An unbeaten 19 from Limar Pierce yesterday afternoon led Barbados to a narrow two-wicket win over defending champions T&T in the opening round of the West Indies Cricket Board Tobago House of Assembly Regional Under-17 tournament in Tobago.Chasing 215 for victory, Barbados were in a spot of bother on 175/7 in the 41st over. Pierce then put his team on his shoulders, taking Barbados to victory with two overs to spare. Pierce struck one four and one six in his 30-ball knock. Earlier, Leniko Boucher, Dikembe Wilson, Nicholas Kirton and Yvan Grant all struck 28 to give the Bajans a solid chance of winning the match. Bowling for T&T, Nathaniel McDavid (2/14), Kirstan Kallicharan (2/33) and Tobago boy Dejourn Charles (2/36) all snatched two wickets.
Kallicharan was the best batsman for T&T hitting 55 off 68 balls, which included seven fours and four sixes. Kallicharan was ably supported by Sachin Seecharan, who slammed four fours and two sixes in an aggressive 41 (37 balls). Kallicharan and Seecharan shared in a 86-run partnership that had T&T in complete control at 169/3 at one stage.However, Kallicharan, Seecharan and captain Bryan Boodram fell in quick succession to leave T&T on 178/6. T&T was eventually dismissed for 214 in 47.2 overs. The top bowler for Barbados was Dominic Drakes, who took 3/45 in ten overs.All round two matches carded for today will be postponed until tomorrow (Thursday) as the Jamaica team did not arrive in Tobago until last night, while the Leeward Islands did not get their luggage on arrival in Tobago. It was not yet been confirmed when Jamaica and the Leeward Islands will play their first round matches.
Scores
At Louis D'Or: T&T U-17 214 (47.2 overs) (Kirstan Kallicharan 55, Sachin Seecharan 41, Dejourn Charles 29, Dominic Drakes 3/45, Nicholas Kirton 2/32) vs Barbados U-17 215/8 (48 overs) (Leniko Boucher 28, Dikembe Wilson 28, Nicholas Kirton 28, Yvan Grant 28, Nathaniel McDavid 2/14, Charles 2/36, Kallicharan 2/33) Barbados won by two wickets
At Bon Accord: Guyana U-17 156/9 (47 overs) vs Windward Islands 159/7 (44 overs) - Windwards won by three wickets