LIME WILL be back among the big boys next year.
The Wildey, St Michael, side earned promotion to the Barbados Cricket Association’s LIME Elite Division after clinching the Division 1 title on the final day of the competition yesterday.
A comfortable victory by an innings and three runs against Guardian General Barbados Youth on the third day of their ninth-round match at Wildey lifted them to 136 points – seven more than YMPC, in second place.
LIME, demoted from the top division last season after finishing among the bottom three, took just one season to return to the highest level of local cricket and the achievement is a source of satisfaction for captain Randy Thomas.
“We set out from the beginning of the season to win this division and we came out on top with some good performances,” he told NATIONSPORT.
Thomas praised the effort of off-spinning all-rounder Ashley Nurse, who scored more than 500 runs and captured 66 wickets, but lauded the performance of the entire squad.
“There was a lot of team work and commitment. When Ashley didn’t do much, there were other guys who stepped up to the plate and did what was required,” said the skipper.
“This division was not as hard as the Elite Division but it was very competitive. We had some tough games against the former Division 1 teams like Wanderers and YMPC. Even MTW impressed us.
“Now that we are back at the top, we want to stay there. We want to win games and challenge for the title.
“Last year we made the mistake of going into the competition just trying to avoid demotion.”
It was a close battle for the title ahead of the start of the final round.
LIME, who completed the season with six wins, two defeats and a draw, entered the last series on 116 points with Wanderers (110), Banks (110) and YMPC (109) also in contention to return to the top division.
While there were also wins for YMPC and Banks over Nature Valley Lodge and Yorkshire respectively, LIME earned a maximum 20 points against Barbados Youth to emerge comfortable winners. (HG)