Bajans win again

CARIBBEAN BEST SCORER Shawn Simpson enjoyed a tremendous game of spiking to lead lethargic Barbados to a 25-20, 21-25, 25-22, 25-19 win over Suriname in their second match of the 1st round of the Men’s 2014 World Championships at the Clifton Hunter High Gym in Grand Cayman on Saturday.
After sleepwalking to a first set victory, Barbados struggled in passing, attacking and net defence with the second tempo of attack of Keven Sporkledge proving unstoppable as middles Jamaal Nedd, Klode Thompson and Leshon Alexander repeatedly grabbed at smoke to lose the second set.
Inconsistent attacks from veteran Fabian Cox and Akeem Payne saw Barbados trading points with the 1996 losing Caribbean finalists Suriname, which caused some concerns for the large crowd of Barbadians who turned up to give support to the players. However, coach Niles replaced starting setter Alain London with his former Foundation schoolmate Ronald Rice who provided the right recipe for Barbados to regain control of the match.
Rice constantly fed the ball to Simpson, who celebrates his 28th birthday today, for the left handed 6’ 4” spiker to blast Suriname from every side as well as out of the backcourt.
That created the template for Cox to hit a couple thunderbolts and Payne then found his range for Barbados to move one game away from topping the preliminaries. (KB)