IN BRIDGETOWN: The Leeward Islands, trailing Barbados by 42 runs on first innings, were 94 for four in their second innings at the close of the second day’s play.
Scores:
LEEWARDS 249 (Stuart Williams 146; Ian Bradshaw 4-69, Dwayne Smith 2-27) and 94-4 (Ian Tittle 26 not out; Dwayne Smith 2-18, Sulieman Benn 2-20) vs BARBADOS 291 (Sherwin Campbell 50, Ryan Hurley 65, Floyd Reifer 42, Ryan Hinds 33; Gavin Tonge 3-55, Adam Sanford 2-33, Carl Simon 2-63, Omari Banks 2-78).
ST JOHN’S: The West Indies Cricket Board has postponed by one day the second Cable and Wireless Test between West Indies and Australia in Trinidad, as well as the subsequent three-day match between the University of the West Indies Vice Chancellor’s XI and the visitors in Barbados.
In a statement released yesterday, the Cricket Board said the Second Test now starts on April 19 at the Queen’s Park Oval, while the three-day match that follows will begin April 26 at Cave Hill. “The WICB and the Australia Cricket Board realised that the first day of the Test fell on Good Friday after we had concluded discussions on the itinerary,” said Michael Hall, the Cricket Board’s chief cricket operations officer. “Naturally, given the importance of this holy day, the two boards agreed that the match should start a day later than scheduled, forcing the three-day fixture to also start a day later,” Hall added. West Indies face Australia in the Cable and Wireless 2003 Cricket Series that comprises four Tests and seven limited-overs internationals from April 2 to June 2. The Antigua-based cricket board released no further details.
Clico Preysal will meet Queen’s Park in the finals of the Noel Guillen Under-21 Memorial cricket series after defeating Alescon Comet by 100 runs in one semi-final yesterday at Pierre Road, Charlieville, Chaguanas.
Batting first, Clico Preysal made 255/5 in their allotted 40 overs with Miguel Nedd getting 94. Also among the runs were the consistent William Perkin, 50, and Aaron Ragoonath, 54. Pacer Kwesi Roy then got to work and returned the impressive figures off five wickets for 26 to humble Comet for 155 all out in just 34.2 overs. In the other semi-final match at St. Mary’s Ground in Port-of-Spain, Queen’s Park narrowly defeated Tile It Central Sports by two wickets and are now just one fixture away of winning the Noel Guillen title. After restricting Central Sports to just 115 all out in 34 overs, Queen’s Park inched home at 116/8 in the 36th over. Devindra Krishna was the star of the day for Central Sports as he followed his 35 runs with five for 13 when Queen’s Park batted.
NOEL GUILLEN SEMI-FINAL CRICKET SCORES
At St Mary’s ground: Tile It Central Sports 115 all out (34) (Devindra Krishna 35, Phillip Brown 4/23, Rishard Harris 2/15) lost to QPCC 116/8 (35.1) (Jerome Beepath 20, Shastri Samaroo 18, Dillon Rampersad 15 no, Phillip Brown 14 no, Devindra Krishna 5/13) —- by two wkts. At Pierre Road: Clico Preysal 255/5 (40) (Miguel Nedd 94, William Perkins 50, Aaron Ragoonath 54) defeated Comet 155 all out (34.2) (Imran Khan 29, Nicholas Ramjass 45, Kwesi Roy 5/26) —- by 100 runs.
BLOEMFONTEIN: Nathan Astle and Chris Cairns combined forces to take New Zealand to an ultimately comfortable six wicket victory over Zimbabwe in their Cricket World Cup Super Six match yesterday.
Astle, New Zealand’s leading scorer in one-day cricket, took his total past 5,500 with a patient unbeaten 102. Cairns, who took his first wickets of the tournament with two for 16 from four overs, was equally restrained with 54, including two huge sixes. The pair added 121 for the fourth wicket to set up victory for New Zealand with 16 balls to spare. “It is nice to be getting the rewards for a lot of hard work,” Cairns said. “It was nice to be back at the bowling crease.” Cairns said the New Zealanders, who took only four points through from the first round, believed they needed two wins out of three to qualify for the semi-finals. “We have got a big match next against the Australians and they’re playing very, very well,” he said.
New Zealand were set a competitive target of 253 after Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak and Sean Ervine produced some of the most extraordinary late-hitting ever seen in a World Cup. Streak rebuilt the innings patiently during a 68-run stand with Tatenda Taibu (53) after his side had slumped to 106 for six, and then teamed up with Ervine. A savage assault resulted in 62 runs, almost a quarter of the team’s score, coming off the last 18 balls. Streak, who ended on 72 not out, and Ervine, who made 31 from 14 balls, hit eight fours and three sixes in those final three overs. Captain Stephen Fleming led from the front as New Zealand set off in pursuit of Zimbabwe’s 252 for seven. Fleming stroked 10 fours in his 46 from 42 balls, including three in a row from Streak. After his dismissal, Astle took responsibility for the innings, against an attack lacking leg spinner Brian Murphy who tore a calf muscle practising in the break between innings.
He refused to take chances, preferring to play straight and take the singles, a strategy which ultimately paid off handsomely. His 13th one-day century took 122 balls, contained 11 fours and kept New Zealand on course to reach the semi-finals. “It was a big one,” said Astle, who was named “Man-of-the-Match”. “We have to win today, we were probably chasing a few too many at the end. “Cairnsy and I got the partnership we needed and it all worked out well. We had a couple of overs to spare,” he said.
Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs, Roger Boynes was on Friday presented with a gift of a Rivaldo No 11 football jersey from a representative of the Real Madrid Football Club.
The Minister pointed out that plans were in place to establish a camp during the Christmas period. “We will have AC Milan here, they will bring about 20 of their coaches to Trinidad and Tobago to coach the youngsters,”said Boynes who added that they would also be holding a festival. Boynes said that of the two to 3,000 youths who are expected to attend the camps, he hoped to have about five qualify to join the AC Milan youth team. “This is all part and parcel of the government’s pro-active approach as we put out our football development programme for the people of Trinidad and Tobago,” he said. The AC Milan representative, William Georgini, took the opportunity to say that the club is one of the best in the world and presently the most popular in the US. “It has the biggest programme for youth and for kids,” said Georgini. He indicated that the President of AC Milan is also the Prime Minister of Italy, highlighting their hopes for new business opportunities between the nations through this initiative.
LONDON: Frank Lampard’s late equaliser yesterday earned Chelsea a 2-2 draw and a FA Cup quarter-final football replay. The result also put a temporary halt to Arsenal’s assault on a second successive double.
Arsenal looked on course to repeat their victory in last season’s final in Cardiff, despite John Terry giving Chelsea a shock early lead. Francis Jeffers and Thierry Henry — who had seen an earlier penalty saved by Chelsea goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini — put the holders ahead before the interval. But Chelsea refused to buckle and Claudio Ranieri’s side levelled through Lampard with eight minutes left to set up a replay at Stamford Bridge. Arsenal left out Gilberto Silva, Robert Pires, Sylvain Wiltord and Dennis Bergkamp from their starting line-up. And Chelsea made the perfect start to take advantage of uncharacteristically sloppy Arsenal defending after two minutes. Gianfranco Zola had already tested Seaman in the opening seconds before Chelsea took the lead. Arsenal appealed for offside when Jesper Gronkjaer’s cross found Terry, but the defender had timed his run to perfection to head past Seaman. The Gunners were shaken out of their usual composed stride, but were thrown a lifeline when they were awarded a penalty in the 19th minute.
Goalkeeper Cudicini got the slightest touch as he raced from goal to challenge Jeffers. but it was enough to see referee Paul Durkin point to the spot. Chelsea were furious, but also relieved when Cudicini was only awarded a yellow card. Cudicini clearly felt justice was done when he dived to his right to brilliantly save Henry’s resulting penalty. But all Chelsea’s good work went to waste when they allowed Arsenal to equalise in farcical fashion 10 minutes before the interval. Cudicini appeared to have averted danger when he saved from Freddie Ljungberg, but Celestine Babayaro made a hash of his clearance and allowed the lurking Jeffers to scramble home. Arsenal were suddenly revived, and almost took the lead three minutes later when Henry beat Cudicini but struck the post. The reprieve was short-lived — and Arsenal turned the tables on Chelsea as they took the lead on the stroke of half-time. Chelsea were under severe pressure, but wasted a glorious opportunity to equalise when they broke Arsenal’s shackles with 16 minutes left. Hasselbaink’s free-kick left William Gallas clear in front of goal, but he headed tamely over the top. And it was Hasselbaink who was the villain again as time started to run out for Chelsea. But Chelsea continued to edge their way back into contention and equalised with eight minutes left. Zenden’s corner caused an outbreak of mass confusion in the Arsenal six-yard box and Lampard got the final touch to score.
PHANTOM BIDDER made hash of his four rivals to put the $45,000 winner’s purse into the account of owner Nazir Ahamad in capturing the Group 1 feature Arima Race Club Cup at Santa Rosa Park, Arima, yesterday.
At the off in the 1800 metres event, Phantom Menace took the ascendency tracked by The Bidder and Fresh Tempo. This John O’Brien-trained Phantom Bidder took the lead after 800 metres only to be passed again by Phantom Menace briefly. The pre-race favourite was in cruise control 600 metres out and kicked clear inside 200 metres leaving his challengers struggling to win by seven lengths. Morgan Heritage ran on from the back to get second 15 lengths ahead of a tired Phantom Menace. Ichiban made light work of the three-year-olds to take the Grade 2 Royal Colours Classic over 1350 metres. Always well positioned, the evens favourite took the lead 600 metres out and when Top Of The Class challenged, the chestnut son of Freshly Squeezed/Iador sprinted clear for an emphatic six-length victory and later survived an objection to give ace trainer O’Brien the “big race” double.
There were a few mild upsets on the day’s 11-race programme with the biggest coming in the ninth race when Rhythm Divine surprised all to reward backers with $29.30 and $9.00 on the tote. But the best trifecta dividend was paid out on the Upset All, Sir Vidia, Hatrick combination which paid $6,157, with the best superfecta payout being on the Kent’s Delight, Joint Venture, Cash Reward, Hot Way quartet of $5,015.60. Nobel Abrego and Wilmer Galviz shared the riding honours, landing two winners each, while O’Brien and Glenn Mendez were the most successful trainers also with two winners apiece. Racing continue on Saturday, Day 8 of the Arima Race Club season at the same venue.
WASHINGTON: Veteran Sam Cassell notched up 24 points to lead the Milwaukee Bucks to an 85-82 upset win over the Washington Wizards in NBA play on Friday.
Recently-acquired Gary Payton pitched in with 18 points as the Bucks won for just the fourth time in the former Seattle star’s nine appearances with the team. The Wizards’ Michael Jordan, nursing a sore leg and suffering from back spasms, still managed 27 points in 43 minutes on the floor. He also grabbed a match-high nine rebounds, but missed a three-pointer at the buzzer that would have forced overtime. Christian Laettner added 19 points and eight boards. With the win, Milwaukee improved to 31-31 and took over sole possession of eighth spot in the Eastern Conference. In Orlando, the New York Knicks rode a 34-23 third quarter to a 111-102 upset of the Magic, winners of seven of their previous eight matches. Three Knicks topped 20 points, with Latrell Sprewell best of them with 33, including 13 in the breakout third period. Allan Houston had nine rebounds to go with his 25 points. NBA scoring leader Tracy McGrady again paced the Magic with 37 points. The Magic had beaten the Knicks their previous four trips to Orlando.
THIS year’s Beacon Insurance-sponsored West Indies versus The World Cycling Series will be going to St. Vincent for the first time.
Organisers of the series now in its third year, have decided on expanding to regional venues, apart from Barbados and hosts Trinidad and Tobago. The Beacon series will be St. Vincent’s first major international cycling event. According to race promoter Michael Phillips the response and interest have been more than positive. Phillips was also happy to discuss the series with St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves recently. Prime Minister Gonsalves said he was pleased his country has been chosen as a host country of the series, and has pledged his government’s support to the venture. Cyclists will arrive in St. Vincent on May 30 for three days of competition. More than 24 international cyclists are expected to take part in one road race in Kingstown and two track events at Anos Vale Playing Field.
HAYDEN FITZWILLIAMS will lead a Tobago XI against Montserrat in a friendly football encounter at the Dwight Yorke Stadium, Bacolet, Tobago today, starting at 7 pm.
Fitzwilliams, currently training with the national squad under technical director Hannibal Najjar, will head the 17-man team which includes midfielders Makan Hislop and Kerron Phillips, members of the national Under-17 team at the 2001 FIFA Under-17 World Championships held here in TT, and Phillips’ Scarborough Secondary teammate Michael Carrington. And a Tobago women’s unit, under coach Corbin Cooper and manager Ophelia Thomas, will face off against top national team Vandykes in the first match of the day’s doubleheader from 5 pm.
Tobago Teams –
Men’s: Junior Roberts, Lewis Forde (goalkeepers); Terrence Phillips, Shawn Job, Joel Alleyne, Andrew Williams, Warren Phillips, Darren Skeete, Jeron Balfour (defenders); Darren Toby, Kayode Legall, Kevern Murphy, Kerron Phillips, Makan Hislop (midfielders); Michael Carrington, Sean Christmas (strikers).
Women’s: Jana Walters, Eloise Stewart (goalkeepers); Merle Wafe, Akeisha Williams, Josanne Thomas, Earlene Simmons, Melissa Joseph, Liselle Henry (defenders); Janiella McKellar, Dazachelle Dumas, Atiba Chapman, Josanne Boyce, Melissa Richardson (midfielders); Cassie-Ann Thomas, Dynelle Adams (strikers).
