ST JOHN’S, An­tigua – The re­gion’s young crick­eters kicked start­ed their cam­paign as it marked an ex­cit­ing start to the Ris­ing Stars Un­der-15 Lim­it­ed Overs Cham­pi­onship, Tues­day (April 15), with Bar­ba­dos, Wind­ward Is­lands, and Guyana se­cur­ing dom­i­nant vic­to­ries in their open­ing match­es.

Guyana took its own sweet time in get­ting the runs need­ed to as they de­feat­ed Trindi­ad and To­ba­go by six wick­ets at the Sir Vi­vian Richards Sta­di­um.

Sent in to bat, T&T post­ed 168, thanks to Jor­dan Julien’s 53. The right-hand­ed open­er faced 99 balls and hit three fours and a six, as he and fel­low open­er Davis Guer­ra, who made 32, but on 96 runs for the open­ing wick­et.

The fall of their wick­ets start­ed a mi­ni-col­lapse as wick­ets tum­bled reg­u­lar­ly, with four Guyana bowlers pick­ing up two wick­ets each.

In the run chase, cap­tain Richard Ramde­hol, with an un­beat­en 64, was the sav­iour, as Guyana was in a spot of both­er at 93-4 in the 23rd over.

Ramde­hol got good sup­port from Bran­don Hn­ery, who chipped in with 39 not out as the pair added 78 runs for the fifth wick­et to steer their team to vic­to­ry at 171-4 in 41.5 overs. Open­er Justin Dowl­in had ear­li­er made 31, while wick­et­keep­er Lo­mar Seecha­ran chipped in with 21.

The sec­ond round gets un­der­way on Thurs­day.

At Lib­er­ta Sports Club, de­fend­ing cham­pi­ons Bar­ba­dos made light work of Ja­maica, fol­low­ing an em­phat­ic nine wick­et win.

Af­ter ask­ing the Ja­maicans to take the first strike, Bar­ba­dos were in no-non­sense mood in the field and skit­tled out the Ja­maicans for just 77 in 24.5 overs. Medi­um pac­er Ash­er Bran­ford led the charge with 4-30, and he was well sup­port­ed by Joshua Thomp­son, who snared 3-14 and Jahi­di Hinds 3-16.

The Ja­maicans just could not string any de­cent part­ner­ships to­geth­er and lost wick­ets at reg­u­lar in­ter­vals, and on­ly wick­et­keep­er Luwain Pryce, with 22, of­fered any re­al re­sis­tance.

Bar­ba­dos chased down the tar­get in just 18 overs, with Hinds scor­ing an un­beat­en 28 from 58 balls with three fours. Fel­low open­er Javion Bat­son weighed in 22, en­sur­ing a com­fort­able 9-wick­et win.

Over at Coolidge Crick­et Ground, the Wind­ward Is­lands se­cured an eight-wick­et vic­to­ry over the Lee­ward Is­lands.

It was a sim­i­lar sit­u­a­tion from the game at the Lib­er­ta Sports club, as wick­ets were the or­der of the day for the team bat­ting first. In this case, the Lee­wards were asked to bat, and they were skit­tled out for 109, with Jathan Ed­ward top-scor­ing with 23.

Jor­den Charles was the pick of the bowlers with 3-27, while Jeanille Williams took 3-21. Dy­lan John al­so weighed in by grab­bing 2-15, while Jer­shaun Joseph chipped in with 2-17.

In re­ply, Alex Arm­strong’s un­beat­en 47 guid­ed the Wind­wards to 110-2 in 25.5 overs, seal­ing a con­vinc­ing win. Arm­strong and open­er Der­win Lewis bat­ted sen­si­bly and put on 63 runs for the first wick­et be­fore Lewis was run out for 25.

Tues­day’s Sum­marised scores

At Lib­er­ta Sports Club, Lib­er­ta: Bar­ba­dos U15 de­feat­ed Ja­maica U15 by 9 wick­ets

JA­MAICA U-15 77 all out in 24.5 overs (Luwain Pryce 22, Tes­fah Ward 13, Wayne Plum­mer 12, Ash­er Bran­ford 4-30, Joshua Thomp­son 3-14, Jahi­di Hinds 3-16) vs BAR­BA­DOS U-15 78-1 in 18 overs (Jahi­di Hinds 28 not out, Javion Bat­son 22, Justin Par­ris 11 not out).

At Coolidge Crick­et Ground: Wind­ward Is­lands U15 beat the Lee­ward Is­lands U15 by 8 wick­ets

LEE­WARD IS­LANDS U-15 109 all out in 29.4 overs (Jathan Ed­ward 23, Karese Far­rel 10, Jor­den Charles 3-27, Dy­lan John 2-15, Jer­shaun Joseph 2-17) vs WIND­WARD IS­LANDS U-15 110-2 in 25.5 overs (Alex Arm­strong 47 not out, Der­win Lewis 25).

At Sir Vi­vian Richards Sta­di­um, North Sound: Guyana U15 beat Trinidad & To­ba­go U15 by 6 wick­ets

TRINIDAD & TO­BA­GO U-15 168 all out in 68.5 overs (Jor­dan Julien 53, Davis Guer­ra 32; Bran­don Hen­ry 2-15, Nathaniel Ram­sam­my 2-18) vs GUYANA U-15 171-4 in 41.5 overs (Richard Ramde­hol 64 not out, Bran­don Hen­ry 39 not out, Justin Dowl­in 31; Ethan Ram­cha­ran 2-36).

(CMC)