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Day 1: Wilkinson saves day

Haydn Gill at Kensington Oval

Barbados 228, Trinidad and Tobago 4-0

Kurt Wilkinson put aside his poor form in the Nortel Networks Youth Cricket Championship with a fighting half-century at a critical stage on the opening day of the final against Trinidad and Tobago yesterday.

His battling 75 was important not only to Barbados' worrying position of 120 for six, but to his confidence. His previous four innings had yielded only single-figure scores and he had a mere 15 runs in five innings.

By the time he was out, Barbados, seeking their first title since 1991, had reached a challenging, if not satisfying total against an attack spearheaded by Rodney Sooklal, who finished with six for 66.

Barbados, sent in, were once again struggling to provide a major challenge in the middle-order and were starting to collapse against a spin-based attack when Wilkinson came to the rescue.

Sooklal, whose off-spin earned him 22 wickets ahead of the final, and left-arm spinner Davindra Krishna had just taken three quick wickets to tilt the balance that had been even when Wilkinson and captain Ryan Hinds were together in a fourth-wicket stand of 46.

Krishna, a former West Indies Under-15 captain, claimed the key scalp of Hinds an hour after lunch, and Trinidad and Tobago became even more cock-a-hoop when Sooklal dismissed the tentative Dwayne Smith and Vonrick Nurse in successive balls.

The left-handed Hinds, who made 34, was just about beginning to get on top of the bowling when he attempted a cross-batted shot off Krishna and skied a catch to mid-wicket. It was a big disappointment to a estimated crowd of about 500.

Smith, who won the hearts of many with his scintillating strokeplay in the semifinal, started with two confident on-side boundaries before Sooklal removed him via a bat-pad catch at forward short-leg.

Nurse, like Wilkinson, a struggler for most of the tournament, had no clue about one that breached his defensive prod and went into the stumps.

By then, Wilkinson was only in his 20s and was handicapped by a wrist injury on his left hand that restricted his strokeplay, especially on the front foot.

As a result, he showed an obvious bias for the back foot where he counted most of his six fours in a knock that lasted just under four hours.

The Foundation schoolboy and Combined Schools South captain had to depend on support from the lower order, but Callitos Lopez and Sulieman Benn stayed with him long enough to ensure that the last four wickets realised more than 100 runs.

Yet, both were out to ill-advised cross-batted strokes - in keeping with the reckless dismissals in the first half of the day.

After a first-wicket stand of 38, Jason Parris failed to clear mid-on and his opening partner, Jason Haynes, was lbw playing across a fullish delivery in the first over from part-time off-spinner Sherwin Ganga.

In between, Rohan Nurse, promoted to No. 3 after his face-saving half-century against Jamaica, was out to a stunning catch at forward short-leg by Chris Magram when almost everyone was looking for the ball in the direction of the Kensington Stand.

Barbados reached 72 for three at lunch and the second session was almost identical with 70 runs scored for the loss of four wickets.

The tempo was immediately lifted after tea by Wilkinson and especially Benn, who counter-attacked the spinners in an innings of 41 off 50 balls.

The tall left-hander struck four fours and a six over mid-wicket, but after adding 68 for the eighth wicket, he edged a big swing to the 'keeper.

Ryan Austin, in the side because of an injury to left-arm wrist spinner Jedson Yarde, was another who got into the cross-bat syndrome and was bowled attempting a big swing.

With only Antonio Thomas remaining, Wilkinson, changed gears by hitting two quick boundaries before hitting a catch-to mid-on just after 4:30 p.m.

Day 2: Bajans batting to win

Haydn Gill at Kensington Oval

Barbados 228 & 106-3, Trinidad & Tobago 145

Kadooment Day celebrations are almost certain to continue today for 14 young Barbadian cricketers on the verge of accomplishing a mission they set out to achieve three weeks ago.

A day after the national festival, Barbados return to the headquarters of West Indies cricket to complete what appears to be a mere formality in confirming themselves as the 1999 Nortel Networks youth champions.

Their position was set up after outplaying Trinidad and Tobago on the second day of the championship final on Sunday.

It was something they did without captain Ryan Hinds, who spent the day off the field with an injured right ankle.

Barbados would have been expecting a stiffer challenge from opponents who breezed through the preliminaries and posted the tournament's highest total of 396 in their semifinal against dethroned champions Guyana only a few days earlier.

Instead, Trinidad and Tobago folded tamely, unsettled first by the pace of Callitos Lopez and Antonio Thomas and then undermined by the contrasting spin of Sulieman Benn and Ryan Austin.

Both Benn and Austin took four wickets and the visitors were all out mid-way into the second session, having conceded a relatively big lead of 83.

By the close, Barbados had avoided a repeat of their earlier collapses and had extended their advantage to 189 with seven wickets still in hand, a position that makes them seemingly unbeatable on today's final day.

'It's a pretty good position to be in. If we continue batting and bat for a reasonable time, we would more or less put it out of the reach of the Trinindadians,' said Barbados manager Darnley Boxill.

'I hardly think that the guys would want to do anything stupid in order not to render themselves champions.'

Barbados would have spent yesterday's rest day eagerly looking forward to their first title since 1991.

It is no secret that Trinidad and Tobago's batsmen have always been vulnerable against fast bowling at this level and it showed for the first hour when Lopez and Thomas took the first two wickets.

After 20 minutes, the aggressive Chris Magram was unable to withdraw his bat in time to a delivery from Lopez which moved away. It took the edge and went through to the keeper for the first of three catches by Jason Haynes.

Aneil Kanhai, who made 98 in the semifinal, just managed to get his attempted hook off Thomas away from the keeper, but by then, he had walked into his stumps.

When Sherwin Ganga, the brother of West Indies cap Daren Ganga, and captain Zaheer Ali were together in a third wicket partnership of 34, Trinidad and Tobago seemed to be approaching their task with some encouragement before lunch.

Once Ganga edged a well-flighted ball from Benn 35 minutes to the break, there was always some uncertainty about the approach of the rest of the batting.

Haynes missed a chance off Gregory Mahabir, but the stand-in wicket-keeper made up for it when he held a near head-high chance that was offered by the same batsman to a ball from Austin that turned and bounced viciously.

Kenton Thompson, one of only three right-handed batsmen in the Trinidad and Tobago team, appeared out of sorts and it was no surprise when Benn bowled him with a faster ball five minutes before lunch at 89 for five..

All hope for Trinidad and Tobago now rested with Ali but the former West Indies under-15 captain went in the first over after the break when he failed to get on top a ball.

Ali hit the topscore of 32 and no one else took the fight to Barbados until Rodney Sooklal arrived at No. 9 to play a couple of shots in a breezy 31.

Austin, who was never afraid to flight the ball, took the last three wickets.

Barbados' second innings has been propped up by Rohan Nurse's unbeaten 40 and Kurt Willinson's 30 not out, the pair adding 40 after Trinidad and Tobago claimed two quick wickets.

One of those was Vonrick Nurse, who completed a pair as he was bowled.

Day 3: Easy Nortel win

Haydn Gill at Kensington Oval

Barbados 228 & 341-8 decld, Trinidad and Tobago 145 & 82-2.

The sweet taste of victory was doubly sumptuous yesterday.

Barbados duly confirmed their status as the 1999 Nortel Networks West Indies youth cricket three-day champions, but not before captain Ryan Hinds and Kurt Wilkinson enjoyed the satisfaction of posting impressive centuries against hapless Trinidad and Tobago.

The three-day final ended in a tame draw, but first innings honours by Barbados assured them of their first title since 1991.

Before Prime Minister Owen Arthur could join them in the dressing room to offer his congratulations, team manager Darnley Boxill said no credit could be too high for a team that did not concede first innings lead to a single opponent.

The boys truly deserved this victory. We played as a team. When the chips were down we fought back, Boxill said.

We put in a very good all-round performance batting, bowling and towards the end the fielding improved somewhat.

Hinds, Barbados most consistent and classiest batsman, transformed the post-lunch session yesterday with his most commanding batting of the tournament en route to becoming the tournaments leading run-scorer.

Wilkinson, short of runs during the first four matches, followed up his 75 in the first innings with a fine century before the bothersome wrist that troubled him throughout the match forced him to retire hurt at tea.

Hinds and Wilkinson first had to ensure that Barbados did not give Trinidad and Tobago a semblance of a chance of snatching the title after the hosts lost two wickets within the first half-hour.

At that point, Barbados overall lead was 205 with five wickets intact, but Trinidad and Tobagos chances diminished with every passing minute as Hinds and Wilkinson batted assuredly in a partnership that was eventually worth 214.

Dropped twice

By the time it was broken on the stroke of tea when Hinds, dropped twice in the 30s, holed out on the mid-wicket boundary for 120, Trinidad and Tobagos task was an impossible one. When Barbados finally declared 15 minutes after the break, the target for the visitors was 407.

Hinds hundred, his second of the tournament, was decorated with nine fours and two sixes off 195 balls, and it carried his aggregate to 487 runs, 62 more than 16-year-old Guyanese Narsingh Deonarine.

Wilkinson was 33 when Hinds joined him, but Hinds motored along so rapidly after lunch that he passed Wilkinson in the 80s.

Wilkinson was the first to reach his hundred, but Hinds arrived at his five minutes later.

Barbados reeled off 123 runs between lunch and tea when Wilkinson decided that enough was enough. When he retired hurt, he was on 119 which included 12 fours off 195 balls in 3-1/2 hours batting.

Boxill said the all-round strength was the difference between Barbados and the other seven competing teams.

It was our quality and our depth. We had a lot of batting and a lot of good bowling, he said.

We had batting right the way down to the end and quality in our bowling with two good quicks and three good spinners.

There were one or two good performances from the other teams, but they lacked the depth we had.

When somebody didnt come off, we could call on someone else to fill the breach. There were times when our batting didn't click early, then the middle and lower order rallied.