Sunday 20th July
2014 – North Sound, Antigua
Red Steel (152-1) beat Antigua
Hawksbills (151-8) by nine wickets, with 17 balls remaining
The Antigua Hawksbills’ losing streak extended to four matches as they
lost to the Red Steel in the Limacol Caribbean Premier League match at the Sir
Vivian Richards Stadium. Regular wickets throughout the home side’s innings
prevented them from building any telling momentum setting 152 runs to win. Red
Steel overseas stars Kevin O’Brien and Ross Taylor made light work of the
target, both registering undefeated half centuries in a partnership off 145,
the highest of the tournament so far.
The Hawksbills innings began as it did in the last match, with Danza
Hyatt struggling to find scoring options against spin bowling. His
tormentor-in-chief in this game was Red Steel’s leg spinner Samuel Badree who
went for just 21 runs off his four overs. Hyatt lost his wicket to the bowling
of Fidel Edwards, scooping a short ball into the waiting gloves of wicket
keeper, Nicolas Pooran, as the Hawksbills innings again failed to fire in the
Powerplay.
Hyatt’s departure brought skipper Marlon Samuels to the crease, and he started
where he had left off in the last game. He hit his fourth ball for six but he
could not replicate the stellar performance from yesterday, falling to a slower
ball bouncer from Kevon Cooper that was dollied up to Dwayne Bravo. While the
loss of Samuels was a massive blow for the home side, with Ben Dunk still at
the crease, there was hope. The Australian was the player of the tournament in
the Big Bash this winter and he was looking well set to go big here. It was not
to be as he was involved in his second run out in four innings as he came back
for a second run that was never there.
With the two big guns at the top of the order gone, there was a
rebuilding job to be done for the Antigua Hawksbills. The man who had that
responsibility thrust upon him was David Hussey. As the player second on the
list of most T20 appearances, he certainly had the experience. He took his side
from 48 for three to 114 for four before he was caught at long off by Kevin
O’Brien in an excellent partnership with Devon Thomas.
When Hussey went, it brought Sheldon Cottrell to the crease, promoted up
the order to add some impetus to proceedings. From his very first ball,
his stay at the crease was eventful. He took off for a quick single off Cooper
and the bowler removed the bails with Cottrell short of his ground. The umpire
did not refer it to the TV official. When the Red Steel bench saw the pictures,
they brought this to the attention of their team, but the umpire said that no
one had appealed and refused to go upstairs for the replay. The very next ball,
Thomas was out caught behind for 38, the highest score of the innings.
Cottrell went for a quick fire 16 runs that included two sixes, one of
which was almost spectacularly taken by Kennar Lewis who dived full length but
was over the rope when he took off for the catch. The rest of the Hawksbills
lower order swished hard to try and get their team up to a decent total, the
biggest cheer of the innings reserved for crowd favourite Rahkeem Cornwall when
he cleared the boundary with a steepling six.
With only one significant partnership in their innings, it became clear
very soon that Hawksbills did not have enough runs. Kevin O’Brien was brutal on
anything wide inside the Powerplay, and while he swung and missed regularly, he
also kept the scoreboard ticking over. Ross Taylor showed all of his class
cutting and driving the bad balls to the boundary.
As O’Brien attacked, Taylor
worked the ball around to give strike back to the Irishman. By the halfway
stage, they had reached 75 for one, almost halfway to the target with nine
wickets in hand. Samuels brought back Cottrell, his most economical bowler, in
the 11th over in a last ditch attempt to find a wicket to bring them
back into the game, but it was not forthcoming.
O’Brien’s fifty came up off just 29 balls as the decision by the Red
Steel to move him up the order to open paid off spectacularly. He finished on
90 not out, with Taylor
undefeated on 51. The winning runs came from a bye as the ball evaded the
Hawksbills wicket keeper, Thomas.
With this most recent defeat, the Hawksbills find themselves well adrift
from the qualification spots. They will need a serious turnaround of fortunes
to secure a semi-final berth.
ENDS
About the Caribbean
Premier League:
Caribbean Premier League is a franchise-based T20
format cricket tournament that combines two of the most compelling aspects of Caribbean life – dramatic cricket and a vibrant Carnival
atmosphere. The inaugural CPL, billed as “the Biggest Party in Sport”
featured six teams competing throughout the region in August 2013 – Jamaica
Tallawahs, The Red Steel, Barbados Tridents, Guyana Amazon Warriors, St. Lucia
Zouks, Antigua Hawksbills. The Jamaica Tallawahs, captained by Chris
Gayle, emerged as champions.
CPL 2014 takes place from July 11th to
August 16th 2014.
