West Indies Academy romp to victory over Team Headley
SUMMARY: Team Headley 259-9, innings closed, from 70.4 overs (Joshua Da Silva 136*, Akeem Jordan 54; Johann Layne 5-39, Joshua Bishop 2-89) and 122 all out from 49 overs (Justin Greaves 30*, Akeem Jordan 28; Nyeem Young 3-17, Kelvin Pitman 3-27) vs West Indies Academy 323 all out from 94 overs (Kevlon Anderson 153, Kirk McKenzie 50, Johann Layne 38*; Justin Greaves 3-46, Marquino Mindley 2-47, Akeem Jordan 2-77) and 59-3 from 19.4 overs (Keagan Simmons 31*; Chaim Holder 3-22)
An incisive spell of fast bowling by rookie Kelvin Pitman jolted the more experienced members of Team Headley and enabled the West Indies Academy to record an easy win inside three days in the opening match of the Headley/Weekes Four-Day Tri-Series.
In just his first First-Class match, Pitman was introduced from the northern end and grabbed three wickets in a thrilling passage of play before lunch on the third day.
He retuned figures of 3-27 from seven overs as Team Headley were bowled out for 122 in the second innings. This left the Academy with an easy job to secure the victory and they reached the target of 59 for three wickets early in the third session.
Pitman started with the wicket of keeper Tevyn Walcott, who was brilliantly taken behind by Tevin Imlach and moments later castled first innings century-maker Joshua Da Silva with a brilliant full length delivery. He rounded off when he had left-hander Kieran Powell smartly taken behind by Imlach as Team Headley slipped to at 61-6.
Earlier the hard work was done by skipper Nyeem Young, who bagged 3-17 from 10 accurate overs of swing bowling. He had accounted for Darren Bravo on the second evening and on the third morning bowled both Kavem Hodge and Sunil Ambris.
Left-arm spinner Joshua Bishop (2-18) mopped up the tail, after Justin Greaves (30 not out) and Akeem Jordan (28) offered some resistance with the bat.
Young was one of five debutants at the First-Class level in his team and was understatedly delighted with the performances.
He said: “This was a very good performance. We played outstanding cricket in this match and earned this victory. Johann Layne bowled a great spell on the first day to get a five-for and Kevlon Anderson batted brilliantly to get his century yesterday (Thursday). Today, we came back and backed that up with some outstanding bowling. We also fielded well and caught well.”
In pursuit of victory the Academy lost early wickets and slipped to 13-2 in the fourth over. However, opener Keagan Simmons hit four polished boundaries as he ended on 31 not out off 57 balls. Off-spinner Chaim Holder took the three wickets for 22 runs off eight overs.
The next match will see West Indies Academy take on Team Weekes, starting next Wednesday from 10:00h.
All matches in the Headley Weekes Tri-Series will be streamed LIVE on the Windies Cricket YouTube channel with live scorecards and ball-by-ball scoring on the Windiescricket.com live match centre. (CW