By Isaac Lockett
Day 5 of the Cool and Smooth T20 reverted to a doubleheader after a weekend of triple headers, but that doesn’t mean the action was any less exciting. The day’s first match saw the Tigers looking to complete three wins in a row against the Bolans Blasters and started the match by attempting to set an imposing target for the Blasters to chase. After losing their first match, the Jennings Tigers have found some crucial momentum, having won their last two games.
Tigers opening batter Dhari Francis, coming off a crucial 93 in the last match, looked to build some momentum of his own and continued to be positive at the crease. Francis was forced to play different innings against the Blasters, with the pitch favouring the bowlers, but he top-scored for the Tigers with 25 off 29 balls. Once Francis departed, none of the other Tigers batters were able to reach the 20-run mark as the Blasters bowlers came into their element. Micheal Harilall finished with the extremely impressive figures of 3-6 from his four overs, while Zidane Clarke (2-25 and captain Taiem Tonge (2-16) finished with two wickets each. The Blasters bowled out the Tigers for 112-10 after taking a wicket on the last ball of the innings and looked in the driving seat heading into the innings break.
However, the Tigers were the ones who started the second innings brighter, with the scoreboard reading 2-3 as overseas Ben Sexton picked up two early wickets. Hope remained for the Blasters as long as the experienced Orlando Peters remained at the crease, with Blasters fans hoping he could steer the side to a crucial victory. The primary concern for the Blasters was that wickets continued to tumble, with only Peters reaching double figures out of the top six batters. The Tigers brought in Craig Rainford for his first match of the tournament, and this decision proved a master stroke picking up 3-19 from his four overs. Peters departed for 34 off 27 balls, and the Blasters’ hope was lost. The chasing team were bowled out for 78, falling 34 runs short.
During the second match, the Bethesda Golden Eagles were looking to claim their first win of the tournament against the All Saints Pythons. In search of early wickets, the Golden Eagles opened the bowling with USA international and left-arm spin bowler Nosthush Kenjige. However, while Kenjige kept it tight in the opening phases, local player Timmo Thomas picked up the first wicket of the match. Whilst the Pythons have been in good
form during the competition, their ability to score defendable scores has largely rested on three players scoring runs; Scotland internationals Liam Naylor and Christopher McBride and Barbadian Matthew Forde. After being dismissed for a duck in the last game, Naylor found his stride, scoring 33 off 34 balls during this match. However, Forde once again proved his quality by bringing up his first half-century of the tournament. The middle-order batter looked like he was batting on a different surface, scoring freely, finishing with 64* from 43 balls. This knock helped the Pythons to 132-5 from their 20 overs, putting Forde second on the tournament’s run-scoring charts with 142 with the same average, having only been dismissed once from three innings. Jamaul Fernandez deserves recognition for how he bowled against the impressive Pythons batters finishing with figures of 3-15 from his four overs.
Forde then starred with the ball for the Pythons finishing with figures of 1-5 from his four overs, including bowling a maiden over during another player-of-the-match performance. The spin bowling duo of Kadeem Josiah (1-17) and McBride (3-13) also continued to impress for the Pythons. Credit must also go to wicket-keeper James Clarke, who completed four catches and a stumping on the day. Despite several Golden Eagle batters making starts, the team struggled to keep up with the required run rate, with only Shacoy Floyd (21 off 17) scoring more than a run a ball. Despite the innings from Floyd giving the Eagles a chance, it was too little too late, finishing their 20 overs 25 runs short.
