Grenadines Divers vs Salt Pond Breakers Match Report – 1st Match VPL 5
Grenadines Divers won the toss and chose to bowl.
Asif Hooper bowled the first over and beat the bat of Kadir Nedd on three occassion, before Nedd decided to use his feet and hit a clean straight six. Ryshon Williams, on his debut, bowled his left arm finger spin for the 2nd over. He could have struck magic with his first delivery but had an easy chance spilled at Cover from Nedd’s bat. Fortunes continued to favour Breakers as Nedd was dropped again at short third man off Williams.
Dean Browne bowled the 3rd over, his first match as a Divers player and luck wasn’t going his way – Ambris was dropped on the third man boundary and then struck a six over long on. Richie Richards brought the bad luck to an end by taking a good catch on the mid wicket boundary to remove captain Ambris off Dean Browne’s bowling. The dangerous Kadeem Alleyne was then run out for 1, both teams looking shaky in their first match. Breakers were collapsing as Williams had Layne pinned lbw for a duck during the 4th over.
Delorn Johnson marched in, being a famed slogger and lived up to his reputation by smashing 2 sixes, to take Breakers to 40/2 at the end of the powerplay. Richie Richards got Johnson and delivered a wonderful spell taking 3/12 from his two overs and controlling the middle overs in favour of the Divers. Kadir Nedd played the lone hand for Breakers, allowing Breakers to finish with a par score of 99/7 from their 10 overs. Nedd’s top score of 52 came from 30 deliveries, hitting 2 fours and 4 sixes.
Ryan John bowled the first over of the chase and Walton timed a super boundary through the off side to signal his form. Ryan John removed Hackshaw, being wonderfully caught by Warrican. Chadwick Walton drove Johnson through covers for a boundary and captain Hooper flashed through the off side to follow suit. Hooper cut and swept Warrican for boundaries but Warrican struck with an important break through, having Walton caught on the mid wicket boundary. Rasheed Fredericks bowled the final over of the powerplay and strayed down the leg side too often, giving away 7 extras. There was a comedy of errors that saw the dangerous Asif Hooper being run out for 16. Divers finished the powerplay on 40/3.
Breakers pulled things back in the middle, conceding 17 runs from overs 5 to 7, leaving 43 runs required from 18 deliveries. The 8th over, bowled by Ryan John was expensive, conceding 18 runs to leave Divers requiring 25 runs from 12 deliveries. Ryshon Williams took a maximum off the penultimate over bowled by Kadeem Alleyne. The over was good for the situation and the equation boiled down to 14 runs from 6 deliveries.
Delorn Johnson was tasked with bowling the final over. Strough top edged a pull shot off the first delivery for four. Johnson kept his nerve and conceded only four runs from the remaining deliveries to give Breakers victory by 5 runs. Ryan John with 2/23 was the pick of the bowlers for Breakers. Ryshon Williams top scored for Divers, with 25 not out from 20 deliveries, hitting 2 fours and 1 six.
Salt Pond Breakers 99/7 (10 overs)
Grenadines Divers 94/5 (10 overs)