By Keith Holder
CAVE HILL, Barbados (CMC) – A prediction by their head of delegation, Roland Butcher, prior to the match that newcomers Combined Campuses & Colleges would beat gurus Barbados came to fruition yesterday, when Shirley Clarke’s side triumphed by 24 runs with a day to spare in the Carib Beer Series.

As was the case from the opening day, the pendulum swung to and fro, and ultimately buried Barbados, who collapsed sensationally in the final period on the third day in the third round match at the Three Ws Oval, where they were dismissed for 198 in pursuit of 223 for victory.

The dismissal of Barbados deputy Dwayne Smith for the top score of 85 off 78 balls with nine fours and two sixes led to the slump as the last seven wickets crashed for 36 runs in 13.1 overs with the irony of fast bowler Jason Bennett, a Barbadian, taking four of the scalps.

Bennett grabbed five wickets for 46 runs from 17.4 overs, and fittingly not only took the last wicket, when he had Sulieman Benn lbw for a painstaking three, but also captured the man-of-the-match award for figures of 11 for 105.

The defeat was Barbados’ first and left them in second position on 24 points, while it was the first win for the CCC in their second match, after losing by ten wickets to front-runners Jamaica in Kingston last weekend and takes them to 12 points.

Earlier, the CCC were bowled out for 159 in their second innings after resuming on 138 for seven.

Fast bowler Tino Best took two more wickets to end with six for 47 from 16 overs, and a match tally of ten for 84, while left-arm spinner Benn picked up four for 50 from 22.5 overs to end with match figures of six for 89.

Barbados started slowly in their pursuit for victory with Dale Richards and Jason Haynes adding 16 in 41 minutes off nine overs before Richards, in essaying a drive off fast bowler Jamel Noel, his club-mate in the Barbados Cricket Association Division 1 competition, was bowled off the inside edge for six.

The presence of Smith seemed to have soon inspired Haynes to play a few attacking strokes, one of which was a straight drive to the boundary off Noel, which took him to 20.

And in the last over before lunch, Smith smashed left-arm spinner Kavesh Kantasingh, who shared the new ball with Bennett, to the extra-cover boundary.

Barbados went to the interval on 32 for one off 14 overs with Haynes on 19 and Smith six.

Haynes and Smith put on 53 in 10.2 overs before Bennett, with the second ball of a new spell from the northern end, lured Haynes into a drive and bowled his leg stump for 25 which took 96 minutes and came off 66 balls with three boundaries.

While Smith continued to score freely, Ryan Hinds seemed a bit out of touch, and occupied the crease for 50 minutes in scoring nine. He fell to his team-mate in the BCA Division 1 competition, six-footer Jamal Smith, who was trundling off-breaks and got one to turn and bounce as it took the edge of the bat for a catch to slip.

Smith and Alcindo Holder, who made 28, added 68 with confidence and were seemingly coasting when the tide turned in the third over after tea.

Playing across medium-pacer Kurt Wilkinson, Smith was lbw after a stay of just over 2-1/4 hours.

In the next over, Holder was bowled for 28 by Bennett as he played back without addition to the score.

Carlo Morris was bowled by left-arm spinner Kavesh Kantasingh for 12; Shamarh Brooks, captain of the Young West Indies side to the ICC Youth World Cup in Malaysia next month, was spectacularly caught down the leg-side by diving ‘keeper Chadwick Walton off Bennett; and Tino Best was bowled by Bennett for a duck – all with the score 181.

Captain Corey Collymore was lbw on the back foot by Kantasingh for nought one run later before CCC wrapped up their memorable win.

The Championship takes a break for the next five weeks to allow the second Stanford 20/20 Cup to be contested in Antigua.

When it resumes with the fourth round of matches, the CCC travel to St Lucia to face Windward Islands at the Beausejour Ground, and Barbados head to Montserrat to tackle Leeward Islands.