Estimated 5,000 attend “Rally ‘Round Dominica” charity match

By:David Harris –
An estimated crowd of over 5,000 attended the “Rally ‘Round Dominica” charity cricket match held at the historic Kensington Oval in Barbados on Saturday evening.
During the game, which was televised live regionally, viewers had the opportunity to pledge their support to the people of Dominica in the wake of the ravages of Tropical Storm Erika.
The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) President’s Celebrity XI led by Jason Holder defeated the University of the West Indies (UWI) Vice Chancellor’s Celebrity team by seven wickets in the T20 match.
Set a target of 155 runs to win the match, big hitting batsman Kieron Pollard blasted the UWI bowlers to all parts of the field with an entertaining innings of 49 from 22 balls in 31 minutes with 5 massive sixes and two fours.
The hard hitting batsman had the thousands of spectators in the stands jumping and cheering loudly when he struck the ball out of the ground for a huge six off the bowling of his fellow Trinidadian Dwayne Bravo. He retired with the score on 132 for 3 to give Stafanie Taylor the captain of the West Indies ladies the opportunity to bat.
Pollard came to the crease after the fall of the third wicket with the President XI on 62 during sixth overs.
The West Indies XI lost an early wicket when Garth Garvey who opened the innings with Shivnarine Chanderpaul was dismissed for 1 with the score on 6 in the second over.
Marlon Samuels who replaced Garvey launched a violent attack on the UWI bowlers, he scored a rapid 26 runs with 5 fours and one 6 in just 8 minutes. The stylish Jamaican batsman played several elegant strokes on both sides of the wicket. He was out in the sixth over.
After Samuels’ dismissal, Carlos Brathwaite joined the runs feast with a quick fire 19 runs from 11 balls, he batted for 14 minutes striking two fours and a towering six.
Chanderpaul was carefully compiling his runs while the other batsmen were flogging the UWI bowlers, after Pollard retired the Tiger played several attacking strokes , he was 46 not out from 38 balls with two fours and two sixes when the President XI reach their target, Stafanie Taylor was 4 not out.
Former West Indies fast bowler Sir Curtly Ambrose rolled back the years with a mean opening spell of 3 overs, 23 runs one wicket. Another ex West Indies pacer Ian Bradshaw took 2 wickets for 32 runs with his three overs of left arm medium pace. Dwayne Bravo was smashed all over Kensington Oval, he bowled three expensive overs for 36 runs. Vice Chancellor of the UWI Sir Hillary Beckles was hampered by the batsmen, he conceded a whooping 26 runs from 1.4 overs. Throughout the mayhem Shane Shillingford bowled two tight overs for 13 runs.
Earlier in the UWI XI won the toss and elected to bat, Brian Lara who opened the innings with Darren Bravo took the fans back down memory lane with a superb display in the art of batting.
The master batsman displayed a fine array of strokes in his score of 63 not out which included eight majestic fours and one towering six, he shared an opening partnership of 31 with Bravo who made 14. Dwayne Bravo scored 35 from 32 balls with 2 fours and two sixes. Sir Hillary Beckles was 10 not out at the end of the 20th over.
Stafanie Taylor took two wickets for 16 runs from two overs and leg spinner Devendra Bishoo took 2 wickets from two overs for 16 runs. Samuels and Garvey took a wicket.
The members of the WICB Celebrity XI were Jason Holder captain, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels, Carlos Brathwaite, Kieron Pollard, Stafanie Taylor, Devendra Bishoo, Jermaine Blackwood, Denesh Ramdin and Shai Hope.
The Vice Chancellor Celebrity XI were Sir Hillary Beckles captain, Sir Curtly Ambrose, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Yohan Blake, Deandra Dottin Brian Lara, Kavem Hodge, Floyd Reifer and Shane Shillingford

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