A five-wicket haul from medium pacer Kacey Aldridge was the star performer for England, as they defeated West Indies by five-wickets in day five action of Rising Stars U19 Tri-Series. England who lost to Sri Lanka on Wednesday by 19 runs via the DLS method, decided to bowl first this time and that decision provided immediate rewards.
Kimani Melius leads his team off the field
Opener Kirk McKenzie (who replaced Mbeki Joseph) and wicket-keeper batsman Leonardo Julien, both were dismissed without scoring by player of the match Aldridge (9.1-3-18-5) as the West Indies slipped to 41-4 in the 15th over. Captain Kimani Melius (35) did his best attempting to steady the ship, but when he was bowled by off-spinner Hamidullah Qadri charging down the wicket, so went the home teams batting resistance.
The run chase was relatively comfortable for England although they lost half their wickets. West Indies spin duo off left-arm spinner Ashmead Nedd (10-5-9-1) and off-spinner Matthew Patrick (10-2-32-2) made a valiant effort with the ball on a surface that was giving them assistance, but they simply didn’t have enough runs to defend.
“It’s just a matter of our batsmen converting starts to big scores once they get set. The bowlers have been bowling well, so once the batsmen can put at least 220 runs on the board they (the bowlers) could have something to defend”, said West Indies U19 Captain Kimani Melius reflecting on today’s loss and looking ahead to Saturday key game versus Sri Lanka. “We (the batsman) have been lackadaisical and haven’t shown enough intent and have to keep the game simple.” West Indies and Sri Lanks will meet today (December 14) at Coolidge Cricket Ground from 9:00h. (CWI)
