Wickets tumble on opening day as Barbados, CCC tussle

Kavesh Kantasingh

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados,  CMC – Twenty-two wickets tumbled as fortunes lurched this way and that on a dramatic opening day of the final round Regional First Class Championship match between Combined Campuses and Colleges and Barbados here yesterday.

Kavesh Kantasingh

Winning the toss and batting first at the 3Ws Oval strip which favoured spin, Barbados were bundled out for a paltry 90 with left-arm spinner Kavesh Kantasingh grabbing a career-best seven for 22 to be the chief destroyer.

In reply, the CCC were only marginally better as they were sent packing for 113 with left-arm spinner Ryan Hinds claiming four for 20 and pacer Jason Holder collecting three for 10.

With a slim lead of 23, CCC wasted no time in making inroads into the Barbados second innings, picking up two quick wickets to leave their rivals tottering on 17 for two.

Barbados, needing to beat CCC for a place in the semi-finals, never got going and only Jason Haynes with 49 showed any resistance.

The left-handed opener struck five fours in an innings lasting 108 minutes and 79 balls.

He posted 31 for the first wicket with Kraigg Brathwaite who scored seven before giving Floyd Reifer the first of three catches at slip off Kantasingh.

His dismissal signalled the decline and Barbados never recovered as off-spinner Ryan Austin chipped in with two wickets for three runs.

All-rounder Brathwaite then hit a valuable top score of 27 and Nkrumah Bonner stroked 25, to lift CCC from 52 six and give them precious first innings points.