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By Neto Baptiste
The Antigua and Barbuda Master Blasters, for a second time, were beaten by Anguilla in the Cool & Smooth sponsored Leeward Islands T20 Festival when on Sunday, they crashed to a 21 runs defeat in the tournament’s final, as the Anguillians claimed the inaugural title at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
Winning the toss and opting to bat at the North Sound venue, Anguilla were led by Leeward Islands batter and Player of the Match, Jahmar Hamilton, who top-scored with 69 from 57 deliveries before he was caught and bowled by Kofi James. Hamilton smashed eight fours and three sixes in his knock to help guide his team to 195 for three in their 20 overs.
There was help from Chestney Hughes and Dimitri Adams who both added half centuries with knocks of 59 and 55 runs each.
James was the pick of the bowlers for the Master Blasters with two for 50 in his four overs. Captain, Rahkeem Cornwall had one for 28 in his four.
A gallant effort with the bat from opener Tyrone Williams Jr, who cracked eight fours and two sixes on his way to 71 off 52 balls, was not enough to push Antigua and Barbuda past the required mark when their turn at the crease arrived.
Williams’ knock was the only noteworthy one with D’Ahri Francis adding 20 while Hayden Walsh Jr and Elroy Francis Jr both adding 18 to the effort as the home team fell for 174 in 19.4 overs.
Jaidel Richardson led the bowling for Anguilla with three wickets for 30 runs in 3.4 overs while Shivnarine Benjamin and Mark Gokarran both claimed two wickets.
Captain of the Antigua and Barbuda team, Rahkeem Cornwall, took solace in what he said were a number of good individual performances throughout the tournament.
“The way how the guys played, I am very happy. There are one or two things that we need to tighten up in terms of tactics and experience of the young players. In terms of how the guys played, I am very happy with how Kofi played, with how Karima played, how young Jedi [Jedidiah] played and Micah McKenzie. It’s just a situation where some of the young guys just couldn’t express their skills but for me, the critics don’t bother me. I captained to the best of my ability did what was the best for the team,” he said.
Previously, Antigua and Barbuda went under by 11 runs to Anguilla in the preliminary round. Meanwhile, Nevis defeated Combined Islands by nine runs to claim third place honours also on Sunday.
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