KINGSTOWN, St Vincent – Barbados are the double crown champions of the West Indies Men’s Under-19 Championship after spinners Saurav Worrell and Zishan Motara set the foundation for a six-wicket win against Leeward Islands on Tuesday in St Vincent.
Captain Nathan SealyGuyana finished runners-up after an unbeaten half-century from Jonathan van Lange topped a resolute half-century from Stephen Pascal and carried them to a five-wicket win against hosts Windward Islands.
And, a tidy all-round performance from Odel Samuels enabled Jamaica to finish the tournament strongly with a 65-run win against Trinidad & Tobago.
AT CUMBERLAND: West Indies Under-19 batsman Joshua Dorne made 40 and his namesake Joshua Morris got 30, and the Barbadians successfully chased 106 for victory with 145 balls remaining.
The result meant Barbados ended the 50 overs-a-side tournament unbeaten, after winning four matches following a no result in the opening round, and took their second title of the Championship this year after winning the preceding two-day tournament.
“The feeling is unreal,” their captain Nathan Sealy told the www.barbadoscricket.org website. “This was always a goal of mine to win a regional championship for my country and to get my hands on both titles in my final year means so much, and it is a really proud moment for myself to finish my junior career on such a high as well.
“The team is extremely happy and proud. It is what we had set out before we came to St Vincent, and we stuck together in the most difficult times and managed to come out on top and are the double crown champions.
“The management team played their part from Barbados in getting the team together starting our preparation with our camp … with (assistant) coach Dexter Toppin coming along this year, he knew how to win a double, so it was good to have him as well.”
They were 22 for two inside the Power Play before Dorne and Morris shared 63 for the third wicket to put them firmly on track for victory.
Earlier, off-spinner Worrell ended with four for 28 from his allotted 10 overs, and Motara took two for 17 from his 10 overs, and the Barbadians dismissed the Leewards – who won the toss and decided to bat – for 106 in 39.4 overs.
A handful of the Leewards batsmen got starts, but they failed to carry on, and Isra-el Morton was the only batsman to reach 20.
AT PARK HILL: Van Lange cracked four fours and two sixes in 50 not out from 62 balls and anchored a successful chase of 149 for the Guyanese.
His innings highlighted solid, if not powerful top order batting, and he shared a slew of small, but critical partnerships along the way to get Guyana over the finish line with 67 balls remaining – Romeo Deonarine scored 23, their captain Mavendra Dindyal made 22 and Rampertab Ramnauth got 21.
Pascal, opening the batting, had earlier struck six fours in 58 from 98 balls and anchored the Windwards to 148 all out off 40.2 overs.
Dindyal, a member of the West Indies Under-19s at the last ICC Youth World Cup in South Africa, bagged three for 15 from eight overs.
AT THE ARNOS VALE SPORTS COMPLEX: Samuels led the way with 36 and the Jamaicans reached 181 for nine from their allocation of 50 overs.
Samuels followed up with three for 29 from his allotted 10 overs, but Matthew Morgan hastened the end with three for from 3.2 overs and Tamarie Redwood grabbed two wickets, and T&T were bowled out for 116 in 39.3 overs in reply.
