One week of intense, skill-filled youth cricket across the Caribbean has drawn to a close, with the Cricket West Indies (CWI) Rising Stars Under-15 tournament concluding on Monday, marking a successful showcase of emerging regional cricket talent.
Under the competition’s newly revised bilateral series format, three teams walked away with title wins: Windward Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and Guyana. The results, outlined in an official CWI media statement, paint a clear picture of the deep pool of growing cricketing potential across Caribbean nations.
Of the three winning sides, Windward Islands turned in the most dominant tournament run, completing a clean 5-0 sweep over the Leeward Islands hosted in Antigua. The team got off to a strong start with a 51-run opening win, followed by a hard-fought 30-run victory in the second fixture at Coolidge Cricket Ground.
The standout batting performance of the entire tournament came from Windward Islands’ Derwin Lewis, who notched a brilliant century, scoring 102 runs off 128 deliveries to push his side to a convincing 61-run win that locked in an unassailable series lead. The tall left-handed batsman hit eight boundaries and four sixes during his match-winning knock, helping Windward Islands post the highest team total of the entire tournament at 217 all out. Lewis’ teammate Dylan John also turned heads with his leading bowling performance, finishing the series with 10 total wickets.
In the second series hosted in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago claimed a 3-1 win, after one match was called off without a single ball bowled due to persistent rain. The opening clash at Melbourne Oval delivered a tight, dramatic finish, with Trinidad and Tobago scraping to a two-wicket win via the Duckworth-Lewis Method after rain cut the match short. After restricting Jamaica to 96 for 9 in a shortened 34-over game, Trinidad and Tobago successfully reached their target of 102 for 8 in the 29th over.
Trinidad and Tobago notched a commanding 39-run win in the third fixture, powered by an extraordinary bowling spell from Arnaldo Premchand. The young seamer took seven wickets while conceding just six runs, bowling Jamaica out for only 47 as they chased a target of 86. The visiting side secured the series win with a second consecutive 39-run victory in the fourth match at Boys Town Playing Field. After posting 183 for 9, Trinidad and Tobago bowled Jamaica out for 144 within 47 overs, with Premchand and Samir Boodoo each taking three wickets to cement their side’s control of the contest. Jamaica avoided a full sweep by taking the final match at Melbourne Oval, securing a five-wicket win. Hugh Turner led Jamaica’s effort with a five-wicket haul that bowled Trinidad and Tobago out for 74, allowing the hosts to chase down the 75-run target for the loss of five wickets with 142 overs to spare. By the end of the series, Premchand held the title of the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with 13 total wickets, while Turner finished with nine wickets across just three matches.
The third and final series, hosted in Guyana, saw the home side claim a 2-0 clean sweep over Barbados, despite the tournament being heavily disrupted by severe wet weather. The second match, relocated to Police Cricket Ground after weather issues, saw Guyana post 137 for 8 in a shortened 31-over-per-side contest. Barbados were bowled out for just 61 in 21 overs, handing Guyana a 76-run win, with Leon Reddy taking four wickets for only eight runs.
In Monday’s closing fixture of the entire tournament, Lomar Seecharan delivered another masterful bowling performance, taking four wickets for just five runs to restrict Barbados to 79 for 9 in 20 overs as they chased a target of 116, securing the series sweep for Guyana.
Cricket fans seeking full scorecards and detailed match recaps can find all content on the Match Centre page of the official Windies Cricket website, and live ball-by-ball commentary archives are available to view in the “Live” section of the CWI YouTube channel.