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A captains innings and inspirational bowling from Shamarh Brooks led St. Giles to their first victory in the Piton Malta Herman Griffith Primary Schools Cricket Competition yesterday.

The Empire Club was Brooks playground as the slim 11-year-old stroked a well-played, technically correct 54 runs off 69 balls against Wesley Hall in the final.

He came in at the fall of the first wicket with the score at 19 and kept his composure after being dropped when on 17, batting through the remaining overs as St. Giles posted a commanding 139 for four. His innings included four boundaries.

Brooks enjoyed a 48-run partnership with Roger Williams, who was run out on 23, and then added 40 with André Wilkinson.

Wesley Hall, who were chasing their fifth title in the competition, made their task harder by loose bowling and occasionally sloppy fielding.

The score was always a challenging one and though they put up a good fight they could not get the ball through the gaps. Against some tight bowling and fielding they lost wickets rapidly and were struggling at 73 for seven when the overs ran out.

Brooks took the prize wicket of Jamal Holder for seven, bowled Don Gill without scoring and ran out topscorer Sean Forde for 18.

He finished with figures of two for eight off five overs with three maidens and was named Man-Of-The-Match.

Brooks said he thought it was his responsibility to hold the innings together after the other wickets started to fall.

I wanted to bat through, take my time and when the bad balls came hit them away, he said.

Of his escape, Brooks said: That was a bad ball and I went into the air with it, so I decided to respect the good ones and beat the bad ones.

He earned the praise of coach Sylvan Clarke.

Shamarh is a cut above the rest for his age. He is not just a top batsman, he is a cricketer, and knows the game, he said.

Clarke added that the team practised for seven weeks during the holidays.

Summarised scores:

St. Giles 139-4 in 25 overs (Shamarh Brooks 54, R. Williams 23, A. Wilkinson 16; J. Holder 2-21). Wesley Hall Juniors 73-7 in 25 overs (S. Forde 18; S. Brooks 2-8). St. Giles won by 66 xruns.

© The Barbados Nation