain that loomed ominously over Queen’s Park Oval and caused a delayed start to the match were a portent of things to come for the Leeward Islands, who crashed to a historic 160-run defeat at the hands of Combined Campuses and Colleges. Chasing CCC’s 240, Leeward Islands could only muster 80 in reply, their lowest total in the West Indies 50-over regional tournament. CCC claimed a bonus point for bowling Leeward Islands out for less than 180. The previous low in List A cricket for Leeward Islands was 94 against Trinidad & Tobago in 2011 and the new mark could have been much worse had they not conjured a 44-run last wicket stand after they were reduced to 36 for 9 by an incisive spell of fast bowling from Kyle Mayers. The 21-year-old took Man-ofthe-Match honours with 4 for 15 in 8.4 overs, bowling unchanged from the start of the second innings. The only thing standing in the way of a five-wicket haul for him was cramp, which forced him to leave the field before he could finish his full quota of overs. The only player in the top nine who made double digits for Leeward Islands was opener Montcin Hodge with 10. Lionel Baker top scored with 31 not out, the highest score for a Leeward Islands No. 10 batsman in List A cricket. CCC laid the foundation for victory by grafting out 240 in 49.5 overs, a score which CCC coach Curtly
Ambrose felt was “25 or 30 runs short” at the innings break but proved to be more than enough. Chadwick Walton and Anthony Alleyne engineered a 57-run stand for the first wicket before Walton was run-out when Alleyne turned down a run after Walton nudged to square leg. Alleyne added 50 more for the third wicket with Raymond Reifer and eventually top-scored with 54. His innings ended after a top-edged pull to midwicket off Mali Richards was taken courtesy of a tumbling catch by Rahkeem Cornwall. CCC reached 220
for 5 with 20 balls remaining in the innings but a flurry of wickets fell at the end. Anthony Martin had three men caught on the boundary to give him figures of 3 for 33 while Gavin Tonge, who took two of Martin’s three catches, claimed two wickets in the final over to finish with 3 for 43. On the whole though, Leeward Islands’ ground fielding was poor, leaking several boundaries through the legs of fielders as well as contributing five runs on overthrows. Yet by the end of the day, the poor fielding paled in comparison to their limp batting performance.
(Cricinfo)
SCOREBOARD Combined Campuses and Colleges innings (50 overs maximum) CAK Walton† run out (Powell/ †Thomas) 30 AT Alleyne c Cornwall b Richards 54 KAM Corbin lbw b Athanaze 29 RA Reifer c Athanaze b Tonge 29 SA Jacobs* c Tonge b Baker 10 FL Reifer c Tonge b Martin 26 SE Thomas c Tonge b Martin 35 KR Mayers c Athanaze b Martin 1 AMA Dewar b Tonge 5 KAR Hodge not out 3 KOK Williams c †Thomas b Tonge 1 Extras: (lb 7, w 10) 17 Total: (all out; 49.5 overs) 240 Fall of wickets: 1-57 (Walton, 10.1 ov), 2-102 (Corbin, 23.2 ov), 3-152 (Alleyne, 34.3 ov), 4-157 (RA Reifer, 36.3 ov), 5-166 (Jacobs, 39.2 ov), 6-220 (FL Reifer, 46.5 ov), 7-231 (Mayers, 48.2 ov), 8-231 (Thomas, 48.3 ov), 9-238 (Dewar, 49.2 ov), 10-240 (Williams, 49.5 ov) Bowling: LS Baker 10-0-601, GC Tonge 6.5-0-43-3, JJ Athanaze 10-1-36-1, A Martin 10-2-33-3, MA Richards 8-039-1, RRS Cornwall 5-0-22-0
Leeward Islands innings (target: 241 runs from 50 overs) KOA Powell* c †Walton b Williams 0 MV Hodge c Thomas b RA Reifer 10 MA Richards run out (Thomas) 0 SC Joseph lbw b Mayers 0 DC Thomas† c Dewar b Mayers 4 JN Hamilton c †Walton b RA Reifer 0 RRS Cornwall b Mayers 5 JJ Athanaze c †Walton b Mayers 0 GC Tonge c †Walton b RA Reifer 2 LS Baker not out 31 A Martin c RA Reifer b Hodge 16 Extras: (lb 2, w 10) 12 Total: (all out; 24.5 overs) 80 Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Powell, 0.1 ov), 2-9 (Richards, 4.6 ov), 3-10 (Joseph, 7.4 ov), 4-20 (Thomas, 11.6 ov), 5-21 (Hodge, 12.5 ov), 6-26 (Cornwall, 13.4 ov), 7-26 (Hamilton, 14.2 ov), 8-28 (Athanaze, 15.3 ov), 9-36 (Tonge, 18.5 ov), 10-80 (Martin, 24.5 ov) Bowling: KOK Williams 7-2-291, KR Mayers 8.4-1-15-4, RA Reifer 6-0-15-3, KAR Hodge 1.10-6-1, AMA Dewar 2-0-13-0
Great Britain keeps hopes alive in Davis Cup
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reat Britain will have to get the point they require in Sunday’s singles after the USA kept their Davis Cup World Group hopes alive in the doubles. Bob and Mike Bryan beat Colin Fleming and Dom Inglot 6-2 6-3 3-6 6-1 on the San Diego clay to leave Britain 2-1 in front going into the final day. Wimbledon champion Andy Murray was rested from the doubles ahead of taking on Sam Querrey on Sunday. Britain have not beaten the USA in the Davis Cup since 1935. The prospects of ending that barren run remain good, with Murray a strong favourite against world number 45 Querrey, who suffered a shattering five-set defeat by James Ward on Friday. Should Querrey cause a major upset, team-mate Donald Young will go up
against Ward in a decisive fifth rubber. Great Britain’s Davis Cup captain Leon Smith is confident they can secure the one victory needed. “To go into the final day 2-1 up is certainly a great position to be in,” he told BBC Sport. “It puts us in the driving seat with two rubbers to go and a great chance in both of those to get a win.” Britain’s hopes of securing an unassailable 3-0 lead in the doubles ended with a convincing defeat by the Bryans, the world number one pairing. Captain Smith chose to draft in Inglot for his Davis Cup debut, and the British doubles number one made a nervous start with two double faults and a smash in the net as he dropped serve straight away. The first set finished in similar style as Fleming double-faulted on
set point, and one break was enough for the Americans to take the second set and seemingly close in on victory. There was still plenty of fight in the British pair, however, and they finally got a break of serve in the third set after some heavy Inglot forehands and a Fleming backhand return took them 4-2 in front. But Bob and Mike Bryan had lost their past two Davis Cup rubbers and were clearly keen to avoid a hattrick of defeats, breaking at the start of the fourth and racing through the set in just 15 minutes. “I thought we played a great match against two top players,” said Mike Bryan. “I think it was Inglot’s first Davis Cup match and he brought it. They started playing great in the third set. “I’m really happy to win this and give our team a chance.” (BBC Sport)
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Australia whitewash England in T20 series
The glum look on the faces of the English players tells the story
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ngland’s tour of Australia finished in yet another abject defeat as Australia sealed a 3-0 Twenty20 series whitewash with a crushing 84-run win in Sydney. Australia skipper George Bailey smashed three sixes in his 49 off 20 balls, taking 26 off the final over from Jade Dernbach as his team posted 195-6. Eoin Morgan hit two sixes in his 34 but the next highest was 14 as England were all out for 111 in the 18th over. Their tour record against Australia finished: played 13, lost 12, won one. There have been many dismal moments for England down under but on day 104 there were new depths to descend to, with certainly no British medal-winning performances at the well-populated Olympic Stadium, staging an international for only the third time. As has so often been the case, it was not disastrous throughout, with only 24 coming in the first four overs from Stuart Broad and T20 debutant Chris Jordan after Bailey chose to bat. But Aaron Finch was dropped on eight by Jordan off Tim Bresnan and swiftly swished three sixes, Ben Stokes conceding 23 from his opening two overs in his first appearance of the series. Ben Cutting, in only his third T20 international, demonstrated that he was another Australia batsman capable of authentic, powerful strokeplay to all parts of the ground and Stokes was dispatched for two more sixes when he returned for a third over. What a complete mockery this is. I feel sorry for the fans, as everyone wanted to see some competitive cricket. England are in disarray. Should they put this tour to the back of their minds, or break down exactly what went wrong? Joe Root, the only spin option, ended a partnership of 53 in five overs with
a superb one handed return catch to dismiss Cutting for 29. Jordan had Cameron White caught down the legside in the following over, and in the next, Broad struck twice, including the wicket of Twenty20 cricket’s highest run-scorer Brad Hodge, the 39-year-old topedging to fine-leg. But Wade was dropped by Ravi Bopara on four and he proceeded to add 56 from the final four overs with Bailey. It was the astute captain who caused the most disruption, however, destroying Dernbach with some inspired, inventive hitting. The much-maligned seamer’s first three overs in the middle of the innings had gone for a respectable 23 runs but Bailey picked all of his variations and found the gaps in the field. Piercing the field was not always necessary, a slower ball bouncer swotted in tennis forearm fashion over long-off and the next ball launched over long-on to take the total number of maximums to 13 in the in-
nings, and Dernbach’s figures for the series to 1-141 from 11 overs. In contrast, England’s batsmen managed to find the fielders with unerring regularity, losing 3-14 in 14 deliveries to leave Morgan with a requirement of 171 from 15 overs when he came to the crease at number five. The left-hander played an impish flicked sweep off the medium pace of Dan Christian to bring up the 50 in the eighth over, but wickets continued to fall and in the 13th over he was the sixth man to depart when Mitchell Starc took a fine low catch rushing in from deep mid-wicket. Bopara’s dismissal rather summed things up, a huge swipe thudding into his pad and the ball trickling into the stumps to remove one bail, and perhaps inevitably the tour finished with a farcical run out after a mid-pitch mix-up. Had the international matches been played under the points system used in the Women’s Ashes, Australia’s winning margin would have been 44-2. (BBC Sport)
SCOREBOARD Australia innings (20 overs maximum) CL White c †Buttler b Jordan 41 AJ Finch c Broad b Bresnan 30 GJ Maxwell c Hales b Broad 14 BCJ Cutting c & b Root 29 GJ Bailey* not out 49 BJ Hodge c Dernbach b Broad 7 DT Christian b Broad 0 MS Wade† not out 19 Extras (lb 2, w 4) 6 Total (6 wickets; 20 overs) 195 Did not bat MA Starc, NM Coulter-Nile, JM Muirhead Fall of wickets 1-48 (Finch, 6.4 ov), 2-65 (Maxwell, 8.2 ov), 3-118 (Cutting, 13.2 ov), 4-130 (White, 14.1 ov), 5-139 (Hodge, 15.4 ov), 6-139 (Christian, 15.6 ov) Bowling: SCJ Broad 4-0-303, CJ Jordan 4-0-23-1, TT Bresnan 4-0-42-1, BA Stokes 3-0-36-0, JW Dernbach 4-049-0, JE Root 1-0-13-1 England innings (target: 196 runs from 20 overs) LJ Wright c Cutting b Starc
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AD Hales c Muirhead b Coulter-Nile 6 BA Stokes c Cutting b Maxwell 5 JE Root c Cutting b Maxwell 11 EJG Morgan c Starc b Cutting 34 JC Buttler† c Maxwell b Christian 8 RS Bopara b Coulter-Nile 4 TT Bresnan st †Wade b Muirhead 14 CJ Jordan not out 10 SCJ Broad* b Muirhead 2 JW Dernbach run out (Christian/†Wade) 1 Extras (b 2, lb 4, w 2) 8 Total (all out; 17.2 overs) 111 Fall of wickets 1-11 (Wright, 2.5 ov), 2-19 (Hales, 3.3 ov), 3-25 (Stokes, 4.6 ov), 4-60 (Root, 8.6 ov), 5-79 (Buttler, 11.6 ov), 6-82 (Morgan, 12.4 ov), 7-92 (Bopara, 13.5 ov), 8-98 (Bresnan, 14.3 ov), 9-104 (Broad, 16.1 ov), 10-111 (Dernbach, 17.2 ov) Bowling: MA Starc 2.2-0-8-1, NM Coulter-Nile 4-0-21-2, GJ Maxwell, 4-0-31-2, BCJ Cutting, 3-0-18-1, DT Christian, 2-014-1, JM Muirhead 2-0-13-2