ST JOHN’S, An­tigua – Bar­ba­dos suf­fered an ear­ly blow to their ti­tle de­fence when they went down by 18 runs to Ja­maica in the open­ing round of the West In­dies Ris­ing Stars Un­der-15 Cham­pi­onship on Tues­day.

Asked to chase 166 for vic­to­ry at Lib­er­ta Sports Club, Bar­ba­dos were bowled out for 147 off 39 overs, de­spite open­er Gad­son Bowens’s top score of 64.

The run chase was un­der­mined by De­mar­co Scott (3-12) and Adri­an Sil­vera (3-22), both pick­ing up three wick­ets apiece.

Ear­li­er, Scott had al­so tak­en cen­tre stage with a top score of 49 as Ja­maica ral­lied to 165 all out in the 43rd over.

Scott struck four fours in a 91-ball knock, adding 77 for the third wick­et with Savio Jones (34), af­ter Tyson Gor­don (21) and Damien Da­ley (12) had post­ed 47 for the first wick­et.

Once Jones de­part­ed in the 36th over, Ja­maica lost their last sev­en wick­ets for 39 runs with R’Jai Git­tens fin­ish­ing with four for 24.

Bar­ba­dos en­dured a rocky start to their run chase when they slumped to 39 for three at the start of the 11th be­fore Bowens pulled the in­nings around.

He struck nine fours off 111 de­liv­er­ies, putting on 105 for the fourth wick­et with Justin Par­ris whose 47 came from 75 balls and in­clud­ed three fours.

How­ev­er, once the part­ner­ship end­ed, Bar­ba­dos col­lapsed to lose their last sev­en wick­ets for three runs in the space of 24 de­liv­er­ies.

The Vi­vian Richards Crick­et Sta­di­um saw the first hun­dred of the tour­na­ment, Earsin­ho Fontaine hit­ting a sparkling 130 not out as Wind­ward Is­lands de­feat­ed Lee­wards Is­lands by 99 runs.

Fontaine’s 146-ball knock was the foun­da­tion of the Wind­wards’ 263 for three off their 50 overs, Jonathan Daniel chip­ping in with 52.

In re­ply, the Lee­wards slumped to 164 all out at the start of the 45th over, El­ran Glas­gow (3-14) and Theo Ed­ward (3-15) snar­ing three-wick­et hauls as Ja­heem Clarke top-scored with an un­beat­en 40.

At Coolidge Crick­et Ground, Trinidad and To­ba­go al­so start­ed the tour­na­ment on a win­ning note when they trounced Guyana by sev­en wick­ets in a low-scor­ing con­test.

Three-wick­et hauls from Yasir Deen (3-8) and Dar­rius Ba­toos­ingh (3-10) saw Guyana top­pled for a pal­try 75 in the 33rd over, and Chris­t­ian Lall then struck a swift 32 not out off 27 balls to fire his side to vic­to­ry.

CMC

Scores:

At Coolidge Crick­et Ground:

GUYANA 75 all out off 32.4 overs (Yasir Deen 3-8, Dar­rius Ba­toos­ingh 3-10) vs TRINIDAD & TO­BA­GO 76 for three off 15.2 overs (Chris­t­ian Lall 32 not out; Em­manuel Lewis 2-34).

Trinidad & To­ba­go beat Guyana by sev­en wick­ets.

At Lib­er­ta Sports Club:

JA­MAICA 165 all out off 42.3 overs (De­mar­co Scott 49, Savio Jones 34; R’Jai Git­tens 4-24) vs BAR­BA­DOS 147 all out off 39 overs (Gad­son Bowens 64, Justin Par­ris 47; De­mar­co Scott 3-12, Adri­an Sil­vera 3-22)

Ja­maica beat Bar­ba­dos by 18 runs.

At the Vi­vian Richards Crick­et Sta­di­um:

WIND­WARD IS­LANDS 263 for three off 50 overs (Earsin­ho Fontaine 130 not out, Jonathan Daniel 52) vs LEE­WARD IS­LANDS 164 all out off 44.1 overs (Ja­heem Clarke 40 not out; El­ran Glas­gow 3-14, Theo Ed­ward 3-15)

Wind­wards beat Lee­wards by 99 runs.