Brathwaite, Melius stroke half centuries
In the second round of the Cricket West Indies Regional Under-19 50-over tournament, defending champions, Guyana were given a bye while Jamaica, Barbados and Windward Islands recorded victories yesterday.
At Arnos Vale, Barbados made 1937 from 43 overs with Shain Brathwaite smashing 72 from 114 balls. His innings included four sixes and five fours and he shared in a 67-run stand for the first wicket with Mekhail Marshall who stroked a run-a-ball 29 with a pair of sixes and three fours.
Justyn Gangoo was the most economical bowler with 2-18 while Avinash Mahabirsingh and Teron Jadoo picked up 2-47 and 2-57 respectively.
In reply, Trinidad and Tobago were set a revised target of 210 from 43 overs. Most of the middle order got off to good starts but failed to carry on. Player of the match, Camarie Boyce snared 5-33 to skittle Trinidad for 149 with Leonardo Jullien and Mbeki Joseph scoring 38 and 37 runs respectively. At Sion Hill, Jamaica recorded a seven-wicket win over Canada in a 30over affair which saw the North American side posting 93-8 to which Jamaica replied with 99-3 in 20.5 overs. Eshan Sensarma was the only batsman that showed any promise with a score of 23.
Sanjay Brown and Roberto Simpson were virtually unplayable, ending with 3-12 and 2-13 respectively.
In Jamaica’s innings it was an unbroken partnership of 54 between Shain Brathwaite stroked 72 for Barbados
Carlos Brown (37) and Andre McCarthy (36) that saw Jamaica over the line.
At Cumberland, Windward Islands registered a six wicket win over Leewards, chasing 156 for victory.
Leewards posted 155-9 from their 43 overs with Uri Smith notching up an even half century from 101 balls while Zawandi White stroked 40 from 53 balls to see them post a respectable Kimani Melius stroked back-toback half centuries
total but Micah Joseph and Jeron Noel kept the Leewards batsmen quiet with figures of 3-18 and 3-23 respectively.
In the chase, opening batsman Kemani Melius’ 53-ball 65 consisting of five sixes and four fours set the foundation for Johnel Eugine and Jaheil Walters to come in and play their natural game with scores of 29 and 20 respectively and see their side over the line at 156-4 (Reuters) - Novak Djokovic qualified for his sixth Cincinnati Masters final when he edged out Marin Cilic 6-4 3-6 6-3 in an afternoon semi-final yesterday.
The result sets up the prospect of a mouthwatering final between Djokovic and Roger Federer, one of the greatest rivalries in the history of the sport.
But first Swiss Federer must get past David Goffin in the evening semi-final.
Asked about the rivalry, Djokovic played a straight bat: “I understand you want to ask me that question but out of respect to Goffin I don’t want to answer it,” he said in an on-court interview.
Djokovic, who has lost all five of his Cincinnati finals, was not at his best against Cilic, but came through on the big points.
“It’s been a rollercoaster week with matches, interruptions, and rain delays and everything,” Djokovic said.
“I managed to win the last three matches in the third set. Very few points decided a winner and I just managed to pull through.”
After dropping the second set to Cilic, Djokovic broke to go 3-1 up in the decider, before immediately complaining to the chair umpire about music that was audible from outside centre court.
It seemed to break Djokovic’s concentration, because he immediately went down 0-40 on serve before digging his way back to deuce, only to lose the game with a weak second serve into the net.
But Djokovic broke back in the eighth game before serving out clinically to secure victory.
“I didn’t like that music in the first few games of the third set,” he said, before adding that he would watch the Federer-Goffin semi-final on TV.
“Of course, I’ll watch, from my bed or bath,” he said.