Allen Stanford (left) consoles Brent Defreitas of the British Virgin Islands after their loss to St. Lucia on Wednesday night. - CONTRIBUTED
ST JOHN'S, Antigua (CMC):
ST. LUCIA survived a few jitters to cruise to a seven-wicket victory in their Stanford Twenty20 Cup match against the British Virgin Islands on Wednesday night at the Stanford Cricket Ground.
Set a modest 106 to win from their allocation of 20 overs, the St. Lucians reached their target with 33 balls to spare, when Gary Mathurin lofted Brent Defreitas for a straight six.
Mathurin hit one four and one six in the top score of 28 not out off 29 balls to help the St. Lucians advance to the first full round of matches in which they face hosts Antigua and Barbuda next Wednesday.
BVI RESTRICTED
After choosing to field, St. Lucia restricted the BVI to 105 for nine from their 20 overs, with Alleyne Prospere taking two wickets for 13 runs from his allotment of four overs and St. Lucia captain Darren Sammy, the Windward Islands and West Indies all-rounder, two for 14 from his four overs.
The BVI, however, were undermined in their bid by four runouts, one of which earned Sammy the Player-of-the-Match award of US$10,000, to go with his Man-of-the-Match prize of US$25,000.
Maxford Pipe, who has made a few appearance for the Leeward Islands in the West Indies first-class cham-pionship, struck three fours and one six in the top score of 39 from 33 balls.
The St. Lucians scored rapidly from early, but their advance was checked when Craig Emmanuel was caught behind off Pipe for eight, and Alvin LaFeuille was adjudged lbw to Defreitas off successive balls to leave them on 32 for two.
Sammy came to the wicket and immediately got into action when he cut Defreitas to the backward point boundary for the first of his four boundaries in 21 from 13 balls before he was adjudged lbw to the same bowler in the seventh over.
At this stage, St Lucia were 65 for three, and Gary Mathurin and Sergio Fedee kept cool heads and carried the St. Lucians over the hump.
Defreitas was the BVI's most successful bowler with two for 40 from 3.3 overs. Earlier, Pipe added 46 for the seventh wicket with Daniel Singh, who scored 16, to bring some respectability to the BVI total.
Disciplined bowling from Sammy and Alleyne Prospere, as well as a couple of runouts had seen the BVI subside to 59 for six in the 13th over.
Pipe and Singh, however, played with some enterprise in a late charge to beef up the total, but the BVI lost three wickets off the last three balls of their innings.
OTHER MATCHES
The competition continues today when Grenada meet Dominica in an all-Windward Islands contest and St. Kitts face federal compatriots Nevis in an Leeward Islands border clash under the lights.
The Stanford Twenty20 Cup, the brainchild of Antigua-based American billionaire financier and developer Allen Stanford, features 19 Caribbean countries all vying for a top prize of US$1 million in a single elimination tournament.
