Sports Page — It came down to 13 runs required from the last over, as St.Maarten faced off with Nevis in the final of the 2015 edition of the Leeward islands Maters tournament.
The match was played in front of a huge and vociferous crowd at the Carib Lumber Ball Park.
Both teams had full support as the crowd seemed to split down the middle.
The man adjudged as bowler of the tournament, Patrick Newton, was entrusted by Captain Carl Tuckett to bowl that final over.
He seemed cool, calm and composed as he bowled the first delivery. A swing and a miss. Next ball, the hard hitting batsman was bowled neck and crop. The third ball, he pulled the new batsman from his crease and the man adjudged wicketkeeper of the tournament, Oneil DADDY SHAKES Walters, whipped off the bails in the twinkling of an eye,
The fourth ball, the new batman seemed clueless and was bowled all over the shop. Make that a hattrick for Patrick!
The fifth ball, the batsman mistimed a lusty swing but got a single in the process.
The final ball of the match, saw the batsman dancing from his crease and swinging wildly but only to hold out to Carl Tuckett at midwicket.
Game; set; match! Nevis had won and Patrick Newton had picked up four wickets in the final over of an intriguing match.
Earlier, St.Maarten won the toss and elected to send Nevis in.
Merlin Liburd, the man of the finals and Curtis Morton raced to over 60 runs by over number five, with both men hitting the ball to all parts of the field.
When Morton departed, there was the quick fall of Junior Mills’ wicket but Carl Tuckett joined Liburd in an enterprising partnership.
Liburd perished on 91 and Tuckett was not out at the end on 47. Nevis, a healthy 195 for 4.
The home team however, never intended to go down without a fight and fight they did.
Led by an exhilarating partnership between Dango Farrell and tournament MVP, Stephen Evans, the St.Maarten team looked set to take the trophy away from Nevis and then it happened…
The slow moving Dango Farrell turned for an ill advised second run and failed to beat the accurate throw from Junior DUNCAN Mills.
Evans was later beautifully stumped by Oneil Walters and after that, the home team’s innings took a spiral dive.
Summarized scores:
Nevis 195 for 4 in 20 overs: Merlin Liburd 90; Carl Tuckett 47*; Curtis Morton 26
R. Singh 1 for 22; V. Singh 1 for 33
St.Maarten 183 for 8 in 20 overs: Stephen Evans 74; Dango Farrell 56
Patrick Newton 4 for 18
Nevis won by 12 runs
Here are the summarized scores for the other matches played by Nevis, leading up to the finals:
Nevis v St.Kitts
St.Kitts 88: Charles Morton 31
Frank Monzac 3 for 30; Charles Hendrickson 2 for 18
Nevis 89 for 3: Carl Tuckett 24*; Sterling Marshall 22*
Nevis won by 7 wickets
Nevis v St.Thomas:
St.Thomas 130
Collins Joseph 54; Junie Anthony 30
Patrick Newton 3 for 23; Charles Hendrickson 1 for 15
Nevis 131 for no loss: Merlin Liburd 64; Junior Mills 47
Nevis won by 10 wickets-making the runs in 19.3 overs
Antigua v Nevis-semi final
Antigua 110: H. James 44; D. Evanson 22*; G. Skepple 15
Patrick Newton 2 for 8; Wendell Wallace 2 for 17; Charles Hendrickson 1 for 18
Nevis 111 for 5: Curtis Morton 44; Carl Tuckett 43*; Merlin Liburd 14
E. Francis 2 for 3; D. Smith 2 for 9
Nevis requiring three runs from the final ball won by 5 wickets.
Over in the Anguilla zone of the tournament:
Antigua v St. Croix
Antigua 199
St.Croix 116
Antigua v Anguilla
Antigua 168
Anguilla 169 for 3
Anguilla v St.Croix
St.Croix 187
Anguilla 188-in the final over
Keith Elliot of St. Croix scored the first century of the tournament and Stevens of Antigua and Keith Carty of Anguilla both scored half centuries
In the preliminary round in St.Maarten
St.Maarten beat St.Kitts in a high scoring match with Stephen Evans getting a hundred and Junie Mitchum got a half century.
St.Thomas beat St.Maarten
In the semi finals
Nevis beat Antigua and St.Maarten defeated Anguilla