(CMC) – Unbeaten half-centuries from their captain Nyeem Young and opener Matthew Nandu fired the Cricket West Indies Academy to a six-wicket win against Emerging Ireland in their third one-day, 50 overs-a-side match yesterday in Antigua.
Young battered eight fours and three sixes in the top score of 75 not out off 67 balls, and Nandu gathered only three fours in a resolute 63 off 107 balls, and the CWI Academy successfully chased a target of 176 at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground to clinch the three-match series 2-1.
The CWI Academy captain dominated a stand of 115 – unbroken – with Nandu for the fifth wicket after left-arm spinner Matthew Humphreys grabbed two for 52 from 9.3 overs, and the chase ran into a bit of a wobble on 64 for four in the 20th over.
Young formalised the result with 57 balls remaining when he lofted Humphreys over long-on for six and gave his side their second successive win after Emerging Ireland won the first match by 26 runs on Friday at the same venue, and CWI Academy won the second match by seven wickets on Sunday at the Coolidge Cricket Ground (CCG). The two sides will now play a pair of four-day, first-class matches, starting on November 25 and December 2 at the CCG.
Earlier, destructive spin bowling from the trio of Ashmead Nedd, Joshua Bishop, and Kevin Wickham sent Emerging Ireland crashing to 175 all out in 43.4 overs after they were put in to bat.
Off-spinner Nedd, whose father Gavin played for Guyana, ended with three for 28 from nine overs; left-arm spinner Joshua Bishop opened the bowling and took three for 32 from his allotted 10 overs; and fellow Barbadian and part-time leg-spinner Kevin Wickham grabbed three for 42 from 8.4 overs.
The CWI Academy only met defiance from opener Stephen Doheny, whose 64 off 97 balls was the top score, and he shared a 63-run, third-wicket stand with Morgan Topping before he was one of five wickets that fell for 19 in the span of 41 balls to undermine the visitors.
Topping made 20 and Thomas Mayes, batting at eight, added 27. The Academy squad comprised mainly players in the CWI high-performance programme who have recently played in the West Indies Super50 Cup as well as the Headley-Weekes Tri-Series earlier this year.
The series of matches is an attempt by the two sides to gain high-quality playing time and test themselves against each other.
