St John’s – Opener Christian Lall hit a stroke-filled half-century to follow up another clinical bowling performance led by Brendon Boodoo and Yasir Deen, and Trinidad & Tobago swept to their 10th West Indies Rising Stars Under-15 Championship title with a six-wicket win against Leeward Islands on Wednesday in Antigua.
The result meant that T&T played throughout the tournament unbeaten, finishing with 23.8 points, and they add to their previous titles in the inaugural season of 1996, three straight from 2000 to 2002, as well as 2005, 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2019.
On the final day of matches, a tidy bowling performance enabled Guyana to romp to their second successive win when they condemned last year’s champions Barbados to a seven-wicket defeat in a low-scoring contest to finish second with 15 points, and a solid all-round performance from their captain Theo Edwards enabled Windward Islands to beat Jamaica by four wickets to come third with 13.8 points.
Left-arm spinner Arun Gainda, his captain Dave Mohabir, and new ball bowler Jonathan Mentore captured three wickets apiece to set up the Guyanese for an emphatic win over the Barbadians.
Choosing to bat, Barbados were bowled out for 69 in 20.5 overs with opener Oliver Gooding leading the way with 23, but no other getting past 10.
Spinner Akobi Crichlow-Byer grabbed two wickets to add a bit of drama to the chase, but the Guyanese crossed the finish line with 162 balls remaining, and send the Barbadians sliding to a deflating fourth loss in the tournament, and fifth place with 7.2 points.
Earsinho Fontaine of Windwards was the most prolific batsman in the tournament with 197 runs at an average of 49.25, and Deen was the most successful bowler with 14 wickets at 7.07 apiece. (CMC)
