Rouse goes from strength to strength

Kent cricket

Kent Spitfires ended their WICB Regional Super50 campaign in the Caribbean on a high with a six-wicket victory over West Indies Under-19s at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on Sunday.

The win – their third in eight matches – featured a maiden List A half-century from Adam Rouse but the Spitfires failed to go through to the knockout stages after finishing a distant third in Group A.

With Sam Northeast rested, Will Gidman captained the side and academy scholar Ollie Robinson was given his debut behind the stumps. The Windies under-19s were 20-4 inside eight overs after choosing to bat first thanks to a three-wicket burst from Calum Haggett (3-43 from 10 overs).

Kirstan Kallicharan dug in to make 47 from 110 balls and added 63 for the fifth wicket with Shamar Springer (26).

Man-of-the-match Keemo Paul then went on the offensive hitting six sixes in his 72 before giving Robinson his first catch from the final ball of the innings as the youngsters closed on 191-8.

Matt Coles finished with 3-42 from 10 overs while Imran Qayyum bowled his 10 overs for just 26 runs. Openers Daniel BellDrummond (29) and Adam Ball (25) gave Kent an assured start and Sean Dickson and Rouse continued the good work with a 104-run third-wicket stand.

Dickson’s 53 made him Kent’s leading scorer in the tournament with 202 runs while Rouse finished unbeaten on 61 – a second successive List A career-best – as Kent won with 5.1 overs to spare.

Kent’s hopes of qualifying ended last Wednesday with a five-wicket defeat to defending champions Trinidad and Tobago who avenged their earlier loss against the Spitfires at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.

Gidman’s first List A half-century for the county was the highlight of the Kent innings after they had been put into bat.

The Spitfires were in trouble at 40-3 before Gidman (50) shared in half-century stands with Darren Stevens (38) and Alex Blake (36) but from 173-4, Kent collapsed to 194 all out in 46 overs.

Pacemen Shannon Gabriel (125 in eight overs) and man-ofthe-match Ravi Rampaul (4-37 in 10) did most of the damage. T&T reached 49 without loss in reply but Stevens (3-34) then struck twice to help reduce them to 65-3 only for Jason Mohammed (78 not out) and Denesh Ramdin (56) to add 127 in 125 balls.

Coles eventually broke the stand as Ramdin gloved a short ball to Rouse and although Roshon Primus was run out without facing, the 11-time Caribbean champions eased home with 8.4 overs to spare.

Gidman (94) and Adam Rouse (40) had both hit List A career bests in Friday’s game against the Windward Islands Volcanoes but their efforts were not enough to prevent a six-wicket defeat at The Coolidge Ground.

Batting first, Kent collapsed from 21 without loss to 35-5 before Rouse joined Gidman in a sixth-wicket stand of 104.

Rouse’s 40 improved his previous best score of 36 not out made against the same opponents earlier on the tour.

Gidman hit seven fours and three sixes on his way to passing his previous career-best in one-day cricket before being caught but Haggett’s 22 helped push the Kent total up to 205.

Ivan Thomas (2-54) made an early breakthrough but Devon Smith (32) and opener Kavem Hodge (68 and Sunil Ambris (48) helped the Volcanoes to victory with 13 balls to spare.

Cricket’s annual meeting will be held at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence on Tuesday, March 28 (7pm). Members with voting rights are invited to attend.