Cricket by Dalchand Bissoon

The Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) defeated the Guyana Jaguars by one-wicket in an exciting finish in their final preliminary Group A round match in the Nagico Super50 cricket tournament, played last Monday, at  Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain, advancing them to the semi-finals.

The Jaguars also managed to advance to the first semi-final, starting today.

In a rather low scoring game, Guyana Jaguars batted first and scored 171 for nine wickets in their 50 overs with allrounder Royston Crandon topscoring with 39. Shiv Chanderpaul made 33 and opener R. Chandrika scored 26. R. Powell took three for 20 from his 10 overs.

CCC in reply made 173 for nine wickets in 49.5 overs. P. Palmer topscored with 32 and R. Powell scored 31. D. Bishoo and P. Wintz took two wickets each.

In another final Group A match played, Windward Islands Volcanoes beat defending champions Barbados Pride by 55 runs and also move into the second semi-finals tomorrow (Friday).

Windward Islands scored 374 for six wickets in their 50 overs with West Indies batsman Johnson Charles scoring a career best 177. J.Searles took three for 60.

Barbados Pride in reply went all out for 319 in 48 overs with skipper Kevin Stoute topscoring with 82. D.Johnson took four for 63.

The other final round matches in Group B were played last Tuesday, with Jamaica Franchise vs West Indies Under-19s and Leeward Islands Hurricanes vs Trinidad & Tobago Red Force.

In the first semi-final today, Guyana plays Jamaica while Trinidad & Tobago will play CCC in the second semi-final tomorrow.

The two winners will clash on Sunday in the final at Queen’s Park Oval for the championship.

Meanwhile, former Guyana and West Indies captain Carl Hooper has been appointed coach of Guyana Amazon Warriors for the 2015 season of the Caribbean Premier League. Hooper served as coach at the West Indies Cricket Board’s High Performance Centre in Barbados.

The 20 overs tournament kicks off July 11 with Guyana Amazon Warriors vs Antigua Hawksbills at the National Cricket Stadium, St. George’s, Grenada.