Teddy Bishop, Matthew Nandu and Leonardo Julien scored half-centuries for the West Indies Academy as they defeated the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) team by 29 runs at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy.
The WI Academy team posted a massive total of 318 for eight from their 50 overs after they were asked to bat first by the CCC. Kimani Melius departed early for 13, but Nandu and Julien established an excellent partnership to steady the Academy innings.
Julien went on to score 51 from 67 balls with three fours and two sixes. After Julien departed, Teddy Bishop came in and upped the impetus alongside Nandu.
Nandu would eventually be dismissed for 84 off 92 balls, including seven fours and a six. However, Nandu’s dismissal didn’t put a dampener on Bishop’s party as the Grenadian kept playing his shots and finding the boundary regularly.
Bishop smashed 14 fours and a six in his knock, but he fell agonisingly short of a century – finishing unbeaten on 95 off 75 deliveries. Bowling for CCC, pacer Isai Thorne had figures of 3/65, spinner Abhijai Mansingh took 2/55, and Chemar Holder picked up 1/65 in 10 overs each.
With the daunting task of chasing down 319 in front of them, the CCC gave it their best shot. Despite losing Kadeem Alleyne early on for 10, Johann Jeremiah and Shaqkere Parris set about their work, with Jeremiah in particular playing some aggressive strokes.
Jeremiah slammed a top-score 82 off 65 balls laced with 12 boundaries and two sixes before he was unfortunately run out.
Parris, who scored 52 off 74 balls, slowed down after losing his Grenadian partner and was eventually out when he chopped a Joshua Bishop (2/58) delivery onto his stumps. After that, it was a case of the CCC batters getting starts but failing to carry on.
Shatrughan Rambaran chipped in 26, Akshaya Persad made 28, and Mansingh added 24, but it wasn’t enough to carry their team to victory as the CCC were bowled out for 289. Academy skipper Nyeem Young took 3/80 in 9 overs, while Kelvin Pitman snagged 2/37 in 6 overs.
Matthew Forde was very economical, taking 1/26 in 9 overs, and Ashmead Nedd had 1/54 in his ten overs.
