The Commonwealth CC won its first match in over a year with a victory over Westerns Superstars CC last Sunday, in a loss which severely dented Superstars title chances.

Due to a late start caused by the vandalisation of the outfield and the Pavilion the night before, the match was reduced to 45 overs per side.

Superstars won the toss and elected to bat. They amassed a total of 254/9 with the high scorers being Jai Mangra who was given out lbw only six runs short of another century, Cliff Atkinson who scored 53 runs and Donovan Morrison with 29 runs. The best bowlers for Commonwealth were R Ramdass who took 4-27 in 7 overs and Eric Green (2-37 in 9 overs).

Commonwealth then went to bat and surpassed the Superstars total by scoring a sizzling 256/7 in 38.1 overs. The highest scorers were Robin Parmeshwar with 61 runs, A.Nash ( 57) and Lee Melville ( 52). The best bowlers for Superstars were Cliff Atkinson with 2-61 in 6.1 overs, Mike Graham 1-28 in 5 overs and young Marlon Burrell 1-15.

The match scheduled for Saturday, May 27 between St.Agnes and Police Cavaliers CCs was cancelled

A fortnight earlier, the game between Life of Barbados Paradise Cricket Club and the Police Cavaliers Cricket Club was crucial to this year's league championship.

The Police team batted first and the opening pairing was an unusual affair with father and son policemen batting together Irvin and Greg Taylor. They faced an opening bowling attack of the up and coming youngster O'Neil Levy and the experienced Gary Armstrong.

Greg soon departed attempting to hook the young pace bowler and well caught by the even younger Marlon Burrell. Irvin Taylor was bowled for 22 runs and the Police team found it difficult to score runs against the Paradise bowlers.

However the promising allrounder Garcha Balir showing his increasing talent as a cricketer with 40 runs and the consistent Wayne Patrick with 28 runs kept the scoreboard moving before the big-hitting Gary Campbell with 46 runs and playing captain Everod Peart (25) took the Police score to 248 all out in the allotted 50 overs.

The best bowlers for Paradise were Nitin Singh (3-50 off 10 overs) and the evergreen single wicket winner Teddy Grazette (3-47 runs in 6 overs).

In reply the Paradise batsmen gallantly took up the challenge with Gary Braithwaite scoring 20 runs and Llewellyn Armstrong (18) before the Police opening pace attack of Garcha Blair and Gary Campbell made the breakthrough.

Paradise were still in with a good chance before captain John Mayers was bowled for 52 runs by Trevor Andrews with his first ball. Courtney Waddell scored 25 runs and young O'Neill Levy looked very good in compiling 21 runs with young Marlon Burrell undefeated on 6. Paradise in the end finished 22 runs short - a valiant effort.

The best Police bowlers were Brise Bowice (3-50 in 10 overs), Trevor Andrews (3-16 in 4.1 overs) and veteran Edmund Lewis (2-29 runs in 10 overs).

The pleasing aspect for Paradise was the number of youngsters that are playing and being coached by the Paradise captain and Bahamas Youth Cricket Development Officer John Mayers who is grooming stars for the future of Bahamas Cricket

Similarly on the development front, Tracey Chea of the Sovereign Bank & Trust, presented Mr. Mayers a cheque covering cricket equipment for Bahamian youngsters who will play in the upcoming ICC-supported Under 15 tournament to be played in the Cayman Islands from July 19.

Euqipment such as bats, pads, practise balls and safety helmets were purchased as a result of the sponsorship. Officials hope to include young cricketers from Bimini and Grand Bahama in the team's preparations. Coaching clinics are being held on Saturday mornings, as well as Monday and Thursday evenings at the Haynes Oval in Nassau. Youngsters in the Bahamas interested in playing cricket are invited to attend. A youth tournament is being held this weekend, and Mr. Mayers hopes to select the squad for the Caymans tournament.

© 2001 CricInfo Ltd