Windward islands are the monarchs of regional 50-over cricket.
They secured the Super50 title Sunday night on the strength of a disciplined bowling performance backed up by a century opening stand between Devon Smith and Johnson Charles to beat Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) by nine wickets at Kensington Oval.
Set a revised target of 134 off 29 overs under the Duckworth/Lewis system, Windwards cruised to 134 for one off 22.2 overs.
CCC had earlier posted a modest 174 off 49.2 overs amidst two brief rain stoppages. Persistent showers at the completion of the CCC innings caused a lengthy delay prompting the revised target when the Windwards started their reply at 9 p.m.
Smith and left-arm pacer Kenroy Peters shared the Man-Of-The-Match Award, the former for his unbeaten half-century and the latter for incisive bowling that earned him four for 42 from ten overs.
Smith continued his excellent form, hitting an unbeaten 67, sharing an opening stand with Charles that produced 100 runs before Charles drove a simple catch to Kyle Corbin at cover from the bowling of pacer Kesrick Williams.
Charles struck a six and six fours in scoring a fluent 46 off 45 balls. Arguably his most authoritative stroke was a six over long on off off-spinner Ryan Austin.
He was hardly more than a spectator to the awesome strokeplay of Smith within the first four overs when the Windwards raced to 34 without loss but he opened up in an over in which he took 12 runs from the off spin of Nekoli Parris.
Smith pounced on the CCC bowlers from the start, taking 13 off the first over by Williams who had been so brilliant in the semi-final. When left-arm pacer Ramon Reifer replaced him, Smith hooked him over long-leg for six.
Smith’s unbeaten half-century, laced with two sixes and six fours, came off 70 balls. Tyrone Theophile was not out on 17 when victory was achieved at 10:43 p.m. on a cool night.
Earlier, CCC struggled after being invited to bat in overcast conditions. They quickly slumped to 21 for three – all to Peters.
Anthony Alleyne, the batting hero of the semi-finals with a match-winning innings of 99 that helped CCC whip Trinidad and Tobago by 140 runs, was dismissed in the second over, caught at the wicket by Charles for one.
Chadwick Walton was caught in the gully by Keddy Lesporis for 13 and Reifer, having laboured 15 balls over three runs, gave wicketkeeper Charles his second catch.
When player/coach Floyd Reifer was run out looking for a sharp single, the innings was in disarray at 31 for four halfway through the 11th over.
CCC captain Kyle Corbin responded to the crisis with a counter-attacking innings of 46 off 54 balls, including two sixes and five fours. He eventually lifted a catch to Dalton Polius on the long-on boundary leaving Nekoli Parris, (34 – 79 balls, 1×4) and Shacaya Thomas (25 – 51 balls) to continue the rescue operation.
Kevin McClean (19 – 27 balls, 1×6, 1×4) and Austin (13 not out, 26 balls, 2×4), added 45 for the last wicket in just under eight overs.
Off-spinner Shane Shilingford took three for 29 from his ten overs.
