Favourites to defend all three major titles in the Barbados Cricket Association’s competitions, Sagicor UWI suffered their second major disappointment when they were eliminated from the Sagicor Cup following a 57-run defeat by LIME at the 3Ws Oval last Saturday.
There was some controversy resulting from the omission of key batsman Jonathan Carter for disciplinary reasons, following an incident involving some of his teammates.
“We are very high on discipline. We are very high on following the guidelines that govern university cricket and . . . we felt that Jonathan would be left out as a result of his situation and that disagreement with some of the players,” team manager Stephen Leslie said after the match.
“He was left out for today because at the end of the day we will still have our usual discussion, our usual hearing and we can’t convict the man.
“. . . The captain, the coach and the manager took the position that he would not play and there is no decision on how long it would be. Certainly there will be a discussion and a hearing so that Jonathan and all others involved can express themselves,” said Leslie.
Though expressing disappointment at UWI’s poor showing in the semi final, Leslie is not convinced the intenal strife was the root cause for his side’s premature exit from the tournament.
“It’s a huge disappointment. Certainly when you come into a semi final you back yourself to go that one step further to reach the final. LIME must be given full credit for winning. They actually came out here with a full squad looking to win. I think UWI today really would have let themselves down and hopefully 2014 would be a better year as it relates to the 50 over competition.
“LIME played the better game and that is where the credit must go,” he said.
UWI collapsed to 119 all out replying to LIME’s 176 for eight. The defeat capped a frustrating week for the university team after the announcement by the WICB that the Combined Campuses and Colleges is not being included in next year’s 50 over competition to be played in Trinidad and Tobago.
Maple will now meet LIME in the final where a positive result for Maple would see them equalling UWI’s feat of winning all three titles last year.
