BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) – An unbroken, second-wicket stand of 74 between their captain Kirk Edwards and Kevin Stoute followed another ruthless performance in the field to catapult Barbados to an emphatic nine-wicket victory over the Combined Campuses & Colleges in the Caribbean Twenty20 tournament on Friday.
Before a near-capacity crowd, Stoute finishing on 36 not out and Edwards ending on 31 not out formalised another clinical demolition, as the Barbadians successfully chased 77 for their fourth straight victory in the tournament in the very last group match at Kensington Oval.
Stoute carried the home team over the finish line with a lofted, straight six that crashed onto the lower level of the media centre at the southern end of the ground.
The result meant that Barbados topped Group-B with a maximum 16 points and faced bitter arch-rivals Trinidad & Tobago in the second semi-final last night at the same venue, an hour after Windward Islands, the unbeaten side from Group-A, were due to meet Jamaica in the first semi-final.
A fired-up Fidel Edwards put the CCC batting under early pressure, after they chose to bat, and the composite side were dismissed for a modest 76 in their 20 overs.
Edwards grabbed two wickets for 18 runs from his allotted four overs to earn the Man-of-the-Match award and was well supported in the field, highlighted by a superb effort from rookie wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich with two catches and a hand in all four run-outs in the CCC innings.
It was the fourth straight match that Barbados demolished their opposition for less than 100 and set up an intriguing battle with the Red Fury before what is expected to be another bumper crowd on the day the island celebrates the life and the achievements of the Father of Independence, national hero and the late Prime Minister Errol Barrow.
After Dwayne Smith failed for once, caught-behind for one chasing a wide, long hop from Jason Dawes, Stoute joined Edwards and diligently carried the Barbadians over the threshold.
Stoute slashed Dawes for a four to third man to get into the stride and Edwards lofted left-arm spinner Kavesh Kantasingh over long-off for six.
After this, the two punctuated resolute batting and good running between the wickets with enterprising strokes, including another six for Edwards over long-on off Ryan Austin’s off-spin in the ninth over before Stoute finished things off.
Earlier, Edwards bowled Chadwick Walton with the last ball of the first over for one before Romel Currency miscued a hook and was caught at square leg for eight.
Two balls later, Dowrich came into the picture, when he ran-out Kyle Mayers for a duck, after the left-hander top-edged a hook at a short ball from Edwards and it fell just short of diving, first-slip fielder Smith.
Mayers tried steal a single and ran almost all the way to the bowler’s end, but Kyle Hope failed to respond and an alert Dowrich picked the ball up and completed a facile run-out.
When Tino Best had club-mate Hope caught-behind for a one-ball duck in the next over, CCC were 14 for four and the prospects looked and remained very bleak.
The Barbadians met a bit of resistance from Reifer, a former Barbados batsman, and emerging left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder Yannick Ottley, when they shared 38 for the fifth wicket for the biggest stand of the innings.
When Jonathan Carter’s throw to Dowrich ended Reifer’s defiance in the 10th over, the rest of the CCC batting crumbled and they lost their last five wickets for 28 in the remaining 10 overs.

SCORECARD
COMBINED CAMPUSES & COLLEGES innings (20 overs maximum)
C. Walton b F. Edwards 1
R. Currency c Nurse b F. Edwards 8
K. Hope c wkp. Dowrich b Best 0
K. Mayers run-out 0
F. Reifer run-out 20
Y.Ottley c (sub.) Carter b Nurse 19
R. Wiggins c wkp. Dowrich b Benn 4
K. McClean run-out 9
J. Dawes b Hinds 2
R. Austin not out 4
K. Kantasingh run-out 1
Extras: (b-3, lb-2, w-2, nb-1) 8
Total: (all out, 20 overs) 76
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-10, 3-10, 4-10, 5-48, 6-56, 7-57, 8-65, 9-75.
Bowling: F. Edwards 4-0-18-2, Hinds 4-0-15-0, Best 4-0-14-1, Benn 4-0-9-1, Nurse 4-1-15-1.

BARBADOS innings (target: 76 off 20 overs)
D.R. Smith c wkp. Walton b Dawes 1
K. Edwards not out 31
K. Stoute not out 36
Extras: (lb-2, w-7, nb-4) 13
Total: (1 wkt, 10 overs) 85
Fall of wickets: 1-7
Bowling: Austin 3-0-18-0, Dawes 2-0-28-1, Kantasingh 1-0-8-0, Ottley 1-0-8-0, McClean 3-0-17-0.
Result: Barbados won by nine wickets (60 balls remaining)

Points: Barbados 4, CCC 0