T&T Red Force player Evin Lewis had enough time before the rain came to address the West Indies selectors, as he slammed an unbeaten 71 in a tied encounter for the WICB President ‘s XI against the touring South Africans at the Queen ‘s Park Oval on Sunday night.
Chasing the South African ‘s score of 280/9 after Hashim Amla smacked 92, the WICB Pres XI reached 127 for three after 24.1 overs when the rain came and washed out play for the night.
At that point Lewis was blazing his way towards a century and reluctantly walked off the pitch, with 71 to his name from just 61 balls with six fours and four sixes. With the West Indies selectors naming the West Indies squad for just the first three matches of the Tri-series, Lewis has announced that he is capable and inform.
Chasing South Africa ‘s handy total, the WICB Pres XI lost skipper Kraigg Brathwaite and Jermaine Blackwood early. However, West Indies Under-19 captain Shemron Hetmyer joined forces with rampant Lewis and they added 90 runs for the third wicket, which brought the home team right back into the match.
Their association was worth 90 runs of 14.3 overs and had Hetmyer held his wicket and not fall to Imran Tahir for 29 – the WICB Pres XI would have actually won the game under the D/L Method. Earlier, ace batsman stroked an excellent 92, to propel South Africa to their eventual 280 for nine.
Amla opening the batting looked in supreme form and took charge of proceedings after T&T player Rayad Emrit sent back fellow opener Riley Rossouw with a run on the board. Amla faced a total of 83 balls, striking 10 fours a a six to send an ominous sign to West Indies and Australia.
Also getting among the runs was all rounder Kyle Abbott who smacked 43 of 38 balls with four fours and a six. Fellow all rounders Chris Morris and Aaron Phangiso also utilised the opportunity well and spent time in the middle. Morris just coming back from the Indian Premier League (IPL) scored 31 of 24 balls with two fours and a six, while Phangiso made an unbeaten run-a-ball 34 with two fours and a six.
T&T ‘s Steven Katwaroo got a run with the South Africans, as both their wicketkeepers AB de Villiers and Quinton de Kock were absent. Katwaroo came in at number seven to bat and scored 21 of 21 balls with three fours. With South Africa struggling at 151/5, he featured in a sixth-wicket partnership of 47 with Morris.
Jamaican leg-spinner Damian Jacobs caught the eye with four wickets for 53 runs, with Windward Islands left arm pacer Delorn Johnson was impressive with 1/35 of 10 searching overs.
The South Africans left T&T yesterday for Guyana, where they open their challenge in the Tri-series against West Indies on Friday, at the Providence Stadium.
