Match Report – 5th Match: La Soufriere Hikers vs Grenadines Divers
Hikers won the toss and chose to bowl first.
Divers made a change to their batting lineup, promoting Nedd to open with Shem Browne. The opening combination paid off and they were ruthless from the start. Nedd slashed over thirdman for four then stroked with the pose straight down the ground for a maximum, taking 13 from the over. Othneil Lewis bowled a good over only conceding 6 runs. The following 3 overs were mauled, going for 41 runs and taking the score to 60/0 after 5 overs – Shem Browne being the chief destroyer so far.
Dillon Douglas bowled the 6th over and only conceded 3 runs, the most economical over of the match. Nedd after his exploit in the first over, was struggling, failing to find the boundary and the Hikers pulling things back a bit. Beniton Stapleton bowled a good 7th over, only conceding 7 runs – gold in the context of the game. Douglas bowled the 8th over and conceded 4 runs, finishing his 2 over spell wicketless, but importantly, only conceding 7 runs. Divers were in a spot of bother, as they were at one point scoring at 12 runs per over and within the blink of an eye, it was down under 10.
Divers needed a big finish, as anything less would be unacceptable from the start they had. Stapleton however had other plans, only conceding 9 in the penultimate over, also having Nedd removed caught on the long on boundary. Nedd made 28 from 24 balls. Hikers were sloppy in the final over, allowing some needless over throws, gifting 3 extra runs. The over conceded 16 runs and Divers finishing on 99-2 from their 10 overs. Shem Browne top scored with 53 from 33 balls, hitting 5 fours and 3 sixes, which was also his first VPL half century.
Salvan was up to face Asif Hooper. The first delivery was a slashed top edge that flew past slip for 4. The 2nd delivery, Browne was bowled all ends up. It brought Douglas to the crease, who blocked his first two deliveries that smashed his 3rd back past the bowler for four – quite an eventful first over.
Hikers was behind their required run rate, being 20-1 after 3 overs. Maloney got into the act and took 14 runs from the final powerplay over, taking the score to 34-1, requiring another 66 runs from 36 deliveries. Maloney kicked into over drive and smoked Dalzell consecutively down the ground for maximums. Douglas joined Maloney and hit a huge six over the wide long on area out the ground – the 5th over conceding 23 runs. Maloney continued the onslaught and when we was dismissed in the 7th over, the job was almost done, his team only requiring 19 runs from 20 balls. Maloney made 41 from 17 balls, hitting 3 fours and 4 sixes. Hikers completed the win with 6 balls to spare – win came from a wide off the first delivery of the final over.
Grenadines Divers 99/2 (10 overs)
La Soufriere Hikers 100/4 (9 overs)