ANGUILLA/ST. MAARTEN—Moreland Le Blanc registered a half century and a three wicket haul from vice captain Colin Hamer denied Anguilla a win in the second day of the Nagico One Day Cricket tournament yesterday at the Caribe Lumber Ballpark in St. Maarten.
St. Maarten was all out for 197 in 44.1 overs, which included 16 fours and two sixes.
The first wicket fell with the score on 23 when Royston Trocard struck the ball high into the air and was caught by Chaka Hodge from the bowling of Masemba Bowen on nine. Sherwin Peters was the next to go on 19 runs, caught by J. Johnson from the bowling of Masemba Bowen.
Le Blanc missed a close call when he was dropped from the first ball he faced and picked up his first run. Doodnauth who appeared to be settling in was also dropped when he was on eight and St Maarten were inching towards the half century mark with the score on 47.
St. Maarten was blessed with the presence of John Eugene who already scored a century in the tournament. Eugene and Le Blanc pushed the team score to 160. However, Eugene made a costly mistake and was bowled LBW by Chesney Hughes for 36.
Bowling for Anguilla, M. Bowen registered two wickets after seven overs and 39 runs; Rey had four wickets in eight overs and 30 runs, C. Hughes, eight overs, one maiden, 45 runs and two wickets and Leonard played four overs, registered no maiden, 15 runs and one wicket. The target of 198 for Anguilla seemed an easy target for Anguilla, but not if the St. Maarten bowlers were up to the task.
Anguilla started off well notching 50 in 19 overs. The break through for St Maarten came with the score on 66, when L Richardson was bowled by Hamer on 51 from 73 balls and that included six fours.
Hamer struck again, this time it was C. Hughes on 29 from 29 balls with the score on 88. With two wickets down, Anguilla needed to score 110 runs from 156 balls at that point in the game.
But Hamer, an experienced player was on fire and he picked up his third wicket, that of Hamilton who was stumped by Trocard the keeper without scoring and the score on 93. In the end, Anguilla fell at 144 from 39.2 overs. Bowling for St. Maarten, Hamer, took three wickets after nine overs, Kenroy David after eight overs picked up a wicket after 41runs, Doodnauth, 6-0-27-2, Eugene, 6.2-1-13-2, Edwards, 7-0-20-2 and Brown 3-2-10-0. St Maarten will challenge Antigua today.
ANTIGUA PULVERIZE BVI
Speaking of Antigua, the defending champions stopped the British Virgin Islands easily by 10wickets. Bowled out for 58 runs, BVI was no match to Antigua. Antigua made 59 runs without losing a wicket. Mali Richards scored 22 runs and Orlando Peters 29 runs for Antigua in 26 overs. Gavin Tonge, Chad Hamson and Anthony Martin took scored three wickets each for the winners. BVI play for pride today against Anguilla.