Sports Minister congratulates Senior Cricket Team

by Michael Bascombe

ROSEAU, Dominica, May 29, 2011 - Grenada’s Sports Minister Patrick Simmons has congratulated the Grenada National Cricket team on winning the Windward Islands Twenty20 Championship in Dominica on Sunday.

Grenada defeated the hosts by 77 runs at the Windsor Stadium, after winning the toss and setting a challenging total of 156 for 5 off 20 overs.

Devon Smith was run out for 79 on the final ball of the innings but after sharing an important fifth wicket partnership of 103 runs with Tade Carmichael, who made 44 off 36 balls. Captain Andre Fletcher made 16.

In reply, Dominica found a resilient Grenada and only survived 14.5 overs in totaling 79 with John Olive and Nelon Pascal each taking three wickets and two wickets apiece for Eamon Alexander and Ronald Ettienne.

The Sports Minister said that the performance of the national team again demonstrates the important role sports continue to play in the daily life of our people. “Sports continue to be a unifying force and our sportsmen are playing their role whether it’s in athletics, football, cricket or any other sport,” he said.

“They showed that they were compact in all areas of the game and this performance is a good sign that our cricketers continue to improve”.

Also extending congratulations to the national cricket team is one of Grenada’s ace runners, Kirani James. In a brief message, James, who is ardent cricket fan, said “congrats to the team”.

Smith was named Most Valuable Player of the Championship. Among the other individual awards for Grenada, Smith had the most runs while Denis George had the best bowling figures.

The victory and performance of Smith came two days after the death of his father.