By Neto Baptiste
The Antigua and Barbuda senior men’s cricket team suffered a setback in their bid to get to the semifinals of the ongoing Leeward Islands Cricket Board (LICB) 50 Overs Tournament when, on Sunday, they were bettered by neighbours and rivals, St Kitts, by 15 runs in Bethesda.
Opting to field first after winning the toss, the Antigua and Barbuda bowlers were put to the sword by St Kitts’ Akeem Saunders who slammed 131 not out in 121 deliveries. He pummeled 10 huge sixes and four fours during his 177 minutes at the crease.
Saunders was the only batsman to get past 20 as he helped to carry St Kitts to 240 for nine in their allotment of 50 overs.
Alzarri Joseph, Rahkeem Cornwall, Hayden Walsh Jr and Justin Athanaze each picked up two wickets for the home team. Walsh proved the most expensive, going for 61 runs in his 10 overs, while Joseph gave up 58 in nine.
When their turn at the crease arrived, Antigua and Barbuda showed some fight through captain Devon Thomas with 86 and Orlando Peters with 45. Cornwall chipped in with 37 but the Antiguans could only get to 225 before they were all out with 9.2 overs to spare.
Damion Jacobs and Terrance Warde were the two bowlers of note for St Kitts, with each picking up three wickets.
Also, on Sunday, Nevis defeated Anguilla by seven wickets in All Saints.
Batting first, Anguilla were all out for 141 in 33.4 overs with their best effort coming from D Burton who made 36. K Archibald was the pick of the bowlers for Nevis as he claimed five victims for 38 runs in 7.4 overs.
In chasing, Nevis easily got to their target as they reached 144 for three in 33.3 overs with R Powell leading the way with 74 and T Willett hitting 51.