Easy Bake St Leonard’s fought valiantly, but in the end it was Nicholl’s Baking Combermere who were crowned the LIME Under-15 cricket champions yesterday.
Chasing 49 for victory in a rain-affected final, Combermere ended on 28 for five to capture the title by virtue of gaining first innings lead.
The result was sweet revenge for Combermere, who lost to St Leonard’s in last year’s final, while also helping to erase the bitter memories of losses to Foundation in both the Barbados Cricket Association’s Under-19 Schools Competition and the Sir Garfield Sobers Invitational Schools Tournament recently.
Ironically, it was St Leonard’s who had benefited from inclement weather in the 2011 final, having also captured the title on first innings points after the rain had forced abandonment of the game on the third and final day.
This time around, Combermere were the beneficiaries, with four hours of play lost due to heavy morning rains, which left the outfield and the pitch at the LIME Sports Club unfit for play.
But when play finally got underway at 3:25 p.m., the boys from Waterford found themselves in early trouble.
St Leonard’s opening fast bowler Chemar Holder accounted for the prize wickets of Leniko Boucher and first innings top scorer and Player Of The Match Shamar Springer, along with Deshaun Sylvain, to leave Combermere tottering on 17 for three with 42 minutes still left before the 5 p.m. cut-off time.
However, the pair of Shian Brathwaite and Thaddeus Chase, despite adding only three runs, frustrated their opponents for almost half an hour to virtually see their side to safety.
And by the time both Chase and Brathwaite were unfortunate run out victims, Combermere’s victory had already been secured.
Michael “Abu” Worrell, stand-in coach of the victorious side with Roddy Estwick on West Indies Under-19 duties in Australia, expressed his delight at having dethroned the defending champions, noting that in a way it was deja vu.
“It feels great, especially having lost last year’s finals after the rain had stopped play with the boys chasing a total they thought they could have gotten.
“I’m really happy for the guys. During the season we had four captains because some of our guys went away on national duty and then we had players who got sick and injured.
“In the end they all stuck together; and each and every one of them contributed in some form or fashion,” an elated Worrell told NATIONSPORT.
Meanwhile coach of St Leonard’s, Michael Franklyn, blamed his side’s poor batting display for the loss of the title.
“I’m obviously very disappointed because we didn’t bat well at all in either innings. We came into this final with the batting and bowling to do the job, and we just didn’t execute in the batting department.
“We can’t take anything away from Combermere, though. They played the better cricket and they deserve to be champions.”
