PHILIPSBURG, St Maarten, (CMC) - Veteran Carl Tuckett averted danger for the Leeward Islands with a polished unbeaten half-century as their 5th round Carib Beer Series match against the Windward Islands ended in a draw at the Carib Lumber Ground yesterday.
Trailing by 57 runs on first innings, the Leewards slumped to an unsafe 92 for six soon after tea but rallied to reach 153 for six when the game was called off at approximately 4.45 p.m. local time.
Tuckett hit 53 not out, while leg-spinner Rawl Lewis and pacer Deighton Butler shared six wickets to exert Windward Islands’ pressure.
Collecting six points for their first innings advantage, the Windwards stay fifth in the standings with 24 points, trailing runaway leaders Barbados (60), Trinidad and Tobago (36), Jamaica (28), and West Indies-B (27).
The Leeward Islands, now joint bottom of the table -- with Kenya and Guyana -- on 16 points, began their second innings just before lunch, and after going to the break at three without loss, stumbled to 28 for two when pacer Deighton Butler sent back Alex Adams (2) and Shane Jeffers (16).
Butler found space between bat and pad and bowled Adams at five for one, and Jeffers departed to a brilliant diving first-slip catch by Darren Sammy.
The Windwards applied more pressure when captain Lewis had Tonito Willett (3) caught behind after the Nevisian attempted a forcing shot off the backfoot at 48 for three.
Tuckett joined Sylvester Joseph and began a resistant innings that denied the Windwards any outside chance of a victory.
The pair hauled the score to 71 for three at tea, and Sammy pulled off his second superb catch of the afternoon to dislodge Joseph for 44 at 80 for four.
Aiming to cut Lewis hard to backward point, Joseph found Sammy lunging to his right to take a sharp catch.
The Antiguan hit 44, including five boundaries.
But while Tuckett used intelligent technique against the threatening Lewis, bowling round the wicket, Butler struck again to remove Wilden Cornwall, caught at mid-on by Kenroy Martin for seven at 91 for five, and one run later, Lewis had Jason Williams (1) caught at slip by Martin.
Virgil Browne then joined Tuckett in an unfinished 61-run seventh-wicket stand, smothering the Windwards’ late victory bid.
The 33-year-old Tuckett, who played a single One-Day International against England in 1998, batted solidly, driving well on both sides of the pitch.
He struck three boundaries off pacer Fernix Thomas and counted nine fours in all in his 107-ball knock.
Browne played with composure for 15 not out and rotated the strike well with his more experienced partner.
Lewis, a candidate for the man-of-the-match award that eventually went to Devon Smith for his outstanding century (159), finished as the Windwards’ top bowler with three for 42 off 18 overs (match haul of seven for 124), while Butler claimed three for 46 off 15 overs.
Earlier, the Windwards -- from an overnight 370 for five in response to the Leewards 378 for nine declared -- quickly lost Lindon James (14) leg-before-wicket to medium pacer Cornwall when they had added just one run in the morning session.
But they had no problems with their first target, ensuring first innings points.
Lewis, who resumed on 62 at the start, and Shane Shillingford, took them past the target before Lewis fell by the run-out route 18 short of a second first-class hundred.
Attempting a second run, he failed to beat Willet’s return from the fine-leg boundary at 406 for seven.
Lewis struck eight fours and two sixes in his knock of 82.
Cornwall and left-arm spinner Browne then hastily wrapped up the innings.
Browne had Butler (13) caught at long-off by substitute fielder Chaka Hodge, and Cornwall’s double strike at the end finished the innings.
Fernix Thomas (0) was bowled after facing only two balls, and Shillingford (20) also had his stumps disturbed by the experienced seamer, who ended with his team’s best bowling figures of four for 98 off 34 overs.
Browne (2-90), West Indies pacer Adam Sanford (2-123), and Alex Adams (1-31) were the other wicket-takers as the Windwards finished on 435 all out. Windwards’ opener Devon Smith was named man-of-the-match for his superb 159 in the first innings.
In the sixth round this weekend, the Leewards tackle leaders Barbados in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Windwards meet Kenya in St Vincent.