Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
JAMAICA--Leeward Islands cricket coach Ridley Jacobs reported a bizarre situation in which the match ball was misplaced by the umpires during the tea interval when Jamaica Franchise took on the Leeward Islands Hurricanes in the West Indies Cricket Board Professional Cricket League 4-day match in Jamaica over the weekend.
The umpires were Jamaican Christopher Taylor and Trinidad and Tobago Danesh Ramdhanie.
A disappointed Jacobs explained, "The ball that we were bowling with was 16-overs and the ball they came back out with was 34-overs – that's a big difference. The ball we had been doing a lot and the other one they gave us didn't do anything, and that's the reason we lost the game."
The Jamaicans were indeed stuttering at 42 for three at tea, but recovered to 160 for four from the tea interval to the close of play. They were chasing 195 for an outright win.
After the day's play, the umpires acknowledged that the ball was misplaced, but only recovered the lost ball after they came off the field. Jacobs plans to lodge an official complaint with the West Indies Cricket Board.
The scores in the match were Leeward Islands 103 and 313, Jamaica 222 and 195 for six. The highlight of the match for the Leeward Islands was debutant Rahkeem Cornwall who smashed 95 in the second innings. The burly 21-year-old Antiguan clobbered six sixes and seven fours in an innings which he faced 94 balls. Cornwall smashed a massive six to move from 89 to 95, but then top edged a slog-sweep on the next ball for the wicketkeeper to take a simple catch after he tried to repeat the shot to get to his first three-figure score at the first-class level.
Leg spinner Colin Hamer from St. Maarten, who bowled only three overs in the first innings, grabbed two for 30 in nine overs on the final day of the match.
Antiguan medium pacers Gavin Tonge with four wickets and Orlando Peters with three wickets had the host wobbling at 87 for seven in their first innings until Nikita Miller 62 and Davion Jacobs 41 batted the team out of danger with a 100-run partnership. The two bowlers ended the innings with five and four wickets, respectively.
The results of the other matches showed Guyana defeating Trinidad and Tobago by an innings and 60 runs ,and Barbados inflicting an 11-run come-from-behind win over the Windward Islands.
The points' table reads Guyana Jaguar on 57, Jamaica Franchise on 50, Barbados Pride on 44, Windward Islands Volcanoes on 26, Trinidad and Tobago Red Steels on 24 and the Leeward Islands on 10 points.
All the teams will take a break from the 4-day format and bowl-off the new year with the NAGICO Super50 tournament from January 15, in Trinidad and Tobago.
