Tino To Rescue – Again -

Saturday 31, January-2004

Barbados ’keeper Courtney Browne stretches high to his right to haul in this catch from Jason Haynes off Best.

Front-runners Barbados again had to depend on Tino Best to pull them out of a hole, this time against West Indies “B” in their fourth-round Carib Beer Series match at 3Ws Oval .

Down to 170 for nine, Barbados again benefited from purposeful lower-order batting from Best, who hit two fours and two sixes in 36 not out as the side rallied to 217. Best then grabbed a late wicket as Windies “B” reached 30 for two at the close.

Compliments of the Nation News

Saturday 31, January-2004 by Haydn Gill

AT 3WS OVAL, Cave Hill – The “A” class performance came from the “B” team yesterday – for most of it any way.

West Indies “B”, the surprise package of the 2004 Carib Beer Series, continued their impressive run by outplaying the reigning double-crown champions and early front-runners for the vast majority of the opening day of their fourth-round top-of-the-table clash.

As “students” of the game, it was fitting that they chose the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies to win the early exchanges at the uniquely scenic ground that was hosting its first regional first-class match.

After Courtney Browne lost the toss for the first time this season, his batsmen were undone by a combination of a few loose strokes, outstanding catching, the varied off-spin of someone who was one of their own in recent times and a two-paced pitch that wasn’t altogether perfect.

By the time the struggling Sherwin Campbell fell to the third ball of the match to when Sulieman Benn skied a return catch 50 minutes into the evening session, the West Indies “B”, a team of Under-23 players who are unable to make their territorial teams, held control by restricting Barbados to 170 for nine.

The only time the hosts appeared to have a measure of their opponents was when Browne and Floyd Reifer were trying to repair the damage of 56 for four and towards the end when fast bowler-cum-batsman Tino Best effectively used the long handle in another useful lower order contribution.

Caribbean Cricket

Sporting islands

Best belted two sixes in an unbeaten 36 and his last-wicket partnership of 47 with Pedro Collins allowed Barbados to reach the respectability of 217, a total which they have started to defend by removing the West Indies “B’s” openers with 30 runs on the tins.

The final position at the end of the day probably does not reflect the way the West Indies “B” performed, but Barbados fought back, much the way they did in their third-round match against Jamaica in Kingston last weekend.

West Indies “B” two fast bowlers, Dwight Washington and Jason Bennett, struck the early blows, but Barbados’ major troubles were caused when off-spinner Ryan Austin removed the heart of the middle order.

Unable to break into the Barbados team during the past two seasons after a promising debut in 2000, Austin was belatedly drafted into the West Indies “B” squad after two matches this year.

Yesterday, he bowled flatter than he is accustomed to doing, but whenever he flighted the ball, he was a danger until Best lifted him for sixes over long-on and cow-corner that threatened a passer-by heading out of the campus.

His first strike came 15 minutes before lunch, when Shawn Graham, who had just come in, casually turned a catch to mid-wicket where Danza Hyatt tumbled forward to clutch the ball inches off the ground.

Ten minutes earlier, Hyatt was also bringing off another smart catch on the opposite side of the wicket at cover that accounted for Ryan Hinds, to end yet another of his promising starts that he failed to convert into a significant score.

When Reifer and Browne were trying to stage a fightback, Austin broke the stand by having Browne caught at point from a drive that sliced off the outer portion of the bat.

Austin’s third wicket came when the solid Antonio Mayers gifted his wicket with a catch to long-on that was well taken by Jason Bennett running around on the boundary.

Austin wheeled away from the Holding and Roberts end for 28 successive overs in which he conceded 87 runs, but he came in for some stick towards the end when he encountered Best.

The consistent Reifer watched a fair deal of Barbados’ collapse from the non-striker’s end in the three hours he was in. His measured 44 off 121 balls was Barbados’ top-score but the left-hander seemed dissatisfied with the lbw verdict given against him.

Barbados’ problems started long before most of the 1 500 spectators had made their way into the ground.

Poor Campbell must be wondering where his next run is coming from. After a third ball duck in his last innings when he was the victim of a dubious slip catch, he lasted no longer this time before he probably felt he was again hard done with a lbw decision. Washington, a tall fast bowler, pinned him on the back foot, but Campbell might have felt the ball was beating leg stump. Barbados did not help their cause when Martin Nurse was run out when he set off for a single that was never there after Hinds played a ball to mid-off. Hinds was once more in control of things, hitting almost everything from the middle of the bat for 29 untroubled runs. Just before he fell, Bennett tested him with a rising delivery and one wonders if that unsettled him and induced him into giving a catch to cover with his airy drive.

Compliments of the Nation News

BARBADOS