Day 7 at the Cool and Smooth T20 saw the return of triple headers, each game having its own fascinating context as gaps start to appear in the table and players adapt to the conditions at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
The day’s first match saw the New Winthropes Lions take on the winless Bethesda Golden Eagles. Mikkel Govia has been one of the bowlers of the tournament so far as the opening bowler for the Lions, and he continued to make scoring difficult for teams in the early stages against the Golden Eagles. Govia bowled his four overs, conceding 14 runs and taking the wicket of middle-order batter Tehrique Mason to go with his catch and run-out in the field. Teammate and Scotland international Michael Leask picked up the best figures of the innings, finishing with 2-15 from his overs and taking a catch. The Golden Eagles struggled to get a foothold in the game, with Sadique Henry top-scoring with 22 off 21, and were bowled out for 102.
The Lions, predominantly through opening batter Michael Palmer (36* off 25) and a whirlwind inning from Leask, chased down the under-par-looking total. The pair put on a rapid-fire 80-run partnership, with Leask finding exceptional timing at the crease finishing with 47* off 26 balls, helping their team chase down the total after 10.2 overs.
The day’s second game saw the high-flying All Saints Pythons take in the Boland Blasters. The early phases of the game saw the Blasters rip up the form book as Scotland captain Richie Berrington (39 off 33) and Kerry Mentore (28 off 20) put on an opening partnership of 66. However, off-spin bowler Demetri Lucas quickly turned the match on its head. Lucas bowled his four overs, only conceding eight runs and taking a wicket, breaking the momentum of the Blasters.
After the positive opening partnership for the Blasters, there was no acceleration at the back end of the inning, meaning they finished on 130-6. Both teams probably went into the break thinking they had a chance of getting the win. The Pythons have heavily relied on Scotland duo Liam Naylor (14 off 14) and Christopher McBride (14 off 8) and overseas star Matthew Forde (11 off 16) for runs. Therefore, the game was thrown wide open when all three of them were dismissed below the 20-run mark. Micheal Harilall (3-17) claimed the wicket of the Scottish pair, while Morton Browne (3-10) bowled a similar momentum-stunting spell to Lucas in the first inning. Lower-order runs from Michael Marcellin (25 off 29) almost helped the Pythons over the line. But in the end, it was the Blasters that claimed the victory by 16 runs.
The final game saw the undefeated Liberta Blackhawks take on the Jennings Tigers as first place took on third place. The Blackhawks haven’t looked invincible during this tournament, with some nervous moments, but they always found a way to win. This game looked no different after none of the top four batters scored more than 20. However, Kofi James had moved down the order to come in at five, so there was still work for the Tigers to do to ensure that the Blackhawks’ machine could not kick into gear. Overseas signing Ben Sexton put in an impressive performance with the ball and finished with figures of 4-17 from his three overs, along with taking two catches in the field. However, the remaining question was how many runs James could score to help the Blackhawks set a defendable total. James was dismissed in the 14th over after top scoring with 32 off 28. With none of the other batters able to find their timing, the team were dismissed for 102. But spectators have seen the Liberta team defend low scores before.
D’Ahri Francis, who had another impressive game behind the stumps for the Tigers with two catches and no byes conceded, opened the batting with Cameron Miller (14 off 37). Francis, who has been in fine form with the bat, took the attack to the Blackhawk’s bowlers finding the boundary on five occasions during the opening exchanges. The keeper-batter was dismissed for 27 off 18 with the scoreboard reading 39-1 from 6.2 overs. The Tigers needed 63 more runs to win from 13.4 overs to defeat the Blackhawks at just over four runs an over. Sensible batting was required, and that is precisely what the batters delivered. A run-a-ball 19 from Matthew Miller at the final stages was needed to thwart the prized spin bowling attack of the Blackhawks. Miller and Jedidiah Martin (6* off 9) took the Tigers home to win by five wickets.