Andrew and Thorne shine to give Rising Stars first win
Jewel Andrew shone yet again as the West Indies Rising Stars Under 19 Men got off the mark on the points table with an important 5-wicket win over Scotland in Potchefstroom.
Coming off a spectacular hundred in the tournament opener, Andrew stood unbeaten with a half-century to steer his side home. Finishing on 64 not out and earning him the Player of the Match award.
Scotland openers Jamie Dunk and Adi Hegde added 89 for the opening wicket in a solid start for Scotland, but once Nathan Sealy broke the stand, the Rising Stars found a way to consistently pick up wickets to dent Scotland's charge.
Hegde fell for 32 to Sealy, but Dunk and Alec Price lifted Scotland with a swift partnership that was broken when Raneico Smith dismissed Dunk for 57. Price fell a bit later for 31 when Isai Thorne joined in on the act by cleaning up the batter.
Thorne built on the great dismissal, picking up the wicket of skipper Owen Gould in the same over. He added two more in quick time to reduce Scotland to 171/6.
Bahadar Esakhiel and Ruaridh McIntyre threw the bat around for some crucial runs down the order, but in the end, Scotland had only managed to just cross the 200-run mark.
Thorne made a strong impression with a four-wicket haul, taking his last in the final over of the innings.
In the run-chase, Scotland struck three times in the Powerplay to peg West Indies back. Adrian Weir was dismissed by McIntyre and skipper Stephan Pascal’s run-a-ball charge came to an end when left-arm spinner Logan Briggs had him caught out.
Ibrahim Faisal struck in the very next over as the Windies were in trouble at 45/3. Jordan Johnson and Mavendra Dindyal lifted them out of the precarious situation with a counter-attacking 45-run partnership.
But Scotland managed to find a way back when Hegde struck with the wicket of Dindyal after an eye-catching 24-ball 29. Hegde went on to grab a catch a few overs later off Qasim Khan as West Indies lost Johnson for 24.
Scorecard here
Any hopes of a comeback from there were shut down by the excellent Jewel Andrew, fresh off a brilliant hundred last game, smashing a fine half-century at rapid pace.
The wicketkeeper batter was once again in his element, taking the attack to the Scotland bowlers to push the Rising Stars closer to the target.
In Nathan Edwards, he found solid company and the duo put on an unbeaten 95-run partnership that saw West Indies cruise to the target with ease.
West Indies have a win and a loss in two games and take on England next.
West Indies skipper Stephan Pascal was relieved with the victory that puts the Rising Stars in contention for a Super Six spot. He reserved special praise for the Player of the Match Isai Thorne.
“Coming off from the first game, we had some conversation with Isai Thorne because he is one of our leading bowlers, if not the leading bowler. I feel it was a very good comeback spell from the first game. Looking forward to better things coming from him.”
All matches start at 4am Eastern Caribbean/3am Jamaica time. Fans in Caribbean can watch all the matches live on ESPN and access live ball-by-ball scoring here in the Windies Cricket match centre.
MATCH SCHEDULE
19 January- vs South Africa, Potchefstroom- South Africa won by 31 runs
24 January- vs Scotland, Potchefstroom- West Indies won by 5 wickets
26 Janauary- vs England, Potchefstroom