da dobrowin： The ugly clouds that hovered over Kensington Oval for most ofyesterday was in keeping with the performance of the Barbados team inthe middle
Haydn Gill28-Aug-2000The ugly clouds that hovered over Kensington Oval for most ofyesterday was in keeping with the performance of the Barbados team inthe middle.And anyone who chose to leave home after they were certain that thematch against South Africa ‘A’ had started, would have missed most ofthe disappointing display.Within five overs, the cream of the batting was gone. The first fourwickets, including those of captain Philo Wallace and Ryan Hinds, weredespatched with only six runs on the tins, and by midday the inningswas ended in spite of a stoppage for rain.Barbados’ 89 all out in 27.3 overs was in some way due to CharlWilloughby’s outstanding, varied left-arm fast bowling, but the truthis there were many elements of the batting that left a lot to bedesired.Team coach William Bourne was spot-on in his assessment.’We did not bat very well, even though the pitch was helpful,’ Bournesaid after South Africa completed their comfortable seven-wicketvictory by reaching a reduced target of 76.’Some of the batsmen got themselves into a fairly reasonable battingposition and then basically gave their wickets away.’We have not done as well as we should have. If we had appliedourselves much better, we could have had at least 150 runs.’The only ones who tried to make a fight of it were wicket-keeperCourtney Browne, whose 22 off 26 balls included a scorching coverdrive and two other off-side boundaries off successive balls; hisCable & Wireless BET team-mate Adrian Brathwaite, and Ian Bradshaw,left not out on 17 after coming in at No. 9.Willoughby, a 25-year-old who enjoyed an outstanding domestic SouthAfrican season in which he took 50 wickets in nine matches for Boland,removed both Wallace and Hinds and added a further four scalps tofinish with six for 24 from nine overs.Skipper Wallace fell to the day’s second ball, giving a catch to the’keeper when he failed to get his bat out of the line, while Hinds wasone of those deceived by the several slower balls Willoughby sentdown.Opener Mike Maynard, one of four players in senior Barbados coloursfor the first time, was another deceived by the change of pace andsnicked a drive to first slip in the third over.Chris Humphey, another first-timer, was pinned on the back foot byVictor Mpitsang, the 20-year-old South African who came to theCaribbean two years ago to represent the UWI Vice-Chancellor’s XI.The first of the day’s two stoppages came after 40 minutes whenBarbados were already in dire straits at 12 for four. There wasfurther trouble on resumption when Shawn Graham was embarrassed by adelivery from Willoughby to which he shouldered arms and was obviouslylbw.Browne replaced him and immediately triggered loud cheers from some ofthe Hockey Festival participants in the Garfield Sobers Pavilion. Hisinnings, however, was too brief and was ended by a sliced drive thatresulted in a catch to point.Ryan Hurley, as always, will go after the bowling, and paid the pricefor trying to lift medium-pacer Justin Kemp over mid-off.When Willoughby returned for another spell, there was another softdismissal with Brathwaite steering a slower ball to first slip.Barbados were 73 for eight and in spite of the presence of Bradshaw,batting in the identical position in which he made his impressivehalf-century against the same opponents a few days ago, the result wasalready inevitable.Only the heavy shower that interrupted the South Africans’ inningsafter four overs, could have prevented the visitors from completingtheir win. There was no play for almost two hours, but on resumption,the target: 76 from 37 overs, was attained.Left-armer Bradshaw claimed two wickets against batsmen guilty ofplaying across the line, but the runs were simply not enough forBarbados.