Windies ‘B’ routed for 197

ST GEORGE’S, Grenada: Devon Smith looks set for another major innings as Windward Islands took control of their final preliminary round match in the Carib Beer 2004 Cricket Series against West Indies “B” at Queen’s Park Stadium.

Smith hit a string of boundaries on his way to an undefeated 32 as Windwards, replying to the West Indies “B” modest first innings total of 197, reached 36 without loss when stumps were drawn on the opening day. Left-hander Smith, playing on home soil, has struck three hundreds in becoming the leading scorer in this year’s championship — he entered the match with 634 runs at an average of 70.44 — and has helped to put Windwards in line for a place in the semi-finals.

A win against West Indies “B” would ensure Windwards of a place and their bowlers diligently worked their way through the opposition batting, despite gutsy knocks from Austin Richards Jr and Kenroy Williams.
Richards anchored the top-order batting with the topscore of 74 and Williams kept the bottom half of the West Indies “B” batting together with a knock of 40. Richards batted with enterprise to race to his 50 by the time lunch had arrived with West Indies “B” on 94 for three. Williams hung around to give a boost to the ‘B’ team’s total, but the visitors lost their last four wickets for 26 runs.