Dark View Explorers vs La Soufriere Hikers Match Report – 6th Match VPL 4
Hikers won the toss and chose to bat.
Darius Martin started the bowling by examining the pitch and bowling two short deliveries to Carter who was beaten for bounce. Martin strayed down the leg side and gave away 5 wides bowling to captain Maloney. Martin made a cardinal sin of bowling a no ball and to add salt to the wounds, was pulled for four by Carter. The free hit was badly lined and Carter just helped it over the line leg boundary for a maximum.
Deron Greaves, bowling the 2nd over, struck with his first delivery as he had Maloney out caught off his own bowling. Dillon Douglas, the man with the most runs in VPL’s history, drove down long on to pick up his first boundary to push Hikers 25/1 at the end of the over. Douglas cut Descarte during the 3rd over for four then played a ridiculous reverse scoop that sailed over the keeper for six. Jonathan Carter pulled Greaves for six then drove down the ground for a boundary and was joined by Dillon Douglas who drove over long off for four to send Hikers sailing at 55/1 at the end of the powerplay.
Douglas smoked a huge six on the mid wicket roof then cut down to third man as Sealron Williams started to bowl wide to take his swing away from him. Hikers were having their way, being 70/1 after 5 overs. No matter what Explorers tried, the runs continued to flow in unstoppable fashion like lava. Three boundaries were taken from the 6th over as Carter started to time the ball beautifully and pushed Hikers to 87/1.
Jonathan Carter brought up his half century from 22 deliveries – he drove Williams over long on for six then swept over mid wicket for six to bring up his half century. Douglas slogged Navin Stewart over long on then Carter drove beautifully for a maximum over covers to continue the destruction – Hikers 123/1 after 8 overs.
Whatever Explorers were doing was not working as it was an assault beyond the wildest of imaginations. Hikers made 155/4 with huge contributions from Jonathan Carter and Dillon Douglas. Carter remained unbeaten on 65 from 28 deliveries, hitting 5 fours and 5 sixes. Douglas made 64 from 26 deliveries, hitting 5 fours and 6 sixes. Darius Martin was the pick of the bowlers with 3/27. Only one over of the innings conceded less than 10 runs.
Explorers had a terrible start, losing Greaves on the 2nd delivery of the chase, falling to an athletic piece of fielding from Douglas. Explorers found themselves at 19/2 after 3 overs, falling way behind in the run chase. The last over of the powerplay was fruitful for Explorers as they got 20 runs from it as Descarte hit two six and a four to push Explorers to 39/1.
Descarte seemed to be on a solo missing and he struck Douglas back over his head consecutively to pick up maximums to push Explorers to 56/1 after 5 overs. The equation was down to 100 runs from 30 deliveries, quite a monumental task. Romano Pierre joined the party and hit Rayan Williams over mid wicket and long on to collect two maximums during the 6th over. Pierre and Descarte picked up maximums during the 7th over to bring down the equation to 67 runs from 18 deliveries.
Explorers was on a good run, scoring 86 runs between overs 4-8 but they still required another 51 runs from 12 deliveries as Descarte in particular was butchering the attacks to all parts of the ground. Explorers took 24 runs from the penultimate over leaving 27 runs from 6 deliveries for victory. In the end, it was too much for Explorers and Hikers won by 11 runs. Descarte top scored with 70 not out from 29 deliveries, hitting 3 fours and 7 sixes. Romano Pierre got his half century off the last delivery, smashing a maximum to be not out on 51 from 23 deliveries, hitting 2 fours and 5 sixes. Explorers scored 125 runs from their last seven overs. Othneil Lewis was the pick of the bowlers taking 2/8 and being the difference at the end.
La Soufriere Hikers 155/6 (10 overs)
Dark View Explorers 144/2 (10 overs)