da betsson： A staunch Queen’s College supporter left the Cable & Wireless BETSports Complex at 4:45 p.m
Haydn Gill06-Sep-2001A staunch Queen’s College supporter left the Cable & Wireless BETSports Complex at 4:45 p.m. yesterday with his chest pushed high.By the time he got to Bridgetown 15 minutes later, it would have takena massive droop.In the space of seven minutes, the Cable & Wireless Under-15 cricketfinal took a twist following a Lodge School fightback in the finalmoments of the day.For four hours yesterday, Queen’s College made all the running. In thelast hour, however, a moment of indecision and another of indiscretionbrought Lodge back into the match. If anything, they have a slightadvantage on the final day.With 50 minutes to the close, Queen’s College were 124 for two inresponse to Lodge’s 232. With 11 minutes remaining, they were 155 forthree, representing a very good day’s work.Then came their big setback. Nicholas Standford, their solid openingbatsman who had been firmly entrenched for more than four hours, wasrun out for a disciplined 61.And just before stumps were drawn, Kofe Hurdle was adjudged to haveedged a catch to the keeper off Shamarh Brooks’ probing leg-breaks.Even before those two went, Queen’s College suffered a major loss whenKerwin Elias, their captain, leading run-scorer and seemingly mostfree-scoring batsman, fell to a rash stroke after featuring in athird-wicket stand of 73 with Standford.The day went well up until the end of the last session when we gaveaway two or three wickets which we shouldn’t have, said Rory Sidaway,a Queen’s College official.Standford set off for a single to mid-off, but got no response fromnon-striker Kofe Hurdle and failed to regain his ground when wicketkeeper Nicholas Squires broke the stumps.If we were still two or three wickets down at the end of the day, I’dbe a bit more confident about the outcome, Sidaway said. I still thinkwe can get the 75 runs that we need, but it will be more difficultnow. That’s for sure.In the first half-hour, the St James boys polished off Lodge’s lowerorder. Lodge, 207 for six, overnight, lost their last four wickets forfive runs after a seventh-wicket stand of 69 between Pierre Atwell(53) and Rio Brathwaite (31).For the remainder of the day, Queen’s College diligently pursued thetarget with the type of disciplined application that some local clubteams should try to emulate.Standford presented a straight, broad bat for the entire afternoon andwas never drawn into playing any false strokes. He and Nekoli Parrisput on 43 for the second wicket after Niaz Dokrat was bowled by fastbowler Damien King as he went into a drive.Queen’s College lost Parris just after lunch to a neat stumping bySquires off Brooks, but Standford and Elias made sure only one wicketfell in the middle session that produced only 57 runs.Elias batted confidently and just before tea cracked two fours in anover, a rare occurrence on the day.Lodge desperately needed a wicket and captain Squires’ move to takethe second new ball two overs after it was due paid dividends.The pacy Andre Gill, operating from around the wicket, shattered thestumps of Elias, who was drawn into an inexcusable cross-batted shot.It was a wicket that turned the tide for Lodge.