In a dominant display of fast bowling at Dominica’s Geneva Playing Field on Wednesday, Nathaniel Joseph’s sensational match-defining hat-trick handed Saint Lucia a 79-run victory over St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), consolidating their position at the summit of the Winlott Inc Windward Islands Under-19 Men’s Super50 Championship points table.
Sent in to bat first after winning the toss, Saint Lucia was bowled out inside 37 overs for a total of 179. The innings got off to a promising start, with opening pair Jermian Thomas and Roystan Fannis stitching together a 50-run stand. Thomas, who struck two fours and two sixes, fell for a quick-fire 29 off 19 deliveries, with Fannis following shortly after for 21.
Saint Lucia captain Theo Edward delivered a standout batting performance, scoring 43 runs from 52 balls including one four and three sixes, nearly doubling his total run tally across the tournament so far. Edward shared a crucial 41-run partnership for the fifth wicket with Tyler Venner, lifting the score from 104/4 to 145/5 before Edward was dismissed in the 27th over. SVG’s Kevin Joseph turned in an excellent bowling spell to drag his side back into contention, claiming four top-order wickets as the final five Saint Lucia wickets added only 34 runs to the total.
SVG’s chase got off to a disastrous start that they never recovered from. Venner removed opener Alston Bobb in the very first over, setting the stage for Joseph’s magical second over. The pacey right-armer from South Castries picked up wickets of Ozaid Edwards, Kevin Joseph and Jorden Charles off three consecutive deliveries, leaving SVG reeling early on.
Venner compounded SVG’s misery in the fifth over, claiming two more wickets to his name: Jawayne Adams for three runs and Kazado Henry for a duck. With the score crumbling to 12/6 after just five overs, SVG’s celebrations from their first tournament victory the previous day quickly faded.
Opening batsman Zach Thomas and all-rounder Lebron Douglas managed to steady the innings somewhat, putting together a patient 40-run partnership that spanned almost 60 deliveries. Neil Poyotte broke the stand by removing Douglas for seven, and Olani Slack followed shortly after for another duck, falling to Liam Wilson. Thomas was eventually dismissed by Poyotte for a defiant 54, before Joseph wrapped up the victory by taking the final wicket of Elran Glasgow for 16.
The final bowling figures told the story of Saint Lucia’s dominance: Joseph finished with 4 wickets for just 10 runs off 5.2 overs, while Venner claimed 3 wickets for 10 runs off five overs. Poyotte chipped in with 2 wickets for 16 runs off four overs. The result sees Joseph move level at the top of the tournament’s wicket-taking charts with 11 wickets, boasting an impressive economy rate of 2.84 and an average of 4.73. Venner’s seven wickets puts him fourth on the leaderboard after four rounds of competition.
In the other match played on Wednesday, Dominica secured a win over Grenada to keep level on points with Saint Lucia, though Dominica trails the league leaders on net run rate. Following a scheduled rest day on Thursday, Saint Lucia will face two tough consecutive matches: a rematch against Grenada, who defeated them last Sunday, and a clash against defending champions Dominica, who Saint Lucia beat on Tuesday.