NORTH SOUND, Antigua--The St. Maarten U17 team won back-to-back matches in a shortened version of the Leeward Islands Cricket Board (LICB) U17 tourney in Antigua. St. Maarten defeated two Leeward Islands powerhouses in Antigua and St. Kitts in consecutive days at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound.
The format for the tournament had to be redone to twenty-five overs per side instead of fifty overs per side and then all the matches were relocated to the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium because of its very good drainage system in the event of the expected rain.
On Thursday, St. Maarten defeated St. Kitts by 92 runs. St. Maarten posted an unassailable 155 for seven in 25 overs. St. Kitts replied with a disappointing 63 all out with five overs to spare.
For St. Maarten, opening batsman Michael Palmer top scored with a blistering 63 off only 37 balls which was peppered with six fours and four sixes. The other main contributors to the total were Amarius Harris with 27 off 37 balls (1x4, 1x6) and Kyshawn Charles with 14 off 32 balls.
The St. Kitts batsmen never got going against the bowlers from the Friendly Island.
Chemeiko Landefort with outstanding bowling figures of four for nine off three overs and Harris with four for 14 off five overs were the main destroyers. The other wicket takers were Rudesh Ramraj with one for five from three overs and Nathan Edward with one for 11 off five overs.
Tyrese Brown was the top scorer for St. Kitts with 13 (1x4). The St. Maarten bowlers displayed pinpoint accuracy which resulted in six dismissals through hitting the stumps (bowled) and two leg before wickets.
Palmer who has been identified as an exciting batting talent was the Lucozade man of the match.
In other results, Nevis defeated Antigua and Barbuda by 17 runs. Nevis posted 135 for two in 25 overs. The Antiguans replied with 117 for nine in 25 overs.
St. Maarten is presently enjoying terrific success in this youth tournament which started on December 18 when they defeated Antigua and Barbuda for the first time in the youth level.
In that match, St. Maarten scored 111 for nine off 25 overs, to which Antigua and Barbuda responded with 99 for nine off 25 overs. Edward was the Lucozade man of the match for his outstanding bowling effort with two for 19 off five overs and 15 off 19 balls (2x4) when he had bat in hand.
The next match for St. Maarten is on December 21 against Montserrat, beginning at 2:00pm.
