Kavian Naress after his 71
(thanks to Anil Khanna for photo)
Excerpts from the Windies Media Release about Windward Islands U19 v Canada U19s
Kimani Melius hit a commanding hundred to carry Windward Islands to a comfortable victory, but stunning defeats for the tournament front-running pair of Guyana and Barbados captured the headlines and set up an intriguing final round in the WINDIES Under-19 Championship today. Melius, the highly-regarded WINDIES Under-19 batsman, anchored the Windwards’ batting with a boundary-studded 102 that paved the way for his side’s 93-run victory over Canada in the sixth and penultimate round of the competition.
At Park Hill: All but 14 of Melius’ runs were in boundaries, comprising 13 fours and six sixes, as the Windwards amassed the highest total for this year’s tournament of 310 for seven from their allocation of 50 overs, after they chose to bat. Micah Joseph supported with four fours and seven sixes in 90 from 80 balls and shared 92 for the seventh wicket with Lincoln Durand that added to the Canadians’ frustration.
Canada never recovered after they stumbled to 93 for six, but Kavian Naresh made 71 from 74 balls and shared a seventh-wicket stand of 76 with Nicholas Manohar to help the visitors post their best total of the tournament.
Some other notes from Eddie Norfolk
Windward Islands became the first team to break the 300 run mark in this tournament. The previous best score had been Trinidad and Tobago U19 249/7 (50 ov) against the Leeward Islands U19 in the second round of matches. Canada U19s score of 231/9 (50 overs) is the third highest total with one round of matches to play; but a round of games that does not include Canada U19 after completing games against all six West Indies Regional teams.
Other scores over 200, so far, are:
Trinidad and Tobago 219 (50 ov) v Windward Islands 104 (27.3 ov); and Guyana U19s 215/8 (50 ov) v Leeward Islands U19s 101 (30.5). Both games were in the fourth round of matches.
Barbados U19s reached 193/7 from 43 overs batting first in a game with a rain interruption. The total was adjusted to 210 for 43 overs under DLS when Trinidad and Tobago batted and were bowled out for 149 after 36.3 overs.
Captain Rishiv Joshi (36*) and Shlok Patel (10*) added 41* for the tenth wicket, which is the highest 10th wicket stand of the tournament to date.