The Barbados Nation Cricket news from Barbados on the Internet.

Foundation Firm On First Day

by Haydn Gill

2 September 1998


With the kind of solid approach that typifies the name of his school, Dwayne Farrell performed the rare feat of batting through the entire first day of the 1998 Cable & Wireless BET Under-15 cricket final yesterday.

And, Foundation, seeking their first title on their third appearance in a final at this level, enjoyed the satisfaction of posting 232 for four against their Christ Church neighbours Deighton Griffith.

On a day blessed with ideal sunshine and a firm pitch, Farrell impressed the large crowd at the BET Sports Complex by showing the type of discipline batsmen his age often lack.

Compact and straight-batted, he hardly played a false shot from the day's first ball to the last. When he turned and headed for the pavilion after 4 1/2 hours of diligent application, he was unbeaten on 75.

The 14-year-old from Parish Land faced 210 balls, but none was struck for a boundary.

While Farrell dropped anchor, his teammates complemented his style by batting with some degree of enterprise.

His opening partner Ryan Wiggins appeared to be a batsman of class and played some of the day's most authentic strokes in an innings of 44 off 81 balls.

When he was out 90 minutes into the day after a partnership of 79 with Farrell, Shane Blenman, captain Andre Walcott and Jamal Forde maintained the tempo that allowed Foundation to manage a rate of nearly 3 1/2 runs an over.

Their long-standing cricket master Bruce Cosens was pleased with the effort by the school which endured the frustration of missing out on the title in the 1995 and 1996 finals.

``All of the guys settled down and played responsibly. Deighton Griffith bowled steadily but our batsmen have batted us into a good position,'' he told NATIONSPORT.

``The performance by Farrell was exceptional. He is someone who has the temperament to bat long. It was a responsible knock and it's good to see that sort of application from a youngster.''

Deighton Griffith, emphatic winners of Zone ``A'' even before the final round of preliminary matches, came into the final heavily dependent on the two spinners who mesmerised batsmen during the preliminary phase in which they shared 141 wickets.

But Derrick Bishop, their captain and champion left-arm spinner, and little leg-spinning partner Kenroy Williams toiled for most of the day.

Williams, never afraid to flight the ball, took two for 68 in a lengthy spell of 27 overs, but Bishop, the tournament's highest wicket-taker with 74 scalps, was surprisingly wicketless in 25 overs that cost him 49.

Deighton Griffith's cause was not helped by their ragged fielding, although there was no identifiable chance with the exception of a missed run-out.

Both spinners were into the attack by the eighth over of the innings, but by then the Foundation openers had settled in.

Wiggins, strong on the square-drive and timing the ball perfectly when driving through extra-cover, promised more before he was deceived by a slightly slower ball from fast bowler Kenville Roach and provided a catch to mid-off.

Blenman, busy from the start, quickly added 46 with Farrell. The partnership was dominated by Blenman to the extent that he scored 34 of those runs from 59 balls before he was LBW swinging across Williams' leg-spin.

The aggression of skipper Walcott may have been a bit too much and after making 15, he attempted to swing Williams through the on-side but only succeeded into skying a simple catch to point 40 minutes after tea, which was taken at 104 for one.

Forde, a good player off the back foot, joined Farrell in a fourth-wicket stand of 67 that delighted their supporters. The partnership was ended 25 minutes before the close when Forde missed a full toss and was LBW for 37 off 56 balls.

By then Forde had reached his half-century, which was greeted with a loud roar. He resumes this afternoon searching for another 25 runs to reach a landmark he will remember for some time.


Source: The Barbados Nation
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Date-stamped : 07 Oct1998 - 04:25