JUST A little tease from Dwayne Smith!
After hitting two sixes off consecutive balls, crowd favourite Smith was unfortunately run out for 18, much to the disappointment of nearly 7 000 spectators at Kensington Oval on Wednesday night.
But the bigger picture was Barbados’ easy eight-wicket triumph over his English county side, Sussex, and definite qualification for tomorrow night’s semi-final of the 2012 Caribbean Twenty20.
After rolling over an under-strength Sussex outfit for a meagre 89 in 18 overs, thanks to triple strikes from Star of the Match Tino Best (three for 11) and fellow fast bowler Fidel Edwards (three for 18), Barbados strolled to 90 for two in 14.4 overs.
In only the second over, Smith pulled fast medium bowler Ajmad Khan for a massive six into the Greenidge & Haynes Stand and another onto the upper level of the Garfield Sobers Players Pavilion.
But his cameo came to a premature end in the fourth over when he failed to beat a throw from Joe Gatting to wicketkeeer Ben Brown after his new opening partner Kevin Stoute, in trying to give him the strike, pushed the ball to short midwicket and set off for a cheeky single.
An out-of-sorts Jonathan Carter followed for seven, edging an attempted heave over midwicket at impressive leg-spinner Will Beer, to first slip. But Stoute and wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich performed the final rites in a match-winning 52-run third-wicket alliance.
Stoute, promoted to opener with captain Kirk Edwards recovering after having a tooth extracted, blossomed from a shaky start to remain unbeaten on 37 off 48 balls with three fours.
Dowrich confidently essayed a couple of pulls and one superb drive on the up in 23 not out (3×4, 18 balls) as they formalized the result with 32 balls to spare.
Earlier, Sussex surrendered their wickets meekly after winning the toss.
Joe Gatting failed to make use of a slice of luck when Ashley Nurse spilled a diving catch in the covers in Fidel Edwards’ first over.
Best came on and made an immediate impact with his second delivery, shattering Gatting’s stumps for six, as he backed away to drive.
With the first ball of his next over, Best induced the other opener, Chris Nash, to edge a lifting delivery to Dowrich.
Three balls later, Best was celebrating again when new batsman Kirk Wernars drove firmly but straight to Ryan Hinds in the covers.
Fast-medium bowler Carlos Brathwaite also struck immediately, inducing Ben Brown to top edge a pull shot to Carter at mid-wicket.
Off-spinner Nurse (3-0-8-2) was tidy, winning two leg before wicket verdicts against Matt Machan and Andrew Hood.
Captain Michael Yardy, dropped inside the backward square boundary by Stoute on 15, went on to hit the top score of 33 off 34 balls with three fours.
