For the second time in recent days a junior Barbados cricket team has been crowned regional champions. The Barbados men’s Under-19 team won the West Indies Rising Stars 50 over tournament on Thursday when they defeated USA at Conaree in St Kitts. This comes less than a week after the Barbados Women’s Under 19s won the West Indies Women’s Rising Stars 35 over tournament at the Diego Martin Complex in Trinidad.
Barbados were led by brilliant batting from captain Joshua Dorne as they had an easy win by six wickets over USA in the final. The tall right-hander made 55 not out off 82 balls with seven boundaries. This helped the Bajans to the target of 215-4 off 38.2 overs. Earlier in the day Dorne took two wickets as Barbados bowled out USA for 212 off 18.2 overs.
Earlier, Jakeem Pollard was the best bowler with three wickets – he took one with the new ball which set back the Americans and returned at the end to take two more to end with impressive figures of 3-42 off 8.2 overs. He was well supported by Zachary Carter who took 3-46 from his 10 overs.
“The captain played really well today and led from the front. This was a very good showing from him and the other players all played a role. This was a complete team performance,” said head Coach Sherwin Campbell.
“Last year we won both competitions in St Vincent (three-day and one-day) and this is good to come back and defend the title in different conditions. I told the players once we planned well we will always do well. It is good that they can retain this title and showcase their excellence.” (PS)
