A DISAPPOINTING season for Barbados culminated yesterday on another low note with a five-wicket defeat at the hands of rivals Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC).
A low-scoring match that had its fair share of twists and turns over the first two days didn’t produce a final piece of drama and CCC successfully completed a target of 173 without many alarms, winning 40 minutes after lunch on the penultimate day at the 3Ws Oval.
Having resumed on 36 for one and still requiring a further 137 to complete a fourth win of the season, CCC approached their task with purpose against a Barbados attack that lacked zip apart from a brief period when three wickets fell for the addition of 19 runs.
CCC scored freely at the start of the day, moving to 66 before two wickets a run apart gave Barbados a semblance of hope in gaining their second win in succession, but they were denied principally by a fighting unbeaten 78 by captain Omar Phillips.
Barbados finished the season in sixth place, a rarity for a nation that boasts of an unprecedented 20 regional first-class titles, while CCC will emerge top of the table after the preliminaries and should be full of confidence ahead of their semi-final clash with the Windward Islands starting on Friday at the same venue.
The victory for CCC also gave them a 3-2 lead in five contests against Barbados since the students’ introduction to cricket at this level in 2008.
“Playing against Barbados is always the toughest match. The guys come hard. It is always a pleasure to play against them. It is always a good challengeand our guys are alwaysup for it,” Phillips said.
“I always think it is the biggest match in the competition. I always look forward to it. CCC played a really good game. The guys are working really hard. They are looking to go to the highest level.
“Our team spirit has been very good. The guys lived as a family throughout the season. We stuck together. That is one of the things most cricket teamsshould look at.”
Phillips’ fifth wicket partnership of 58 with Nkruma Bonner virtually settled the outcome of the match after CCC slipped to 85 for four, but the tactics of Barbados were also called into question at various times.
At the start of the day, Barbados went on the defensive, and twice in an over, Phillips edged pacer Jason Holder between slip and gully and down to a vacant third-man for boundaries.
Captain Ryan Hinds also started with a leg stump line that proved ineffective and while Holder and Kevin Stoute did a reasonable job, there were occasions when they didn’t make the batsmen play enough.
Stoute claimed the first wicket of the day after 45 minutes when a ball that cut in trapped Shacaya Thomas lbw and one run later, Holder produced a beauty that snicked the edge of Kyle Corbin’s bat on the way to the ’keeper.
Corbin, CCC’s top batsman this season, made no secret in showing his disgust at the decision and it could land him a penalty from the match referee.
Floyd Reifer added 18 with Phillips before becoming a second lbw victim to Stoute and the 11th in the match when he failed to get bat onto ball to one that rushed onto him.
Bonner arrived to join Phillips and played fluently in making 32 by which time the captain looked more assured.
Phillips came into the match after bagging a king pair in the previous game but he defied Barbados for almost four hours in getting his highest score of the season. It was an innings in which he faced 156 balls and struck eight fours and a six.
When Holder and Stoute came out of the attack, Fidel Edwards and Pedro Collins were unable to make any inroads and following the resumption after lunch, which was taken at 112 for four, runs flowed easily.
After the break, leg-spinner Nikolai Charles was introduced for the first time and collected the wicket of Bonner with an innocuous short ball that was pulled to mid-wicket.
