Scorpions’ valiant effort not enough against solid Pride

THE JAMAICA Scorpions showed fight with both bat and ball, but their efforts were not good enough as they succumbed to the Barbados Pride on the final day of their West Indies Championship match at Sabina Park yesterday, losing by four wickets.

The home side was staring down the eight ball from the outset, as they resumed their second innings on 220 for eight with a lead of just 100 runs with one full day to play.

The Pride were expected to swiftly wrap up the Scorpions innings and grab the remaining two wickets cheaply, but overnight batsmen Derval Green (6) and Gordon Bryan (0) had other ideas as the pair dug in to get some useful runs to further frustrate the visitors.

Green led the resistance as the pair added 35 runs before Gordon was bowled by Jomel Warrican for 22 after hitting three fours and a six.

The right-handed Green would find another ally in last man Ojay Shields and they further frustrated the Pride with a 37-run last-wicket stand with Green getting to 48 after hitting seven fours and a six.

He would eventually run out of partners, Shields, as he did in the first innings, making a huge slog that cost him his wicket, this time going out caught for four runs with the score on 292. Green was left stranded two runs shy of what would have been a deserved half-century.

The last wicket went to debutant seamer Shaquille Cumberbatch, who finished with a maiden five-wicket haul, which cost just 46 runs.

Jomel Warrican and Kevin Wickham supported with two wickets each for the Pride, who had a target of 173 runs to seal the win with two sessions to play.

The Scorpions would make a fist of it, as they got the all-important wicket of captain Kraigg Brathwaite for 13 at 33 for 1. The very next over Derval Green found the edge of Zachary McKaskie, who was snapped up by Chadwick Walton for 12.

With their tails up, the Scorpions tried to go in for the kill, but their catching let them down, spurning as many as four chances which allowed Kevin Wickham to go on and get 29, Shayne Moseley, 25, and Roshon Prumus, 43.

Though off-spinner Peat Salmon and leg-spinner Abhijai Mansingh picked up four wickets between them, the Pride got over the line as Shane Dowrich, 18, and Akeem Jordan with nine, saw them over the line to seal the victory for the visitors.

Salmon finished with three wickets for 69 runs while Mansingh took two for 45.

Assistant coach for the Scorpions, Nikita Miller, lamented his team’s lack of consistency with both bat and ball, which ultimately cost them the game.

“It’s frustrating, but I am staying positive, because of where we are coming from and where we are now. We are heading in the right direction. Yes, you want to win games, but the way we lost this game is a positive in terms of the fight we showed.”

Winning captain Kraigg Brathwaite credited his team’s all-around effort.

“I thought it was a good all-around performance, Jamaica played well. We let ourselves down with several dropped catches, but I thought how we batted the whole day in the first innings gave us a lead which turned out to be crucial,” said Brathwaite.

At Chedwin Park, Volcanoes notched a third straight victory with an eight-wicket verdict over Combined Campuses and Colleges Marooners, with Test left-hander Alick Athanaze carving out his 13th first-class fifty.

Left-arm spinning all-rounder Kavem Hodge grabbed two of the last four wickets to fall to end with two for 48 as CCC, resuming from 271 for six, were bowled out for 315.

Romario Greaves, unbeaten on 62 at the start, added just one while Sion Hackett never added to his overnight 24.

Set 125 for victory, Volcanoes cruised to their target with the 25-year-old Athanaze finishing unbeaten on a cavalier 58 not out off 42 balls.

He struck a half-dozen fours and three sixes at number four, posting 83 in an unbroken third-wicket stand with Trinidadian left-hander Jeremy Solozano, who struck an unbeaten 42 off 61 balls with half-dozen fours.

At Warner Park in Basseterre, St Kitts, Hurricanes helped themselves to their second win of the campaign when they beat Red Force by four wickets.

Set 162 for victory after bowling Red Force out in their second innings for 342, Hurricanes got a top score of 53 from West Indies white-ball stroke-maker Keacy Carty, while 17-year-old Jewel Andrew missed out on his second 50 of the game with 48.

At Sir Frank Worrel Memorial Ground in St Augustine, Windward Islands Volcanoes remained top of the standings with a dominant victory.

Harpy Eagles wasted little time in picking up the last four CWI Academy wickets cheaply, to storm to a 221-run win, the fifth-largest margin of victory by runs for Harpy Eagles in the modern era of the championship.