Scorpions grind out crucial win against West Indies Academy
CAPTAIN Brandon King did not hide his relief after Jamaica Scorpions survived a trial by spin on Saturday to eke out a two-wicket win over West Indies Academy in the fourth-round West Indies Championship match at Sabina Park.
Chasing 234 runs on a wearing, final-day pitch, the Scorpions pulled off the nail-biting win after a battling ninth-wicket stand worth 28 runs between Derval Green, with 20 not out, and Jeavor Royal, who was unbeaten on 18.
Brandon King (65) and Abhijai Mansingh (42) had earlier shared a 92-run, seventh-wicket stand that turned the match in the Scorpions’ favour after they were reeling on 96-6 just after lunch.
The academy team’s main bowling threat predictably came from the pair of left-arm finger spinners Joshua Bishop and Ashmead Nedd. Bishop claimed 4-79 to end with 10 wickets in the match, while Nedd had 3-95.
Scores: WI Academy 324 (82 ovs) and 281 (74.1 ovs); Scorpions 372 (108.2 ovs) and 236-8 (82 ovs)
The 29-year-old King insisted he remained confident of a Scorpions win despite the early flurry of wickets and the late stumble, even while admitting the finale was nerve-racking.
“It was too close for comfort at the end there, but our batting is very deep… so we still had belief that we could get the total,” he said during a postmatch interview.
He said he kept reassuring himself and Mansingh during their pivotal partnership.
“We couldn’t really control [what occurred] before… I was speaking to Mansingh out there, and I just said to forget the situation, just bat. Play each ball on merit and that’s what you have to do to build a partnership, try to take the pressure of the situation out of it and just bat normally,” he explained.
“I try to keep it as simple as possible, play each ball on its own and not think too much about the pitch and what might happen. In challenging conditions, [favourable] for spin, you have to have full commitment in any shot you’re playing, whether in defending or attacking,” while adding the manner of his dismissals in both innings came from lapses in concentration.
Nyeem Young, 23, the academy team skipper, told journalists he was a bit surprised the spinners didn’t get more from the fourthday pitch, but said the match provided invaluable lessons for the youthful bunch.
“I really enjoyed this game and I think the team learned a lot from this encounter. We expected the wicket to spin a bit more, but I think both teams put up a really good fight throughout the day. I know we lost, but there’s a lot of learning that took place,” he said.
In retrospect, he said the team’s plans could have been more aggressive to King when he got to the crease at 79-3.
“The only thing that I probably would look back and say I could have done better was to [attack more against] Brandon King. I think we made it a little bit too easy for him to score. The field was very relaxed to him, he didn’t have to take any risk. But other than that he batted amazingly,” he said while noting Bishop and Nedd “have been amazing throughout the season so far” for West Indies Academy.
After bowling out the academy team moments before scheduled close of play on Friday, the Scorpions began their second innings Saturday morning with hopes of achieving only their second win this season.
Inevitably, the two left-arm spinners — supremely accurate and difficult to score off throughout the match — were always going to be the main threat, yet the Scorpions batsmen seemed ill-prepared for the patience required.
They lost opener Carlos Brown early for zero but a 49-run second-wicket stand between West Indies left-hander Kirk Mckenzie and out-of-favour Test batsman Jermaine Blackwood steadied the ship.
However, Blackwood’s dismissal for 27 triggered a collapse as Leroy Lugg (two), Mckenzie (47), and first-innings top-scorer Peat Salmon (one) all fell shortly before the lunch break.
Brown fell to pacer Johann Layne, but the other four were guilty of playing injudicious shots to the spinners.
Blackwood missed a pull shot to a quick and flat delivery from Nedd and was hit in front of the stumps.
Lugg tried to sweep a flighted delivery from Bishop that was neither the right line nor length and was bowled.
Mckenzie missed an expansive off drive to a Bishop ball that spun back sharply to shatter the stumps.
Salmon played an uppish back foot drive off Nedd for Young to take a sharp catch as Jamaica Scorpions stumbled feebly to lunch.
The dodgy shot selection from the Scorpions continued in the post-lunch session as wicketkeeper/batsman Romaine Morris played the sweep and was bowled by Bishop.
But King and Mansingh played the conditions and match situation masterfully to lift the Scorpions from danger. King, who made 77 in the first innings, looked a class apart and was particularly immaculate in his shot selection.
But the stylish right hander had a rush of blood and was bowled, aiming a slog sweep to Nedd, while Mansingh saw his stumps disturbed by a Bishop straight delivery that breached his defensive prod at 208-8.
West Indies Academy took the new ball as soon as it was available, 80 overs into the innings, and gave it to the left-arm spin twins as the run chase got tight, but Green and Royal were equal to the task.
A Royal paddle sweep off Nedd for four brought the score to 231-8, and later in the over, Green smashed a drive down to long off for another boundary to win the match.