Shillingford, Fletcher star in Windwards win

Shane Shillingford – six wickets at WICB.
Shane Shillingford – six wickets at WICB.

Shane Shillingford, the former West Indies off-spinner, captured a six-wicket haul and Andre Fletcher slammed a brilliant century 120 as Windward Islands Volcanoes crushed Jamaica Franchise by an innings and 22 runs inside three days on Sunday at Arnos Vale Stadium, St. Vincent, in the WICB Professional League four-day competition.

Shillingford, the 31-year-old Dominican, grabbed six for 31, his 28th five-wicket haul in first cricket and became the leading wicket taker in regional first-class cricket, surpassing Guyanese and former West Indies leg-spinner Mahendra Nagamootoo’s record of 325 wickets.

Jamaica choosing to bat first scored 204 with Jermaine Blackwood topscoring with 96. Alston Bobb took five for 38. Windward Islands in reply scored 328 with A. Fletcher scoring 120 and Tyrone Theophile chipped in 55.

Dave Bernard Jr. took five for 57. Jamaica in their second innings scored only 102 with Carlton Baugh scoring 24. Shillingford took six for 31.

Leaders in the competition, Guyana Jaguars continued their winning streak when they battered Leeward Islands Hurricanes by eight wickets inside three days on Sunday at Vivian Richards Cricket Ground, Antigua.

Leewards Islands were all out for 139 with skipper Jeremiah Louis topscoring with 27. Ronsford Beaton took four for 40 and Veerasammy Permaul and Christopher Barnwell picked up two wickets each. Guyana in reply scored 267 with opener Rajindra Chandrika topscoring with 83 and skipper Leon Johnson made 48. Rahkeem Cornwall took seven for 96.

Leeward Islands in their second innings were all out for 200 with Gavin Tonge scoring 46 and Sherwin Peters 46. Davendra Bishoo, the former West Indies leg-spinner, took six for 82 and V. Permaul took three for 57. Guyana set a paltry 73 for victory and lost two wickets in the process with Leon Johnson scoring 36.

In the other sixth-round match, Barbados Pride defeated Trinidad & Tobago Red Force by 222 runs at Kensington Oval, Barbados. Barbados sent in to bat first scored 275 all out with Shane Dowrich again among the runs topscoring with 92 and Roston Chase made 85. Imran Khan took four for 65 and Shannon Gabriel three for 40.

T&T in reply were all out for 218 with Evin Lewis scoring 43 and skipper Jason Mohammed made 32. Carlos Brathwaite took four for 50 and Roston Chase three for 14. Barbados in their second innings scored 278 for five wickets with Shai Hope undefeated on 111 and Carlos Brathwaite not out on 59.

  1. Khan took two for 74. T&T in reply made 113 for nine wickets with Evin Lewis scoring 38. Jeremy Solozano was injured and did not bat. Carlos Brathwaite and Tino Best picked up three wickets each.

Points standings after the sixth round: Guyana, 92 points; Barbados, 77; Windward Islands, 64; Jamaica, 57; T&T, 30 and Leeward Islands, 14.

The seventh round starts tomorrow (Feb. 20), with Barbados vs Guyana at Bridgetown, Barbados, Leeward Islands vs Windward Islands at Gros Islet, St. Lucia and Jamaica vs T&T at Kingston, Jamaica.