Campbell BRIDGETOWN, CANA:
BARBADOS, guided by half-centuries from Roland Holder, Floyd Reifer and captain Sherwin Campbell, easily defeated Trinidad and Tobago by six wickets at Kensington Oval yesterday to win the 2001 Busta Cup.
Chasing a challenging victory target of 279 on the last day of their seventh and final preliminary round match, Barbados reached 281 for four with Reifer remaining unbeaten on a disciplined 64 and Ryan Hinds on seven.
The victory gave Barbados their 17th regional first-class cricket title since 1966 with 57 points, pipping Guyana, who had the same number of points, by virtue of recording more wins in the eight-team round-robin competition.
Barbados will now oppose Jamaica in the semi-final of the inaugural Busta International Shield from Friday at home.
Reifer and Holder, who made a fluent 73 off 101 balls with seven fours, orchestrated the victory, featuring in a match-winning fourth-wicket partnership of 117 runs in 147 minutes.
However, Campbell also played a key role, batting responsibly at the top of the order for 55 before he was run out.
Promising 20-year-old left-arm spinner Dave Mohamed was Trinidad and Tobago's most successful bowler taking two for 49 off 21 overs but leg-spinner Dinanath Ramnarine, the season's leading wicket-taker with 41 scalps, toiled without success in his 29 overs.
Barbados paced themselves superbly after resuming from 43without loss overnight, needing 236 more runs on the final day.
The Barbadians suffered two setbacks when they lost opener Philo Wallace (45) and Adrian Griffith (6) while scoring 70 runs off 33 overs in the morning session to go to lunch on 113 for two.
After a solid opening stand of 76 with Campbell, Wallace was bowled by Mohamed, who also induced Griffith to give a simple catch to Richard Smith at slip.
Reifer and Campbell then stabilised the innings by adding 65 runs for the third-wicket on either side of lunch.
The stand was broken when the obdurate Campbell was beaten at the bowler's end by a direct throw by Lincoln Roberts running around from long leg as he attempted a third run.
Campbell's three-hour knock was laced with six fours off 165 balls but after his dismissal at 156 for three, with another 123 runs needed, the experienced Holder joined Reifer and carried Barbados to within six runs of victory.
The pair took the score to 202 for three at tea, and on resumption, hastened the end with some exciting stroke-play.
Reifer, who was 46 at the break, posted his fifty in 176 minutes off 122 balls with four fours and a six just after off-spinner Mukesh Persad missed a crucial return catch with the total on 213 for three.
Holder, who batted positively throughout and scored his runs freely against the spinners, posted his fifty shortly afterwards in 99 minutes off 78 balls by driving Ramnarine through the covers and sweeping him for boundaries off consecutive deliveries.
After passing their half-centuries, both Reifer and Holder delighted the crowd which had grown to around 2,000 with a number of sizzling shots.
Reifer drove Persad straight down the ground for four and in the next over, Holder cut Ramnarine through extra cover for yet another boundary.
SCOREBOARD
Trinidad 1st innings 254
Barbados 1st innings 180
Trinidad 2nd innings 204
Barbados 2nd innings
(overnight 43 without loss):
P.Wallace b Mohamed 45
S.Campbell run out 55
A.Griffith c Smith b Mohamed 6
F.Reifer not out 64
R.Holder c wkp Mason b Brown 73
R.Hinds not out 7
Extras (b14, 1b10, nb6, w1) 31
Total (for 4 wickets, 89.4 overs) 281
Fall of wickets: 1-76, 2-91, 3-156, 4-273.
Bowling: Modeste 7.4-3-40-0, Brown 7-0-28-1 (nb2, w1), Ramnarine 29-5-80-0 (nb2), Persad 24-7-54-0 (nb2), Mohamed 21-4-49-2, Jan 1-0-6-0.
Result: Barbados won by six wickets.
Points: Barbados 12, T&T 4.
Man-of-the-Match: Floyd Reifer & Roland Holder (shared).
Umpires: Clancy Mack, Dalton Holder.
Toss: Barbados
