KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Darren Sammy’s Windward Islands will look to continue their unbeaten run when they face Leeward Islands in the first semi-final of the WICB One-Day Championship here today.
The underdogs marched through Group A of the preliminary stages with three successive wins, and will fancy their chances against their erratic archrivals Leewards at the historic Sabina Park.
Windwards have been the surprise team in the competition and were not tipped to emerge from a tough group which included hosts Jamaican and three-time defending champions Trinidad and Tobago.
However, under Sammy’s captaincy, they strung together a series of unflappable performances to top the group.
Sammy yesterday backed his side to continue their recent winning trend against the Leewards.
“We are very confident going into the semi-final. We have been playing really good cricket in the tournament and everyone is contributing,” he said.
“We played against the Leewards and beat them in two warm-up matches before we came to Jamaica so we are confident we can beat them again.”
Windwards opened with a 10-run win over Jamaica under the Duckworth/Lewis Method and followed up with a handy four-wicket win over Combined Campuses and Colleges.
They then shocked T&T by routing them for 133 and then pulling off an easy eight-wicket win.
As they have in this tournament, they will depend heavily on their senior players Sammy and opener Devon Smith, along with talented batsman Johnson Charles and West Indies rookie pacer Nelon Pascal.
The Leewards, meanwhile, will be counting their lucky stars after they sneaked into the final four in the last round of matches on Tuesday.
They needed a 13-run win over Guyana under the DL Method after rain intervened in the encounter.
The four points moved them to six, allowing them to finish second to Barbados in Group B, after they lost their opener by four wickets to the group champions and played to a no-result against the High Performance Centre.
Despite their erratic showing, Leewards coach Kuma Rodney said he expected his side to win the match and book their place in Sunday’s final.
“Once there is cricket on Thursday, we will be in the final on Sunday. You can count on that,” Rodney stressed.
Skipper Wilden Cornwall’s all-round ability will be a crucial asset to side with teenaged batsman Chesney Hughes, and seamer Gavin Tonge and leg-spinner Anthony Martin expected to play supporting roles.
TEAMS (from):
WINDWARDS – Darren Sammy (captain), Devon Smith, Keddy Lesporis, Johnson Charles, Donwell Hector, Andre Fletcher, Lyndon James, Craig Emmanuel, Gary Mathurin, Liam Sebastien, Nelon Pascal, Shane Shillingford, Kenroy Peters, Mervin Matthew.
LEEWARDS – Wilden Cornwall (captain), Montcin Hodge, Javia Liburd, Steve Liburd, Calvin Williams, Gavin Williams, Gavin Tonge, Lionel Baker, Justin Athanaze, Anthony Martin, Omari Banks, Jahmar Hamilton, Chesney Hughes, Jacques Taylor.
