West Indies U-19s fell short of completing an upset against Windward Island Volcanoes despite brilliant performances from Guyanese duo, Bhaskar Yadram and Keemo Paul on Wednesday at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua.
Yadram top scored for the youth side with 52 while Paul hit 22 and took four wickets in their failed attempt which saw them finished 22 runs short of victory.
Earlier, the U19s won the toss and inserted the Volcanoes, who were dismissed for 221 in 46.2 overs. The youth side started well with the ball as Volcanoes slipped to 55-4 before Sunil Ambris (54) and skipper Liam Sebastien (31) added 70 for the fifth wicket.
Sebastian’s dismissal off the bowling of Yadram, stifled the scoring rate of the Volcanoes before they were eventually routed for the par score. Kyle Mayers and Delorn Johnson made 28 and 26 respectively in the latter part of their innings.
Bhaskar Yadram
Paul was the main bowler for the World U19 Champions, finishing with figures of 4-31 from 8.2 overs. Joshua Bishop supported with 2-34 from his quota of 10 overs while Obed McCoy, Te-Shawn Alleyne, Shemar Springer and Yadram picked up one wicket apiece.
In their chase, the U19s started slowly as they lost three early wickets. Yadram was the only batsman to reach double figures as Shian Braithwaite (02), skipper Emmanuel Stewart (03) and Alick Anthanaze (01) failed.
When Yadram, who struck seven boundaries in his top knock fell with the score on 79 it looked like West Indies was heading for a big defeat. However, Kirstan Kallicharran (25), Paul (22) and Bishop 22 not out revived the innings to give their side a chance at four points.
That hope was destroyed by experienced fast bowler Mervin Matthew, who collected three quick wickets in the latter stage of the run chase to seal the win for the Volcanoes.
Matthew was also his side’s leading bowler with 4-38 from 10 overs and was mainly assisted by Johnson, who captured 2-33.
West Indies U-19 next assignment is against the Leeward Islands Hurricanes at the same venue while Volcanoes will tackle defending champions Trinidad and Tobago Red Force in a Day/ night encounter at Coolidge Cricket Ground. It will be the reigning champions’ first match of the season.
