Six decades of futility came to a fruitful end yesterday with TeleBarbados Carlton winning the Barbados Cricket Association’s (BCA) Second Division Championship for the first time since the 1950s.
The Black Rock-based side won the title by admirably defending their first innings total of 110 for three in 17 overs by restricting Sheffield to 103 for six in their allotted 17 overs to gain a decisive seven-run first innings lead in the rain-ruined final at Pine Basin.
Batting a second time, Carlton reached 65 for three at tea before a steady shower during the interval, cancelled resumption, with the umpires officially calling off play at 3:52 p.m. and handing Carlton the crown by virtue of first innings lead in the drawn match.
With no play on the scheduled opening day last week and Saturday’s second day starting two hours late, the three-day match was virtually reduced to a first innings affair.
Resuming on the final day on 65 for four, needing 46 more runs from seven overs to overtake Carlton’s total, Sheffield, while gathering singles and twos, failed to hit a boundary in those overs.
Allrounder Kevin Springer tried valiantly to get the runs, picking up some nine twos as he scored 28 runs off 26 balls.
His dismissal in the penultimate over of his team’s innings, miscuing a pull off medium pacer Rudy Mayers to be caught in the covers, was crucial as Carlton’s captain Roger Moore took on the responsibility of bowling the last over with ten runs needed and conceded just two to leave Sheffield short of their target.
“I am elated. This is the first time since 1952 or 1953 that Carlton won a Second Division cup. From the beginning of the season, we felt that we had a good enough side to win and we set out to reach the final and the rest is history,” Moore, who is also club president told NATIONSPORT. Â
“We have a very good unit of allround players.
It is a balanced team. We didn’t have any one outstanding individual who stood out. Everybody played a part and it was a good allround performance,” Moore noted.
Whereas Springer was scoring freely, Sheffield’s young wicketkeeper Dario Selman, the other overnight batsman, struggled to get the ball away, managing just seven runs off 22 deliveries even though he added 36 runs with Springer for the fifth wicket.
Springer had kept Sheffield on course as seven runs came from the day’s first over by spinner Terry Carrington.
Donovan Lovell conceded nine from the next but Moore brought himself on to trundle his off spin with 30 needed from a similar number of deliveries. The former Division player was very frugal conceding only 10 runs from his three overs, stalling Sheffield’s progress as they had been pacing themselves fairly well.
The Lower Estate, St George team had brought the equation down to 21 from three; 16 from two and 10 off the last over from Moore who had Leandro Walker caught well inside the long on boundary by Keilu Jackman.
With their slender lead and Sheffield seemingly resigned to being losing finalists, Carlton lost opener Rudolph Prescod for five and his partner Lovell, who drove the first ball of the second innings to the long off boundary for 16.
Julian Boyce followed for 11 but Carlton were never in danger of being bowled out before rain, which marred the contest, had the final say.
