PORT OF SPAIN – The Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) silenced doubters with a comprehensive 160-run victory over the Leeward Islands in their NAGICO Super50 Regional cricket match at the Queen’s Park Oval on Saturday night.
The CCC bowled out the Leewards for a paltry 80 runs halfway through their batting innings to secure a victory with a bonus point.
A late fightback from tailenders Lionel Baker and Anthony Martin was all in vain as the Steven Jacobs-led CCC wrapped up an emphatic win.
Earlier, the CCC, which won the toss and decided to bat, benefited from a solid opening partnership between Chadwick Walton (30) and Anthony Alleyne (54).
Shacaya Thomas also added a useful total of 35 which included three sixes before the CCC were restricted to 240 with one ball to spare in the innings.
Anthony Martin 3-33 and Gavin Tonge 3-43 were the main wicket takers for the Leewards.
Requiring just under five runs per over, the Leewards were stunned from the first ball when their captain and West Indies opener Kieran Powell was caught by wicketkeeper Walton from an outside edge to Kesrick Williams without scoring.
The Leewards appeared to give up in despair as batsmen failed to threaten the CCC and at one stage were 27-6 after losing three wickets without scoring a run.
At 36-9 and the writing on the wall, Baker and Martin gave the Leewards a little hope with some consecutive boundaries.
Baker made an unbeaten 31 off 30 balls which included four fours and a six and Martin reached 16 off 17 balls before he was removed by Kavem Hodge.
Kyle Mayers, with his destructive spell of 4-15, was named the Man of the match. He left the field after 8.4 overs for an unknown reason. Raymon Reifer was equally impressive with figures of 3-15 from six overs.
The CCC win is inspirational for the players who almost lost the opportunity to compete in regional tournaments. The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) was considering removing the CCC from its regional tournaments including the Super50 and the Four-day tournaments.
But following appeals from players and other interests in the region the Board at a meeting last December decided to include the CCC, along with Ireland in this year’s tournament.
They next play Barbados in Tobago on Thursday while the Leewards take on the host team at the same venue on Wednesday. (CMC)
