Matt Oliver, scorer of a fine half century, makes his ground as Narenda Ekanyake takes evasive action as the ball comes in from a fielder. (Picture by Daniel Guerin, 0581956)
JEREMY FRITH can do little wrong at present. After two consecutive hundreds for Cobo, the island all-rounder shone for Guernsey as the Bahamas were swept aside by 158 runs at Port Soif yesterday.
It was far from a one-man show, with Matt Oliver and debutant Ross Kneller both impressing with the bat, but the unofficial man-of-the-match award would undoubtedly have gone to Frith. His 72 was a well-paced innings which kept the board ticking over before an acceleration towards the death.
He followed that with a five-wicket haul as the visitors had few answers to his left-arm spin, including an excellent caught and bowled.
‘On that wicket the spinners were a bit of a challenge and our good start probably belied what was a good score,’ Frith said. ‘We got away to a flyer and were thinking about 320 when 220/230 was actually a decent total. The fact that we ended up with a good score [of 276] when some senior players weren’t playing is testament to the strength in depth we have.’
With big boundaries in play, it meant that, somewhat unusually, Oliver hit just four fours in his fine 68, even though it was made quicker than a run a ball.
He put on 108 with Kneller, who made a promising start to his Guernsey career with 32.
Other than those two and Frith, there were no big scores from the home batsmen although GH Smit, Stuart Le Prevost, Stuart Bisson and Blane Queripel, who finished the innings with a straight six, chipped in with useful runs.
There were two wickets apiece for seamer Roderick Mitchell and spinners Dwight Weakley and Narendra Ekanyake.
With the exception of a few lusty blows from middle order batsman Whitcliff Atkinson, the Bahamas reply never really got going.
Tim Duke had some trouble controlling the new white ball and, unusually for him, sent down 10 wides.
But when he got it right it invariably brought a wicket and he claimed the first four to fall.
At the other end, Queripel bowled well without luck.
Then the Cobo spin twins, Frith and Gary Rich, turned the screw as they so often do and the visitors were dismissed for 118.
‘When we saw them play against Nepal, we felt that if they were to put in a similar performance against us, we would be disappointed to lose,’ said island manager Dave Hearse.
‘We went out to bat positively, put pressure on them and the first partnership did that brilliantly. They did not score many fours in that 100 partnership, but it was very good and a good introduction for Ross.
‘We thought 276 was very defendable and so it proved.
‘It will be a different game [today] against Nepal, who look a quality side and we have to play at the top of our game to get a good result.’
Scorecard below
n Guernsey versus Nepal has changed venue and is now at Port Soif with a 10.15am start.
Article posted on 21st May, 2008 - 2.29pm
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