Lanky left-arm spinner Suleiman Benn proved too wily for BDFSP batsmen and bowled Super Centre Spartan to an unlikely come-from-behind victory by six wickets on the final day of their second-round Elite Division match yesterday.
Barbados’ premier spin bowler devastated the youthful BDFSP line-up with a stupendous haul of eight for 18. He sent them tumbling to 107 all out after they resumed their second innings on 28 for no loss, a lead of 38.
Paced by a 77-run third-wicket partnership between Shamarh Brooks (36) and Maradon Bend (46), the home team easily knocked off the 118 runs required for the outright win with 2.3 of the mandatory 15 overs in the final hour still available, losing four wickets in the process.
Medium-pacer Andre Gill made the first strike for the Parkites on the final day when he had BDFSP captain Athelbert Brathwaite (22) well held by Rashidi Boucher in the slips, with five runs added to the overnight score.
Benn took care of the other half of the opening pair – Kareem Currency (29), caught off the glove by Brooks – and proceeded to grab the next five wickets in a spell of 15 consecutive overs that yielded 16 runs before withdrawing from the attack early in the final session.
Jamar Layne and Miguel Cummins held up the hosts’ advance in a 25-run alliance that lasted until Benn returned to send both of them back to the pavilion within one run of each other.
Brooks and Bend came together after openers Rashidi Boucher and Akeem Springer perished while chasing quick runs. And with the latter carrying the attack to the bowlers and the former playing a holding role, they dashed any hopes the “recruits” might have held of engineering a middle-order collapse.
Bend lashed three fours and two delightful sixes, both clearing the long-off boundary, making his runs a better than a-run-a-ball in 51 minutes of batting.
