McGill Superstars commence tour of Barbados with one victory, one loss

McGill Superstars Sports Club have commenced their tour of Barbados with a win and a loss in the first two games played. The local contingent lost their first game, against Wanderers Cricket Club, by 37 runs, but bounced by to win their second game, against the Barbados Defence Force, by 13 runs.
In the first game, a T20 encounter, McGill took on Wanderers Cricket Club at the Wanderers CC Ground on Monday. Wanderers took to the field aiming to set a huge total, since they had the home advantage; but the Guyanese side showed great fight and restricted them to 102-8 in their allotted 20 overs.
Ronico Ross top scored for Wanderers with 20, but no other player could pass the twenty-run mark. The McGill bowlers were impressive on foreign territory, bowling a tight line and length to give a good account of themselves. Daniel Basdeo took 2-20, Keshram Seyhodan took 2-22, Ganesh Puran took 2-20 and Narendra Persaud took 1-10.
Needing only 103 for victory off 120 balls, McGill lost it all and found themselves at 28-6 inside of ten overs. The turf was difficult to read, and the Wanderers bowlers used their home advantage well. In the end, they bowled out McGill for 65 runs made in 16.2 overs.
Leading the charge for Wanderers were Jazz Griffith with 3-12, Kymani Richardson with 3-5, Javon Richards with 2-10, and Samuel Quallis with 1-12.
McGill’s second game was a 40-over matchup against the Barbados Defence Force, played at the Police SC Ground on Tuesday. Batting first, McGill mustered 122 in 31.5 overs, with Travis Persaud contributing a resilient 43.
After Persaud was dismissed, no other batsman contributed anything of substance, and the Defence Force made inroads that gave themselves an excellent shot at 123 for victory. Their main bowlers were Dario Burnham with 4-6 and Waldron Bowl with 3-13, while Shaquille Carrington, Andrew Bledman and Dario Belle each bagged a wicket.
At their turn at the crease, BDF were given the shock of their lives when the Guyanese side clamped down on them, ceasing the flow of runs. Their first four batsmen were dismissed with ease, but the partnership of Jamar Gittens (41) and Wayne Pierce (27) frustrated McGill. However, excellent bowling figures from Ganesh Puran, whose 4-22, when added to Travis Persaud’s 3-24 and Keshram Seyhodan’s 2-49, was enough to restrict the BDF to 109 all out.
McGill batsman Travis Persaud said after the games, “Well, firstly, over here is very different from back home. We played our first game at Wanderers and we lost due to the fact that we didn’t get much pitch practice at home, due to the inclement weather. We bowled well, having limited Wanderers to 102 in 20 overs, but we found it difficult to bat on the surface, (which) offers a lot of pace and bounce. Especially the spinners, since they extract a lot of bounce from the surfaces here.
“Against Barbados Defence Force we redeemed ourselves. We went back to the drawing board and corrected our mistakes, so that we won’t suffer another loss. Some of the guys are still trying to adapt to the conditions over here, and are finding in difficult. I’m using my experience to try to overcome the conditions, having played regional cricket on similar pitches around the Caribbean.
“I think, all in all so far, we have been playing good cricket, and we just need to correct a few things and we should be able to win the remaining games.”