BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, (CMC) - Front-runners Barbados again had to depend upon Tino Best to pull them out of hole against West Indies-B in their fourth round match of the Carib Beer 2004 Cricket Series at Three Ws Oval yesterday.
West Indies-B were 30 for two, replying to Barbados’ first innings total of 217, when stumps were drawn on a rain interrupted opening day.
Down and almost out on 170 for nine, Barbados again benefited from purposeful lower order batting from Best. The little dynamo hit two fours and two sixes in an undefeated 36 from 59 balls in 1¼ hours and shared 47 for the last wicket with new-ball partner Pedro Collins.
The two then returned to remove the West Indies-B opening batsmen. Collins made the breakthrough when he had Ryan Ramdass adjudged lbw for nought in the third over and, next over, Best had B-Team captain Jason Haynes caught down the leg-side by the ’keeper for four in the fourth over.
Sent in to bat on a hard, true pitch under sunny to overcast skies, Barbados suffered two setbacks in the first half-hour when long-standing opening batsman Sherwin Campbell was lbw to Dwight Washington for nought in the first over and left-handed opener Martin Nurse was run-out for five backing up too far in the fifth over.
Barbados were 17 for two and brought two left-handers Ryan Hinds and Floyd Reifer to the wicket. The two shared a 30-run stand for the third wicket, but Jason Bennett broke the partnership when Hinds was caught at cover for 29, driving loosely at delivery pitched up outside off-stump.
Barbados crashed to 60 for four at lunch after Shawn Graham was caught at midwicket for nought to become the first of three wickets for 87 runs from 28 overs for off-spin bowler Ryan Austin, one of seven Barbadians in the B-Team 15-member squad.
After the interval, Reifer and Barbados captain Courtney Browne diligently attempted to repair the damage. It was not the typical free-scoring stuff from the two clubmates but just when it looked like they would run away with it, Austin broke through to have Browne caught at point for 26.
Reifer, Barbados’ most prolific batsman this year, was busily moving towards his second half-century of the season when he was adjudged lbw to Kenroy Williams, another of the Barbadians in the B-Team squad, for the top score of 44 from 121 balls in just under three hours. He hit three fours.
Barbados declined to 141 for seven at tea after Antonio Mayers was caught inside the long-on boundary off Austin for 20. But the Barbadian tail has wagged more than once this season and with Best in the forefront it again showed it had some sting.
The last three wickets added a valuable 76 runs for the defending double crown champions as Williams ended with two for 22 from 10 overs and Washington grabbed two for 32 from 13.2 overs.
Barbados are playing an unchanged line-up to the side that prevailed over Jamaica at Kingston by 40 runs in the previous round, while the B-Team made one change to the side that crushed Leeward Islands at Charlestown by eight wickets.
Barbados head the standings with a maximum 36 points from three matches with wins over Guyana, Windward Islands and the Jamaicans.
West Indies-B are joint second with Trinidad & Tobago on 24 points from two wins against Kenya and Leewards either side of a defeat to T&T.
BARBADOS 1st innings
S. Campbell lbw b Washington 0
M. Nurse run-out 5
R. Hinds c Hyatt b Bennett 29
F. Reifer lbw b Williams 44
S. Graham c Hyatt b Austin 0
C. Browne c Bennett b Austin 26
A. Mayers c Bennett b Austin 20
S. Benn c and b George 16
R. Nurse lbw b Williams 14
T. Best not out 36
P. Collins c wkpr P. Browne b Washington 8
Extras: (b-3, lb-4, w-1, nb-11) 19
Total: (all out) 217
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-17, 3-47, 4-56, 5-100, 6-130, 7-136, 8-155, 9-170.
Bowling: Washington 13.2-3-32-2 (w-1), Bennett 20-3-65-1 (nb-8), Austin 28-4-87-3 (nb-3), Williams 10-1-22-2, George 4-1-4-1.