Five in hunt for top spot

Weather permitting, today will see the start of the sixth series of matches in the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) LIME Division 1 championship, now beginning at noon and closing at 5:30 p.m.Only ten points separate the first five teams, and it promises to be another absorbing series as teams not only seek to win the competition, but avoid being demoted.In one of three feature matches, front-runners LIME, on 56 points, entertain CGI Maple who are sixth on 38 points at Wildey. The “Maplelites” will be hoping for a vast improvement in the weather after the last two days of their previous encounter against Super Centre Spartan were completely washed out at Trents.At Bank Hall, TeleBarbados Carlton, buoyed by their last week-end come-from-behind win against ESA Field Pickwick, meet ICBL Empire who had a rare defeat at this level at the hands of defending champions Sagicor Life UWI. Carlton are second on 53 points while Empire are joint seventh on 36 points. The “Blues” were missing some vital players in the last two rounds and must quickly return to full strength to avoid any further problems.Former leaders Spartan, who were only able to gain one point from a no-decision in their match against Maple, host UWI at Queen’s Park. Spartan are third on 51 points and UWI are fifth with 46. The weather again, could be a key factor as Queen’s Park is a flood- prone area. Spartan will be welcoming back captain Jabarr Niles and West Indies player Sulieman Benn. However, with a memorable victory against Empire, UWI no doubt will be looking to continue on their winning path but they might find the “Parkites” a tough nut to crack.Over at Bayfield, fourth-placed BNB St Catherine, on 46 points, must be fancying their chances against a struggling bottom-placed Guardian General Barbados Youth with 20 points.  Barbados Youth, even with the return of the Barbados team from the recent TCL Group WICB Under-19 Championship in St Lucia, were missing a number of key players in the previous round for various reasons. It will be a similar situation again as Kraigg Brathwaite is unavailable, while Roston Chase and Justin Greaves are on a cricket tour of Guyana with Combermere.In the other matches, Old Brigand Dover oppose Wanderers at Inch Marlow, Police take on Banks at Weymouth and Caribbean Lumber YMPC and Pickwick do battle at Beckles Road.LIME, Carlton, Spartan and St Catherine are the only teams with two wins so far. Empire and UWI have one victory each, while all the other teams are still searching for their first win.