CHIMNEYS are not part of the Barbadian skyline, but cricket pitches are very much a part of the landscape. So jolly ol’ Santa Claus improvised yesterday, and brought his sleigh in to land right in the middle of the Empire Club outfield to deliver a special gift to St Christopher Primary almost two weeks ahead of Christmas Day.
The primary school, the bedrock of the southern seaside community, were crowned champions of the Guardian General Herman Griffith Primary Schools’ Championship for the third time. It followed a nine-wicket victory over Luther Thorne Memorial in one of the most lopsided finals in the history of the competition.
“This victory will probably inspire more boys at the school to play cricket now,” said an exuberant St Christopher physical education teacher Ancille Inniss.“We will lose this entire team next year, so our job to rebuild the programme starts immediately. ”St Christopher, the alma mater of West Indies fast bowling legend Joel Garner, promptly choseto field, and would have made the “Big Bird” proud when they dismissed Luther Thorne for a modest 59 in 23.1 overs.
Dario Knights was the most successful St Christopher bowler with three wickets for three runs from four overs. Naimar Jones and Ondre Callender supported with the equally flattering figures of two for 10.
Had St Christopher not been so generous with 33 extras, including the 24 wides they conceded, it could have been a worse tale for Luther Thorne, with not a single batsman reaching 10, and three of them run out.
“It’s the first final for a lot of our boys, and coming into such a big match and losing two of your main batsmen so early, it was difficult, and we never really recovered from there,” said Luther Thorne coach Jason Haynes, the Empire and Barbados opening batsman.St Christopher’s victory was like a stroll through Queen’s Park on Christmas morning, reaching their target with 94 balls to spare, only losing opener Khadio Gittens by the run-out route.
Kadeem Alleyne, later voted the Most Valuable Player Of The Series, formalised the result, when he drove a delivery from Lijani Cherry to mid-off, and scampered a single on a misfield by Amari Goodridge. The field was invaded by his flag-waving teammates, parents, and several supporters from the community.
The result meant that St Christopher had played unbeaten throughout the tournament, ending with an impeccable 11-0 record. Their two previous titles were in 1981 and 1984.
Callender stunned Luther Thorne when he removed their two best batsmen in the opening over of the match. The first ball of the match from Callender was an unerring, full-length delivery, and Joshua Corbin played back and across, and lost his off-stump. Four balls later, Callender produced another well-directed, well-pitched delivery that undid Ajani Waterman, the Luther Thorne captain, and he too was bowled to leave his side on one run for two wickets.
The inability of the young St Christopher bowlers to control the ball was to benefit Luther Thorne hugely, and they crept to 30 for two in the tenth over, when the drama started to unfold. Mason Jones’ throw from short third man to wicketkeeper Gittens found Cherry well short of his ground, and he was run out for the top score of six.
St Christopher continued to apply the pressure, and the wickets continued to tumble at regular intervals.
St Christopher started their run-chase steadily, but after Gittens was run out for seven, Alleyne, whose record this season has included two solid hundreds, joined Mason Jones at the crease, and they navigated “Santa” to his parking spot with an unbroken stand of 43 for the second wicket.
An on-drive for one of his two fours, and a swing over midwicket for six from Alleyne were strokes of a real class act, and brought the oohs and the aahs from the adoring crowd that lined right around the famous, tiny ground, which has gifted this island with some of the game’s finest – and may have again, yesterday.
