Jamaicans destroyed by father and son attack
All-rounder Rohan Henry and the father-and-son combination of Reggie and Dejon Benjamin were in irresistible form as Spring Garden Cavaliers knocked Forties off the top of the Commercial Cricket League table and North Village avenged defeat against Jamaican Association.Henry, a policeman from Dominica, wrecked the Forties innings with his seamers, taking five for 31 in 11.3 overs, and then hit an unbeaten 30 as defending champions Cavaliers won by two wickets at Shelly Bay, where two Cavaliers players had to leave the field suffering from heat exhaustion; Ricky Hill while fielding and David Gibbons while batting.At Garrison Field, the Benjamins scythed through the Jamaican batting line-up to claim all the wickets between them, just two weeks after Village suffered a crushing defeat at Southampton Oval.Reggie Benjamin took four for 26 from 10 overs while his 16-year-old son Dejon went one better, bagging five for 31 from 11, as the medium pacers skittled out the Jamaicans, who weremissing their talismanic batsman Aaron Adams, a century-maker in their previous meeting, for a paltry 62 in 22 overs.“We are very happy,” said Reggie afterwards.All four teams remaining in the league played short Cavaliers and Forties turned out with nine men each while Village and Jamaican Association were both one short after Devonshire Stars earlier withdrew following a third default.“It seems that as the season goes on more teams are having trouble fielding a full side,” said Forties’ skipper Gordon Campbell.Stars’ results from their first two round of matches stand. The 10 points Village picked up from their scheduled second game against Stars, coupled with the 10 from their 81-run third-round victory over Jamaican Association (37 points) on Sunday, have catapulted them into joint second place on 43 points with Forties. Both trail Cavaliers by four points but the new leaders have a game in hand on their three rivals.Despite opener Simon Jones’ 81-ball 52, 33 from Ernest McCallan and 31 from Campbell, Forties were dismissed in the 35th over for 147 after being sent in, shooting themselves in the foot with two run-outs as the last four wickets tumbled for the addition of four runs when a reasonable total had looked on the cards.In reply, acting skipper Jeff DeSilva steadied the ship after the loss of three early wickets but when he was fifth out for 37 at 81, given out obstructing the field, Forties fancied their chances.But Henry, who has rarely batted in the past three seasons, took the game away from Forties, despite Saniru Dushantha’s two for 33 from eight overs, as he added 50 for the sixth wicket with wicketkeeper Allan Boyce (26), Cavaliers reaching 148 for six with four of their revised 49 overs remaining.“We were struggling at one stage but it was a good all-round performance by Cavaliers,” said Boyce.“With a game in hand we’re confident of winning the league again.”Added Campbell: “As with most of our meetings it was a titanic struggle.“We self-destructed at the end of our innings. Rohan bowled really well, seaming the ball at a good pace and at times was unplayable.“We always thought we had a shot at them but man of the match Rohan shepherded the tail very well and we just couldn’t make the final breakthrough.”Skipper Allen Walker (36), Detroy Smith (25) and Dion Ball, Jr (24) were the main contributors in Village’s 143 for eight in a game reduced to 37 overs a side as Junior Lindo picked up four for 14 from nine overs and Neil Anglin two for 30 from six.Lindo was top scorer with 13 in the Jamaican reply as the Benjamins wreaked havoc.“Both teams bowled very well,” said winning skipper Walker.“This was one of our better performance in the field as everyone played their part. We were very determined to settle the score from our last game.“Our bowling was very good with father and son (the Benjamins) at times unplayable.”