Finalists in the 2018 edition of the Cool & Smooth T20 Explosion, Bolans, were beaten in their opening contest of this year’s instalment, going under by 30 runs to former champions PIC Liberta Blackhawks on Wednesday night. Playing in the feature game of a double-header at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground, Blackhawks won the toss and opted to bat.
Led by knocks of 58 and 48 respectively from Daron Cruikshank and Kadeem Phillip, Blackhawks raised 172 for seven in their 20 overs. Keron Cottoy and Roel Roy each had two wickets for Bolans. Cottoy picked up two for 24 in his four overs while Roy bagged two for 30, also from four overs. Bolans, in their chase, fell short at 142 for nine in 20 overs.
They were led by Mikyle Louis who slammed 61 from 43 balls, including five fours and three sixes. Phillip, who batted not out for Blackhawks, returned with the ball to claim four for 27 in his four overs. Cruikshank, speaking on behalf of the Blackhawks, said it’s always nice to start with a victory. “It’s nice to get the first game out of the way, get a win and get some points on board.
We will just have to regroup because there are some things we need to work on going forward; we just had a little chat about it. If anybody wants to have a knock [Thursday] they can do so if they didn’t feel as comfortable as they’d like to feel, and moving forward we just play the game and enjoy it,” he said. Meanwhile, in Wednesday’s opening contest, Empire Nation made light work of Pigotts Crushers to win by seven wickets. Chasing 121 for victory, Empire raced to 124 for three in 17.2 overs.
They were led by Damian Lowenfield who top scored with 46 from 47 deliveries. He hit five fours and one six. Shane Burton assisted with 38 from 34 balls while Justin Athanaze made 21 not out. Earlier, Javier Drew hit 42 from 46 deliveries to lift Crushers to their 121 for eight in their 20 overs. Mali Richards was the pick of the bowlers for Empire with three for 27 from four overs. Coach of the Empire team, Ian Tittle, said his players are only focused on getting to the finals of the tournament.
“I think that was the best thing that we won our first game, so it makes it sort of easier for us to get into the semis. We want to go as far as we can so if we can end up in the final and win the final then that is the purpose. Our bowlers are bowling well and I just hope that it continues that way,” he said. Winners of this year’s tournament will take home EC $15,000 with the second placed getting an EC $7,000 prize. Third and fourth place finishers will get EC $3,000 and EC $1,500 respectively.