da esport bet： The Final result might not have had anything to do with it
da dobrowin： Haydn Gill01-Nov-1999The Final result might not have had anything to do with it. But, fromthe moment Barbados chose to bat first on winning the toss in theirRed Stripe Bowl opener against the Leeward Islands yesterday, therewas some debate at the Antigua Recreation Ground (ARG).That they managed only 120 had little to do with the surface, and theyduly lost the match by four wickets in spite of a splendid effort indefending their paltry total.There was tight, containing bowling by Barbados throughout and thehosts arrived at their target in the 43rd of the 46 overs available.Prior to the start, which was delayed by 45 minutes to allow thegroundstaff to finally complete the raking up of an enormous amount ofgrass, the general feeling was that the pitch would be unpredictable.When asked at the time why Barbados opted to bat first, coach WilliamBourne said the Duckworth/Lewis system in rain-affected matches tendedto put the team batting second at a disadvantage.There is some uncertainty about the weather, he said at a time whenthe skies were clear and the forecast was favourable.That was a key factor, and sometimes we seem to get problems battingsecond. We feel that once we ride out the first hour, we should get agood score,Bourne said.Barbados did survive the first hour against a Leeward Islands attackwithout Curtly Ambrose and Kenny Benjamin.The damage, however, was principally inflicted by two players in onlytheir second season of regional cricket.Afterwards, Bourne cited the disappointing collapse in which Barbadoslost their last seven wickets for 25 runs as the main reason for theirdemise.We had some bad strokes. The batting was a letdown, he said.The pitch was slow. There was nothing untoward or extraordinary aboutit.One ball bounced badly in both innings, but we batted badly.The defeat means that Barbados must win against Canada today andTrinidad and Tobago tomorrow to stand a chance of reaching thesemifinals.The collapse could not have been predicted when captain Philo Wallaceand Adrian Griffith were finding the boundary with regularity in asecond-wicket stand of 53.Having analysed the pitch, the pair played with some authority afterSherwin Campbell was out to his first ball, gloving a lifting deliveryfrom debutant fast bowler Goldwyn Prince.Big and strong, Prince bowled with enthusiasm before Wallace smackedhim for four boundaries through the on-side.Barbados reached their first 50 in 13 overs before losing momentumwith the introduction of Hamesh Anthony and Anthony Lake.Anthony struck an important blow in his first over when Wallacesattempted cut resulted in an edged catch to wicket-keeper RidleyJacobs, who hauled in five dismissals.Once the captain was out, only 22 runs were scored in the next 11overs that followed from medium-pacer Anthony and off-spinner Lake.Lake, a 25-year-old Antiguan who created a favourable impression inhis debut season last year, hardly delivered a bad ball in tensuccessive overs that cost him a mere 16 runs and included the scalpsof the left-handers Griffith and Ryan Hinds.Griffiths knock ended in disappointing fashion at 31 with anill-advised cross-batted stroke, but Barbados woes started with adouble-strike from the unlikeliest of bowlers.When Wildern Cornwall came on to bowl his bustling medium-pace after27 overs with the total on 80 for three, Barbados would have beenlooking to increase the tempo.Instead, they had to try to recover from the quick dismissals of FloydReifer, who edged a catch to Jacobs, and Roland Holder, a lbw victimon the back foot two balls after the dismissal of his partner.Barbados never overcame these setbacks and a seemingly lengthy battingorder – Antonio Mayers went in at No. 8 – could not raise at leastanother 30 runs that would have made the match far more competitive.Barbados did well to prevent the Leewards from romping home, but thefinal result was always on the cards once the experienced KeithArthurton and Jacobs added 35 for the fifth wicket after their teamwere tottering at 48 for four.Jacobs hit 31 off 67 balls and Arthurton made 25.
