ST JOHN’S, An­tigua – T&T bounced back from its open­ing six-wick­et loss against Guyana to beat the Wind­ward Is­lands in the sec­ond round of the Ris­ing Stars Un­der-15 Cham­pi­onship at Lib­er­ta Sports Club, on Thursday (April 17).

The ju­nior “Red Force” won by sev­en wick­ets, dis­miss­ing the Wind­wards for 123 be­fore cruis­ing to 124-3 in just 23.1 overs. Zion Phillip, 36 and Kaiden Pol­lard, 24, led the chase af­ter Rylee Gan­goo, 3-,9 and Samuel Stew­art, 3-38, sti­fled the Wind­wards’ bat­ting.

Mean­while, de­fend­ing cham­pi­ons Bar­ba­dos con­tin­ued their dom­i­nant run in the Un­der-15 Cham­pi­onship with a crush­ing 170-run vic­to­ry over the Lee­ward Is­lands at the Sir Vi­vian Richards Sta­di­um.

Af­ter post­ing an im­pos­ing 275 all out in 49.5 overs, Bar­ba­dos bowled out the Lee­wards for just 105 in 37.1 overs, se­cur­ing their sec­ond win in as many match­es.

Asked to take the first strike, Bar­ba­dos did not have things all their way as they were in ear­ly trou­ble at 11 for two in the sev­enth over thanks to two quick wick­ets from pac­er William Pit­man.

How­ev­er, the re­cov­ery mis­sion be­gan with Cap­tain Justin Par­ris and Ke­lani Clarke, who put on 146 runs for the third wick­et. Par­ris went on to hit nine fours in his 72 be­fore he too fell to Pit­man.

Clarke car­ried on to top score with 86 from 90 balls, in­clud­ing eight fours and a six. Wick­et-keep­er Seth Smith al­so struck a half-cen­tu­ry, scor­ing 55 to pow­er Bar­ba­dos to a com­mand­ing to­tal of 275. Pit­man was the stand­out bowler, claim­ing an im­pres­sive 6-41.

Justin Par­ris fol­lowed up his bat­ting hero­ics with a dev­as­tat­ing spell, tak­ing 4-13 to dis­man­tle the Lee­wards’ chase. Liam Sealy with 3-21 and Jahi­di Hinds 2-17 pro­vid­ed strong sup­port, leav­ing the hosts reel­ing at 105 all out.

On­ly Clay­vaunte Pow­ell with 64 of­fered re­sis­tance, but his lone ef­fort was not enough to pre­vent a heavy de­feat.

At the An­tigua Recre­ation Ground (ARG), Ja­maica, which lost to Bar­ba­dos in their open­ing en­counter, se­cured a com­fort­able sev­en-wick­et win over Guyana.

Guyana was first rout­ed for 104, with medi­um-pac­er An­drew Lloyd claim­ing an im­pres­sive 4-14. Lloyd wreaked hav­oc on the Guyana mid­dle or­der, pick­ing up three quick wick­ets to see them from 65-3 to 68-6.

Don­dre Pe­ters weighed in with 2-12. Ja­maica chased down the tar­get, los­ing three wick­ets in 29 overs, thanks to Jay­den Shaw’s 38 and Tes­fah Ward’s 25.

Third-round ac­tion con­tin­ues to­mor­row (April 19)with Bar­ba­dos tak­ing on T&T at Coolidge, Lee­wards fac­ing Ja­maica at Lib­er­ta Sports Club and the Wind­wards fac­ing Guyana at the ARG. CMC

Sum­marised scores

(sec­ond round)

At Lib­er­ta Sports Club, Lib­er­ta: T&T U-15 beat Wind­ward Is­lands U-15 by 7 wick­ets

WIND­WARD IS­LANDS U-15 123 all out in 33.1 overs (Jor­dan Charles 55, Jeanille Williams 15; Rylee Gan­goo 3-9, Samuel Stew­art 3-38).

T&T U-15 124-3 in 23.1 overs (Zion Phillip 36, Kaiden Pol­lard 24, Jor­dan Julien 21).

At An­tigua Recre­ation Ground: Ja­maica U-15 beat Guyana U-15 by 7 wick­ets

GUYANA U-15 104 all out in 28.1 overs (Arif Bac­chus 22, Reyaz Latif 17, Justin Dowl­in 15; An­drew Lloyd 4-14, Don­dre Pe­ters 2-12, Eck­oney Robin­son 2-38).

JA­MAICA U-15 106-3 in 29 overs (Jay­den Shaw 38, Tes­fah Ward 25, Luwain Pryce 19 not out; Richard Ramde­hol 2-13).

At Sir Vi­vian Richards Sta­di­um, North Sound: Bar­ba­dos U-15 beat Lee­wards U-15 by 170 runs

BAR­BA­DOS U-15 275 all out in 49.5 overs (Ke­lani Clarke 86, Justin Par­ris 72, Seth Smith 55; Williams Pit­man 6-41).

LEE­WARDS U-15 105 all out in 37.1 overs (Clay­vaunte Pow­ell 64; Justin Par­ris 4-13, Liam Sealy 3-21, Jahi­di Hinds 2-17).

CMC