Agony at ARG
The Final result might not have had anything to do with it
Haydn Gill
31-Oct-1999
The Final result might not have had anything to do with
it. But, from the moment Barbados chose to bat first on winning
the toss in their Red Stripe Bowl opener against the Leeward
Islands yesterday, there was some debate at the Antigua
Recreation Ground (ARG).
That they managed only 120 had little to do with the surface,
and they duly lost the match by four wickets in spite of a
splendid effort in defending their paltry total.
There was tight, containing bowling by Barbados throughout and
the hosts arrived at their target in the 43rd of the 46 overs
available.
Prior to the start, which was delayed by 45 minutes to allow
the groundstaff to finally complete the raking up of an
enormous amount of grass, the general feeling was that the
pitch would be unpredictable.
When asked at the time why Barbados opted to bat first, coach
William Bourne said the Duckworth/Lewis system in rain-affected
matches tended to put the team batting second at a
disadvantage.
There is some uncertainty about the weather, he said at a
time when the skies were clear and the forecast was favourable.
That was a key factor, and sometimes we seem to get problems
batting second. We feel that once we ride out the first hour,
we should get a good score,Bourne said.
Barbados did survive the first hour against a Leeward Islands
attack without Curtly Ambrose and Kenny Benjamin.
The damage, however, was principally inflicted by two players
in only their second season of regional cricket.
Afterwards, Bourne cited the disappointing collapse in which
Barbados lost their last seven wickets for 25 runs as the main
reason for their demise.
We had some bad strokes. The batting was a letdown, he said.
The pitch was slow. There was nothing untoward or
extraordinary about it.
One ball bounced badly in both innings, but we batted badly.
The defeat means that Barbados must win against Canada today
and Trinidad and Tobago tomorrow to stand a chance of reaching
the semifinals.
The collapse could not have been predicted when captain Philo
Wallace and Adrian Griffith were finding the boundary with
regularity in a second-wicket stand of 53.
Having analysed the pitch, the pair played with some authority
after Sherwin Campbell was out to his first ball, gloving a
lifting delivery from debutant fast bowler Goldwyn Prince.
Big and strong, Prince bowled with enthusiasm before Wallace
smacked him for four boundaries through the on-side.
Barbados reached their first 50 in 13 overs before losing
momentum with the introduction of Hamesh Anthony and Anthony
Lake.
Anthony struck an important blow in his first over when
Wallaces attempted cut resulted in an edged catch to
wicket-keeper Ridley Jacobs, who hauled in five dismissals.
Once the captain was out, only 22 runs were scored in the next
11 overs that followed from medium-pacer Anthony and
off-spinner Lake.
Lake, a 25-year-old Antiguan who created a favourable
impression in his debut season last year, hardly delivered a
bad ball in ten successive overs that cost him a mere 16 runs
and included the scalps of the left-handers Griffith and Ryan
Hinds.
Griffiths knock ended in disappointing fashion at 31 with an
ill-advised cross-batted stroke, but Barbados woes started
with a double-strike from the unlikeliest of bowlers.
When Wildern Cornwall came on to bowl his bustling medium-pace
after 27 overs with the total on 80 for three, Barbados would
have been looking to increase the tempo.
Instead, they had to try to recover from the quick dismissals
of Floyd Reifer, who edged a catch to Jacobs, and Roland
Holder, a lbw victim on the back foot two balls after the
dismissal of his partner.
Barbados never overcame these setbacks and a seemingly lengthy
batting order - Antonio Mayers went in at No. 8 - could not
raise at least another 30 runs that would have made the match
far more competitive.
Barbados did well to prevent the Leewards from romping home,
but the final result was always on the cards once the
experienced Keith Arthurton and Jacobs added 35 for the fifth
wicket after their team were tottering at 48 for four.
Jacobs hit 31 off 67 balls and Arthurton made 25.