l GROS ISLET

Devon Smith smashed his second century in two innings for the Windward Islands to lead his team to a convincing seven-wicket victory over the Combined Campuses & Colleges (CCC) at the Beausejour Cricket Ground in St Lucia, yesterday.

His knock followed up a good morning for the Windwards, one that belonged to Nelon Pascal.

The Windwards would have entered the final morning hoping to quickly dislodge the CCC lower order. Instead, what they met was stern resistance from the overnight batsmen.

It took all of 90 minutes before Nelon Pascal struck. To be fair to him, he was excellent throughout the morning, bowling with pace, bounce and accuracy. After getting to 52, Akeem Dewar pulled straight to Garey Mathurin at short mid-wicket. It was the breakthrough the Windwards wanted, and CCC were 246 for seven.

With just half-hour to go to lunch, Pascal engineered an almighty collapse. CCC were dismissed for 284, Pascall finishing with figures of 16-2-81-5. It meant that the Windwards needed 185 runs to win from 60 overs.

If the CCC were to stay in the game, they needed wickets quickly. Instead, they were greeted to an early assault. Smith and Tyrone Theophile went after the students' bowling. By the time the score was on 32, Smith had already crashed four boundaries.

They took the opening stand to 91 before Theophile was caught behind trying to cut Dewar. But Smith continued plugging away, quickly moving to his half-century. The run rate had slowed after the fall of Theophile but remained well over 4.50.

Smith and Andre Fletcher took the hosts to tea on 115 for one, leaving 70 runs to get in the final session. The pair put on 45 from 77 balls before Fletcher tried to paddle sweep Ryan Austin, and was bowled.

Still, the Windwards only needed 49 runs to win, and were in control of the match. Keddy Lesporis was having a bad game and he tried his best to stay at the crease. He battled his way to 16, putting on a partnership of 25 with Smith, before edging Raymon Reifer to Anthony Alleyne at second slip. With Liam Sebastien set to come back into the team against T&T this weekend, and Dalton Polius showing signs of form, the axe could fall on Lesporis.

But the day was all about Smith, who completed his second hundred of the match and his 21st first class century. He finished unbeaten on 101.

In the other game completed yesterday, Guyana drew with Leeward Islands at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground, in Antigua.

–windiescricket.com

Summarised scores:

At the Beausejour Cricket Ground: Windwards beat CCC by seven wickets.

COMBINED CAMPUSES & CAMPUS 309 (Anthony Alleyne 84, Kevin McClean 28, Jason Dawes 27 not out, Chadwick Walton 27; Shane Shillingford 3-76, Nelon Pascal 3-92, Garey Mathurin 2-44, Delorn Johnson 2-50) and 284 (Chadwick Walton 88, Akeem Dewar 52, Nekoli Parris 37, Kyle Corbin 31; Nelon Pascal 5-81, Shane Shillingford 2-78)

WINDWARD ISLANDS 409 all out (Devon Smith 139, Tyrone Theophile 54, Andre Fletcher 41, Dalton Polius 77, Lyndon James 26; Akeem Dewar 4-127, Raymon Reifer 3-38) and 187 for three (Devon Smith 106 not out, Andre Fletcher 25, Tyrone Theophile 25)

At Vivian Richards Cricket Ground: Match drawn.

LEEWARD ISLANDS 182 all out (Tonito Willett 58, Jahmar Hamilton 32, Montcin Hodge 22; Veerasammy Permaul 4-42, Ronsford Beaton 3-43) and 322 (Jahmar Hamilton 106, Montcin Hodge 52, Sylvester Joseph 39, Tonito Willett 33; Veerasammy Permaul 5-67)

GUYANA 279 all out (Steven Jacobs 75, Assad Fudadin 49, Rajindra Chandrika 35, Derwin Christian 26, Veerasammy Permaul 21; Lionel Baker 4-57, Tonito Willett 3-31, Gavin Tonge 2-82) and 173 for six (Leon Johnson 60, Rajindra Chandrika 38, Tagenarine Chanderpaul 32, Steven Jacobs 24; Anthony Martin 3-37, Gavin Tonge 2-32)